OPERATOR
The OPERATOR is a mechanical keyboard aimed at photo retouchers, video editors, keyboard enthusiasts, and much more!
Using Cerakoted aluminium and PBT keycaps, this keyboard aims to last as much as YOU need it to. The knobs and slider are also aluminium.
This keyboard is all about space efficency, as you can see one half could be put out of way to make space for a pen tablet for digital artists. Additionally the small trackball can be used as a precise pointer, while the larger one on the left can be used to control Hue during digital painting or colour grading.
With the smooth Bourns slider, the rubberized magnetic profile ball, the glossy trackballs and silky smooth anodized finish, this keyboard is meant to be a pleasure to touch and use.
Fully programmable through QMK, it's more than just a keyboard, it's a shortcut machine.
It uses usb-c and TRRS jacks to connect to your computer.
COLOURWAYSThank you for your attention! I've been working on this concept for three/four months folowwing an assignment where I was tasked to better the working conditions of photo retouchers working from home. I am of course aware of products like the Loupedeck which serve this exact purpose, but coming from photo retouchers themselves, it's tough yo have to balance the loupedeck, apple keyboard (blegh), pen tablet, mouse, and two monitors on a table which you usually use to have dinner on. This started out as an all-in-one alternative but my passion for keyboards took over, and I grew quite fond of Blender, so here are some renders for now!
TO DO- Find Vendors in regions: Australia and Europe
- Complete first prototype and test firmware
- Find Cable manufacturer for collab
- Get Vendor's support
- Design PCB (with help)
- Add at least one other colour option (render)
- Add renders: Bottom feet / screws
I also made an IC on reddit as well:
https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/immf9l/ic_operator_a_split_ortho_mechanical_keyboard_for/Thanks again! Oh and please tell me what you want to see more of!
UPDATEHere's a little FAQ update!
Why is it so expensive/can you make it cheaper with cheaper materials/will you offer a cheaper version eventually?
Due to the cost of manufacturing, the quality of the materials, and usage of some unconventional parts, unfortunately we won’t be able to make it cheaper. We could theoretically use cheaper materials, but we will not at least for this version - we’re hoping for this to be of premium quality, durable and usable for years to come. As for eventually, maybe if this does well enough we can look into more accessible variations. Additionally, the board is going to be manufactured and assembled in the USA.
Can you do a color way in _?
The coating we’re using is cerakote which is extremely durable and has a very premium feel. We’re mainly trying to do the green colourway, the black also seems to exist already, but the white definitely needs to be created. This implies additional costs in terms of R&D and time.
Tenting/staggered/non-split/thumb clusters/hotswap?
We’re thinking about ways to tent, but as the design is right now it has rubber feet at the back to at least have a somewhat comfortable typing angle. Staggered is a no-go with this design, so are 2U keys of any kind. This is because it’ll use Kailh hotswap sockets, and it won’t have a plate so mounting stabs is pretty much impossible right now (in terms of space).
What firmware will it support?
It will use QMK; paired with something like AutoHotKey you could really romp around with this thing. The only downside is that it uses ARM microcontrollers, which cuts off a few of QMK’s features; this is a necessary sacrifice to have enough processing power to manage all the components on the board. We’re also happy to help you get your keyboard set up with your software of choice!
Can I just buy half?
Right now, we’re planning to sell both halves together.
Open source? (I wanna make my own case/source my own parts/buy everything but the case)
We’re hoping to eventually open source everything.
Trackballs are cool and all but I don’t see a scroll wheel or mouse buttons.
The OPERATOR is fully programmable, this means that the mouse buttons could be any key on the keyboard (6 and 7 are pretty well placed). For the scroll wheel the best options right now would either mouse3 and then drag or using the rotary encoders as vertical and horizontal scroll wheels, glide through those spreadsheets!
See you soon on the next update!
Interestingly enough, this board will almost entirely be MADE IN USA
You can use this as a signature if you want:
[url=https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=108472][img width=310 height=120]https://imgur.com/PBDMAgG.png[/img][/url]
