[SOLVED] Making a 2 piece keyboard out of 2 cheap USB keyboards?

[tom2u]

2 piece keyboards are REALLY expensive. Why not use 2 generic keyboards instead? Are there any problems doing this? I just tried Microsoft and Dell USB keybaords and it seemed to work fine with the shift key activating shift when the key is pressed on the other keyboard. If you wanted to get the size down one could fold the circuit board underneath so you only have the left and right side with no numeric keypad (that almost nobody ever uses). You'd have to saw the case of each of course. 1 cut for the left one and 2 cuts for the right one. Now you have a very portable, 2 piece, ergonomic keyboard. Why is nobody doing this? And if it breaks its so cheap and easy to fix/replace. You can get these keyboards everywhere. They're worthless! You probably have a few lying around right now.

 

[USAFRet]

Why is nobody doing this?

Because few people want a hacked together thing made from 2 cheap keyboards.

It is not enough to saw the case in half and fold the circuit boards over...you somehow have to make the other half work with the single USB connection.


But, it might make a fun project.
Go for it.

 

[tom2u]

Well I just tried it and it worked fine with 2 USB keyboards. You don't have to saw it in half of course. It just gets a bit big with 2 keyboards. As most keyboards should be cleaned a lot more often than they ever are, look at this as a spring cleaning with some sawing tossed in.

 

[hang-the-9]

Well I just tried it and it worked fine with 2 USB keyboards. You don't have to saw it in half of course. It just gets a bit big with 2 keyboards. As most keyboards should be cleaned a lot more often than they ever are, look at this as a spring cleaning with some sawing tossed in.

I don't see this being ergonomic or practical at all. You would have your arms outstretched to hit the keys, and the desk space it takes up would be silly, unless you are using 60% keyboards, and even then it's a lot of space.

 

[tom2u]

I don't see this being ergonomic or practical at all. You would have your arms outstretched to hit the keys, and the desk space it takes up would be silly, unless you are using 60% keyboards, and even then it's a lot of space.

2 piece are always the MOST ergonomic because you can place each where you want. But there's always so very expensive. As for the size, that's why I said its best to cut them down. If you're left handed or don't mind using your left hand for the mouse its better of course if you don't want to cut them down. Definitely its way better resized. I haven't tried typing with my hands kind of spread out. It does seem awkward but maybe its not so bad. My present setup is too small for me to try! I'll try to rectify that soon. I cut down a Microsoft Natural keyboard a long time ago as I got tired of hopping over the numeric keypad to get to the mouse. (I could have just removed the keys on the numeric keypad and glued some sort of platform to the top of that area but you really need a trackball as a mouse just uses way too much space.) But the project didn't take much time. And plastic is rather easy to cut. (Just wear a respirator or do it outside upwind with a strong breeze.) Folding the circuit board under needs some care but nothing much. It worked really well for years.

 

[USAFRet]

2 piece are always the MOST ergonomic because you can place each where you want.

No, they are mot.

HID things are very very user specific.

Personally, I would find 2 keyboards, using only the left or right half of each, with multiple extra cables, etc....to be way outside the bounds of "usable".

Having tried and owned ergo keyboards from MS, etc....meh....if a purpose built keyboard works with your hands...go for it.
A kludged/sawed apart thing like this? I'll pass.