tema ([info]tema) wrote in [info]optimus_project,
2007-03-15 09:06:00
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Optimus Maximus

After releasing the concept, we initially were developing a keyboard with 103 black-and-white FSTN keys for 1,200 US$. Time has passed.

Here's what we will release in late November/early December 2007. Since we don't have any PR dept, there's no word 'revolutionary' in description.



It's a 114-key keyboard.

It has 10 extra keys on the left for all the controlling/monitoring functions.



Every key, including the space bar, has a display.

Each display is 32x32 pixels full-color OLED.



Each key is user-replaceable.

It's a mass-storage device, so you can edit and upload layouts into it.



It's intended for a wide range of professionals - from linguists to video editors.

It's called Optimus Maximus.



We'll start taking pre-orders later this month for a 1,490 US$.



I would like to thank everyone for the continuing support and belief in the project as well as for non-stop critique and scepticism.

Come and talk to us at CeBIT in Hannover (hall 19, stand E22).

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  • 114 comments
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[info]tommasta

March 15 2007, 08:22:39 UTC 5 years ago

Best post yet! Thanks for sharing your progress with us. I'll have to build a new computer first, but I look forward to owning your keyboard one day.

Anonymous

March 15 2007, 08:25:02 UTC 5 years ago

Amusing yet mostly useless idea. It would make for a nice expensive toy in the $300-$500 range. It would cost about the same as iPhone (Tema has previously stated that the price point would be around the cost of an expensive cell phone) and would be a totally justifiable purchase.

But man, $1500? What the hell? It will just make everyone remember that, after all, we geeks don't look at the keyboard that much.

What a let-down.

Anonymous

March 15 2007, 08:27:13 UTC 5 years ago

Cool

One day I'll have it tooooooooo!

[info]mackeyka

March 15 2007, 08:28:19 UTC 5 years ago

so... $1490 is the price for pre-orders. will the final price be higher after release?

[info]alrauun

March 15 2007, 08:40:25 UTC 5 years ago

1490$ ?

wew! It has been a beautiful dream, but it will remain a dream for me.
It's a wonderful idea, but 1500$ is more than i expected.

[info]melstav

March 15 2007, 12:30:13 UTC 5 years ago

As stated in a previous update, the displays cost ~$10/ea.

Times 114 keys, that's $1140.

Plus the cost of the flash and the various support electronics.
Plus the cost of the keys wrapped around the displays.
Plus the cost of the enclosure.
Plus an amortization of all of the development and startup costs.
Plus a little extra for profit.

I was actually expecting something closer to $1750, but $2K wouldn't have surprised me.

[info]ex_ex_fooli

March 15 2007, 08:40:39 UTC 5 years ago

Blah.

Anonymous

March 15 2007, 08:42:28 UTC 5 years ago

totally awesome!! i'm definitely buying one for my G5.

[info]cgvictor

March 15 2007, 08:44:34 UTC 5 years ago

So, what about Optimus Minimus for $500? :)

[info]eril

March 15 2007, 09:05:40 UTC 5 years ago

What about Optimus mini three for 159.96 US$?

[info]cgvictor

5 years ago

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Anonymous

March 15 2007, 09:01:24 UTC 5 years ago

+1

[info]ex_gavarun

5 years ago

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[info]hratli

5 years ago

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[info]amire80

March 15 2007, 08:57:50 UTC 5 years ago

Linguists

This keyboard will really be very useful to linguists. Thanks for remembering us.

I write (in varying degrees) in English, Hebrew, Russian, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Polish, Lithuanian, Latvian, French, Italian, Arabic, Latin, Spanish and Amharic* and sometimes in other languages too.

The trouble is that linguists aren't as rich as designers and developers ...

--
* It doesn't mean that i actually know all these languages, да?

Anonymous

March 18 2007, 10:31:36 UTC 5 years ago

Re: Linguists

But does it work for Cunning Linguists too?

[info]kitki

March 15 2007, 09:01:39 UTC 5 years ago

Too rich for my student blood, but man. Having this would be amazing.

It's good to see this finally come to fruition!

[info]ultratails42

March 15 2007, 09:05:01 UTC 5 years ago

Amazing. Some day when I have a job I hope I can afford this. Also im sure it will eventually come down in price as the tech gets cheaper as technology always does. I look forward to the day when this becomes an affordable replacement. But at the moment im unemployed and the keyboard costs 3x what it cost to build my PC. But still. Amazing job and it looks wonderful and im glad to see the left option keys back. Keep up the good work!

[info]love5an

March 15 2007, 09:06:55 UTC 5 years ago

1500$?
This keyboard sucks!

[info]hratli

March 15 2007, 09:29:32 UTC 5 years ago

Usepics in Russian are prohibited in this community.

[info]love5an

5 years ago

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[info]ex_ex_mcm69

March 15 2007, 09:10:33 UTC 5 years ago

Learn to use lj-cut you asshole

[info]slavamakhotkin

March 15 2007, 09:23:20 UTC 5 years ago

lj-cut sucks )

[info]phej

5 years ago

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[info]shaun_a_m

5 years ago

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...and 2 more comments... from [info]rdk, [info]neojng Expand

[info]dregory

March 15 2007, 09:21:26 UTC 5 years ago

Ya mean something with 114 mini color-oled screens might be expensive?

I would never have expected it. *rolls eyes in disgust over the comments*

I congratulate you on making your vision a reality.

[info]shaun_a_m

March 15 2007, 09:28:16 UTC 5 years ago

Congrats on bringing this great beast to the market. It's truly beautful but at $1500, all but the super rich will be ignoring Maximus... Now how about a model where only the 10 extra and the F-keys are OLEDs? :P Something in the $500 range?

[info]crevice

March 15 2007, 09:28:24 UTC 5 years ago

Your illustrator are awesome in 3d graphics.
But when we finally could see the real working prototype?

Anonymous

March 15 2007, 09:36:32 UTC 5 years ago

I'm worshiping your Renderers. Yep, with "P". The're awesome guys (ladies? ;) ) with damn straight hands. Awesome work. Damned, in one moment I've started to believe, that it's real thing... *Takes the red pill*

[info]mackeyka

March 15 2007, 09:43:28 UTC 5 years ago

All the questions in this blog are usefull. Tema doesn't write even one answer. This is not a blog, but "home page of optimus project"

[info]mackeyka

March 15 2007, 09:44:35 UTC 5 years ago

i mean "All the questions in this blog are useLESS"

Anonymous

March 15 2007, 09:44:37 UTC 5 years ago

Space bar

Will the space bar also have a 32x32 display or a larger one so you can display big things on it?

[info]melstav

March 15 2007, 12:32:36 UTC 5 years ago

Re: Space bar

"Each display is 32x32 pixels full-color OLED."

That means you can only display things in the center of the space bar.

[info]rdk

5 years ago

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[info]melstav

5 years ago

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[info]rdk

5 years ago

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[info]kenmori

March 15 2007, 10:03:48 UTC 5 years ago

This is madness! I don’t believe that technology in its all absorbing sense is so primitive at the moment, that we can have such a devise only at the price tag near 1500 usd.

I don’t blame Ledbedev coz as I stated again they age definitely not trying to compete with companies like http://www.felixbopp.com/en/index.htm, and do target Optimus for professionals not luxury admirers. And it seems to me that there will be clients among studios, 1500usd is not a such big deal for a studio where a software licenses for a single machine can cost near 15 000 usd, but for a enthusiasts and freelancers is quite a problem, lets say a display worth 5000 usd by EIZO seems logically priced even for a professional working on his own budget as I do. As for the software one can find different solutions combining open source and one two products licensed if they ere essential. I do use a keyboard worth 300 usd and the moment of purchase, but there is a limit I would cross for functionality.

So first of all it is great that you do release it for 1500, I know you have patents (hope you solved the problem with some Georgian scientists who claimed to have the same ideas before you), yet I do hope there is a kind of a freedom for some one to release a product with a similar functionality if so there will me more. Or even if you are the only one who can legally produce it during the last five or ten years, I hope as technology evolves and the amount of your sales increase there will be a significant price drop.

Anonymous

March 15 2007, 20:46:46 UTC 5 years ago

This ..... is......... SPARTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

[info]diestro

March 15 2007, 10:20:17 UTC 5 years ago

Well, if you keep in mind that one key with display costs about 10$ (or even more), such price doesn't shock me. But if it'll be possible to buy Optimus with non-display keys and buy display keys later as Artemiy wrote - well, I would love to see a keyboard with non-display main 103 keys and tweleve keys with displays at the left - that'll be awesome for me and not expensive.

Anonymous

April 1 2007, 16:28:45 UTC 5 years ago

Alright, but why spend so much money on a keyboard if 99% of it does the exact same thing as a cheap $20 keyboard? Do the 12 keys on the left with static program icons justify the price? You won't have the real advantage that the keyboard offers, namely the context-sensitive keys they demonstrated in the prototype. Sounds like a waste of good money.

[info]sebism

March 15 2007, 10:51:14 UTC 5 years ago

there is no art without criticism.

[info]av8612

March 15 2007, 11:02:37 UTC 5 years ago

Yo braza! Its reely cul!

[info]bloodrage

March 15 2007, 11:03:30 UTC 5 years ago

I for one salute our user-configurable masters!

Personally I was concerned that they might not make any money selling the Optimus for only US$1,200. No that was _not_ sarcasm. It's not a fancy keyboard you're looking at there, it's a fancy _monitor_.

Given scaling & mass production... I think we'll see it at $999 at Walmart soon enough, and in 5 years they'll be making squillions licensing the patent when everyone else wants to produce dynamic keyboards.
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