Building a Ten-Hundred Key Computer Word-Giving Thing
1 min read
Summary
A maker has built a keyboard with 1,000 physical keys, each of which represents one of the 1,000 most common English words, allowing for quicker writing, possibly at a faster rate than achievable by voice.
The keyboard, which took six months to make, uses five identical PCBs, linked together with card-edge connectors due to the practical limits of PCB fabrication.
It has a 60x17 matrix and includes 20 modifier keys to allow words to be pluralised or turned into adjectives or adverbs, or to create contractions.
The maker used dye sublimation to create the 1,000 custom key caps, each of which has to be pressed multiple times, depending on the word.
The project is impractical in many ways, but the maker also included handy tips and tricks for managing a physically expansive project.
