Never had a mechanical keyboard, does my plan make sense?

[Ir0n]

Is that not pretty much the xtant layout? I wish had gotten a hold of one of those kits..

[depletedvespene]

One less column.

[keyboardnovice]

What can I use to clean the spacebar without removing it? Is alcohol ok or bad for the plastic?

[orihalcon]

Yep, alcohol is fine to use.

[keyboardnovice]

Yep, alcohol is fine to use.

Thanks! And thanks for sending our Soarer cable so quickly. Looking forward to setting it up.

Is there a learning curve for switching to a mechanical board? I was just messing around with it tonight and it felt so weird. Imagine it takes a week or two to tell if you even like it, huh?

[Bass]

Yeah give it a little bit of time. It's not so much a mech vs not mech thing but simply a difference in feel with switches. I've used keyboards with what would be considered mechanical switches for around 7 years but even now it still generally takes me at least a few days to get used to something with switches that are much different from what I was using before. And I'd say buckling springs feel rather different from most other types of switches produced today.

[keyboardnovice]

Clean up went well! Didn't mess up/break a single key. Now I'm sort of waiting around for Apple to release their next MBP so I can set up my work station.

[digital_matthew]

Nice! Nothing quite as satisfying as cleaning a filthy IBM keyboard. They look almost new when finished.

[orihalcon]

Speaking of XT vs AT vs unsaver, I saw this image a few days ago and I was left speechless:

DSC03658.jpg

Here's the thread on GH:
https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=71408.0

A crossbreed XT/F107

Ah, I remember that project like it was yesterday. I liked the lower row layout more than the XTant and was not a huge fan of the large arrow keys.

As far as questionable ethics, I do have some F107 skeletons that don't have cases, barrels, or flippers, so basically they are barrel plates, back plates, and capsense PCBs. Question is whether it is more ethical to try to fabricate cases and source a bunch of barrels and flippers, or use for parts as similar projects?

[keyboardnovice]

Hey guys, I'm going to try to get used to the small 'delete' key once I start using this keyboard - but in case I can't adapt is there an easy replacement that's two keys wide? Ideally something that feels as close as possible to the rest of the keys so it doesn't stand out.

[orihalcon]

All you need is a 2u backspace key and horizontal in barrel stabilizer from any model M, though you'll have to disassemble the keyboard to take the hammer/spring out of the spot where the stabilizer will go. That's a fairly common mod. You can also do the same thing with the return key and backslash if you want to make it ANSI

[keyboardnovice]

So I finally plugged my keyboard into my current (2009) Macbook Pro and typed on it for 2-3 minutes. It felt pretty good but I was obviously searching for keys and trying to get used to the layout. Then I went back to my laptop keyboard (that again, I'v been using for 9 years) and holy crap, it felt so weird and mushy! I couldn't believe it - even now my keyboard feels weird and it's the one I've typed on more than anything in my life. Looking forward to using the mechanical board full time at work!

Also, I have the Soarers converter on there - do I need to download a program in order to re-map keys with it?

[fohat]

Also, I have the Soarers converter on there - do I need to download a program in order to re-map keys with it?

If that is one of Orihalcon's cables, I think that he has a programming routine that he wrote. You should ask him direct.

[orihalcon]

Here's the instructions I wrote: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ljooth6e5hhzy ... s.txt?dl=0

They are written for Windows however as it's a simpler process to actually do, though I think it is possible to do on the Mac as well, I am just unsure how. Once you have it configured the way you want, you can use it on your Mac just fine as the configuration is stored within the Soarer's Converter itself!