Github link: https://github.com/Dakkaron/Fairberry

Here’s a video of it in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDb8_ld9gOQ

I’ve been using it for almost two years now, and I’m not going back.

It’s based on a spare Blackberry Q10 keyboard and a custom Arduino-compatible board that reads the keyboard matrix and outputs it as USB HID to the phone. From the viewpoint of the phone, it’s just a regular USB keyboard, so no special software is needed.

But I do use a custom virtual keyboard to have just two rows of symbols that are not natively on the keyboard, as I didn’t want to add another layer of rarely used symbols that I’d have to memorize.

(On the image you can see Ubuntu with XFCE4 running on it. I chose Ubuntu because it’s what was easiest to get running in a chroot jail on the phone. I’m using VNC to display the GUI. I even managed to get FEX (x86/x64 emulator) and Wine running, so it runs x86/x64 Linux and Windows apps.)

  • Square Singer@feddit.deOP
    0·
    1 year ago

    Yeah, all of the keyboard phones on the market are ancient and/or total crap in every regard but their keyboard and/or super expensive. Some of them are all three at the same time (looking at you Planet Computers and F(x)tec!).

    I believe I might have the most up-to-date and highest specced keyboard phone currently on the planet ;)

    there is 100％ a niche market.

    There totally is, as is proven by Unihertz still existing. But I fear, the keyboard market is a little fragmented, and just a handful of devices won’t really capture it. People like side sliders, top sliders or portrait candy bar,. They might want a large or a small phone. They might like privacy/secure phones or hacker phones, or just cheap phones with a keyboard and nothing else. Or maybe a flagship phone with all bells and whistles and a keyboard…

    The Fairberry is adaptable to pretty much any phone on the market (as long as it supports external keyboards). Foldables might be challenging though ;)

    But that allows you to use any phone you like with a keyboard that anyone can make for ~€50, or maybe €100 if you get someone to do the soldering/printing for you.

    • Ben Hur Horse Race@lemm.ee
      0·
      1 year ago

      I see you made a reddit post on r/blackberry. so just to say: you’re my fucking hero. please don’t stop developing this… I dont have a 3D printer, but I could use one for the other things I make (animatronics)… so I mean…this is making me think maybe I should pull the trigger

      • Square Singer@feddit.deOP
        0·
        1 year ago

        Thanks! Posts like this one make my day^^

        You are the first one who mentioned another post I made. Hopefully I am not spamming too much about this project.

        From my point of view, there is hardly a reason not to get a 3D printer. A decent Ender 3 can be had for ~€300, and having one around has so many use cases. It’s one of the best purchases I’ve made so far.

        • Ben Hur Horse Race@lemm.ee
          0·
          1 year ago

          I dont feel you’re spamming. If you go have a look at r/blackberry, I made a post about your project without realizing you had already done so.

          You’d recommend the ender 3? The two things that keep me from having a serious look into it are that I dont know anything about what model would be good/right, and I’d be concerned that I’d buy it second hand and it’d be disfunctional.

          • Square Singer@feddit.deOP
            0·
            1 year ago

            Cool! I didn’t see the post of yours. Do you have a link?

            I am the goto guy for 3D printer problems in my friend group. Contrary to the other printer models, the guys owning Ender 3 only contact me to show me the cool things they printed. These things just work. I only have one friend who has an Ender 3 who had problems with it, and that was after he upgraded almost every important part at once and had trouble getting it all working again.

            There certainly are better (and much more expensive) printers out there, but for the price point it’s absolutely the best. I would recommend getting the newest version.

            I would recommend buying a new one, if possible, because there are lots of unobvious ways to break a printer and fixing one if you don’t really know a lot about printers yet (because it’s your first one) is really difficult and frustrating.