“Keypad with cipher numerals.
This keyboard is for me more of an art project. And the opportunity to learn how things work. What is the underlying code and history! Arouse people’s curiosity.
What are Cistercian numerals?
The medieval number system was invented by the Cistercian order in Europe in the 13th century. Cistercians are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns. They used, amongst themselves, a secret number notation. No one really knows about it until about 20 years ago, a British orientalist and historian David A. King wrote a book about it. It was used by various different groups for kinds of medieval cyphers and secret number systems. It is a system that can only write every number from 0 to 9999. It can not to any other numbers. It is really easy to use for dates and page numbers of books.
Hardware components
- Seeed XIAO-RP2040
- Custom PCB. Made by Seeed Fusion
- Keyboard switches (20 pcs)
- USB-C to USB-A cable
- Selfmade keyboard housing (birch plywood, screws)
- Selfmade keycaps (solid oak and birch plywood)”