IBM (and now Alps) keyboard pixel art wallpaper generator [updated 2021-02-15]

[sharktastica]

Hi all!

Hopefully, this is the right place to post this (I couldn't find anything specific for art). But anyway, as per interest over at r/ModelM and deskthority Discords, I've developed a wallpaper generator using the IBM (and co) and Alps/Alps-mount keyboard pixel art I've made over the last few months for my website and for sharing on geekhack. As of right now, this is still a WIP with more features and options to come, but I already have something working, so feel free to have a play around with it and let me know what you think - constructive criticism is welcome!

https://sharktastica.co.uk/kb_wallpaper

Here's a sample of what it can output:


Currently, the customisation options are:
* Keyboard family filters: all IBM and co, Model B (beam spring) only, Model F only, Model M only, Model Ms minus POS/retail, POS/retail only, ThinkPad/TrackPoint only, buckling springs only (F + (M - M3, M4/M4-1, M7, M8, M9, M11)), capacitive switches only (B + F), all IBM and co + Alps/Alps-mount, Non-IBM Alps/Alps-mount keyboards only, Old Apple keyboards, Focus keyboards
* Resolutions: 1024x768, 1280x720, 1280x800, 1366x768, 1440x900, 1650x1050, 1600x1200, 1920x1080, 1920x1200, 2160x1350, 2560x1080, 2560x1440, 2960x1440, 3440x1440, 2736x1824, 3840x2160
* Vertical monitor/phone orientation
* Scaling: 1x, 2x and 4x
* Solid backgrounds: transparent, "dark" (#333333) and "light" (#E1E1E1), custom via colour picker
* Order styles: randomised, ascending or descending approximate time period order (loops after each completion)
* Row staggering
* Specific keyboard colour tones: all, light, dark, industrial, other
* Specific keyboard form factors: all, all minus keypads/sub-60%, keypads/sub-60% only, 60% only, TKL only, full-size only, battlecruiser/battleship only, behemoth only
* Random skips

Some final notes:
* Feel free to use and modify results as you please. If you want to rehost results on your website or blog though, I'd appreciate some credit.
* Big credit and kudos to sealcouch of geekhack for the inspiration behind the icons themselves.
* Pending the lack of custom background options, you can of course overlay a transparent result over an image of your choosing. If you have Photoshop or GIMP, this will be a piece of cake. Although, you can even do this in mspaint; open up your background, copy a transparent result in using "Paste from", immediately click "Select", click "Transparent select", align.

Note: bolded text indicates new features or changes added since the original post.

Enjoy, and feel free to share what you come up with here!

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List of updates is now hosted on a dedicated update log found here: https://sharktastica.co.uk/kb_wallpaper_updates

[DarthChrisDK]

That is bloody brilliant! Good job!

[sharktastica]

That is bloody brilliant! Good job!

Thanks for the kind words! 

[sharktastica]

Update 2020-12-05

Hey all, got some neat updates for the wallpaper generator:
* 4x scaling option is now available.
* Cropping is a bit smarter now. Since the icons themselves are stored at the same set resolution (128x90), resolutions that don't allow for an integer amount of icons (for example, 1920x1080 only allows 7.5 icons at 2x scale on one row) require a crop. Before today, the crop only applied on the right side and thus looked quite ugly. Now, the crop is uniform.
* Custom background colours now added; to use, select "Custom Colour" as your solid background option then click the colour picker button to use

Before the crop update - note the crop only applies to the right side:


After the crop update - note the crop now applies to all sides:


An example of a custom background:

[pixelpusher]

really fun. 

Here's mine that I'm using for dual 1440p monitors:

[sharktastica]

really fun. 

Here's mine that I'm using for dual 1440p monitors:
(Attachment Link)

Awesome! Glad you found it fun!

[sharktastica]

Update 2020-12-06

Yet another round of improvements today:
* Fixed bug with phone/vertical generation introduced after yesterday's cropping update (whoops)
* Fixed bug with transparency being lost when generating with an image under certain resolutions
* Added many new resolution options for the 3:2/4:3/16:10 peeps out there, including 1024x768 (for retro rigs), 1280x800, 1440x900, 1650x1050, 1920x1200, 2160x1350 (you're welcome, ThinkPad X1 Nano users) and 2736x1824 (you're welcome, Surface Pro users)
* Added option to filter keyboards of a specific colour range/tone from your wallpaper
* Added option to remove keypads and sub-60% keyboards from your wallpaper
* UI updated to categorise the available options

[sharktastica]

Update 2020-12-16

Today's a round of content filtering improvements, including:
* The replacement of the remove keypads/sub-60% option with the "Specific form factor" field, which allows you to select between all, all minus keypads/sub-60%, keypads/sub-60% only, 60% only, TKL only, full-size only, battlecruiser/battleship only, behemoth (currently, just the two kanji beamers) only
* New options for specific colour tone fields, including industrial only, others only (which includes blue-grey Ambra Ms and Ellipse's silver gray and true red F62s and F77s), and all minus others

The industrial colour tone option:

The "other" colour tone option:

Example of a specific form factor filter (TKL, in this case):

[sharktastica]

Update 2021-01-07

Today's a fairly-big update
* The first of many Alps/Alps-mount keyboards have been added as a bonus and the first major expansion of the generation! To begin, 23 icons representing Apple, Dell, Focus, Leading Edge, Magnavox, Northgate and Zenith are available. You can find the icons separately here: https://sharktastica.co.uk/kb_icons#NonIBMs.
* Added new specific type filters for this update (highlighted as Bonus); All (IBM and co + Alps/Alps-mount), Non-IBM Alps/Alps-mount keyboards only, Old Apple keyboards only, and Focus keyboards only. Due to the new all-encompassing "All" option, the default formerly-All option is now "All (IBM and co only)".

A quick example of an Alps/Alps-mount wallpaper:


An overview of the current crop of Alps/Alps-mount keyboards:


FYI, I'm not really an Alps expert, so feel free to point out any inaccuracies in the icons or suggest your favourite keyboard(s) for me to do!

[sharktastica]

Update 2020-02-12

Nothing really special today:
* Added a number of IBM and Toshiba point-of-sales keypads and keyboards that were developed from and use largely the same mechanisms as the Model M7/M8/M9/M11 family. With a lack of better designation, I'm calling them "M-e" (for Model M extended family) for now.
* Added three new Alps keyboards: NeXT Non-ADB AAE, Sega TeraDrive SM-101 variant and Wang 725-3770.
* Added the option to generate a Model M wallpaper without any POS/retail devices, and an option to generate exclusively POS/retail devices.

The new icons:

Example of a POS/retail devices result:

[sharktastica]

Also, now hosting a dedicated update log here: https://sharktastica.co.uk/kb_wallpaper_updates

[sharktastica]

Update 2.5, 2021-02-15

Changes:
* The long-awaited custom icon selection option is finally here! It is accessible via selecting the appropriate option in the "Specific type" drop-down box. When selected, a new option will appear next to it, and clicking it will bring up a pop-out box where you can select the specific icons you want. You can also save and load selection files (.shark) so you can recover your last selection next time you visit the site. Just don't try modifying the files themselves - they are in a compressed format and self-modification with a plain-text editor will corrupt them! FYI, you may need to clear your cache before this feature works.
* The background colour picker is now hidden by default to avoid confusion. To activate it, you must select the "Custom colour" option as your solid background.
* Added Acer KB-101A and KB-102A keyboard icons.

Fixes:
* Fixed single-pixel issue with Model M-e monitor-mounted keypad icon.
* Fixed return/enter keys for Apples M0110 (ISO), M0118 and AEK2 (ISO) and Dells AT102 and AT102W keyboard icons. Their ISO return/enter keys were incorrectly represented as stepped keys.
* Fixed issues with both ANSI and ISO Apple AEK2 keyboard icons. The unit sizes of the right-most and left-most keycaps on their respective alphanumeric blocks were 0.25u too small.

Screenshot of the new custom selection feature:


And, the custom selection's result: