Illustrated Kristina with an IBM Model M keyboard floating between her hands.

Keebin’ With Kristina: The One With The Protractor Keyboard

April 29, 2025 by Kristina Panos 9 Comments

Don’t you love it when the title track is the first one on the album? I had to single out this adjustable keyboard called the Protractor, because look at it! The whole thing moves, you know. Go look at the gallery.

The Protractor, an adjustable monoblock split keyboard with sliding angles. — Image by [BFB_Workshop] via reddit

If you use a true split, even if you never leave the house, you know the pain of losing the good angle and/or separation you had going on for whatever reason. Not only does this monoblock split solve that simply by being a monoblock split, you can always find the right angle you had via the built-in angle finder.

[BFB_Workshop] used a nice!nano v2, but you could use any ZMK-supported board with the same dimensions. This 5 x 12 has 60 Gateron KS-33 switches, which it was made for, and has custom keycaps. You can, of course, see all the nice, neat ribbon cable wiring through the clear PLA, which is a really great touch.

This bad boy is flat enough that you can use the table as your palm rest. To me, that doesn’t sound so comfortable, but then again, I like key wells and such. I’d still love to try a Protractor, because it looks quite interesting to type on. If you want to build one, the files and instructions are available on Printables.

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Hydrogen Trains: Not The Success Germany Hoped They Would Be

April 29, 2025 by Jenny List 90 Comments

As transport infrastructure in Europe moves toward a zero-carbon future, there remain a number of railway lines which have not been electrified. The question of replacing their diesel traction with greener alternatives, and there are a few different options for a forward looking railway company to choose from. In Germany the Rhine-Main railway took delivery of a fleet of 27 Alstom hydrogen-powered multiple units for local passenger services, but as it turns out they have not been a success (German language, Google translation.). For anyone enthused as we are about alternative power, this bears some investigation.

It seems that this time the reliability of the units and the supply of spare parts was the issue, rather than the difficulty of fuel transport as seen in other failed hydrogen transport problems, but whatever the reason it seems we’re more often writing about hydrogen’s failures than its successes. We really want to believe in a hydrogen future in which ultra clean trains and busses zip around on hydrogen derived from wind power, but sadly that has never seemed so far away. Instead trains seem inevitably to be following cars, and more successful trials using battery units point the way towards their being the future.

We’re sure that more hydrogen transport projects will come and go before either the technological problems are overcome, or they fade away as impractical as the atmospheric railway. Meanwhile we’d suggest hydrogen transport as the example when making value judgements about technology.

Weird And Wonderful VR/MR Text Entry Methods, All In One Place

April 29, 2025 by Donald Papp 5 Comments

Are you a developer or experimenter pondering options for text entry in virtual or mixed reality? If that’s the case (or you’re merely curious) then here’s the resource you need: TEXT, or the Text Entry for XR Trove. It’s a collection of all the things people have tried when it comes to creating text entry interfaces for virtual and mixed reality (VR/MR) systems, all in a searchable list, complete with animated demonstrations.

There are a lot of different ways to approach this problem, ranging from simple to strange.

VR and MR are new frontiers, and optimal interfaces are still very much a work in progress. If one wishes to avoid reinventing the wheel, it’s a good idea to research prior art. This resource makes it very easy to browse all the stuff people have tried when it comes to text entry.

It’s also fun just to browse and see what kinds of unusual solutions people have come up with that go pretty far beyond “floating over-sized virtual keyboard”. Lenstouch for example involves tapping directly on the touch-sensitive front of the headset, and PalmType reminds us somewhat of the Palm Pilot’s Graffiti system.

It’s a treasure trove of creativity with a nice, searchable interface. Have you come up with your own, or know of a method that isn’t there? Submit it to the collection so others can find it. And if you’re in the process of cooking something up yourself, we have some DIY handwriting recognition resources you might find useful.