Flip it over and take off the rubber foot in the middle of the keyboard so that it doesn’t press G or H in the next steps. This is the key step.
Flip it back upright again and lay it on top of the recessed keys in your current laptop. Voila! Every laptop is now a Thinkpad.
It looks weird, but it works. I’ve used this on Macbooks and even on the Dell Linux laptops that have a trackpoint, because this keyboard and trackpoint are better.
You can also use it with a 2-in-1 laptop with the screen flipped around and just put it normally on the table, or with a laptop stand like the Rain Design iLevel 2.
Thank you for qualifying this with that reference. There is definitely a special charm when a product promises an omni-solution for obscure & intractable technical needs (from adjacent thread). Perhaps one day the tide will turn back against the tyranny of “minimalism”* of the last few whiles.
Very much appreciate Norman’s contributions to interaction design thinking, and his concept of perceived affordances, (even though the original concept that he borrowed, (and then confusingly/differently defined) meant something related - but also rather different in the realm of perceptual psychology, (as opposed to industrial design)).
Also a sysadmin, and I see where you’re coming from. At first glance a lot of the features seem much more useful for my job 10 years ago than they do today.
As you read through the description, though:
any source of 12-60V DC power…crocodile clips are included in the box.
MicroUSB connector can not only be used for power, but it can switch to normal USB 2.0 port mode, except using MicroB instead of normal Type A. Why is it necessary? Because to flash some electronics you sometimes need non-standard USB A to USB A cables.
Why is it necessary? Because sometimes you have to hang on high, holding the mast with one hand, holding the notebook with the second, and typing something on the third
an additional radiator can be screwed to these holes, so that you can work for a long time under high load or at high ambient temperature.
His definition of system administration is a little more intense than mine.
I’ve been in lurk mode for a while, but I’m delurking just to say that this is brilliant. I’ve put a Model M13 keyboard above another laptop for this functionality, using spacers, but it is unwieldy. This simple solution never occurred to me.
Years ago I had a 701 with the butterfly keyboard, it was rather wonderful. I’d like to see a notebook where the display is taller than it is wide, and a butterfly keyboard so the whole thing can be the same size when closed as a conventional subnote.
Right, at that extent it needs to have a way cooler crampon-hanger accessory that sort of looks like a 7-color tattoo, a sun shield that itself doesn’t heat up in sun (pitch in the solar perovskites…or shinier stuff,) like 13 trusted computing thingos instead of just the Intel SoC’s, maybe a bit of memory and U.1 evaluation socketry, high-vis mounting bits, and maybe a licensed Tim Cook (Satya Nadella, Linux Plumbers Rendered as A Hipster Mumblecore Group, Puffy…) Otherwise Solo Album sort of logo on the lid (backlight options!) Well, the logo work is all too spare anyhow. Put a fingerprint printer on it, a couple arms that can neaten up hair and weave microbots.
The arm mount? Which seems to have been for a classical ascetic human arm or a stave?
I sort of faded out at the explainers for the display top. Lights, down-lights, cameras, gantry lights, IR touch, thermal camera or something? Nanopipettes? What, no 1H NMR?
What about all the times I need a re-breather and sheep shears?
Senorwences> [stuff Apple IIe Plus stuff]
Okay, you made me think of presenting an OLPC adapted with 4T magnets to the National Child. And?
d_r> [Portait display, butterfly keyboard.]
Aw yeah!
Ugh! I already deeply hate the design of thinkpads. Rip that damn nipple off. I’m pretty sure this laptop would have an accident if some nutter of an employer tried to make me use one of them. Put a proper touchpad on the side. Slide/Fold it out or something. Here’s some inspiration: https://www.iclever.com/products/boosttype-tri-folding-bluetooth-keyboard-with-touchpad
The monitor is too small. The 12" laptops are already uncomfortably small. A 9.5" is absurd… And then you add dual high rez cameras to the thing? Do you really use the front facing camera?
Some fairly recent systems are also VGA only - I have a computer with Supermicro X9DRi-LN4F+ motherboard (dual E-2690), and while I use it with discrete GPU, integrated GPU has only VGA output.
Yes to the part about how disappointing the X1s are. I have a 1st generation (the kind with the lamentable row of e-ink “smart” function keys. They got rid of those, I’m glad to say.
I’m going to put it on eBay today. Won’t get much - the camera stopped working - but someone can put it to use, I’m sure.
Hi, I’m the one who suggested this link to Cory. I have been in touch with the author of the article a little bit. We would love to crowdfund this thing, but there are still a few key roles missing from the project. If anyone is serious about wanting to help make this machine a reality, please get in touch! It’s a matter of pitching this project to the right partners (I can do that part) and then making a responsible crowdfunding project with a grownup and realistic budget and timeline. If you’re a program manager, firmware / linux hacker, or… anyone else, I’d love to hear from you. www.jeffrey-martin.com - thanks!
Agreed. The folks saying “I live in the cloud” are probably a hell of a lot younger than me. I haven’t worked as a real sys-admin in 35 years and get the cloud preference. But I’ve also installed real time data collection and control systems in experimental aircraft and 5 ton hydraulic presses and chopped up and hand soldered ethernet, rs-xxxx and usb cables to get shit to work.
Abstraction is great - but there are tons of people out there who actually touch hardware on a regular basis.
One of the problems with current Thinkpads is that Lenovo changed the keyboard about 6-7 years ago and the new ones are nowhere near as good as the older ones.
Cyrillic keys for example? Why? Yes I see the part about how, “See you can put more than one alphabet on there” part. But honestly, who TF ever needs to do that as an admin.
That said…
There are some people (like myself and a lot of people on r/mechanicalkeyboards) who are into keyboard porn. People are REALLY into what I would call impractical keyboard layouts, just for the sake of aesthetics. No labels at all? Sure. All in Japanese? I bet a few weebs have those. But for the true otaku weeb, there is this set for $160…
Note that this is for JUST THE KEYCAPS. And if you spend $160 for just the keys, you are easily going to lay down a hundred or more for a quality PCB and agonize for weeks over which key switch to get. Or maybe go hybrid with Cherry MX Silver for the stuff that matters and Cherry MX Black for the sensitive keys. Then there’s $150 for the milled and anodized aluminum case. And $25-50 for the special braided USB cable. Then there’s the special keyboard lubricants.
