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   ( @squaresinger@feddit.de ) OP
    6•10 months 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   ( @JudahBenHur@lemm.ee ) 
      2•10 months 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   ( @squaresinger@feddit.de ) OP
        2•10 months 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   ( @JudahBenHur@lemm.ee ) 
          1•10 months 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.