this post was submitted on 21 Dec 2025

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technology

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new frontiers of input, pointing, typing (hexbear.net)

submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) by hellinkilla@hexbear.net to c/technology@hexbear.net

13 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I accidentallyed on to an etsy search for diy/3Dprinted input devices. I didn't know things had gotten so wacky. There is a charm in it.

individual images as pictured above, with links

I only included general-purpose devices to be used with a computer. There are also a lot of similar that are more particular in scope, like for gaming or music.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1235848485

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1794595199

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1611887621

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1455788841

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1708081897

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1745070932

https://www.etsy.com/listing/4390959934

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1818650330/

https://www.etsy.com/listing/4383876994

https://www.etsy.com/listing/4369697061

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1781943947

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1515191305

https://www.etsy.com/listing/4377100365

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1721444810

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1665096354

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1756466609

Anyone using, or tried using, any of these?

all 20 comments

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[+] DornerStan@lemmygrad.ml 6 points 4 months ago (2 children)

[deleted]

[–] machinya@hexbear.net 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

first time seeing it and it looks amazing. base module looks great but having a trackball or a trackpad on the palm looks very hard to use correctly. if it was not for the price point, i would totally get one even if it's just to try it. keyboards are great but there must be a better input method out there

[–] Imnecomrade@hexbear.net 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

https://svalboard.com/

I've been looking for an open source customizable keyboard as an alternative to the proprietary CharaChorder (CW: Joe Rogan advert flash, wtf lmao). The full kit is $1050, holy shit, though you can get the parts for ~$430 and 3D print the rest yourself. I may consider getting this. My new year's resolution is to get my 3D printer running for once so I can build a custom bracket for my high capacity hard drives and to be able to do these kind of projects. I regret getting the Moonlander now.

I wonder if I would prefer double trackballs, or maybe one side a trackpad or trackpoint. I'd probably get a couple extra modules to switch them around, but it seems while trackballs are probably more useful, sometimes having the trackpad or trackpoint could be handy. I like that this keyboard is similar to the shape of my Elecom HUGE, which is one of my favorite trackballs to work with and feels comfortable in my hand.

[–] communism@lemmy.ml 5 points 4 months ago

Many of these are not too wacky, just alternative keyboard layouts.

For alternative mice, tbh I think standard mice are pretty close to optimal. Any time I try another type of pointer input I find it harder to control, but maybe that comes with practice. I also haven't tried one of those stationary ball mice where the ball is on the side of the mouse but maybe that could be ok.

[–] TraschcanOfIdeology@hexbear.net 5 points 4 months ago

The little plastic joystick you put on top of the arrow keys looks adorable, and good for people with mobility issues on their fingers, or maybe people who play fighting games?

[–] segfault11@hexbear.net 5 points 4 months ago

what’s wrong babe, you haven’t been gaming much since i bought you the ghislaine maxwell mouse

[–] LemonGrease@hexbear.net 4 points 4 months ago

Big trackball/trackpoint and Dvorak user here.

[–] aaravchen@lemmy.zip 4 points 4 months ago

There are a lot of keyboards that can give you a softer dip into the world, check out the MoErgo Glove80 for example, or any if the ErgoDox.

Going full custom needs a little lead up in my opinion, but now I'm using a Cyboard custom with custom-selected key switches.

[–] hellinkilla@hexbear.net 4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Not on etsy, I remember about these people https://ploopy.co/ who have a little business going for some years now. I am very tempted by this trackball in the event I ever have any extra cash to throw around.

And they also have an external trackpad which there is no example of above already:

[–] PKMKII@hexbear.net 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I am planning on getting a fader box to use with my DAW for parameter controls. Looking at the one you posted, given it’s running on open source software it could probably be programmed to send out MIDI CC messages instead of application volume.

[–] hellinkilla@hexbear.net 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

You might have a look for actual MIDI hardware as I saw a bunch of stuff like that but I don't know much about it so didn't include.

[–] PKMKII@hexbear.net 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Oh yeah I’m getting a dedicated midi box. I don’t have the smarts to go mucking around in open-source code to make it happen, and the dedicated box has its own software for adjusting CC numbers and other relevant settings.