Optimus Keyboard Pre-Orders In Mere Hours

godzillopiteco sends timely word that Art. Lebedev Studio is finally going to accept pre-orders for the Optimus Maximus Keyboard — in just under 11 hours at the time this story posts, according to the countdown timer on the site. (Late last year we were primed to pre-order in December 2006.) Read the project's blog for some recent developments.

More details

I'm less interested in the pre orders and more interested in the "description and detailed specifications," to be released at the same time.

This thing has sounded, looked, and felt like another Phantom since the start...

Re:More details

The phantom was just another games console.
People actually want to do this, but the only thing stopping them is technology.

I guess at some point or other we have cursed keyboards for having fixed symbols and wished for something better, I remember the cards you used to place above your Fn keys for word processing and graphics programs, we all get freaked out remembering the keys to games and I would love to see my keys change fonts to match what I am typing.

This keyboard will give you all that, its not just another console - its new.

Having said all that, you can probably currently just keep a few customised boards [fentek-ind.com] and switch as needed for less than the current expected price.

Re:More details

$1500?? I think I'll stick with my blue-led-backlit Deck (http://www.deckkeyboards.com), thankyewverymuch.

Re:More details

You have to remember that if the keyboard turns out as well as we expect, then the high price is not a problem. There are a very large number of rich people around the world, and having something as useful and good looking as we hope the Maximus turns out to be, it would become a status symbol. All the rich geeks can get to have one and brag about it...Thats all assuming the reviews are positive, but this is such a great and good looking idea its a guaranteed sell. Gamers would love it, Photoshop users would love it, hell i would love it. With the demand the price will come down as production scales, its just a matter of time until it becomes affordable. Ipods cost alot but plenty of people still buy them, one of these could be as must have as the ipod.

Re:More details

That only goes so far. I mean, it is one thing when you are looking at a price difference of maybe 20-30%. I think even 100% in some cases is fair. You talk about the iPod, but it's cost is on par with other similar sized MP3 players. But for this to be pretty much 2000% more expensive than most keyboards! That is a no go for me. I mean, sure it is a great idea and such, but only goes so far. I mean, the kind of functionality help, I don't see it being worth $1500.

I don't see them being sold at an sort of rate that is going to drive down prices.

I have to agree, I think my G15 is going to work fine for me.

RonB

Re:More details

Thats all assuming the reviews are positive, but this is such a great and good looking idea its a guaranteed sell. Gamers would love it, Photoshop users would love it, hell i would love it.

being a photoshop user (retoucher) i woudn't use this keyboard for that kind of work. there's no point and it's needlessly expensive. i can remember the keys that i need. also, many of the tools in photoshop require multiple presses of the same key to invoke. for instance, you can toggle between the many types of lasso tool (freeform, rubber band, magnetic) by pressing the "L" key.

this keyboard wouldn't really offer any benefit to a user since, at best, it can either display the current tool, or the next tool in the heirarchy of that button. in either case, i already know how to toggle to that next tool and i don't need the keyboard to tell me what the next tool is.

for $250 i might buy it. but for $1500, i'd recommend any photoshop user buy more ram, a bigger monitor (or a secondary or tertiary monitor) and a wacom tablet and still have some money left over.

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$1500 Hmmmmm, two 24" LCD monitors or the pre-order of a keyboard that changes icons that I won't look at and if I did, would be covered up by my hands. Well, at least I've got a couple of hours to think about this.

Re:More details

This thing has sounded, looked, and felt like another Phantom since the start...

I don't think that's really fair. The Phantom was constantly promoted as "coming soon!" The Optimus OTOH, started life as a conceptual design. Optimus never promised a product from the design, and in fact stated that it would be too expensive with current OLED prices.

The only reason why they're making this keyboard is because there has been unprecidented demand for it.

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Agreed... this is something I would consider buying, were it not for the extraordinary price. Now the three button version of it for about $150 is certainly interesting for a few applications. However, the countdown timer to take a preorder is nothing more than a marketing gimmick. The fact that it's a preorder means you're going to have to wait before they're even made. And that there's a countdown means that they're making you wait before you start waiting. If they're in the preorder phase, then just

Re:More details

The only detail that matters to me is that it's $1500 and it doesn't even come in a fucking ergo/wave format. I wouldn't pay $10 for a non-ergo keyboard - much less $1500. I don't care if it comes with a "summon the slave girls to come orally satisfy me" button -- if it ain't ergo, it ain't worth it. I spend way too much time at the keyboard to try and cram my hands into an unnatural straight-edge keyboard position.

I probably wouldn't spend $1500 for it, anyway. But once it hit the $600 to $800, I absolutely would - as long as it was in a ergo/wave form.

Re:More details

I don't care if it comes with a "summon the slave girls to come orally satisfy me" button -- if it ain't ergo, it ain't worth it

It doesn't, but you could program it to have one.

Slave girls not included. Slavery maybe illegal in your country

*Yawn*

I was really excited about this keyboard back when they first announced it and they posited that it would cost approxmiately $100. Now that it's finally becoming a reality several years behind schedule, and is going to cost approximately $1500, I don't know how anybody can really still be looking foward to it.

Re:*Yawn*

Oh, I'm looking forward to it. I'm not too sure I'll ever own one at $1500, but if they pave the way then knockoffs should be available within another decade.
-nB

Better Come With a Happy Ending

I agree. At $100 I really wanted one, but at $1500 it is going to have to come with a happy ending for me to get one.

Re:*Yawn*

How is this modded insightful?

The exciting thing is going to be if there are enough pre-orders for them to start fabrication. If they can stay in business passed this point, and OLED manufacturers start ramping up, it's only a matter of time before the price comes down. I remember when plasmas came out priced around $20000 for a 42" (if it was that big). Now you can get them for much less. We don't know how their planning on fabrication at this level. With such a small production schedule, it would suggest hand assembly. If they managed to sell out that production run, whats to stop them from licensing it to a foreign manufacturer? You know, like we do...

Re:*Yawn*

I don't remember them ever saying it would cost $100, I knew it was going to be cheap, and was sure they mentioned the price would be around $200-$300, which I admit is is still not cheap, but no where near the extortionate price they are charging for it.

According to the last /. story, it was "a little less than a good cellphone," I think the editors guessed under $400, but I'm not sure. But if you think about it, people spending even $100 for a keyboard is pretty unusual. The idea of a keyboard in the $200-300 range probably does not sit well with anybody with the ability to invest in the manufacture and packaging of something like this, which is no doubt what these guys are looking for (I doubt they have their own factory). The few that can be pre-ordered are probably all hand-built at this point, in which case a $1500 price tag is not bad for what is essentially a prototype. But if they post their count-down, it hits /. and of those readers, 200 geeks pay $1500 each for one of these, that's probably a pretty big indicator that something like this just might do well at $200-300 on Best Buy's shelves, and this outfit can probably convince somebody to invest in mass-producing them for the rest of us. Just a thought, tho. Cheers.

Wow... that's cool

When I first saw the picture of it, I thought that all of the buttons had the icons/letters painted on... and I thought to myself dang... you know what would be cool? If each key had its own display...

Then I kept reading. I will definitely be getting myself one of these!

Re:Wow... that's cool

oops... I take that back... sorry... didn't see the price tag... maybe later.

Re:Wow... that's cool

Well, you can afford to buy http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/vilcus/ [artlebedev.com] :)

Re:Wow... that's cool

You know what else would be really cool? A "Rolling Stones" button! (3rd key down, 2nd column of icon keys, right below Firefox)

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Don't be so excited. How often do you look at the keyboard ?
Each and every time you take your gaze off the monitor, off the code, your brain has to look at the keyboard. This is a little bit like saving a register on the stack doing an unrelated task and then loading the register back up again.

In short, spillage will slow you down a bit, the best way to become more productive is to memorise the shortcuts and not have to look at the keyboard.

I personally have and use the das keyboard [daskeyboard.com]. It's completely blank a

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On the other hand, every APL [wikipedia.org] programmer will buy one of these.

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I type in English part of the time, and in phonetic Korean part of the time, and the rest of the time I'm trying to get Chinese characters (actually Korean han ja, but very similar in scope... thousands of characters from the Chinese set) out of various keystroke combinations. It would be quite a boon to me if this thing could remap on the fly. Even worth $1500. But I'm not buying one until I know it'll do what I want. I'm also curious about the lifetimes of the OLEDs. My keyboard is powered up 24/7.

Re:Wow... that's cool

we shouldn't need to look at the keyboard when we use it...

You could use one of these [thinkgeek.com]

Re:Wow... that's cool

Agreed. I have an IBM Model M which features keys that can be removed and switched around to accommodate different keymaps. Once my roommates decided to remap my keyboard to say "FUCK" on the home row. It was weeks before they broke down and finally told me to look at the keyboard.

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I fail to see how a keyboard with blank caps is worth $80... especially if you're NOT looking at it.

1. It's on ThinkGeek, which usually adds a one-born-every-minute margin to all prices.
2. It's backordered, which means that quite a few people most definitely found it worth $80.
3. It's a clicky keyboard. The type that got replaced by the much cheaper to produce and shorter lasting rubber dome keyboards. Not only will it last a decade or more, but it provides tactile feedback. Many of us oldtimers who used the mech

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Isn't the 2nd version a buckle-spring keyboard? (you know, like the old school IBM keyboards with the extra 'clicky' sound) That would account for the price increase. Buckle-spring keyboards, although noisy and not too friendly in a business environment(mostly due to the noise), give off a very satisfying audible and tactile feel upon each keypress, unlike the more common membrane keyboards. Plus, buckle-spring keyboards do not wear out like membrane keyboards. I have a buckle-spring, and while it's a bit h

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You shouldn't need to look at the keyboard while TYPING.

Keyboards are about far more than typing, though. Just think about games--I don't usually get too far into games anymore because I don't want to spend half an hour memorizing the keys. A game is supposed to be fun. If I can look down and see what each key does, I can start playing immediately. The keyboard could be switched out of text mode to allow me to eliminate on screen palettes and toolbars in Photoshop. It can show users what keys do in iTu

A bit pricey

At $1564 USD [theinquirer.net], the price is a bit steep for most of us, but I'm sure it'll find its niche.

Re:A bit pricey

At $1564 USD, the price is a bit steep for most of us, but I'm sure it'll find its niche.

At that price, I'd expect to get the Optimus *Prime* keyboard, and it better transform into the leader of the Autobots, too!

Chris Mattern

Re:A bit pricey

At that price, I'd expect to get the Optimus *Prime* keyboard, and it better transform into the leader of the Autobots, too!

You have it. All Optimus models so far are like this: Optimus 101, Optimus 103, Optimus 113.

All of those are prime numbers, and I doubt it's coincidental.

Re:A bit pricey

They're like the K-Mart of Transformers.

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It will likely become a cool device for geeks to show their grandkids ten or twenty years from now. I predict the initial production run will be the only production run.

Advertising

This isn't a story. This is an ad.

If it's a real, successful product, it will be available tomorrow, the next day, probably next week, and at a lower price in a few months. If not, well...

Re:Advertising

This isn't a story. This is an ad.

Whether or not it is an advertisement does not preclude it from being a story. The first keyboard with fully software remappable symbols on each and every key is absolutely news for nerds.

What would be more practical...

Rather than having every key with an in-built display what would be more practical is leaving the alphanumeric keys as standard and just having the displays on the left block of special function keys and F1-F15. Short of multiple users who want to swap between QWERTY, Dvorak and other languages I can't think of any reason re-programming the standard keys is useful and it must add stacks to the cost. I'd go for one at $200 odd if when I switched applications I could replace the function keys with alternative icons and alternative keystroke codes. No wonder the unit cost is so high though - they don't seem to be planning to manufacture many units so it seems to be aimed at people with a surplus of cash.

Re:What would be more practical...

Short of multiple users who want to swap between QWERTY, Dvorak and other languages I can't think of any reason re-programming the standard keys is useful and it must add stacks to the cost.

Different keyboard modes have a much wider scope than layouts and languages. It's for displaying the right icons for when you are playing Quake, for displaying the effects of shortcuts when you are in Photoshop, for displaying the right functions when you switch modes in vi, for showing the right characters when you hold down Alt Gr when you want curly quotes, em dashes, etc.

I think a keyboard like this could be very useful even to computer novices — perhaps especially to computer novices. I've been using computers for decades, and I haven't memorised a fraction of the keyboard shortcuts I could find useful. It would be a lot easier for me if I could hold down Ctrl and look at my keyboard to see the right key to press. If a power user like me can't learn all the shortcuts, how could a newbie?

The real problem is that they went all out for the full-colour display, the animation, the integrated USB mass storage, etc, when you can get 99% of the value of this thing with a monochrome, high-latency, no-hard-drive version for a fraction of the cost. There's no way I'd pay this much for a keyboard, but I'd certainly jump at the chance if somebody were offering the cheaper version I describe. I've heard of various proof-of-concepts, but nothing for sale to end-users outside of the USA.

a new marketing avenue !

Imagine some unscrupulous person coding something that updates your keyboard to bombard you with direct marketing, using the keys like a limited dot matrix.. or indeed, if the keys mapped fast enough, you could create cool music pulse effects etc. I must admit, I'd like on of these.

Wow, hard to believe

Then the rumors of it being bundled with Duke Nuke em Forever aren't true? Or are they taking preorders for Duke as well?

Finally! Well, Eventially!

I'm so pleased about this advance warning, giving me a chance to cogitate on the early stages of beginning to anticipate the eventual opening moments of the new dawn of an opportunity to gear up for a period when, soon, there will be a new, imminent development foreshadowing the approaching onset of the start of my chance to, on a first-come, first-served basis, pre-order this thing.

Good Ol' Dependable

Maybe I'll be classified as a Luddite for this, but I really love using my IBM Model M. Best keyboard ever in tactile response and sheer typeability (if that's a word). I've been collecting backups off eBay even though I know you can throw one off a building and still plug it in with no worries. Simple, robust and failure-proof, aside from the sometimes flaky cables, I just love that it's a keyboard with steel in it.
Besides, shortcut keys are for the lazy folk, IMHO.

Why for Odin's sake...

....does Slashdot act as the marketing arm of Lebedev? The number of pre-annouce, pre-production, pre-order shite having to do with this marginally cool keyboard is wee-todd-did.

What I want

What I want is a USB Keyboard extension that is maybe twice as large as the number pad and consists of buttons that can be labelled individually. Then I'd like to be able to assign a sequence of key presses/characters to every one of these keys.

I want to be able to press, for example, a key that's labelled instead of typing /mu. I don't need no fancy displays, I just want more keys!

Re:

The X-keys Professional [piengineering.com] is one of those. You can insert little printed pieces of paper for the key caps, and the software allows you to program macros for every key. There are other models available on that page, too.

(No, I'm in no way affiliated with them, I don't even own one myself.)

looks nice but does it have...

an "any key"???

Re:Unless..

Too right, audiophiles and tuners... a market of suckers.

Oh, and I just bought my oxygen free gold dipped hand braided carbon fiber triple analog 186.2 bit digital monster extreme seat covers with pleather inlay...

they added 50hp and 20dB to my civic.

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This is slashdot... grammar is just a speed bump to the submit button.

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First of all, tl;dr.

Second, the cars you're defending are usually first gen Dodge Neons painted in "ass kicking" primer color and they don't go over 55 mph unless it's down hill with a STRONG wind behind them.

You did geek out a bit more than a Star Wars fan after hearing Vader called "Kirk" but that's ok, you're on /. and we're your people. But, dude. Chillax. He didn't stab your mother.

Re:Why not...

I think what everyone fails to grasp here is that this is a design studio, not a chinese keyboard factory. These folks do industrial design for a living and really couldn't care less about whether they sell 100 or 10k of these. At the limited runs they're making (400 this year was it?) I guarantee that they're barely breaking even at that price. Custom tooling is expensive, even in .ru. Frankly, I'll predict that in 10 years, reconfigurable keyboards will be the norm, and will be reasonably priced. It'll just take Apple to license their patents and place an order for 105,000,000 OLED keys... (Since I'm sure Dell won't be able to get the drivers right :-P)

Re:Linux

Given that the Optimus Three has an alpha driver available, [ookoo.org] I'd say it's reasonable to guess that the full keyboard will have support very, very quickly; and based on some of the things they say about all of their input devices (open standards and all that), and given that they seem to fully approve of the Linux driver (with a link to it from their own website [artlebedev.com]), the new keyboard's driver will probably be based on the existing Optimus driver.