New WASD v2

zslane · 28 Jul 2015, 19:52

That keyboard looks fantastic shawn. Classy, elegant, clean. Kudos.

I think WASD offers tremendous value for the money, especially if your goal is a completely custom set of key graphics. However, for hardcore keycap fetishists, the compromises are unacceptible. WASD only offers one keycap profile, one keycap material, one keycap surface finish, one legend printing method, and 11 keycap colors. Sure, you can specify pretty much anything you want as a top graphic, with any colors you need/want, for only $50, but you had better be okay with OEM profile, heavy matte finish ABS, pad-printed (UV coated) keys selected from a tiny palette of eleven colors. It's a great deal...if you can live with all those aforementioned limitations.

The WASD V2 board itself may be really solid, but your keyboard will never be as lovely as shawn's with WASD keycaps...

HAL · 28 Jul 2015, 23:43

One of my keyboards at work is a WASD Code TKL with MX Greens. After putting on some real key caps (Dolch replica in my case) I often use it for a whole week before returning to my beloved IBM SSK.

zslane · 29 Jul 2015, 00:07

I'll be putting a set of DSA Dolch replicas from SP on a Filco 104-key board...can't wait! But its MX Reds for me. I am a firm supporter of the principle of infinite diversity in infinite combinations, but I just don't get the appeal of clicky switches. The devotion I see around here for those old IBM-style keyboards mystifies me. Is it mostly a European thing?

(Sorry, but the thought of having to use one of those IBM keyboards makes me shudder with an unnatural dread I can't explain.)

Muirium · 29 Jul 2015, 00:12

If only it were a European only thing. We wouldn't have to pay so much to import the beasts! Alas, the US is the land of IBM plenty. That's where all 3 of my SSKs came from, and one of my beamsprings. Glorious clicky bastards they all are.

What's your experience with clicky switches? MX blue/green by any chance? Those are annoying and not much at all like IBM. If I hadn't tried Model F first, I might have sworn off clicky switches when I found I preferred MX red like you. Even more so when I got into Topre; typing on my HHKB Type-S just now, the very opposite of click! Yet IBMs got me good. I'm forever coming back to them. Most of all the SSK. Absolutely sublime board. When you need to get your momentum going, there's nothing like a chorus of clicks.

SL89 · 29 Jul 2015, 00:26

I really like my Code with Greens, and want a WASD v2 with more Greens. And yes that board looks amazing.

HAL · 29 Jul 2015, 00:43

zslane wrote: ↑I am a firm supporter of the principle of infinite diversity in infinite combinations

zslane wrote: ↑The devotion I see around here for those old IBM-style keyboards mystifies me. Is it mostly a European thing?

For me its an old school thing. I have been useing IBM Model Ms at home and at work since 1995.

zslane · 29 Jul 2015, 01:14

My experience with IBM keyboards goes back to about 1982 when I encountered my first IBM PC, followed up in 1984 when I had to use an IBM XT for work. I have hated those beastly keyboards with a passion ever since.

Muirium · 29 Jul 2015, 01:22

Ah well, there goes my theory. Can't blame everything on MX. Though I may try…

Before I got into keyboards, I remember generally just preferring small ones. Laptops seemed so far ahead of desktops to me. I definitely had a thing against what I perceived to be "gaps" between the keys. I don't mean like Alt and Control on a Model M, but between adjacent rows and columns on most any board. Apparently my typing was so sloppy at the time, my fingers would slip into those gutters and annoy me. I preferred the flatness of scissor switch boards. Well, until I finally got into typing well enough such things no longer bothered me, and instead I sought out feel.

zslane · 29 Jul 2015, 02:27

Even though I originally learned to touch type on big electric typewriters ala the IBM Selectric, my computer keyboard preferences are largely defined by my first computer terminal experiences which came later, and in a way that's what I'm looking to recreate with my custom keyboard projects. For me, "beautiful retro" means a keyboard design aesthetic that pre-dates the ascendance of IBM's personal computer.

Ellis · 03 Aug 2015, 15:50

I do quite like the idea of a WASDv2 ISO TKL with MX Clears and some different PBT keycaps... but as others have said, the postage/VAT/import duty to get it into the UK kinda kills it. But then I could have an ISO TKL with Clears at home and at work...

radish · 26 Aug 2015, 01:30

matt3o wrote: ↑is it just me or WASD plastic looks cheap? every time I see wasd keycaps they seem like kid toys...

every time i get keycaps from then they ware out within 3-4 months of use. completely usless.

Muirium · 26 Aug 2015, 01:36

Time to graduate up to dyesub or double shots.

You, I mean. WASD won't. They have their reasons to stay on the cheap stuff. A lot of people value configurability over quality.