Learning Curves and Ukuleles

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Watch the curves

Table Of Contents

1. Background

1. Focus + Practice + Time = New Skills

2. My Learning Process

2. Building a DIY Travel Ukulele

1. Existing Tutorials, Resources, Examples

2. Anatomy Lesson

3. Everything I Know So Far

1. My Goals

2. (Re)Arrangement / Design Considerations

3. Zero fret, frets, bridge

4. Fretboard

5. Strings

6. Tuners

7. Super Glue

8. Wood

9. Turn Around

10. Ordering

11. Tools

12. Process

1. Background

About two years ago I received a ukulele for Father’s Day and started playing it.  It’s an instrument I’ve always been interested in, but nothing I’d ever put any effort into. Thanks go a world-wide pandemic1 I had a little extra time on my hands and figured I’d really give this a shot. Who knows, maybe I’d come out the other side of this pandemic with a new skill? Two years on and I can play several songs, carry a tune, and find it relaxing and enjoyable to play.

1. Focus + Practice + Time = New Skills

Part of my approach was to see if I could set aside some time every day to devote to learning.  I thought back to a TEDx talk by Josh Kaufman entitled, “The first 20 hours — how to learn anything.”  Josh outlines his process for learning the ukulele in 20 hours.

The essence of this talk is stuff we’ve heard a hundred times before.  Small incremental improvements become big gains over time.  Josh cites Malcom Gladwell’s theory that “ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness” as argued in his book “Outliers” but points out the 10,000 hours is to achieve world-class, expert-level greatness.  Josh argues all you really need is twenty hours of focused deliberate practice to be pretty good at something. 2  This is amusingly similar to the Pareto Principle that “for many outcomes, roughly 80% of consequences come from 20% of causes.”  This 20% of world-class effort, spread out over time, leads to surprising incremental improvements. 3 4  But, effort and time isn’t enough – it’s the particular focus.  Fenyman’s learning technique is uniquely designed to help identify these features.  A gross oversimplification of this method is: write down the steps as if you were explaining it to someone5 , identify gaps6 , organize / simplify and go back to the first step.

2. My Learning Process

What does all this rambling mean?  This website tends to be my sketchbook / journal for projects – especially projects where I am starting from scratch.  When learning a new topic or skill, my approach tends to be:

  1. Write down everything I know / have learned
  2. Identify gaps
  3. Break the skill into smaller chunks or modules
  4. Research chunks
  5. Memorialize what I’ve learned
  6. [Practice]
  7. Goto line 1

I used a similar process when it came time to build my first 3D printer, my first drawing robot, and vacuum former.  My two year ukulele playing progress could be summarized as follows:

  1. Watched this ukulele tutorial series by “Andy Guitar,” probably dozens of times, while trying to follow along on my ukulele
  2. Found songs using the easiest beginner chords (Am, F, G, C)
  3. Retyped song lyrics, with the chords interspersed, in a way that made sense to me7
  4. Practiced those chords and songs
  5. Found more songs using additional chords (Dm, E7, Em, D, etc) and repeated steps 2-4

2. Building a DIY Travel Ukulele

But, this post isn’t about playing the ukulele.  It’s about building a ukulele.  Documenting all of this helps me organize my thoughts, get them out of my brain (since I know I can always return here to find them), and free up my attention to move onto new problems.  (Perhaps most importantly, it lets me close dozens of browser tabs.) I’m not sure how I first stumbled across Daniel Hulbert’s YouTube videos and website, but ever since seeing some of his designs, I haven’t been able to shake the idea that I want to build my very own quiet little travel soprano ukulele.

If you’re following along so far, I’d warn you that as I’m writing this I just have a piece of wood with some holes in it and bits of hardware lying around.  I would not consider what I have to be a tutorial at all. 8

1. Existing Tutorials, Resources, Examples

After looking at Daniel’s various designs, I also looked at several travel ukuleles (most inspired by Daniel’s work):

I designed a 3D printable model, but have yet to print it.  As I worked on the design, I deconstructed other designs I’d seen, looked at the important parts, including some from Daniel’s templates, and tried to keep the critical components and think about the various design choices he made in building his own instruments.  However, I don’t think I ever will try to print this.  From a learning perspective, it was an excellent exercise – but I think I’d much rather have a wooden travel uke.

2. Anatomy Lesson

First, a bit of anatomy, swiped borrowed from the Kala website.  (I wanted to leave a message letting them know I was borrowing the image, but the post doesn’t allow comments.)

Parts Of The Ukulele - Kala Brand Music Co.

Parts Of The Ukulele – Kala Brand Music Co.

3. Everything I Know So Far

The following list is a combination of several of Daniel’s blog posts, PDF downloads, and resources he cites.  I will try to include the links to those references.

  1. 1. My Goals

    1. I want to make a soprano size acoustic ukulele with a shape similar to Daniel’s “travel [concert sized] ukulele (2015),” “backpacker travel [concert] ukulele (2015),” and “travel [concert] ukulele (2012)” but using the elements of his “basic hand tools.”  The reason for the soprano size is because that’s the scale of my regular acoustic ukulele.
    2. The reason for wanting to use Daniel’s DIY hardware store components instead of fret wire for the frets is because I want to avoid the pitfalls described by Anders Strand in this blog post.  If the slots for the fret wire aren’t cut to the same depth, well spaced, inserted to the same depth, and leveled properly, the instrument is likely to sound, to use Ander’s word, like “garbage.” 9  Daniel’s “hand tools” ukulele utilizes pieces of cotter pins super glued to the wood in place of this more exacting process.

  2. 2. (Re)Arrangement / Design Considerations

    1. Most of Daniel’s travel ukuleles use a “zero fret” instead of a “nut” to guide the strings on their way to the tuners.  This lets him basically invert the strings, tying the strings above the zero fret where the nut would otherwise be, and place the tuners between the fretboard and the bridge.
    2. Chris Russell’s review of Daniel’s special custom travel ukulele had very few negatives and made a lot of interesting points.  The head of the travel ukulele was tapered so as to allow it to be placed into a holder.  Extending the head a little would allow it to feel more like a full sized ukulele.  Recessing the strings into the head would allow them to be out of the way and less pokey.

  3. 3. Zero fret, frets, bridge

    1. The strings should have a slight incline from the nut (or zero fret) until it reaches the reach the bridge.
    2. Zero fret made from half of a 5/32″ cotter pin
    3. Remaining frets from half of 3/32″ cotter pins
    4. Bridge from a 3/16″ tube (aluminum, steel or styrene), about 3″ wide

  4. 4. Fretboard

    1. Of course, there’s no reason you couldn’t just buy a pre-made/slotted/measured fretboard and glue that down instead of messing with clipping cotter pins in half.  These are widely available on Amazon, with fretboards, slotted fretboards, and pre-assembled fretboards available over at StewMac.com.  If this scratch built ukulele doesn’t pan out, I might give that a try.

  5. 5. Strings

    1. Fret calculator and guidance on how to use it

  6. 6. Tuners

    1. I’ve got these cheap ~$10 tuners on hand, but if this travel ukulele works out alright, I would definitely throw down for a set of the ~$30 Graph Tech tuners Daniel uses.

  7. 7. Super Glue

    1. I’ve always had horrible problems with super glue.  It always dries completely up before I ever get a chance to use it.  Fortunately, my twitter friends came to the rescue and recommended several brands:
      1. Mercury Adhesives M300M (suggested by @EMSL)
      2. Gorilla Glue (@MattStultz)
      3. Loctite (various)
      4. Bob Smith Industries (various)
    2. I haven’t tried it yet, but supposedly baking soda will help super glue cure faster

  8. 8. Wood

    1. Anders recommends against using normal wood in favor of hardwood.  While he doesn’t say why, I suspect it is because the strings were biting into the softer wood, causing the holes to widen slightly, and the ukulele to continually go slightly out of tune.  He suggests the wood could be sourced from a cutting board, which seems like a pretty neat idea to me.
    2. Dimensions
      1. About +16 inches long (extrapolated from design)
      2. About 3 inches wide
      3. About 0.75 to 1.0 inch thick

  9. 9. Turn Around

    1. The turn around could be fashioned from an aluminum tattoo machine grip.  Searching for “tattoo machine aluminum grip” on ebay seems to turn up some acceptable variations.  The most good looking one appears to be about 2″ wide and a little over 3/4″ in diameter.  Ebay links to particular auctions tend to go bad pretty quickly, so without any form of endorsement, I’ll link to the seller here too.  (I’ve tried to save the auction page in Archive.org for future reference).
    2. However, since I have a 3D printer, these seem very printable.  Anders was kind enough to post his 3D models for the parts of his ukulele.  The design of the turn around is pretty simple.  I published my own version on Printables.com.  The model is little more than a 16mm diameter, 50mm long cylinder with a 5mm bore, some ridges for strings (spaced -17.75, -5.5, 5.5, and 17.75 from the center), and a flattened side to make it easier to print.  These measurements came from Anders’ own work.  I suspect the diameter, more, and ridge depths are immaterial, while the spacing is a little more important.
    3. The hardware for the turn arounds were a lot harder to track down.  Daniel uses these super cool screws that go by an absolutely astonishing array of names.  Chicago screws, Chicago bolts, sex screws, posts, binding posts, etc.  Depending upon which one you search for, you’ll either find nothing, lumber, metal stakes, random screws/bolts, or something altogether very different.  I’d found a truly dizzying array of options from McMaster-Carr, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Amazon, and a few other specialty sites.  Fortunately, Daniel was kind enough to point me in the direction of these posts (with a #10-24 coarse thread size) and patiently explain he uses two of these with about 3/4″ of threaded rod between.
    4. There are some really nice looking black oxide posts on Amazon and elsewhere, but they tend to be metric, which then means drilling a metric hole, finding metric threaded rod…  Because I like the look of the black oxide coated hardware, I was contemplating using some metric set screws in their place.
    5. I had considered using just one with a longer #10-24 machine screw10 on the other side – then I realized the screw side would be too narrow, creating a tilted turn around.  Two posts it is.  :)  I don’t know the diameter of the post, otherwise I’d list that here.  Another possibility is using post extensions.
    6. Sometimes as I’m doing a deep dive on a project, I have an idea for an improvement or a way to do something in a different way from the original.  It’s around this point imposter syndrome kicks in and I wonder “Is this actually a terrible idea that was already discarded by others?”  I am sure the main point of having a post / threaded rod / post sandwich for the turn around is to ensure there’s a length of metal running through the turn around.  It’s probably even more important if the turn around is made of plastic.  Then again, what if there was a 3D printed turn around which had two spots for captive nuts and there was space on either side for two long machine screws / bolts?  It would probably have most of the strength of a solid piece of metal running all the way through, far easier to source (and in black oxide hardware!), and fairly easy to assemble.  Printing in plastic allows such cool options, such as embedded / captive nuts, why not leverage that ability here?  A sketch:

      Turn around sketch for 3D model, using captive nuts

      Turn around sketch for 3D model, using captive nuts

  10. 10. Ordering

    1. I haven’t ordered all the parts, but it looks like the most likely route is for me to place an order with Home Depot and Amazon for the various parts.  I’ll post links if/when I get the full shopping list together.

  11. 11. Tools

    1. Drill and drill bits for the tuners and turn around
    2. Hacksaw to cut out the rough shapes, possibly cut threaded rod if I was using that
    3. Coping saw to cut the interior area out nicely
    4. Nippers (left over from some tilework) to cut the cotter pins
    5. Files and sandpaper for taking the rough edges off the cotter pins and shaping the neck

  12. 12. Process

    1. Create template
    2. Transfer template
    3. Drill holes before cutting out the center, this way the wood in the center won’t splinter
    4. Cut rough shape of ukulele
    5. File, sand, and shape
    6. Glue cotter pins
    7. File, sand, and shape
    8. Add tuners, bridge, and turn around

I guess the next step is getting these ideas off paper11 and ordering some stuff!

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  1. I guess that’s redundant [↩]
  2. He references his research for this figure, but doesn’t mention where it came from.  Perhaps it’s in his book?  I checked it out from the library, so I’ll let you know. [↩]
  3. I’m trying to find a good place to mention the Japanese word for the process of continuous improvement is “kaizen.” [↩]
  4. Another great distillation of these ideas is that 1% improvement every day for an entire year yields a 37.78 times improvement overall. [↩]
  5. Thus, these words! [↩]
  6. Thus, the open questions I’ll pose throughout [↩]
  7. I like this style [↩]
  8. A cautionary tale? [↩]
  9. If you choose to go that route, Daniel’s guides should be helpful. [↩]
  10. Machine screws being screws that don’t have a sharp tapered tip [↩]
  11. Or, the screen? [↩]

Multiplayer MineCraft on the PlayStation

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Minecraft friends!

Minecraft friends!

I’ve been trying to get MineCraft on our PlayStation to work with multiplayer for ages without any success.  I could see friends, but my kids couldn’t see or add friends and couldn’t join any remote multiplayer games.  They kept getting messages like:

“You need permission.  You cannot add friends because of how your Microsoft account is set up.  This can be changed in your privacy and online safety settings on aka.ms/accountsettings.“

It was, in a word, frustrating.  However, after a lot of searching and setting fiddling, I finally got it to work.  Basically, a parent needs to create accounts email addresses for kids, then PlayStation accounts for those kids, then Microsoft accounts for them as well.  Then the parent sets up a “family account” and adds the children.  In any case, even after setting up all these various accounts…  once the parent is logged in they need to adjust their “Xbox” settings from within their Microsoft profile!

The process that eventually worked for me was this:

  1. Go to: https://account.microsoft.com/account/privacy
  2. Scroll down to other privacy settings, next to the Xbox icon look for:
    1. “Adjust your Xbox privacy settings on either your console or by signing in to Xbox.com” there should be a hyper text link that will take you to online safety and privacy
  3. Under Xbox one/Windows 10 online safety, check the setting
    1. “You can play with people outside of Xbox Live” make sure it is set to “Allow”

Even after doing all this, it still didn’t work. I still had to fiddle with additional Xbox settings to “Allow mutliplayer” and then log in/out/restart.  I had to log the kids out of the Playstation and Microsoft accounts on the laptop, log the kids out of their Microsoft accounts in Minecraft, restart Minecraft, and log their Minecraft account back into the Microsoft account.  I’m not sure which of these were strictly required – I just know that it took one or more of these steps to get this to work.

I hope this helps someone else.

Adobe Javascript

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Pasting paste

Pasting paste

I occasionally create PDF forms for work that would be a lot more useful with just a little bit of logic.  Luckily, PDF’s can run javascript.  To save me from having to continually search for this same information every few months, I’m copying and pasting a piece of an Adobe forum thread here:

// Obtain the value from the first field

var v1 = getField(“balance1”).value;

// Obtain the value from the second field

var v2 = getField(“amount2”).value;

// Set this field value equal to the sum

event.value = v1 + v2;

That should do it.

Photo courtesy of pvera.

A Little Bit of Javascript Goes a Long Way

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avengers endgame poster

I use a web based CRM for work, and it’s pretty good.  That said, I wrote a chrome extension to slightly improve it in dozens of small ways.  The cumulative effect of these changes is that I have a quantitively and qualitatively different experience than everyone else using this software.
Working remotely, where so much of the information comes through a web browser, being able to force a website to work the way I prefer feels like an infinity stone level reality warping super power.

How to Reverse Text String in LibreOffice or OpenOffice

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After spending a bit of time trying to figure out how to reverse the text in a LibreOffice cell, I found some information from mikekaganski which solved the problem for me.  I find it easier to learn such things with written information rather than a combination of written and video, so I’m reproducing the steps here.

Once LibreOffice is launched:

  1. Tools -> Macros -> Edit Macros
  2. Under “Module 1” copy and paste the code below
  3. Save and close this window
  4. Use the function “=(StrRev(A1))” to reverse the text of A1
Option VBASupport 1
Function StrRev(str As String) As String
StrRev = StrReverse(Trim(str))
End Function

That’s it!

Photo courtesy of Tim Samoff

Building the Monocle Top Hat Cat for #MicrobitVirtualConcert

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The last few months there have been some pretty amazing little robots posted online for the Tinkering Studio / Exploratorium #MicrobitVirtualConcert.  I wanted to make something and participate and my 6 year old was interested in helping out.  I don’t have a Micro:Bit, but I’ve got a few other microcontrollers and the Adafruit Circuitplayground Express is perfect for this kind of project.

Here was our basic process:

  1. Brainstorm ideas
  2. I eat a frozen pizza and save the cardboard
  3. Sketch of robot – and what it should do
  4. Taping sketch of robot over white cardboard
  5. Tracing sketch with a pencil with enough pressure to leave an indentation
  6. Coloring robot
  7. Measuring / designing a 3D printed plastic part to fit the servo (before I committed more plastic to it)
  8. Scratching my head and jamming together circuitpython code for servos and musical notes together.  I had really wanted to also have the eyes light up with Neopixels too, but…
  9. Ultimately, I had a sketch for lights + musical tones and another for servo + musical tones.  My daughter made the executive decision to go with servo + musical tones. 1
  10. Revising the design to include some “wings” for more surface area to glue to the card board and increase stability
  11. Adding extra “wings” so that the popsicle sticks could pivot on a piece of paperclip in the plastic holder, rather than in the cardboard
  12. “Drilling” holes in the popsicle sticks with drill bits rotated by hand
  13. Gluing in servo holder and just lashing bits of things together in the back with hot glue, blue tape, and some wire
  14. Testing different kinds of tails before gluing the final version in place
  15. The code and STL’s aren’t anything amazing and I didn’t do a lot to comment them.  However, if you might find them useful, I’ve uploaded them to PrusaPrinters.

Here’s the final robot in action:

Companion Robots: Building Robot Friends
  1. Cephalopod Robot Friend, the story so far
  2. Cephalopod Robot Friend Progress
  3. CuttleBot Body and OpenSCAD Design Tips
  4. An Assembled CuttleBot Body
  5. Building the Monocle Top Hat Cat for #MicrobitVirtualConcert
  6. Companion Robots and Maker Faire Season!
  1. What can I say?  In order to bring her onto the project, I had to agree to give her final cut. [↩]

How to Fix Outlook “Get Add-Ins” Grayed Out Button

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Work requires a particular Outlook Add-In, but Outlook wasn’t having it.  A bunch of Googling and searching revealed this is because of some esoteric privacy setting that needs to be twiddled.1 Here’s how you fix that:

  1. File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Privacy Options > Privacy Settings2
  2. Check the box “Enable optional connected experiences” and “OK”3
  3. Restart Outlook and you should be able use the “Get Add-Ins” button now

Yay!

  1. This page says what needs to be done – but doesn’t say where to find the necessary privacy settings [↩]
  2. This page explains these options might be limited at the administration level [↩]
  3. This sounds creepy to me. [↩]

QMK: The Adventure Begins

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Richard Feynman

Richard Feynman

Noted philosopher / physicist Richard Feynman has a now-famous method for quickly learning a topic.  It boils down to (a) pick topic (b) write everything you know (c) research to understand gaps (d) simplify.  While I’m not big on biographies, I found this graphic novel version extremely compelling.

I suspect most makers do something very similar to this, whether they realize it or not.  My own variation on this method is to create an outline of what I want to learn with each feature I want to include, do some preliminary internet research, add links to resources to the outline, read, drill down on topics, ask questions, LRR.1

Sometimes I’ll document stuff in a notebook, but when it’s something I know will take some time to learn and probably require code and other digital resources, I like to type them up in blog posts.  It feels therapeutic, getting all this stuff written down.  I think of it as closing mental browser tabs.  Also, by adding links into a post, I can actually close real browser tabs, which is a distinct side benefit.

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  1. Lather, rinse, repeat [↩]

A Cornucopia Keyboard Options

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Once I started looking, I found a lot of options for a custom keyboard.  In fact, I started seeing them everywhere.1 I found these offered as some combination of “media,” “macro,” “button,” “board,” “keypad,” and “keyboard.”  I’m offering this list in no particular order – other than how I noticed each one.

"6 Key Macro Keypad" by @iHayri1

“6 Key Macro Keypad” by
@iHayri1

1. “6 Key Macro Keypad” by @iHayri1, ~$87

I found @iHayri1‘s keyboard in HackSpace magazine, issue #37, page 101.  If you don’t happen to have it lying around – no problem!  This magazine published by the Raspberry Pi Foundation gives away their digital version!  While on the pricier end of the keyboards, it’s got a lot of interesting features.  Six buttons, a media dial, an RGB LED under each key, a series of LED’s at the base of the keypad, and an LCD screen displaying each key’s current function.  I would have ordered this one, except it’s been out of stock for a little while.  :)

"NoodlePad" by @TheMadNoodle

“NoodlePad” by @TheMadNoodle

2. “NoodlePad” by @TheMadNoodle, ~$86

I found the NoodlePad by @TheMadNoodle on Etsy after searching for media keypads.  This is another beautifully designed board – eight buttons, knurled metal knob, mounted onto a shaped board and thick lasercut acrylic plate.  This was the first board I saw referencing “QMK” firmware.  This board is also offered in a “semi-assembled” state where the buyer supplies their own switches and keycaps.  If you’re going to fall down a rabbit hole on mechanical keyboards, the switches may be what get you.  The ordering options also offer “Cherry Red,” “Cherry Blue,” “Cherry Brown,” and “Cherry Black” switches.  At first I thought this referred only to the color of the switch underneath the keycap.  As it turns out, each color matches the little bit of plastic connecting into the keycap which in turn is associated with a different set of mechanical features for that particular kind of switch.  Maybe you want a key with more bounce, requires more force, or a more gentle touch.  That you can order your keypad with the exact keys you need says a lot about this maker and their product.

3. “BYO Keyboard” by @travis_the_makr, starting at $36

I happened to catch @travis_the_makr showing off a prototype “BYO Keyboard” on Adafruit’s Show and Tell.  I should probably feel a little bad for hassling Travis to sell me one of these board immediately after his appearance on the show.  Intended as both a way to get started with soldering and programming as well as an actually useful final project. I kinda love the project is powered by an Adafruit Itsy Bitsy M0 so you can use either Arduino or CircuitPython.  I note QMK firmware support is a stretch goal.  :)  Don’t let this bare bones DIY kit without LED’s, knobs, and displays fool you.  If, like me, you’re only now embarking on your mechanical keypad journey and don’t have a drawer full of Cherry MX switches and keycaps, this is an excellent and affordable starting point.  Suffice it to say, I immediately pledged the Kickstarter and am really looking forward to playing with this project.

BigKnob by Leafcutter Labs

BigKnob by Leafcutter Labs

4. “BigKnob” by Leafcutter Labs, starting at $45

Of all the various keypads I’ve looked at, this was the very first one I ordered.  I opted for the version with the black steel case, wonderfully heavy metal knob, and asked the owner for some variation in the keycaps.  Craig shipped the keypad immediately and it arrived well packed in bubble wrap, only requiring that I pop in my choice of keycaps and apply the included sticky rubber feet.2 This keypad rocks four Cherry MX switches, a big hefty knurled metal knob, six RGB LED’s which glow through the lasercut acrylic base plate.  My configuration (with the metal case) was $62, including shipping.  While this is the only keypad I’ve actually used so far, it’s going to hard to top.

5. “8K Controller” by 2XLNetworks, starting at $32

Once I started tweeting about picking out some keypads, my buddy Pete told me about the “8K Controller” by 2XLNetworks.  This keypad has no LED’s, no metal knobs, no LCD displays – but it doesn’t need any of that.  It comes with a built-in USB cable, you can order it with pre-programmed with custom button assignments at no extra cost, reprogram it if you like, and it unlike a hipster clicky-clacky Cherry MX switch, it rocks arcade buttons.  If you need a bulletproof box that can stand up to repeated abuse at the hands of the public (perhaps for a photobooth, art project, school installation?), this is be the keyboard for you.

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  1. I’m reminded of the Baader–Meinhof phenomenon; after the first time you notice something, you notice it more everywhere [↩]
  2. These are a great touch! [↩]

Falling Down the Mechanical Keyboard Rabbit Hole

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The Solace of Quantum (Mechanical Keyboards)

The Solace of Quantum (Mechanical Keyboards)

TLDR:  I’m going to try some mechanical keyboards to help me work from home and blog about my experiences.

I’m fortunate that I’ve been able to work from home this pandemic.  I’ve always made a special effort to make my work more “digital,” by scanning and organizing digital copies of important work documents.  In many ways working from home hasn’t required too many changes to my overall workflow.  My entire office and desk space shrunk to just a single laptop propped up on a plank of cardboard with some holes to help distribute heat.  I have to be more disciplined about creating digital notes, since I can’t cover my work space in post-its and illegible scraps of paper.  Two pairs of noise cancelling bluetooth headphones are are taking the place of four walls and a door to help me concentrate and communicate “I’m working” to the kids. 1  While I’ve gotten used to one medium sized laptop screen, in place of a dual monitor setup, the one thing that’s been extremely difficult is using a laptop keyboard instead of a full fledged keyboard.

Which brings me, dear reader, to the QMK or “quantum mechanical keyboards.”  The QMK is a keyboard firmware2 that allows you to create very customized keyboards and keyboard layouts.

A while back I wrote a Chrome extension to help me with some work related data entry tasks.  It works by intercepting some of the top row function keys, preventing their default actions, and replacing them with some macros.  This setup probably slashed the number of required clicks and keystrokes by 75%.  My fevered dream is for a custom keyboard which could cut this yet in half.

Now, if that keyboard also has some media controls and sweet RGB goodness, well, then, awesome.  Of course, this means I can’t just go order a keyboard off a shelf.  While there are plenty of neat custom and QMK keyboards, to really get the most out of a board, to get exactly what I need, I will need to roll up my sleeves and actually dive into the firmware itself.

Next up – which keyboards?!

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  1. Why two pairs?  I originally bought one for myself and one for my wife, but now I’m just using one while the other charges… [↩]
  2. “Firmware” is nothing more than software built to run inside a piece of hardware [↩]