I made a FOSS physical keyboard for my Fairphone 4 ( feddit.de )

Github link: https://github.com/Dakkaron/Fairberry

Here's a video of it in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDb8_ld9gOQ

I've been using it for almost two years now, and I'm not going back.

It's based on a spare Blackberry Q10 keyboard and a custom Arduino-compatible board that reads the keyboard matrix and outputs it as USB HID to the phone. From the viewpoint of the phone, it's just a regular USB keyboard, so no special software is needed.

But I do use a custom virtual keyboard to have just two rows of symbols that are not natively on the keyboard, as I didn't want to add another layer of rarely used symbols that I'd have to memorize.

https://feddit.de/pictrs/image/e5240b79-0f10-4dfd-9bd6-2833300f49fc.jpeg

(On the image you can see Ubuntu with XFCE4 running on it. I chose Ubuntu because it's what was easiest to get running in a chroot jail on the phone. I'm using VNC to display the GUI. I even managed to get FEX (x86/x64 emulator) and Wine running, so it runs x86/x64 Linux and Windows apps.)

Sdnimm543 ,

I just got a Titan pocket. That's a really cool alternative!

squaresinger OP ,

Yeah, I wanted a bit more performance than what the Titan provides. I wish there was a decent midrange version of the Titan pocket.

JudahBenHur ,

this is spectacular. I'm typing this on a blackberry key2. I'd buy this in a heartbeat if it were possible. I was reading two days ago about the Titan Slim phone, but reviews are poor. I find it deeply frustrating that no one will buy the rights to, and release a key3. there is 100％ a niche market.

squaresinger OP ,

Yeah, all of the keyboard phones on the market are ancient and/or total crap in every regard but their keyboard and/or super expensive. Some of them are all three at the same time (looking at you Planet Computers and F(x)tec!).

I believe I might have the most up-to-date and highest specced keyboard phone currently on the planet ;)

there is 100％ a niche market.

There totally is, as is proven by Unihertz still existing. But I fear, the keyboard market is a little fragmented, and just a handful of devices won't really capture it. People like side sliders, top sliders or portrait candy bar,. They might want a large or a small phone. They might like privacy/secure phones or hacker phones, or just cheap phones with a keyboard and nothing else. Or maybe a flagship phone with all bells and whistles and a keyboard...

The Fairberry is adaptable to pretty much any phone on the market (as long as it supports external keyboards). Foldables might be challenging though ;)

But that allows you to use any phone you like with a keyboard that anyone can make for ~€50, or maybe €100 if you get someone to do the soldering/printing for you.

I_Miss_Daniel ,
@I_Miss_Daniel@kbin.social avatar

Interesting. But I wonder with the advent of Swype / Swiftkey etc whether a physical keyboard of these dimensions can compete in a speed? I feel like it's not physically possible to match the speed of swyping, but could be wrong.

squaresinger OP ,

I get 55 WPM without errors on the physical keyboard, compared to 45 WPM on the touch keyboard where I also have a significant amount of typos.

But tbh, typing speed is not the main reason. With the physical keyboard, I am much more accurate. I can use key combinations like CTRL+A/X/C/V (the microphone button is mapped to CTRL). There is an alternate mode (activated by pressing both shift keys at the same time) that remaps WASD as cursor keys, which makes e.g. selecting text (SHIFT + Cursor key) much easier. Also I can type while walking and not looking at the phone. And don't get me started about how much of a difference it is when I use a command line, e.g. with SSH.

pH3ra ,
@pH3ra@beehaw.org avatar

I'm sad that I never managed to get used to this kind of keyboards (gigantic fingers), this project looks so interesting

wrath-sedan ,
@wrath-sedan@kbin.social avatar

Wow that's really cool. The hybrid physical/virtual is a great touch, and the ability to customize what's in those top two rows would be amazing. So cool what you can do with modular open design!

squaresinger OP ,

The hybrid physical/virtual is a great touch

The original reason for this was that I didn't want to spend all that time getting pass-through charging to work, so for charging the keyboard needs to come off.

But this "quick release" design has the advantage that you can use the phone without keyboard when that's advantageous, e.g. when I want to type really quietly while in bed.

This also gives me a direct comparison between physical and virtual keyboard, that you usually don't get on a pure keyboard phone. And I have to say, typing on the screen is a PAIN compared to the physical keyboard.

and the ability to customize what’s in those top two rows would be amazing.

For the two virtual rows? Yeah, I'm using the Gr8ly customizable keyboard for that (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=symbolsshortcuts2.gr8ly.co.za.symbolshortcuts2) which allows me to put whatever symbols I want on there.

So cool what you can do with modular open design!

Thanks!

Appoxo ,
@Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

BEHOLD. The true candy bar phone dimensions.

squaresinger OP ,

It is a looong phone :)

But it still fits into most of my trouser pockets

rikonium ,

That’s incredible, happy to see the old hardware still kicking!

On a similar note, sometime a year ago I spotted a guy using a Q10 at a shopping center in LA. Had a quick chat which was fun.

squaresinger OP ,

On a similar note, sometime a year ago I spotted a guy using a Q10 at a shopping center in LA. Had a quick chat which was fun.

As someone who is on the other side of that conversation a lot, I do appreciate it whenever someone asks me about that weird thing I have in my hands ;)

I got this a lot more when I had it in copper/wood (top part was wood filament, bottom part copper filament), but I only have these colors in PLA, which is not durable at all. So I switched to the plain-black PETG and now people don't notice it any more. I'm considering reprinting it in transparent PETG.

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