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

Keebin’ With Kristina: The One With The Gaming Typewriter

June 17, 2025 by Kristina Panos 3 Comments

Can you teach an old typewriter new tricks? You can, at least if you’re [maniek-86]. And a word to all you typewriter fanatics out there — this Optima SP 26 was beyond repair, lacking several internal parts.

A sleek typewriter with a monitor and a mouse. — Image by [maniek-86] via reddit

But the fully available keyboard was a great start for a gaming typewriter. So [maniek-86] crammed in some parts that were just laying around unused, starting with a micro-ATX motherboard.

But let’s talk about the keyboard. It has a standard matrix, which [maniek-86] hooked up to an Arduino Lenoardo. Although the keyboard has a Polish layout, [maniek-86] remapped it to English-US layout.

As you’ll see in the photos of the internals, this whole operation required careful Tetris-ing of the components to avoid overheating and ensure the cover could go back on.

The graphics were a bit of a challenge, since the motherboard had no PCI-E x16 slot. To address this, [maniek-86] used a riser cable, probably connected to a PCI-E x1 slot with an adapter, in order to use an NVIDIA GT 635 GPU. It can’t run AAA games at 4k, but you can bet that it’ll play Minecraft, Fortnite, or Dota 2 just fine.

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Bento showing fully assembled device and XR glasses

Bento – VR/XR From A Keyboard

June 15, 2025 by Ian Bos 6 Comments

XR may not have crashed into our lives as much as some tech billionaires have wished, but that doesn’t stop the appeal of a full display that takes up no physical space. At that point, why not get rid of the computer that takes up living space as well? That is what [Michael] tries to do with Bento, the form factor of an Apple Magic keyboard and the power of a Steam Deck.

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Adaptive Keyboards & Writing Technologies For One-Handed Users

June 15, 2025 by Maya Posch 12 Comments

After having been involved in an accident, [Kurt Kohlstedt] suffered peripheral neuropathy due to severe damage to his right brachial plexus — the network of nerves that ultimately control the shoulder, arm, and hand. This resulted in numbness and paralysis in his right shoulder and arm, with the prognosis being a partial recovery at best. As a writer, this meant facing the most visceral fear possible of writing long-form content no longer being possible. While searching for solutions, [Kurt] looked at various options, including speech-to-text (STT), before focusing on single-handed keyboard options. Continue reading “Adaptive Keyboards & Writing Technologies For One-Handed Users” →

Taking A One Handed Keyboard To The Next Level

June 13, 2025 by Jenny List 1 Comment

When a wrist mounted keyboard floated past in the Hackaday feed, a mental image surfaced, perhaps something like a Blackberry keyboard mounted on a wrist cuff, maybe with some kind of display. It’s impressive indeed then to open the link and see [AdamLeBlanc]’s Schist01. It’s a wrist mounted keyboard, but with its bracket curving in front of the had to support a custom ergonomic chording keyboard, it’s definitely a break from the norm.

The wrist mount has clearly taken a lot of thought, and despite looking something like the arm of a Star Trek Borg, appears comfortable. It’s extremely adjustable, and can be demounted into several different parts. Meanwhile the keyboard itself has been formed to his hand by a trial and error process involving keycaps and a clay model. there’s even a thumb-operable touchpad.

We like this peripheral a lot, for the huge attention to detail that has gone into its design, for its boldness, and because we can’t help seeing ourselves using it as the input device for a futuristic head-mounted display. For now though we don’t have any futuristic silver clothing in the wardrobe, so that will have to wait. If you’d like to see more, there’s a video.

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Building A Cyberpunk Modular Keyboard

June 7, 2025 by Lewin Day 9 Comments

Perhaps you have a tilt towards glowing cyberpunk peripherals. Perhaps you’ve been hunting for a keyboard that you can position perfectly to suit both your left and right hands. In that case, you might just like this nifty design from [Modern Hobbyist].

The first thing you’ll note is the split design, which allows each half of the keyboard to be placed optimally for each arm’s comfort. They’re linked with a cable, which allows the STM32 microcontroller to read the keys on both sides and then spit out the right stuff upstream over its USB-C connection. The microcontroller is also in charge of running the per-key LED lighting and the LCD screens on each half.

The board owes its sleek and slim design at least in part to using Kailh Choc low-profile switches. They plug in to hotswap compatible sockets so the switches can easily be changed if desired. Keycaps are blank off-the-shelf parts because this is a keyboard for those who aren’t afraid to spend the time establishing the right muscle memory. It might take some adaptation if you’re not used to the staggered columnar layout. However, the LCD screens can display a keymap if you need a little help now and then.

We’ve seen a lot of great split keyboards over the years, including one amusing design made by hacking an existing keyboard in half with a saw.

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Microsoft Looking To Enforce USB-C Features Through WHCP

June 7, 2025 by Maya Posch 36 Comments

As much as people love USB-C, there’s one massive flaw that becomes very obvious the moment you look at the ports on any computer. This being that there’s no (standardized) way to tell what any of those ports do. Some may do display out (Alt-Mode), some may allow for charging, but it remains mostly a matter of praying to the hardware gods. According to a recent blog post, this is where Microsoft will seek to enforce a USB-C feature set on all (mobile) computers compliant with its Windows Hardware Compatibility Program (WHCP).

This also comes after years of the USB Implementers Forum, re-branding the USB specifications, with the most recent iteration thankfully using the bandwidth (in Gbps) as specifier (meaning no ‘USB PlaidSpeed’, sadly). Claiming to follow this end-user friendly spirit, the Microsoft blog post goes on to a minimum set of features that USB-C ports should have, as detailed in the above table.

Most notable is probably that PC charging support is required, as is support for at least one external display. As for the negatives, this seems to only apply to laptops, and no actual charging requirements are set (USB-PD voltages, wattage, etc.), so what the actual impact of this will be remains to be seen.

One thing remains certain, however, and that is that by trying to make USB-C the One True Connector for literally everything, there will always remain cases where end-user expectations remain unfulfilled.

The Keyboard Sinclair Never Made

June 2, 2025 by Heidi Ulrich 21 Comments

For those of us who’ve spent far too long hammering rubber keys into submission, a glorious solution has arrived. [Lee Smith] designed the ZX Mechtrum Deluxe, the ultimate keyboard upgrade for your beloved ZX Spectrum 48k. Thanks to [morefunmakingit], you can see this build-it-yourself mechanical mod below. It finally brings a proper spacebar and Spectrum-themed Wraith keycaps into your retro life.

The Metrum Deluxe is a full PCB redesign: no reused matrices or clunky membrane adapters here. [Lee Smith] got fed up with people (read: the community, plus one very persistent YouTuber) asking for a better typing experience, so he delivered. Wraith keycaps from AliExpress echo the original token commands and BASIC vibe, without going full collector-crazy. Best of all: the files are open. You can download the case on Printables and order the PCB through JLCPCB. Cherry on top (pun intended): you’ll finally have a spacebar your thumbs can be proud of.

So whether you’re into Frankenstein rigs or just want your Spectrum to stop feeling like an air mattress, check this video out. Build files and link to the keycaps can be found on Youtube, below the video.

Tip: if you foster a secret love for keyboards, don’t miss the Keebin’ with Kristina’s series on all sorts of keyboards.

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