Author Topic: Project:Kinesis destruction (Read 4154 times)

Lanx · « **on:** Wed, 31 August 2011, 11:56:57 »

i was throwing around the idea of playing with a topre, but just seems far reaching for now, i will go ahead and just finish my V2 ms ergo4k mod in late september, and after that i want to play around with a kinesis.
Course i'm gonna gut it up, and i guess sorta make it into some kind of mash up, i probably won't even keep the controller, i notice in a lot of kinesis mods ppl really try to keep the original controller around, since i've already decoded a g15, i'll just buy a used one and take that controller (and i don't want to deal with a new teesy).

i'll be reading up on the mods from you guys, mainly i'm interested in the deep concave of it, guess i'll be hitting up ebay and see what nuggets i find.
*note* don't expect anything for a long time, lol this is like already a "backburner" project.

sordna · « **Reply #1 on:** Wed, 31 August 2011, 13:41:27 »

Good project! Were you thinking to put flat PCB's in those keywells, or keep the switches in the bowl arrangement? I'd love to try a Kinesis where the keys are recessed in the case like it is now, but the keys in each section are laid flat. The 2 flat sections should be angled in relationship to each other of course (tented).

Lanx · « **Reply #2 on:** Wed, 31 August 2011, 14:02:37 »

what's the terminology for keywells? i've seen it in your' and IN's mods is that the thumb area?

i was thinking about basically cutting out the 2 concave parts, angling them a bit center and giving them an incline towards the middle. But i don't know how that's all gonna be until i "get a kinesis" in my hands and see it heh.
oh and i would "extend" the right side with regular 6x2(home,insert,pgdn etc) and arrow keys along with return/backspace yea i know whats the point of the kinesis then?

sordna · « **Reply #3 on:** Wed, 31 August 2011, 14:17:31 »

Keywells are the concave areas, also known as bowls, that contain most of the keys (letters/numbers/etc).

Lanx · « **Reply #4 on:** Wed, 31 August 2011, 14:22:36 »

ah ok, well imo the one great thing about the kinesis is the concave area so that's the main i'd be modding it would be to have a concave format. (i guess they're called wells cuz it's like a physical well?) I might actually get this started soon, didn't know InputN sold stuff.

Lanx · « **Reply #5 on:** Sun, 04 September 2011, 23:07:58 »

Ok i got at least 1 kinesis coming in that i'mma gonna destroy, i feel tho that i "MUST" give the kinesis a good try as a standalone kinesis before i start modding it, that's why i got 2, one to mod and one to play with.
I gotta find a g15 controller board around, tho maybe it's time to try a teensy it might be less hassle with those ready made pins with a teensy tbh and i'm not all that cool on the macro's anymore with the g15.
of course i do plan on modding up my V2 ms ergo 4k mod first, but i'm gonna make some adjustments, i think i can actually do both projects at once.

Anyone got any teensy advice? usage? maybe i'll see what the mods are here for a teensy.

so i plan to angle the kinesis keypads center, i plan to bring them together, and slope them as well, incline it and a regular 2x6 and arrow key area along with return/backspace and try to "keep" the thumb area.

late september mod, so we'll see if i can get the parts in, still gotta find 30awg wire!

Lanx · « **Reply #6 on:** Fri, 09 September 2011, 16:39:14 »

wow, kinesis really is nice, it's some i could even "adjust" to. how i turn off the sound again on a classic? can't find info so fast. But i wanna get to modding! (so far i know i'll replace "Delete" with shift) and i still want to make a 2x6 and arrow key the kinesis way is just too weird for me atm. typing this on a kinesis atm, pretty nice, but i think for "heavy" duty work imma use my ergo 4k v1, gonna try to mod the delete to shift now.

might even use the thumb button arrangement on my new v2 mod.

sordna · « **Reply #7 on:** Fri, 09 September 2011, 18:01:11 »

To turn off the click sounds: program+backslash. To turn off the capslock sound: program+dash

Hey, don't destroy it yet, give it a week, it's a good layout!

To remap keys it's easy, for example to make your Delete button do shift, the steps are:
program+F12
shift
delete
program+F12

You can remap multiple keys in a single session, just hit "source key" (to copy a function from) followed by "destination key" (to copy the function to), then another source key, then another destination key, etc, and when you're all done, hit program+F12. Note, the source key always copies the original function of the key (it doesn't matter if it has been remapped). After you remap you Delete button to shift for instance, you can still assign the Delete function to say the capslock key by pushing Delete, then capslock.
It's a VERY nifty controller, best I've ever seen.

Oh, to bring a remapped key to its original state, just push it twice during remap mode:
Delete
Delete

HTH, and congratulations!

Lanx · « **Reply #8 on:** Fri, 09 September 2011, 19:48:29 »

i already desoldered the "D" since it was stick and desoldered "delete" and gonna use that for shift soon, have no idea how the "diodes" will affect stuff tho since i never dealt with all that, i'll have to see i guess.

sordna · « **Reply #9 on:** Fri, 09 September 2011, 20:03:59 »

I thought you wanted to remap Delete to do Shift instead (so you can shift with your thumb), why do you need to de-solder it when you can program it instead ? I probably misunderstood something ....

By the way, the arrows keys on the Kinesis are actually nice. If you are used to vi, just swap the up/down arrows and you'll find it more intuitive (it will feel like using j/k in vi)

Lanx · « **Reply #10 on:** Fri, 09 September 2011, 20:10:44 »

i didn't know about the reprogramming, lol i resoldered it back together heh, i thought i got the non programmable one, i just got mixed up.

sordna · « **Reply #11 on:** Fri, 09 September 2011, 20:44:41 »

Haha, the Esssential is the only non-programmable contoured Kinesis. The Classic is fully programmable, just like the latest USB ones. See my post #8 for how to remap keys, it's super easy.

EDIT: Here's the manual.

Lanx · « **Reply #12 on:** Fri, 09 September 2011, 21:36:23 »

i musta done something wrong? i do
program +f12
delete
shift
program+f12

like you said but i only get the left side shift, lol i can't get the right side to shift, that's weird.

Lanx · « **Reply #13 on:** Fri, 09 September 2011, 22:02:50 »

figured out some keys work some don't, must be the matrix, guess i'll have to desolder and just repurpose a shift key then.

Input Nirvana · « **Reply #14 on:** Fri, 09 September 2011, 23:49:32 »

The board you have has a problem? Did the seller indicate that? You may want to unplug and re-plug the keywell. I agree with Sordna, you could use the board for at least a few days to get a feel for it, that may alter/refine your ideas of the mod.

Lanx · « **Reply #15 on:** Sat, 10 September 2011, 00:16:49 »

board seems fine, just that i couldn't remap "delete" to shift for some reason. rather it did work but for only half the letters, i'm thinking it's just a matrix issue. so i just rewired the thing and "delete" works as shift just perfectly now. But man getting used to this is gonna be a lot of work heh, first to get used to matrix and then the keywells, along with the extra keys on the bottom row, heh, guess it'll take a while. the bads suck btw, the faux leather of the ms ergo 4k was pretty nice compared to this felt. i really do like the thumbs, didn't think i'd get so used to them so quickly.

Lanx · « **Reply #16 on:** Sat, 10 September 2011, 13:28:25 »

i somehow made the assumption that i don't use the "delete" key, so i rewired the delete key back in but as a switch inside and i just reprogrammed one of the "ctrl" keys (right side) as delete. oh btw i don't have nubs on my F,J had to reuse ones from SP. i would've rewired the ctrl key as a real delete key instead, but there was so many wires heh.

Minskleip · « **Reply #17 on:** Sat, 10 September 2011, 16:16:41 »

Better than your modded MS board?

Lanx · « **Reply #18 on:** Sat, 10 September 2011, 22:20:47 »

well i do have to give it a fair amount of time to play with first.

Lanx · « **Reply #19 on:** Sun, 11 September 2011, 12:40:34 »

man i have two big issues, one is the "extra" bottom row, i'm not used to it, to the point that i hit those keys by accident because i expect those keys to be the regular letter keys. second is i catch myself hitting the "phantom" delete and return keys only to notice i'm hitting air, heh, i really do like the key wells tho and i think the way it's positioned it does not have to be inclined like the ergo 4k is. the thumb area really is nice imo, but i really am starting to miss the standard 2x6 and arrow cluster for navigation, i'm not a real "home snob" where my hands have to be on home keys all the time so i guess that's why i really don't mind.

don't know if i want to ergo clear this kinesis now tho, i prolly should.

sordna · « **Reply #20 on:** Sun, 11 September 2011, 18:02:26 »

You might want to connect a footswitch to the keyboard (any switch will do, really, check this page for the pin-out information. You can do up to 3 functions with footswitches, one of them is to enable the numpad layer temporarily (while the switch is held down). You can remap an arrow-key cluster arrangement, or any other set of keys, on either "bowl", and it will be active while you hold down the footswitch. A very easy mod would be to wire a regular extra switch on the keyboard, say below the left or right shift to the footswitch wires, and do the same thing without having to use your foot.

Lanx · « **Reply #21 on:** Sun, 11 September 2011, 18:06:38 »

i did initially also plan a footswitch for my v2 mod but decided against it since i don't feel like "driving" my keyboard and it'll only be for the shift key anyway or any type of modifer. The thumb switch that i remodded for shift is pretty nice, thats one thing i have to incorporate.

Lanx · « **Reply #22 on:** Sun, 11 September 2011, 20:50:37 »

figured out how to stop myself from typing the "extra" row by accident, i flipped the bottom 4 keys 180 so that it "stops" the concave motion. Haven't had a miss-type or pressing the damn arrow keys by accident since. I've noted that the lines in yellow, you kinda have to shave a bit off since it's slanted, whatever so just use an exacto knife (dremel will just mess it up). also i flipped the enter/delete keys, the normal way they were faced it was "irritating" my thumbs, oh yea and used f/j with nubs. Typing got a whole lot comfortable once i did this, no more mistakes with the bottom row and thumb is less chaffed.

sordna · « **Reply #23 on:** Sun, 11 September 2011, 20:53:57 »

Haha, very creative idea!

Lanx · « **Reply #24 on:** Mon, 12 September 2011, 02:29:54 »

man, now i'm searching online for "faux leather" i really hate these stick on pads, the faux leather on the ms ergo 4k was so good. but i don't want to learn how to sew!

sordna · « **Reply #25 on:** Mon, 12 September 2011, 10:12:52 »

Consider going without pads. I used the pads for years, but finally got rid of them and I like it better now!

Lanx · « **Reply #26 on:** Mon, 12 September 2011, 15:41:22 »

i might do that, all these years kinesis never made a faux leather option?

Input Nirvana · « **Reply #27 on:** Mon, 12 September 2011, 19:41:50 »

No, just a couple colors of the pads.

I've never used the pads all these years until this last year, and kind of like them. I want to try something better though and see how it compares. I've been checking McMaster-Carr for their different foams and such. I'd like to check something just as thin or thinner, slightly more robust. Almost like a tacky pad so I'm not just on the plastic.

Lanx · « **Reply #28 on:** Tue, 13 September 2011, 03:11:40 »

ok... now i'm having second thoughts about modding in the enter/delete keys on the right side i'm 90% comfortable with the thumbs now... which sucks cuz now i'm torn between going back to my v1/ finishing my v2 or doing this kinesis mod!!! no wonder this stupid keyboard basically remained unchanged for nearly 20 years.

gah i'm even playing with the sounds since the fiance is gonna be travelling for a few weeks.

i'm thinking now that i have to at least give it an incline... it really does need that.
i want it more together still and angled.
i think i'll plop in a 2x6/arrow cluster right in the middle... might be too much

argh these keywells are too awesome.

oh i'm 50/50 on doing function replacements

or i can totally scrap that and combine this with like 30 more buttons and add in a g13/g15 but then it'd just be a faux/fake maltron.

arh totally confused now.

sordna · « **Reply #29 on:** Tue, 13 September 2011, 03:30:04 »

Hmm, I would say finish your other keyboard mods and use the Kinesis as is, while the other keyboards are in bits and pieces. You know exactly what your v1/v2 mods need, so you might as well complete them. This will give you more time to get used to the Kinesis, so by the time your v1/v2 mods are finished, you'll have a better idea of things to do with the Kinesis without regretting them :-)

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Author Topic: Project:Kinesis destruction (Read 4154 times)