Isokey Keyboard

Isometric Keyboard

What is it?

The Isokey is a keyboard with straight keys!

What are “straight” keys?

Straight keys mean a keyboard where the keys are aligned and not offset like common commercial keyboards.

Why?

Why build an isometric keyboard?

Let’s take a step back

Common keyboards are the legacy of the old mechanical typewriters, which worked with a mechanical hammer. Do you remember them? In these typewriters, a few tricks had to be used to ensure that the stamp impressed the character correctly on the page and did not jam. First of all, the letters on the keyboard were not placed in alphabetical order, but a less intuitive layout was used - the QWERTY layout - to avoid the speed of typing on the keys being too fast. In addition, the engineers had to misalign the keys, just to take into account the physical size of the mechanical hammer and to allow it to have enough space to travel on the paper. This was all true and sensible as long as the typewriter was mechanical, but now with computers the problem no longer arises.

So we can consider a keyboard that has the keys perfectly aligned, because it can be more comfortable to use since people’s hands are straight.

Why not buy it already made?

This is a good question… but also the answer is simple: there are none to buy…

Actually something on the market can be found… but they are very customized or have minimal layouts (60%, 45%, etc.)

So, if one wants a “normal” keyboard, with all the keys, the iso send and the numeric keypad… then things change. numeric keypad… things change…

How to build it?

Nowadays you can find everything on the market and build a custom keyboard is not impossible. custom keyboard is a relatively simple thing… but despite working on developing and designing embedded systems, building a keyboard from scratch is not exactly a walk in the park… you have to have knowledge on a lot of topics, such as electronics, mechanics … design … and not least a lot of imagination …

Here I will describe all the steps to create your own custom keyboard.

How much does it cost?

A while back I had heard: if you want to buy something and ask how much it costs, most likely can’t afford it.

Building a keyboard from scratch isn’t cheap… just think about how many keys are on a keyboard….

In these posts I’ll show you how to build your own keyboard without spending a fortune….

In the end, despite all the money spent (not to mention the time), I had a lot of fun making something unique, and the way I like it!