[HN Gopher] Cosmos Keyboard: Scan your hand, build a keyboard
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Cosmos Keyboard: Scan your hand, build a keyboard
Author : cdata
Score : 128 points
Date : 2025-01-13 17:42 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (ryanis.cool)
(TXT) w3m dump (ryanis.cool)
| uticus wrote:
| some info came across discord for https://cyboard.digital/ about
| this last year, very similar concept.
| tomtom1337 wrote:
| Ive used this several times, I paid for pro. Really like it!
| Check out the hand recognition, it's super cool (albeit, not
| terribly useful).
|
| There's a very active and helpful community on discord too.
| karmajunkie wrote:
| do you end up with a finished keyboard or is this giving you
| DIY plans?
| egypturnash wrote:
| It looks like it gives you DIY plans but there is also an
| option to get a finished keyboard - this leads to a page with
| some error messages in it though.
| nom wrote:
| No, please, I don't have the time for this, why does it have to
| be so cool :cry:
| cassianoleal wrote:
| Cosmos is awesome. Ryan is a lovely and incredibly helpful on his
| Discord. The community built around it is quite chilled out and
| helpful as well.
| replwoacause wrote:
| This looks awesome but I think I'm paralyzed by all of the
| possibilities. My Kinesis Advantage 2 has served me well for
| years. I wonder if anyone has switched from one to a custom
| board?
| maxyurk wrote:
| checkout https://www.reddit.com/r/ErgoMechKeyboards/
| eawgewag wrote:
| I've done the switch! My 2c:
|
| If the Kinesis is working for you, I would not switch. It's an
| extremely high quality board and most of these Dactyl's are all
| attempts to replicate the Kinesis at a more accessible price
| point and/or with higher amounts of customizability. The
| tradeoff is that they tend to be extremely fragile, have really
| poor build quality, and have zero to none customer support
| attached.
|
| However, the KA doesn't work for everybody. I find it too big
| and the switches too heavy. So I opted for a custom approach,
| which sadly only survived about 4 months.
| ge96 wrote:
| The UI and color palette for the site is cool. The 3D tech is
| neat too, I'm not personally a fan of these keyboard designs
| (fine with 65% single mech) but really great software.
| pryelluw wrote:
| what keyboard do you currently use?
| ge96 wrote:
| I am not that hardcore of a mech keyboard person where I
| build my own/lube switches.
|
| I primarily use a Durgod Hades 68, I have to have the
| dedicated arrow keys on the bottom right. I have a bunch of
| others similar design. My problem was instead of buying as
| switch tester I started buying random keyboards with
| different switches so I now have too many. I also used to use
| the Apple magic keyboards those small ones with a cylinder
| battery holder.
| __MatrixMan__ wrote:
| I love this... almost.
|
| My daily driver is a planck (flat rectangle, no num row) which I
| designed to lighten the load on my pinkies. I moved the left
| alpha keys further left and the right alpha keys futher right, so
| I have two columns in the center which I use for
| Ctrl,Alt,<,>,[,],(, and ). These get different keycaps so I can
| navigate it by texture. I love it, using other keyboards my
| pinkies always start to hurt after a while, but with this thing I
| can really crank.
|
| I'd like to depart from the flat rectangle form factor, while
| keeping all of the things I love about my planck, and using
| advanced mode here I was able to get pretty darn close. What's
| missing is the bottom left and right corner keys, which I
| consider "palm-press" keys. If I disable the num row and enable
| the inner keys, the outermost columns only have three keys. I'd
| appreciate a checkbox that gave them four, with the fourth
| awkwardly low for pinky use but accessible for a "palm" press
| (not sure if the meaty part under the knuckle counts as the palm
| but that's what I mean anyway).
|
| With the right curvature there's probably also opportunity to do
| the same thing under the index knuckle.
| rianadon wrote:
| If you select one of the keys in the keyboard preview on the
| right, you can add and move keys around to wherever you like :)
| That should allow you to put keys under your knuckle.
|
| Speaking of palm presses, someone shared a "palmtyl" design
| with several keys under the palm in the discord (here's a
| video: https://youtu.be/D8ev08mnSmg). It's an interesting way
| of squeezing in more keys without requiring finger travel.
| __MatrixMan__ wrote:
| very cool, thanks
| lawn wrote:
| I used this generator to build myself my own keyboard and the
| tool was extremely helpful. I went through a bunch of prototypes
| and I don't think it's possible to create a customized keyboard
| for yourself in one attempt.
|
| I made a fairly extensive build log from start to finish
| including how I got the integrated trackball to work together
| with QMK here:
|
| https://www.jonashietala.se/blog/2024/11/26/building_my_ulti...
| rianadon wrote:
| Author here. It's a surprise seeing this posted while I'm in the
| middle of traveling. Happy to answer any questions! If you're
| curious, the tech stack is static assets bundled with
| sveltekit/vite and hosted on gitlab pages + a minimal go backend.
| AndrewHampton wrote:
| I used this to build my current keyboard a few months ago. It
| was my first hand-wired keyboard, and this made it much more
| approachable. Thanks for creating it!
| Pet_Ant wrote:
| It could really use a way to control the spread of the button
| around the track ball. Just to make them closer together. Also,
| would be great to have an option of adding a USB hub on the
| inner edge for plugging in a USB key or adding a USB plug on
| the outside for a mouse.
| utopcell wrote:
| Great work @rianadon!
| James_K wrote:
| Just got a Cantor Remix keyboard myself. Might have checked this
| out otherwise, but a big advantage of the flat designs is they
| fit in my pocket.
| Cieric wrote:
| This makes me want to go back to making a custom keyboard again.
| The feature to scan your hands is interesting, but I can't seem
| to get it to work at all. I got it to measure the length of my
| digits, but when it came to measuring how flexible they are I
| could never get it to complete. On top of that the detection
| seemed to freak out a lot and the right hand model was screwed
| up. Overall this does seem really cool, but more something I'll
| bookmark to try later.
| MaxGripe wrote:
| I've had so many keyboards that I can't even count them. I've
| owned five mechanical ones alone. Out of the ergonomic ones, I've
| only had one - a Microsoft and it was pretty nice. Almost all of
| them have been replaced because they broke. Either the keys stop
| working (most often) or the stabilizers start failing.
|
| In my opinion, the best keyboards are the ones that are very easy
| to clean :) Ideally, switches should be chosen based on your
| hands since everyone has different preferences. I'm currently
| using Keychron K5 SE ultra-slim with Low Profile Optical hot-
| swappable "Banana" switches, and it's the most comfortable
| keyboard I've ever had -- and it's not even that expensive (for a
| mechanical keyboard). Before that, I had SteelSeries' top model,
| and it broke after about a year.
|
| Building custom keyboards is next-level, and I think I'll pass on
| that. What matters most is that it's comfortable to type on and
| easy to clean. A piece of advice for beginners: don't buy
| keyboards from Logitech or Apple. They're overrated and not worth
| their price.
| MrLeap wrote:
| I feel like I am your hardware destroying cousin. For me it's
| mice, not keyboards.
|
| I've had the same keyboard for like a decade, but I go through
| mice every 3-6 months. I've tried logitech / corsair / no-name
| / razor. 90% of the time I replace a mouse because of phantom
| double clicks or the mouse3 button just ceasing to work.
|
| More rarely, the mouse will reconnect cycle over and over, or
| the scroll wheel will break.
|
| I don't THINK I abuse them, but my body count indicates maybe
| I'm too hard on them and don't know it.
|
| Maybe we need hardware that'll give us data on how mean we are
| to them so we can gain perspective. :p
| garyfirestorm wrote:
| ummmm what? I have had an MX Master Mouse for over 8 years
| and as an automotive engineer i have dropped it numerous
| times while testing vehicles, inside the vehicle, while
| getting out of the vehicle, just walking from desk to the
| cars in parking lots... and it still survived 8 years! what
| are you doing to your mouse exactly?
| MrLeap wrote:
| I click a lot? I don't feel like I'm putting the hammer to
| them. They just all die.
| pedroma wrote:
| I've never broken a mechanical keyboard, but I have gone
| through a few mice. None of my MX mice (MX Master, MX
| Anywhere) have failed, but only gaming mice. I have a
| feeling gaming mice just aren't built to last, especially
| in recent years as brands have chased lighter and lighter
| mice, likely sacrificing durability.
| gffrd wrote:
| I've had many mice, and I've never had one fail. I've got
| mice that are over 20 years old and still work.
|
| So unless you are the hulk and not aware of it, I have to
| wonder if something else in your environment is affecting
| them.
|
| Do you buy them all from the same retailer? Do you live
| underwater? Or next to a high power transmission
| station?!
| nsxwolf wrote:
| Do they make them the same as they did 8 years ago? It
| seems that whenever I want to replace a product I really
| enjoyed 10 years ago, the replacement is a cost-reduced
| piece of junk.
| m000 wrote:
| Maybe it's time you switch to a trackball.
| Pet_Ant wrote:
| I've always wanted this and had daydreamed of building this
| before!. If it supports QMK and ortholinear, I'll have to get
| this. I've always dreamed of building a keyboard into the arm
| rests of my chair.
| Carrok wrote:
| I've tried the arm rest thing. Not very comfortable
| unfortunately. At least for me.
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