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Knob / k•no•b•1 by Work Louder — The low-profile mechanical keyboard of your dreams.
The Knob / k•no•b•1 is a keyboard being designed by 3D Artist and Motion Designer Ben Fryc, and developed by Work Louder. Evoking the look of both classic and modern technology, designed to be a beautiful and functional part of your every day workflow.
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Replies
@benfryc Decibel rating? (louder = better :) ). joking.
One thing I've wanted for a while is an integrated mute/unmute key with an LED. Using Karabiner-Elements I've remapped Caps Lock to mute/unmute, but I wasn't able to have the LED map to the mute state, which is unfortunate. The larger button makes it perfect when, say, you need to sneeze (yay Fitts' Law!). Do you have any thoughts around mute/unmute or any plans in that regard?
Also another pet feature I wish were more prevalent: Single-modifier shortcuts. Quicksilver from @alcor implemented this quite well so typing merely "CMD" opens the launcher window. Maybe that's outside scope for a physical keyboard...just geeking out here because I think keyboards haven't reached their full potential! Very cool launch and killer video!
@benfryc I'm intrigued to learn how seamless the integration of the keyboard is. 🎉Congrats! We're launching "Cascad3 - A decentralized inspiration-driven publishing platform" on Product Hunt soon. Let's collaborate! I would appreciate your support and feedback by clicking the "Notify Me" button to stay tuned and be the first to know when Cascad3 debuts on the stage.👇
producthunt.com/products/cascad3
Thank you!
Best regards,
Yami
Congrats, this looks really cool!
Two quick questions:
1) What switches will it come with / be available?
2) Can you share the dimensions, especially thickness?
Thank you and good luck with this!
@dragonstyle Hey Charles! We will be using gateron-style low-profile switches / stems. Some details there too: tactile / 55g / two-stage spring / factory lubed
Dimensions from top of the keycaps to the base of the rubber feet without the tilt risers is 2.006cm. Other dimensions: 31.485cm wide and 12.435cm deep.
Good questions!
@njuri Once we ship in Q3 then we plan to release an update for custom screen widgets sometime after. In the meantime, I created a figma file that shows how the UX works on the screen. https://www.figma.com/community/...
Wow, the low-profile mechanical keyboard game just got a serious upgrade with Knob by Work Louder!
Congratulations on your launch!! A physical product with careful and clean design really hits different. Thank you for making this ✨
My wife astonished me one day in a department store when she went over to the mechanical keyboards and started talking about them - I had no idea! Anyway the sound of the keys is what she liked. I did not hear any key clicking in your slick promo? Perhaps there is another ad? 🤔
@phil_meyer We will have typing test videos as we approach our shipping target of Q3 2024. Stay tuned!
Love this Ben! @benfryc Amazing to see the final product in less than a year since ideation! Love the clean color theme, any additional colors you thinking about trying in the future?
Hey! Love the keyboard, beautifully designed. Any details about what the knobs can be programmed to do? Specifically for MacOS?
Also any word on if the keys are remappable via QMK/VIAL?
@calvin_vadivelu Yep the configuration software will run on both PC/Mac. QMK/VIA would have been nice, but the chipset we are using isn't supported by QMK/VIA. Needed a processor powerful enough to do the stuff on the screen we want to do. It might be possible to hack together some kind of support down the road, but not planning to at the moment.
@benfryc Thanks for the reply! Yea totally makes sense on the QMK/VIA point.
Any chance you guys might have a preview/trailer of the software? Really want to jump in on this, but just want to confirm I'll be able to map all the functionality I currently have mapped on my mechanical keyboard.
Hi Ben,
I saw many of your ideas on Instagram, and that so cool to see to see a concept come to life. Congratulations for that ✨
I have some questions :
1. why you choose two magnetic pieces for the tilt risers?
2. What is its autonomy? Is the screen brightness adjustable for consumption?
3. I think I've seen this question before, but I didn't quite understand the answer. Are some keys customizable? For Figma for example?
4. In the end, isn't the screen like the touchbar? It's not tactical right?
5. The color of the "delete" key is not black like your render? 🥲
6. This is the preorder, the price will increase? if yes, how much? Be transparent please 🙌🏻
Have a great day,
Thanks 🙏🏻
@antoine_beaudoire
1. Mechanical simplicity and uniqueness
2. The screen will have setting as you mention to reduce brightness and such. More to come.
3. With the Work Louder software you should be able to remap keys and the top knob however you like.
4. Screen is not touch sensitive. The screens available in this size don’t offer it and the engineering cost of creating one too high.
5. Was one of the early details to go. Drew the eye too much. Orange is life.
6. Nothing to share on that front at this time.
@benfryc thanks a lot, you don't mention the autonomy?
Haha yaaas, orange 🧡 "creativity"
Well, not exactly then, but I imagine the price will increase after the pre-order?
Thanks.
@antoine_beaudoire not sure what you mean by autonomy? It’s wireless with Bluetooth connectivity, but it doesn’t have any AI or automatic functions.
@benfryc I'm talking about battery life. I saw the capacity at 2100mah.
Does the keyboard get very hot around the screen? I ask this because the touchbar takes up quite a few resources.
And please answer me the question about the price increase after pre-orders. It's an investment 🙏🏻
Thanks.
@antoine_beaudoire When we have production models to test on we will make notes on if the screen gets warm or not. Usually this has to do with battery placement, which will be more towards the middle of the board.
As for the price increase, once we have the keyboard in stock, the pre-order price point will go away and it will sell for $479 USD. Thanks for you patience!
Let’s go! Best looking mechanical keyboard out there. Congrats on making this a reality Ben!
Just looking at the keyboard layout more closely, and I'm a bit concerned at the distance my right pinky finger will have to travel to press return compared to all of the keyboards I use today. I don't suppose you could whip up a to-scale PDF of the key layout so we can print it out and get a sense of what that would be like, could you?
Knob / k•no•b•1 keyboard by Work Louder