Keyboard Layout: All of them

[atman]

I'm not even trolling! 

I'm just an American and a developer, so whatever you come up with is unlikely to suit me perfectly. I would want a λ key. Anyone else want a λ key? Thought not...

Good thing these exist:

http://www.alibaba.com/showroom/flat-surface-printer.html

If you purchase some number, say 20%, of the keymats, without any printing at all, you could offer custom-printed keymats as a service. 

You could even make some kind of importer for the software everyone's been using, so everyone who cares can have their own proposal. I'd pay 30 Euros for this service, more or less.

 

[moxie]

The problem is that, since the keys are to be backlit, you'd need a negative printer. That is, a printer that removes the black paint in order to make a translucent key glyph.

 

[atman]

If only you could just purchase the keymats without any paint at all, and apply black where you wanted it, using some kind of printer...

 

[Saber]

I would want a λ key. 

You could copy and paste λ to a text file on your Pyra's desktop and refer to it when you want to insert this character into your work.

 

[atman]

For that matter, these fable negative printers, they exist. They're called laser cutters, and would give a nice texture to the buttons. It would be tricky to get right however.

There are an unlimited number of workarounds, Saber. I intend to use emacs heavily (as usual) so doubt I'll have problems expressing myself.

A native Greek, Russian, Hebrew, Arabic speaker will want a dramatically different keyboard. Some people might want the Happy Hacking option, with no markings at all.

The project can make the entire long-tail happy with one custom device and some software shims. 

 

[Saber]

For that matter, these fable negative printers, they exist. They're called laser cutters, and would give a nice texture to the buttons. It would be tricky to get right however.

There are an unlimited number of workarounds, Saber. I intend to use emacs heavily (as usual) so doubt I'll have problems expressing myself.

A native Greek, Russian, Hebrew, Arabic speaker will want a dramatically different keyboard. Some people might want the Happy Hacking option, with no markings at all.

The project can make the entire long-tail happy with one custom device and some software shims. 

I sympathize but what you ask would be costly. As you said, there are workarounds. A USB keyboard with predominantly Greek lettering is one such path. 

 

[Grench]

You are welcome to use the keyboard mapping editor to map your special λ symbol over the top of any currency symbol you are unlikely to use in the top row of:

http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/#/layouts/81160699290bd34b452f217b9df6be08

That is why I included so many - so that there would be a visual mnemonic for people who would like to re-map a special symbol or 10 onto the keyboard.  Better to have something on the label to mentally associate the mapping with than nothing at all.

 

[atman]

http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/digital-toy-flat-surface-printer_534135365.html

This is a $3200 printer. Roughly 3000€. At 30€  each, that's 100 custom keymats to break even. I appreciate that there are also labor costs involved in assembling custom units.

As a possible compromise, can you simply obtain some keymats with no printing at all, and offer a Happy Hacking option? That's the one I'd buy. A youth misspent painting models leaves me confident I could trick out the keyboard just how I wanted it. I can't imagine how this would be significantly more expensive, granted you have two units to assemble and keep track of, but the steps are identical you're just pulling keymats out of a different box.  

Grench: I guarantee you I'll modify the keymappings heavily. I have three programs working in concert to provide this function on my laptop. 

I gather from looking around that keyboard bikeshedding has been a major source of entertainment around here. I'm suggesting that there be one option available for those who aren't pleased with how that all turned out. Either a completely blank keymat, or a customizing option for extra money. I definitely respect not wanting to take on significant extra complexity at this stage of the project, so perhaps consider the blank option? 

 

[atman]

One more point: when I say "blank" I mean without any paint at all, so translucent. I think it would look great as-is, though you'd want to turn the brightness on the backlighting down. It would be tractable to paint characters using resist, airbrush the whole mat black, and remove the resist. For the interested user, I'm not suggesting for an instant you employ an airbrush artist at DragonBox ^_^  

 

[comradekingu]

Im guessing ink without laquer is somewhat less durable than doubleshot keys.

 

[DAP]

This would be great, if it weren't for the double wide space key that prevents the keymap I want to use.