System76 Begins Detailing Their Open-Source "Launch Configurable Keyboard"

[waxhead]

fork it and make it better

No need , I have salvaged lots of these keyboards from the trash at work. I am set for life

[Guest]

Does the world have some kind of fetish for mechanical keyboards? Why the hell does every 'high-end' keyboard need to be mechanical?!

They will have to pry my scissor switch keyboards off my cold dead hands.

Mechanical good. Definitely a better typing feel than membrane. They're supposed to be more durable than membrane too.

[Guest]

I have arthritis in my hands and fingers. Mechanical keyboards sound like torture devices to me.

Would some kind of touchscreen keyboard work better for you? Or those flat, touch sensitive keypads that are used on some devices?

[Guest]

That's nonsense. Light switches like reds and browns, and linear switches are impossible to avoid bottoming out. And controlled presses are much more tiring and uncomfortable than just simply hammering down.

The whole premise of 'mechanical switches don't need to be bottomed out' is just what it is; a complete sham.

True, I don't bother with any of the "training my fingers to do a light tap" nonsense. I just bring my fingers down with the full authority of command, and type like I would on a membrane keyboard. The resultant clickety-clack noises are satisfying.

[Guest]

Just to add another voice to the cacophony of demands... keyboards should come in Small, Medium, Large layouts. That jockeys and basketball players need to type on the same device is a little bit unfair. I'd probably spend double for a 10-20% key size increase.

Increased size keyboards exist, but they seem to all be accesibility devices, and key size is massively increased.

Build your own custom keyboard! Unfortunately, when the market doesn't cater to you, you have no choice but to do it yourself.

[obri]

Another staggered keyboard in 2021. I don't know if I shall laugh or cry. A sane keyboard layout simply has to be ortholinear and ideally also splitted. After getting issues with my carpal tunnel, I switch to a TrulyErgonomic 209 and learned touch typing on it. Now I use an ErgoDox EZ(1) with an adapted Neo2(2) Layout. It even uses an open source firmware.

1: https://ergodox-ez.com/
2: https://configure.ergodox-ez.com/erg...60MrX/latest/0

That looks really interesting. But it is indeed expensive.
It is hard to know, if it fits my needs and is fun using albeit it looks very promising. The risk to trow away about 300€ is a bit high.

Do they work OOTB on e.g. Kubuntu?

[obri]

I have arthritis in my hands and fingers. Mechanical keyboards sound like torture devices to me.

Hmm, perhaps you have the wrong intention, of how they feel.
I use a KB with Cherry MX Red switches.
I can not imagine that they are a torture. They can be typed without any shock to the fingers. You do not need to push them to the ground. Just pushing them a bit down without an impulse or shock going into the fingers.
Of course one can ram them down, but no need to. And they are smooth-running. Very little amount of power is to be used.
I like them for typing an gaming.

With arthritis you surely are not interested in switches with tactile feedback.

[sheldonl]

Would some kind of touchscreen keyboard work better for you? Or those flat, touch sensitive keypads that are used on some devices?

The lighter the tap the better, and I would prefer keys that don't make noise or bottom out.

[sheldonl]

True, I don't bother with any of the "training my fingers to do a light tap" nonsense. I just bring my fingers down with the full authority of command, and type like I would on a membrane keyboard. The resultant clickety-clack noises are satisfying.

I used to think the same. I don't know how old you are, but eventually, there is a high degree of probability that this sort of typing, if you are doing it all day long, will catch up to you. Just a friendly word of advice from someone who's been there. I'm old enough to remember only having mechanical keyboards and having used them extensively back in the 80's and 90's

[JustK]

That looks really interesting. But it is indeed expensive.
It is hard to know, if it fits my needs and is fun using albeit it looks very promising. The risk to trow away about 300€ is a bit high.

Do they work OOTB on e.g. Kubuntu?

The keyboard itself doesn't need any special software to operate. The configurator is web-based and the flashing tool is available as native linux binary (Download link on the configurator website). I used it on a Gentoo system with firefox. It should work OOTB for most distros, maybe permissions on the usb device have to be adjusted for flashing firmware/config.

Sadly it is quite expansive for a keyboard, but it's also a high quality product. Competition could help in this regard, but with little demand it's a chicken and egg problem.

FWIW, I do not regret the purchase at all, but I struggled with myself over the price, too.