One thing that we don't like with all of the softwares is their tedious hotkeys. Ctrl alt shift plus uvwxyz F1234, it takes forever to memorize them when you switch between different apps and programs.
So we built this Open Source Keyboard. A tiny 36 key keypad that takes care of all the hotkeys for you. Hook it up with your device and write down what key combinations you want to input in the UI, you then could hit one button instead of 5 to give commands.
For hardwares, we brought our tools here and made everything on ourselves from chips to buttons. For softwares, the program is coded using java, its serial port classes and JFrame for UI. It took us almost 24 hours to finish our prototype, in which we rewrote the codes and redesigned the UIs again and again to perfect the whole thing.
We have learned a lot in this project. It's our first time using rxtx class to stream our data. And it took much time to debug: we simply need to coordinate between the ui, the port, and the keypad itself. Hopefully, our efforts had made this keypad user centered, delicate and efficient.
Next step, we are planing to move this Keyboard to Android and make it an app. So maybe one day we could just lie on the sofa and get our computers under control with our phones.
Built With
- java
- jframe
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