[HN Gopher] The Saucer - A DIY trackpad attachment for the Voyager
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The Saucer - A DIY trackpad attachment for the Voyager
Author : robenkleene
Score : 86 points
Date : 2024-08-05 22:02 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (blog.zsa.io)
(TXT) w3m dump (blog.zsa.io)
| bloopernova wrote:
| I've wanted something similar for my Alice layout keyboard:
| attached to closest edge of the keyboard, between the 2 space
| bars, would be a good place for a wheel or trackball.
|
| A roller or wheel in that position would allow either thumb to
| use it with hopefully a minimum of movement/stretching.
| lylejantzi3rd wrote:
| Have you seen this?
|
| https://ultimatehackingkeyboard.com/
| jjkaczor wrote:
| Arghhhh... I did not have to see that... I was happy with my
| Kinesis Gaming Freestyle RGB Edge KB... Sigh, checks
| wallet...
|
| Thanks!
| Zetaphor wrote:
| It's the best keyboard I've ever owned. The uhk with the
| riser is my final form.
| BossingAround wrote:
| If only UHK was ortholinear. I have Ergodox EZ now and it's
| almost perfect. Wouldn't want to go back to a non-ortholinear
| keyboard.
| bloopernova wrote:
| Makes me want that modular add-on to be a standard on
| keyboards.
| LoganDark wrote:
| What is "the Voyager"? I guess I can find a link to it in the
| navigation bar, but I had no idea what this article was talking
| about (a computer?) until then.
| Palomides wrote:
| it's very funny that there isn't just a picture of the end
| result mounted on the keyboard
| alanbernstein wrote:
| Yes, that should be at the top of the page. There is one in
| the build guide.
| LoganDark wrote:
| It should be somewhere in the page. I instinctively
| scrolled to the bottom looking for an end result but
| couldn't find one. I was so confused lol
| rigonkulous wrote:
| Its a DIY split keyboard:
|
| https://www.zsa.io/voyager
| cdavid wrote:
| It is programmable but the HW is sold assembled and ready to
| use. Wouldn't qualify it as DIY.
| LoganDark wrote:
| Open hardware perhaps?
| BossingAround wrote:
| It's open source for sure. But yeah, there's no DIY
| required (which is why ZSA and their keyboards are so
| popular - it's the Apple of the DIY-programmable-
| ergonomic-keyboard world, providing excellent build
| quality and great experience for a price).
| WarOnPrivacy wrote:
| >> What is "the Voyager"?
|
| > Its a DIY split keyboard:
|
| For me, the next mystery is _What is he trying to do?_
|
| His issue: _[cats] graze the edge of my trackpad [making]
| mouse around register weirdly_
|
| His solution: _I had seen some implementations of a Cirque
| trackpad on other DIY split keyboards_
|
| I would describe (his presentation of) his solution as
| "Darmok and Jalad..." but that would be oblique.
|
| So, what is a Cirque in this context?
| brk wrote:
| The whole thing is written for insiders. Nothing wrong with
| that, but when it gets picked up by an aggregator like HN
| you have the issue of 99% of your new readership having to
| figure out what exactly it is you are talking about.
| LoganDark wrote:
| Well, luckily whenever that happens, someone asks "wtf is
| going on?" and the entire comment thread fills with all
| the context you could possibly need
| WarOnPrivacy wrote:
| It's a spontaneous, Cooperative MMO.
| wredue wrote:
| It's an ergonomic split keyboard. I have one. It is nice to
| type on.
|
| That said, I personally find that having so little keys is a
| problem. I like typing on it, but when I am doing heavy
| sysadmin stuff, it is not a pleasure to use. You have to spend
| a lot of time planning this keyboard and its layers out for
| your workflow.
|
| It is also not great for gaming due to the reliance on hold
| keys.
|
| Overall, pleasure for typing. If you workflow needs a lot of
| layer switching, I was not a fan.
| secretsatan wrote:
| I was equally confused, google left me more so
| alanbernstein wrote:
| Excellent work. This is a key component of a truly ergonomic
| keyboard for me, and only a tiny fraction of fancy keyboards
| include pointing devices.
|
| I discovered that round trackpad module a while ago, and
| considered a similar project. I ended up getting a UHK paid for
| by my company's ergonomics budget instead.
| Klaster_1 wrote:
| Interesting to see Plasticity used for actual manufacturing CAD
| work, I always though you'd be better of with a dedicated tool
| like FreeCAD and rely on Plasticity for artistic work and asset
| modelling. Glad to see the project get traction, been following
| it for several years.
| linsomniac wrote:
| Plasticity is what I want to look at for my next modeling
| program, but so far I seem to be able to make what I want using
| TinkerCAD, so I'm getting along without having to climb another
| learning curve.
| helsinki wrote:
| Those are two of the ugliest cats I have ever seen, no offense.
| aajaces wrote:
| I'm glad I wasn't the only one
| voidUpdate wrote:
| I've never really understood the attraction to hairless cats.
| They look like someone's scrotum instead of a cute ball of
| fluff that I expect from a cat
| noelwelsh wrote:
| They are Sphynx cats[1]. I'm not a fan of selective breeding in
| cats. Dogs, which have been much more selectively bred, have a
| huge number of inherited health issues as a result. E.g. pugs
| and other dogs with short noses tend to have a lot of health
| problems[2,3]. Cats have largely not been selectively bred, but
| selective breeding is becoming increasingly common and has
| negative impacts on the animals' health.
|
| [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphynx_cat
|
| [2]: https://www.dogstrust.org.uk/dog-advice/health-
| wellbeing/at-...
|
| [3]: https://www.rvc.ac.uk/Media/Default/small-
| animal/documents/q...
| generalizations wrote:
| I don't understand the purpose of your digression into
| selective breeding in dogs?
|
| > the Sphynx was developed through selective breeding of
| these animals, starting in the 1960s
| noelwelsh wrote:
| Dogs have a longer history of selective breeding and so
| provide evidence of where we can expect cats to end up if
| selective breeding of cats continues. (Also a little bit of
| education for people who might not be aware of these
| issues.)
| haliskerbas wrote:
| Always surprised when people buy (as opposed to rescue) one
| of those health issue ridden pups which are constantly
| hobbling around and panting from just walking. Some people
| find it cute but it really is sad to see the little gremlin
| have a painful life trying to do normal dog things.
| AuryGlenz wrote:
| I had an old classmate buy a French bulldog as a puppy, and
| found out two days later it needed major surgery. She
| posted this to Facebook as a "poor me" post. Infuriating.
| Bring the dog back and get something healthy instead of
| encouraging that awful practice.
|
| 2/3 dogs I've had in my life have been mutts and they've
| been incredibly healthy, smart, and loving.
| naught0 wrote:
| They are adorable little scrotum aliens! They are hideously
| cute :)
| adolph wrote:
| Until now I've found cat hair to be an annoying substance.
| After the surprise of that page; well, maybe it isn't such a
| bad thing after all.
| jacobedawson wrote:
| I own the Voyager and it's a great piece of kit, my only wish is
| that it was wireless, but the team has clear reasons why they've
| stuck with wired boards (https://www.zsa.io/wireless). A trackpad
| would be lovely. Very portable and comes with a great key editor
| to handle layers.
|
| Also worth checking out the one-man Bastard Keyboards (diy and
| prebuilt), he does the Charybdis kits with trackballs, or the
| Dilemma Max split mech with a trackpad alongside ortholinear
| keys: https://bastardkb.com/product/dilemma-max-prebuilt-
| preorder/
| stavros wrote:
| I followed the "wireless" link, but thought they'd have much
| better arguments. Couldn't you make a replaceable battery, and
| an optionally-wired keyboard? Yes, wires are great (I went with
| wired for mine after my BT one proved too flaky), but wireless
| controllers are so cheap nowadays that you might as well add a
| wireless option to your keyboard.
| ericjuta wrote:
| https://sterling-key.com/
|
| works for me on a qmk keyboard with a trackball!
| leejoramo wrote:
| Also check out Handheld Scientific's BT-600
|
| http://handheldsci.com/kb/
|
| Be sure to read their documentation which includes a fair
| amount of macro programming.
| beAbU wrote:
| Their anti-wireless argument is pretty weak imo. My logitech
| K780 takes two AAA batteries that I literally replace max once
| a year. And it uses bluetooth!
| 0x1ch wrote:
| Although there's a lot of people who don't like to tinker, it
| is very easy to replace an internal cell pack if the designer
| went with one.
| 0cf8612b2e1e wrote:
| Technology breaks everywhere. Wireless is just one more thing
| to go wrong. Especially for a device that never moves on my
| desk. Which does not even address the multiple security
| issues which have been discovered in keyboard protocols.
| inhumantsar wrote:
| what strikes me as odd with the Voyager though is that the
| marketing is geared toward using this as a portable
| alternative to larger split keyboards like the Moonlander.
|
| one marketing photo stuck with me and actually put me off
| buying it: it had a laptop setup at a generic coffee shop
| with a cable looped around it going to one half and another
| connecting the two halves. it looked ridiculous and
| reminded me of just how annoying that connector cable could
| be at times.
| zhenpixels wrote:
| I have a wireless Ergodox from SliceMK. It works well and uses
| solar for charging!
| lettergram wrote:
| Unrelated, but I had to do a double take! I too had two naked
| cats, Java & Mew
|
| Mew (sleeping like the firefox logo) -
| https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd....
|
| Or sprawled - https://i.imgur.com/iQlwA8h.png
|
| Java (who likes to suck her tail like a thumb) -
| https://packaged-media.redd.it/g11ncwdswpj31/pb/m2-res_1080p...
|
| Regarding the project, love projects like this
| PetitPrince wrote:
| Now I wonder how complicated it would be to implement a pointing
| stick (aka track point aka the red nipple from the Thinkpads). I
| think it has the same benefits as this circle track point with an
| even smaller footprint.
| 3np wrote:
| I've seen quite a few people do something similar with
| repurposed PSP controllers since a few years ago. Wouldn't be
| surprised if there's something more purpose-made available by
| now, if you search around.
| imglorp wrote:
| https://ultimatehackingkeyboard.com has a trackpoint option.
|
| And this thing can be added on to others
| https://holykeebs.com/pages/trackpoint
| dustincoates wrote:
| As was said in another comment, the UHK has a trackpoint
| option, which is what I chose for my right module. I highly
| recommend it--it's replaced mouse usage for me in most
| situations. (I.e., any time that I'm not doing something only
| with the mouse.)
| chaos_emergent wrote:
| I have a moonlander that I love, and I want to add a trackball or
| trackpad to it.
|
| I saw the mod that Kevin Christensen wrote on ZSA's site:
| https://blog.zsa.io/diy-moonlander-trackball/
|
| The missing piece is that the trackball doesn't click, and this
| seems to be the case in general with trackballs on the market.
|
| Does anyone know why trackballs don't click? I'm imagining a
| casing that would allow the entire ball to drop by a few
| millimeters to trigger a click. One potential reason is that it's
| hard to click without moving the mouse on screen, but I'm unsure
| of how much of an issue that is in reality.
| Rhapso wrote:
| thumb-keys on the moonlander for click!
|
| The angle of your thumb on the ball will change and turn the
| ball unless the press is perfect parallel to the axis of the
| switch at the point exactly opposing the switch on the ball.
| nazzacodes wrote:
| I build keyboards/mice for a living and also think a trackball
| with tap to click would be great. Intuitively I see why this
| would be complex to build. I would say the major paths are a
| physical switch or touch sensor. I see the physical switch as
| similar to a mouse wheel which lets you middle click it;-
| disassemble a mouse and see it's really quite complex to have
| this whole electronic component move up and down hitting lever.
| Now imagine trying to mount a similar system below a trackball
| with 3 far apart touch points and continuous movement of the
| ball rather than the discrete movement of the mouse wheel which
| can absorb some rotation (as you mention). I think a touch
| sensor would be a really interesting way to go, you could
| probably pass conduction through the right ball and sensor
| touching the ball, A force feedback vibration motor might also
| be possible.
| adolph wrote:
| Ideas that occurred from reading this:
|
| A. Add x and y strain cells to the trackpad [0] so that it acts
| like an IBM TrackPoint for broad movement when a still thumb
| applies lateral force. Trackpad capacitance is used for fine
| movements.
|
| B. Keycap LEDs powered by inductive current [1]. Bonus points if
| phosphor cob is shaped like characters and can be embedded in a
| key molding (heat a challenge).
|
| 0. Cirque GlidePoint Circle Trackpads:
| https://www.mouser.com/c/?marcom=118816186
|
| 1. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09Q5GVDQC/
| JS-Sound wrote:
| PSA: A Voyager is one of the myriads of custom, so-called
| "ergonomic" keyboards out there. And beware of the photos of the
| authors' cats - torture breeding specimen.
| alanbernstein wrote:
| Are you suggesting a standard keyboard is somehow more
| ergonomic than one that can be adjusted to fit an individual's
| preferences?
| wucke13 wrote:
| Note to self and others: please don't plug in/out a TRRS into
| your keyboard while it's powered. The TRRS usually shortens pins
| during insertion/removal, which can damage your keyboard. Most
| keyboard designs do not properly guard the circuitry against the
| evil of TRRS.
| uticus wrote:
| Not to negate the work and customization, but a simple solution
| that's worked for me for years is a Wacom tablet in addition to
| split keyboard. Works on Win and Linux, and pen input is max
| ergonomic.
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