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Best project or innovation

Posted: 21 Nov 2017, 18:04
by webwit
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Vote in the final round of this category to win a MasterKeys S, a Knop Mini, and a MasterMouse from Cooler Master!

Nomination rules:
Please suggest nominees for the best input device related project or innovation in 2017. This can be a group buy of something designed by the community, a personal project, a switch innovation, etc. You have to give a short motivation for each suggestion. The project or innovation must be newer than November 26, 2016 to qualify for this year's DTAs. You cannot nominate your own projects or innovations.

Current suggestions:
  • HaaTa for his force curve measurements, I've found them to be super useful :D Already ran last year
  • Click bar on Kailh Box switches, best sound for a clicky mx switch to date. Kalih Click Bar is on another level of clicky.
  • PlastikSchnittstelle's SKBXX solid bent alu case made in Germany (60%+75%)
  • XMIT and his MX compatible hall effect boards having success on massdrop with R2
  • emdude's Xwhatsit/CS-Compatible IBM 3277 PCB, cool community project, completed, available, building on stuff that was already there ... and fun to read and follow :)
  • Orpheo's DIY numpad, sized to match 60%, awesome keyboard case, made of wood :)
  • QMX Clips: a truly efficient damping method for MX switches that's user friendly (no switch opening), works for both downstroke and upstroke, and doesn't cost an arm and a leg.
  • DMA's "CommonSense" project for bringing Capacitative keyboards controllers into the modern world. It's an open-source project that uses a $10 off-the-shelf devkit to provide ALL the circuitry needed to drive ANY Model F or Beamspring.
  • _red_ with his work in the pcb for the barn find IBM 3741 Data Station. He is doing a lot of hard work on it and it's making good progress!
  • The Level, a keyboard project nearing completion by Kevin (/u/thesircheddar on reddit). I applaud his determination, and his willingness to compromise on his dream to make the design have a greater appeal to those who expressed interest in his project, plus working hard to make it as affordable as possible through clever design choice (such as the open USB slot which reduces milling costs and re-alignment costs significantly).
  • Mattr567's Alps Plate Spring G80-1000
  • Shout out to /u/b-randen on Reddit for the bumpin' Seattle meetup last July!
The first round ends on Sunday 26 November, 19:00 UTC.

Posted: 21 Nov 2017, 19:25
by Chyros
I nominate HaaTa for his force curve measurements. I've found them to be super useful :D .

Posted: 21 Nov 2017, 19:30
by Chert902
Click bar on Kailh Box switches. Best sound for a clicky mx switch to date.

Posted: 21 Nov 2017, 19:41
by Rimrul
webwit wrote: Nomination rules:
Please suggest nominees for the best input device related project or innovation in 2017. You have to give a short motivation for each suggestion. The project or innovation must be newer than November 26, 2016 to qualify for this year's DTAs.
Chyros wrote: I nominate HaaTa for his force curve measurements. I've found them to be super useful :D .
seebart wrote: I forgot about this one; I'd hereby like to nominate HaaTa for his elaborate force curve gauge project since it provides very important data about mechanical keyboards on a very professional level to us. HaaTa went to great lengths with this as you can see here:

photos-f62/the-problem-with-mechanical- ... ml#p339559
Rimrul wrote: 2nd place: HaaTa's force curve gauge
HaaTa was tired of subjective reviews, so he took matters into his own hands. The result is a completely objective measurement system with high precision, accuracy, and granularity. Accurate force curve graphs will soon flood the Deskthority wiki!
I'm not sure HaaTa's force curve measurements are eligible, as they where nominated for this category of the DTAs on November 20, 2016 and got the second place in the DTAs 2016.

Posted: 21 Nov 2017, 20:02
by seebart
Rimrul wrote: I'm not sure HaaTa's force curve measurements are eligible, as they where nominated for this category of the DTAs on November 20, 2016 and got the second place in the DTAs 2016.
Good point.

Posted: 21 Nov 2017, 20:02
by Myoth
This is a really nice project with a lot of uniqueness to it, I don't think I have ever seen such a case.

group-buys-f50/skbxx-solid-bent-alu-cas ... 17609.html

Definitly shouting out PlastikSchnittstelle !

Posted: 21 Nov 2017, 20:14
by Chyros
Rimrul wrote:
webwit wrote: Nomination rules:
Please suggest nominees for the best input device related project or innovation in 2017. You have to give a short motivation for each suggestion. The project or innovation must be newer than November 26, 2016 to qualify for this year's DTAs.
Chyros wrote: I nominate HaaTa for his force curve measurements. I've found them to be super useful :D .
seebart wrote: I forgot about this one; I'd hereby like to nominate HaaTa for his elaborate force curve gauge project since it provides very important data about mechanical keyboards on a very professional level to us. HaaTa went to great lengths with this as you can see here:

photos-f62/the-problem-with-mechanical- ... ml#p339559
Rimrul wrote: 2nd place: HaaTa's force curve gauge
HaaTa was tired of subjective reviews, so he took matters into his own hands. The result is a completely objective measurement system with high precision, accuracy, and granularity. Accurate force curve graphs will soon flood the Deskthority wiki!
I'm not sure HaaTa's force curve measurements are eligible, as they where nominated for this category of the DTAs on November 20, 2016 and got the second place in the DTAs 2016.
Jeez, has it been that long?! xD

Posted: 21 Nov 2017, 20:26
by recon8659
KAILH clickbar for finally making a really nice modern clicky switch.


XMIT and his MX compatible hall effect boards having success on massdrop.

Posted: 21 Nov 2017, 20:33
by webwit
recon8659 wrote: XMIT and his MX compatible hall effect boards having success on massdrop.
Same thing as HaaTa's force curve gauge:
final-vote-f101/best-project-or-innovation-t15237.html

Posted: 21 Nov 2017, 21:37
by Slom
workshop-f7/xwhatsit-cs-compatible-ibm- ... 16867.html

Cool community project, completed, available, building on stuff that was already there ...
and fun to read and follow :)

---

photos-f62/diy-numpad-sized-to-match-60-t16383.html

Awesome keyboard case, made of wood :)

Posted: 21 Nov 2017, 21:45
by davkol
QMX Clips: a truly efficient damping method for MX switches that's user friendly (no switch opening), works for both downstroke and upstroke, and doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

Yes, they were originally released two years ago, but support for plate-mounted switches (i.e., majority of keyboards in the market) is new as of 2017. Yes, there have been Zealencios, but they're much more expensive and not as efficient.

Posted: 21 Nov 2017, 22:50
by __red__
I'd like to nominate DMA's "CommonSense" project for bringing Capacitative keyboards controllers into the modern world. It's an open-source project that uses a $10 off-the-shelf devkit to provide ALL the circuitry needed to drive ANY Model F or Beamspring.

The huge advantage of CommonSense over some of the other techniques is that CommonSense allows you to configure sensitivity PER PAD instead of globally (xwhatsit) or not at all (original). This flexibility means that PCB designers don't have to be as "stringent" as before really opening up options for future designs.

In summary, it's awesome and you should vote for it :-)

Posted: 21 Nov 2017, 23:15
by paecific.jr
I nominate _red_ with his barn find IBM 3741 Data Station. He is doing a lot of hard work on it and it's making good progress!
keyboards-f2/ibm-system-3-barn-find-t16 ... hilit=barn

Posted: 22 Nov 2017, 01:42
by __red__
Wasn't me, was JP! (I just made him a pcb for it) and I nominated him for ancient find.

Posted: 22 Nov 2017, 02:11
by subcat
i'd like to nominate emdude and co.'s work on the IBM 3277 mini pcbs :)

Posted: 22 Nov 2017, 03:33
by JP!
I would also like to nominate emdude for helping bring our beamsprings back to life with the 3277 pcb project.

workshop-f7/xwhatsit-cs-compatible-ibm- ... 16867.html

Posted: 22 Nov 2017, 03:40
by JP!
__red__ wrote: Wasn't me, was JP! (I just made him a pcb for it) and I nominated him for ancient find.
You didn't just make it, you designed it without even knowing of emdude's work. Although most folks have been going with Xwhatsit's with their beamsprings I think your project helps pave the way for others who may want to experiment with the Common Sense controller.

workshop-f7/ibm-3741-data-station-keybo ... ml#p391623

Posted: 22 Nov 2017, 07:37
by __red__
Then join me in supporting my nomination for DMA, the guy who actually wrote CommonSense.

The principle of using an ADC to do the measurement has been independently `discovered` and prototyped by numerous people on this forum. DMA was the first person to be successful in its implementation.

Posted: 22 Nov 2017, 08:57
by flehrad
I'd like to nominate The Level, a keyboard by Kevin (/u/thesircheddar on reddit).

He had originally started the project for his final year project at college, but due to his project group refusing to have anything manufactured outside the USA, he took it upon himself to follow through his vision. The project started with his own ideas, but through consult with the community, it underwent a large number of revisions and changes, resulting in a different keyboard than he originally imagined, but it still retained the spirit and basis of his original intent.

While the project isn't 100% completed right now, it is in final prototyping before moving to the buying phase.

I applaud his determination, and his willingness to compromise on his dream to make the design have a greater appeal to those who expressed interest in his project, plus working hard to make it as affordable as possible through clever design choice (such as the open USB slot which reduces milling costs and re-alignment costs significantly).

Posted: 22 Nov 2017, 10:03
by Findecanor
flehrad wrote: I'd like to nominate The Level, a keyboard by Kevin (/u/thesircheddar on reddit).
Here is a link to the Reddit thread. It is spelled with weird unicode characters so it was not super-easy to find...

All I see that is special is that it uses an acrylic plate in a heavy slab of a case. The PCB is already available from Sentraq.
If it has not been available by now, it shouldn't be eligible anyway ... or?

Posted: 22 Nov 2017, 10:07
by flehrad
Fair enough, I've never been involved in the DTAs, so first time to learn everything about it! :D

Posted: 22 Nov 2017, 13:38
by Wingklip
Nominate Model MF

Posted: 22 Nov 2017, 13:41
by Khers
Wingklip wrote: Nominate Model MF
Won last year:
results-f102/best-project-or-innovation-t15307.html

Posted: 22 Nov 2017, 17:11
by HeroXLazer
The Kalih Click Bar is on another level of clicky.

Posted: 22 Nov 2017, 17:28
by koduh
Kailh click bar def getting my vote.

Posted: 22 Nov 2017, 23:05
by Daniel Beardsmore
Everyone who's nominating click bar switches has spent time using them, I assume? It's just that, to my knowledge, very little has been said about the experience of using them, and what I did read was negative. If people are actually using them and viewing them favourably, then that's good.

Posted: 23 Nov 2017, 14:48
by sachin3767
+1 QMX Clips but I wonder whether the credit should go to ZealPC for creating these?

Posted: 23 Nov 2017, 15:35
by chuckdee
webwit wrote:
recon8659 wrote: XMIT and his MX compatible hall effect boards having success on massdrop.
Same thing as HaaTa's force curve gauge:
final-vote-f101/best-project-or-innovation-t15237.html
Not sure if that applies, since R2 is on Massdrop and could be nominated for the changes.

Posted: 23 Nov 2017, 15:51
by webwit
Ok, added, the voters can decide.

Posted: 23 Nov 2017, 17:52
by davkol
sachin3767 wrote: +1 QMX Clips but I wonder whether the credit should go to ZealPC for creating these?
PCB-mount QMX Clips are from 2015, and Zeal cloned them in 2016 AFAIK. It's just that QMX Clips didn't support plate mount until this summer.