The case of the case.

[Binky]

I think one of the shortcomings of the pandora's keymat is the amount of wobble in the keys, especially while pressed.

A good keyboard has keys which travel straight down, but have a minimal amount of friction when pushed sideways and down th the same time.

 

[God Ginrai]

I think one of the shortcomings of the pandora's keymat is the amount of wobble in the keys, especially while pressed.

A good keyboard has keys which travel straight down, but have a minimal amount of friction when pushed sideways and down th the same time.

That's part of the problem, but honestly, they just didn't feel solid enough for me. They were ok for typing, but not any kind of thing I would have accepted for Gaming Controls.

-God Ginrai

 

[EvilDragon]

That's the reason I want to try different material strengths of the keymat - to find out how to make it feel perfect.

 

[Binky]

Is there any chance of getting a keypad where there is a metalic dome under the top (away from the user) edge of the key, and a flexible attachment to a rigid frame on the bottom edge? ( like the keys on hp calculators)

This means that all the keys can have hard tops, while being made of a single piece of plastic which is easy to assemble - and that the keys 'hinge' along the bottom edge.

 

[EvilDragon]

No, I've evaluated that, but the costs would make Pyras price explode...

 

[fusion_power]

Nice, but will not happen.

We'll see...

You can ask ED to be sure, I have no problem with the layout as long as it fits and I don't press more buttons than I actualy want there.

That's something I want to actually test. As you known from the Pandora, you can put epoxy on top of the keys - and it would also be possible with the action buttons. However, the epoxy on top needs to be thicker than for the Pandora, it needs to be fixated by the plastic surroundings of the case.

If that works fine, we'll keep it like that - but if it feels too squishy, we'll switch back to Pandoras design.

Sounds a little bit "cheap" to be honest but may be more expencive when producing it due the extra passes for these buttons onto the mat. I can imagine the transparent, "Epoxy like" Pandora keyboard buttons as Pyra Action buttons (style like the ones at X-Box Gamepad -> Xbox-360-white-wireless-controller.jpg ) but please as separate buttons so people can replace and mod them if they want. At least I can imagine that some people want to put their own buttons and layouts in if I watch these endless discussions about the labeling.

No, I've evaluated that, but the costs would make Pyras price explode...

Uh oh, and I thought Pyra Price is already in Atomic-Bomb dimensions...

 

[God Ginrai]

That is another thing I was concerned with. I had actually considered 3D-printing button-designs for my action buttons, which would not be possible with Keymat-buttons.

-God Ginrai

 

[Tenka]

And those would totally keep us from building and using metal buttons or colored buttons for cool Halloween themes.

 

[DAP]

Can you please not make the space key two keys wide? That makes a dvorak keymap impossible.

 

[ssokolow]

Can you please not make the space key two keys wide? That makes a dvorak keymap impossible.

How would the length of the space key determine that? Wouldn't it be a matter of the number of buttons in the row?

Also, while I would settle for a short space key to improve the tactile response, I don't consider it acceptable if fixing the response can be done without resorting to that.

 

[God Ginrai]

I still don't understand how a dvorak keymap becomes impossible with the double-width spacebar. Standard dvorak works on the same keyboards that a standard QWERTY layout exists on, and it's possible to do a QWERTY layout on the Pandora and the Pyra, so I don't see how all of a sudden dvorak doesn't have enough keys.

-God Ginrai

 

[levi]

I think it's because the Dvorak layout has ten keys on the bottom row. Add space and Fn and you get 12 keys. The Pandora has 11 keys on its bottom row, although one of them is a double width space bar. Personally I'm quite happy with QWERTY, but that's my best guess.

 

[Askarus]

I did the Pandora 6 Button Modification.#

It's not a perfect design.

Distances are not 100% correct.

ED and I did test it and we both come to the conclusion that it doesn't work.

1: The buttons are too close.

It looks well on God Ginrai's picture but if you have a thumb besides the buttons it doesn't.

2: Too less distances.

The buttons are too near to each other.

It's hard to hit only one button, especially if you have a fast game.

If you need to press 2 buttons at the same time you hit more than you want to.

Also it's too neat to the Keyboard.

Especially as the Pyra also has a backspace button where you have nothing on the Pandora.

So even if the buttons are as on the DS Light the distances are too close.

EvilDragon's layout seems better.

You won't get 6 buttons that are as good as the Pandora butons but at least 4 that are.

@ Saber:

Unfortunately there is no need to try your layout.

Did you see the Keymat design ED posted here?

Unfortunately there is no room to place Start and Select besides each other.

It's possible in Pandora as a hack but won't work with the Pyra.

The Nubs need much more room below the Housing than you can see.

EvilDragon wants to make a video later to demonstrate the hack.

 

[fahrstuhl]

I still don't understand how a dvorak keymap becomes impossible with the double-width spacebar. Standard dvorak works on the same keyboards that a standard QWERTY layout exists on, and it's possible to do a QWERTY layout on the Pandora and the Pyra, so I don't see how all of a sudden dvorak doesn't have enough keys.

-God Ginrai

I tried to make a Neo Layout on the Pyra keymap with a single width space key: The double width space bar interferes with the [ , ], [ . ] and [ J ] keys. I believe dvorak will have a similar problem.


A double width key would either screw up the placement of those three buttons or there would be a double width [ . ] key

Edit:

Spoiler

 

[TrashyMG]

Edit: Argh, why's the link broken?

It contains characters that break the link.. Maybe use shorturl to create a better link? http://www.shorturl.com/

 

[crosspoint]

I still don't like the idea of two extra buttons to begin with. But it seems to be decided anyway...

 

[levi]

Yeah, I'd have liked a Sega-style 6-button layout if it would fit, but I'm happy using keyboard keys or the new shoulder buttons for the extra two buttons. Still, as long as ED's design doesn't interfere with the diamond, that's fine, and who knows, I might even prefer his two new buttons to keyboard/shoulder keys.


@askarus Maybe a little lost in translation, but I don't understand the difference between your points 1 and 2. They sound a bit like 1: buttons too close 2: buttons not far enough apart. Could you clarify?

 

[Natsu]

1: The buttons are too close.

It looks well on God Ginrai's picture but if you have a thumb besides the buttons it doesn't.

Yeah, not really understanding this point either.

Also it's too neat to the Keyboard.

So even if the buttons are as on the DS Light the distances are too close.

Looker at the picture, that seems like a non-issue. Are the buttons the same size as the 3DS?
Can't really question any further without at least seeing it with my own eyes.

 

[Yoyobuae]

1: The buttons are too close.


It looks well on God Ginrai's picture but if you have a thumb besides the buttons it doesn't.

Yeah, not really understanding this point either.

Clear enough.

If not then wait for ED's video.

NOTE:  I used my own Pandora (and the one in the picture) as reference to match the scale of the picture I took of my thumb to the picture with GG's layout. So no excuses.

 

[Exophase]

Well at least it'd be easy to hit all six buttons at the same time with just your thumb, right? That's good for those games that require that.