Flux Keyboard

33 points by doriancodes

This made me remember Optimus Keyboard from about 20 years ago. I remember seeing the renderings, and I had always thought it was just a one-off piece of art where all they had were renderings and a prototype. It looks like they shipped at least enough to get some in the hands of reviewers a few years later, though.

I can't wait to hear how these "keyframes" feel to type on. Though maybe that part doesn't matter a great deal; it's probably more interesting for applications other than just text entry.

cole-k

Also thought of the Optimus. I think an interesting direction this team has taken is to make the keys transparent and the display beneath them compared to the per-key displays the Optimus had. I do think that per-key displays would probably look nicer, but as I recall the Optimus was crazy expensive (not that this keyboard isn't expensive either, but I think the Optimus was several times more expensive despite releasing almost 20 years prior).

But seeing how the Optimus (and its apparent predecessors --- I didn't realize how old this idea was) as well as the trackbar have failed to take off, I can't help but imagine this is yet another expensive toy. Even after having changed layouts (in minor ways) and keyboards several times in the past few years, I basically only ever look down if I want to be sure of a number I'm typing.

My hot (?) take is that better discoverability in-app is (a) easier to implement than some custom hinting to a keyboard and (b) more useful because you don't need to look down at your hands. But as a toy, it sure looks cool.
- donpdonp
  
  I too, immediately though of the Optimus keyboard. That's the more interesting product, imho. I'm not sure how this 'keyframe' placed on the LCD screen would work. It seems like it'd be difficult to get a good feel out of those keypresses. Somewhat ironically, the options further down the screen look more like I was hoping the whole keyboard would be. The Triple Key Module for instance. How about a keyboard made from those. Or a mechanical keyboard that supports the same add-on modules. Those look really good.
pointlessone

This particular Kickstarter is a bit disappointing. They initially aimed to start deliveries in December 2023. It’s almost 2 years later and they're still tweaking the manufacturing. They didn’t even had a production worthy software by that initial date.

They promise to start shipping super early bird pledges next month and finish delivering pledges in April next year. Also addons will be shipped separately in Q2 26. So if you consider to pre-order expect to get it by the summer the earliest. But more realistically it’s probably be a year from now, even later, and not get it at all is not completely impossible. They keep shifting timleine in each update they publish.
revx

Not for everyone but I love the experimentation. Looks like it's about $450 for a basic ish model, which tracks for something that's straight out of the future.
taras

Not a huge fan of more distracting displays. However it is very amusing that someone came up with a usable equivalent of apple touchbar
fanf

See also https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fluxkeyboard/flux-keyboard-the-keyboard-reinvented
alper

suspended with rare earth magnets

So that's where the rare earths are going.
eising

It’s very flashy for sure, and I also immediately thought of Art Lebedev and the Optimus keyboard.

Then I thought about how much dirt my keyboard has collected over the time. I suspect this one here would require quite a disciplined cleaning routine to stay as impressive as the promo wants it to be.
fcbsd

give me an ortholinear keyboard…but this does look like a nice (but expensive) gimmick
owl

Does it come in ergonomic?
- pointlessone
  
  No. They promised to look into it for the next offering.
  - owl
    
    Good to hear!
- rplacy
  
  this is what apple should have invested in instead of a touch bar, looks amazing. If it can solve issues with low/high light environment and be easy on battery - this seems to be a feature
  
  I'd totally love having multiple layouts based on language selected, and perhaps some extra tools like music or accounting or gaming just adding more shortcuts to me
- ClashTheBunny
  
  Does this remind anyone of the TouchStream? Apple bought them and it became the tech behind the iPad/iPhone touch gestures:
  
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FingerWorks
  
  People would print out different layouts and program the location of the keys, I think I remember? My boss at the time bought up like 5 after Apple discontinued them because he loved them so much.