deskthority

I have to worry that the enthusiast industry is going to leave Matias behind, because he's stuck inside a tiny ecosystem. I waited for his new keycaps. For years. And years. I bought Tai-Haos and those generic XDA-profile blanks as placeholders. And waited more, gradually burning my way through seve...

I got one of the blue ones, I could tell it felt more Alpsy than the available alternatives at the time (which was basically click-jacket MX derivatives, sort of predates Box clickbar designs), but I couldn't get over the dampers. Part of me wanted to pull it apart to de-damp them, but someone comme...

Personally I would like a 122 key beam spring keyboard that resembles the Model M 101-key layout but with the extra 12 keys above the 12 function keys, 10 keys on the left which I can use for custom keys (Explorer, media playback, start menu, etc.), the keys between Ctrl and Alt of course, and 3 ke...

The thing I was curious about is, while the keycap mount is MX-compatible, what does the bottom pinout look like? If we can source some of them, can we solder them into an old Northgate or the like? TBH, I'm very fond of the layout on my current build, which makes me less willing to experiment with ...

I made my own, and left the files around for others.

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=111945.0

I've had some success with an alternative approach: smear up the cap with dry-erase marker, then use a programmable laser-engraver to sear the design onto the cap. The remaining marker comes off with isopropyl alcohol. My first attempts tended to wear pretty fast, but using a longer burn time and po...

My first attempt used M3 pan-head screws (like 20 cents each from the local hardware shop) and a collection of standoff-style inserts from Banggood or the like. I ended up cobbling together different ones to get a range of heights. My second attempt used specific length M2-threaded inserts, and a co...

I suspect they target "gamer" because it's a marketable demographic. "Oh,Steve's a GAMER, I'll buy him this $130 ball of RGB and mediocre switches as a holiday gift!" "Professional keyboard jockeys" -- writers, programmers, secretaries, etc.-- are seen as an unaddressable market. Many of them are at...

It's a bit subjective. I always found capacitive buckling spring a bit "twangy". I tend to prefer Alps-style mechanisms over the MX-style mechanisms, but currently use the Kailh Box Pale Blues because it strikes a good balance of "compatible with the broad MX-style ecosystem" and "reasonably clicky ...

I feel like they don't look MT3-ish at all. MT3 has bulged top and bottom that looks like a CRT TV, particularly on larger keys. The high gloss looks interesting. The typography also seems more like the "standard font used on modern spherical caps" while MT3 uses its own font, which TBH I don't like...

It seems like the custom mouse ecosystem is not as far along as the keyboard ecosystem. I suspect part of this is that a huge part of ergonomics and preferences are device size and shape. Getting a custom shaped mouse is likely to require custom injection moulding ($$$$) or 3D-printing (scales poorl...

One of the better "single purpose forums" I've seen is AudioKarma. It survives, I believe, in large part on its back stock of content-- threads that get necromanced every 5 years when someone digs a JVC JR-S300 out of the attic and needs to find out how to repair it. You can't really gimmick up that...

This is my perspective: * I never got the whole switch cracking/lubing/modification thing. Especially today, when there are a bazillion variants (especially of linear and tactile MX-mount switches), won't you get more predictable results, with less risk of breaking switches and losing parts, by just...

How about the case from a fullsize MY board, like the Cherry G81-3000? Nobody wants them because, well, MY switches suck, but they're usually big cases with a fairly tasteful/conservative design. You'd likely have to retool it a bit to mount a plate-mount PCB instead, but the MY assembly, at least i...

I sort of liked the SK108, in that it was cheap and felt reasonably solid. I only used mine for a few weeks though because it was to try switches, and then I built a more permanent soldered board with the ones I settled on. (I went for Box Pale Blue) https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002326028699....

I wonder if some of it is a placebo-style effect on appearance though. I know there's something about the gestalt of a keyboard design-- an Omnikey feels durable and premium and an AT101W feels flimsy, even with the same switches installed. How muhj of the appeal of a beamspring is the switch feel a...

I bought my brother some KZ ZSRs as a gift; then got a pair for myself. When those got coopted, I went for a set of ZSX. The worst I've had were some JVC over-the-ear ones-- the equalization was miles off and it sounded muffled. Plenty of soundstage, but nothing sounded right. I was sincerely disapp...

I found Box Navy fatiguing due to the heaviness and intense tactility. The lighter Box Pale Blue is also worth considering- the tactility might be a bit less than BS though.

Signature Plastics now does one-off dyesubs on SA profile, but they're expensive (USD5/cap) and limited to a set of standard designs, so you might not be able to get the legends you want. I'm not sure how amenable they are to extending their catalogue. https://pimpmykeyboard.com/sa-p-individual-subl...

I bought a Datavue 25 many years ago, traded it for a set of DOS discs. I recall the keyboard being quite hateful because they went with an IR style sensor; although you could cable it with that odd 3-pin socket, it didn't provide operating voltage from the main unit, so if you forgot the keyboard r...

I don't see how you can dismiss this as irrelevant. My original question is "when did rubber domes eat the world?" and I have since tried to refine that to when the transition became irreversible. And capacity planners at IBM clearly still thought there was a market for buckling springs for about a...

For my two cents, I feel like by the time Compaq passed IBM, that was largely a statistical novelty. By the 1990s, it wasn't "IBM vs Compaq", it was "every man for themselves". By 1996 (the first figure I could find), neither IBM nor Compaq held even 10% of the market, so they hardly had steering po...

Yeah, sadly the problems I had with Matias switches dragged me back to MX-alike. I bought a couple of PCBs for my dream ALPS project. One I stupidly decided to make with the Hua-Jie switches, which have a useful life roughly equivalent to a fresh blancmange in Phoenix in July. Most of the click leav...

Do you know the original use of these boards (this one and the Oshima you also posted)? The save-out/load-in jacks seem like something you'd see on home computers with audio-cassette storage, but those machines tended to use cheaper, non-discrete-switch keyboards, built into the main unit. I could i...

What are you trying to achieve by building your own board? If you just want to try some specific caps and switches, there are "hot swap" barebones boards you can buy and populate with the features of your choice. Are you more interested in custom firmware features? Look for something with QMK suppor...

I love that you actually made new PCBs for totally forgotten boards like the 3M Whisperwriter and the GEAC 8340 but no one ever made new PCBs for fullsize Alps boards like the SGI Granite. There are only like 15 GEACs out there. It's great. BlindAssassin111 did some replacement PCBs for the AT101W;...

TBH, that Mark 1 case looks great. IThe contrast between the plate and plastic frame is classy, and it owns the big bezel.

What annoys me here is that they're diluting the MX name. As much as Cherry likely hates it, MX now signifies an ecosystem of keycap and board mounting as well as a specific product. Someone will buy a laptop with these switches, and post an angry message that the bargain Aliexpress "Gamer keycaps f...

A 16 MHz AVR is faster than the CPUs in my first four computers, at least on 8-bit integer maths. You shouldn't need a faster µC unless you run something like analogue sensing or a faster USB connection. Honestly, I think the bigger aspect is the price more than the performance. It doesn't have to ...

I think there are a fair number of them. Some Apple Design Keyboards and the Acer 65xx seem to be dome-with-slider, but stabilizer layouts may vary compared to conventional switch designs.