Do any keyboards besides the AEK II use Cream Dampened Alps Switches?

[apastuszak]

I have seen none other keyboards listed with these switches. Were these switches made for Apple? If so, I wonder why Apple requested a quieter switch.

[jsheradin]

There's a few others that use them, like the bigfoots, but they're not super common.

[Muirium]

Were these switches made for Apple? If so, I wonder why Apple requested a quieter switch.

Entirely in character for Apple, even back then. To this day, among Mac greybeards, the AEK I & II are lauded for feel and quality etc. (which I myself dispute, but if you limit your exposure entirely to Apple hardware then they have a point) with mention always made of their loudness. Their sound isn't praised as a feature, as many of us buckling spring aficionados do. It's seen as a necessary evil. Yes, damped Creams are "excusably loud."

Here's a pithy roundup of typical opinions I happened into while writing this:

https://www.dgriffinjones.com/extraordi ... board.html

[apastuszak]

I like the AEK and AEK II. I'm not only limited to the Apple ecosystem. But I do use Macs, so I appreciate the addition of the extra modifier key that I can't get on a Model M or other vintage keyboard.

As a typist, I REALLY appreciate the way Apple does things with the Option key.

⌥ + 8 is a bullet character •
⇧ + ⌥ + 8 gives you °
⌥ + 2 gives you ™

I know European keyboards with an AltGr key can do this. But my understanding is that those of us on ANSI keyboards need to type Alt + some four digital number on the numpad.

[Muirium]

Indeed. Let me raise you the whole alphabet.

Matias' Mac legends are… well… legend for their crazy clutter. Just in case you don't know were to find the Keyboard Viewer I suppose!

Option:


Shift + Option:

To be retrospectively fair on Matias, Apple has since indeed made it far harder to find such an overview!

[davkol]

I know European keyboards with an AltGr key can do this. But my understanding is that those of us on ANSI keyboards need to type Alt + some four digital number on the numpad.

That's merely a function of the keyboard layout in the operating system.

I haven't personally touched a macintrash in years, but in Windows or *nix w/ X, just set your OS' keymap to US International (or virtually anything other than basic US QWERTY) and you get an AltGraph layer.

I'm not sure if it works with Apple keyboards though. IIRC they use the exact same scancodes for both left- and right-side modifiers (on the ADB models).

[apastuszak]

I know European keyboards with an AltGr key can do this. But my understanding is that those of us on ANSI keyboards need to type Alt + some four digital number on the numpad.

That's merely a function of the keyboard layout in the operating system.

I haven't personally touched a macintrash in years, but in Windows or *nix w/ X, just set your OS' keymap to US International (or virtually anything other than basic US QWERTY) and you get an AltGraph layer.

I'm not sure if it works with Apple keyboards though. IIRC they use the exact same scancodes for both left- and right-side modifiers (on the ADB models).

I don't think they do. I have my AEK hooked up now and can use Karabiner-Elements on my Mac to set a left and right modifier key separately. If that was the case, QMK would not be able to distinguish between the two.

EDIT: I'm wrong. Left and right modifier keys are the same. I got confused between this and my laptop.

[apastuszak]

I switched to the US International Layout and did not get an AltGr key. But that may be just because of the AEK. I'll need to swap in an actual USB keyboard.