deskthority

I bought one of their semi-custom 'boards yesterday. For $119, it's a pretty good deal. I'm a little leary about the rounded lip on the front, but we'll see how it plays when I get it. That said, I do prefer keyboards with a bit of a lip on the front as, for some reason, it spaces my hands away from keys a little better. It looks like a solid 'board; I'm excited to check it out.

I wonder how well their laser handles bigger fonts. From some of the samples I've seen on GH and their own website the smaller etched letters on the caps didn't look so well, especially when you take closer look at the edges. I'd like to see if bigger lettering would turn out a bit smoother.

I ordered the "Modern" letters (small). IIRC, KBC/Ducky said they had hard time getting the laser etching just right for the reasons you mentioned. That said, I don't typically examine my keys that closely let alone look at them. Also, etched keys are hard to read anyway. They appear all but blank.

I have a WASD keyboard that I ordered not long after they appeared on the scene. I have been promising to post a review on Geekhack for a while and have been horribly derelict in my duty :/

Anyway, the keyboard I ordered I designed my own custom layout, and it has a decidedly old-school flavor, with large fonts for the alphanumerics etc. In fact, I think that he may have borrowed some elements of my design for the old school semi-custom design which of course I don't mind, I think it's kind of cool. anyway, to answer the question about how the larger fonts are handled, it appears that the laser traces the outline of the letter, but does not etch out the whole letter. It is an attractive look, but I'm not sure if that is clearly explained on their web site.

I just got mine, and I'm quite impressed. Great build quality at a great price. I highly recommend them.

Open it up. I'm curious who makes it.

ripster wrote:Open it up. I'm curious who makes it.

I'll try to do it tomorrow morning. I'm tied up in meetings all day today.

In the meantime, here are some interior pics from input nirvana: http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?2040 ... post390015

MCU seems Holtek.

I don't know if it was the same model or not, but wasn't Leopold using a Holtek MCU.

The WASD is awesome. I'm loving the front lip.

Dunno about Leopolds. I guess Holtek is cheap enough so Asian manufacturers prefer it.

Does the WASD have USB hub or something? The PCB is big enough and there's another big IC there.

No, but interestingly enough, it has spots on the case near the logo where there are cutouts for something. I guess the OEM might have additional configurations available. It's PS/2 compatible as well for NKRO.

itlnstln wrote:I guess the OEM might have additional configurations available.

That might explain it. It is very likely there is a (gaming?) board out there with same PCB.

Not ringing a bell. Where's that Huha guy when you need him? He could point out the tracing errors.

Probably looks like this. Costar.


I like Costar. They don't ping.

Much.

ripster wrote:Probably looks like this. Costar.


I like Costar. They don't ping.

Much.

FWIW, the LEDs on the WASD are in the same spots. When I take mine apart, That'll be the first place I'll look.

OMG another Costar. I'm so excited!

The world reacts as news reaches people of yet another Costar variation:

webwit wrote:OMG another Costar. I'm so excited![/img]

Yeah, ripster has an eagle eye to recognize a keyboard maker...


http://www.overclock.net/14705320-post5.html

webwit wrote:OMG another Costar. I'm so excited!

These days, whenever someone churns out a new keyboard that isn't backlit, I assume Costar made it. It's usually a safe bet.

The Solutor wrote:

webwit wrote:OMG another Costar. I'm so excited![/img]

Yeah, ripster has an eagle eye to recognize a keyboard maker...


http://www.overclock.net/14705320-post5.html

Thank you, I do. And Italian tools.

Pretty bad though when OCN figures out this stuff before Geekhack does.

I made a half-ass attempt to open it this morning, but the case clips together, and I don't have the proper tools at work. If I remember, I'll try to find something at home this weekend and pop it open. Looking at where the screw holes, LEDs, and case clips are, my Magic 8-Ball tells me, "All signs point to Costar."

I guess like any OEM/ODM, they have different quality tiers, options, etc. If you weren't very savvy, you would be hard-pressed to tell that WASD and Filco (potentially) share the same manufacturer.

ripster wrote:
Pretty bad though when OCN figures out this stuff before Geekhack does.

I think that even a 3 years old child had already noticed that the TT-Meka G1, the Mionix z60 and the WASD were the same keyboard.

Indeed...

http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?1693 ... post373859

Yep, I DO equate you with a 3 year old child.

Judges a book by it's cover.

Do you prefer pop-ups?

Equate ?

Too pretentious word for a child.

Start to use it only when you have a driving license in your hands...

Epic. The Mionix z60 has a built-in wrist-rest. I'm going to see if I can get one (the wrist rest).

The pics on their site also explain what the place holders are by the logo on the WASD (USB hub, Audio).


EDIT: I hit up both Thermaltake and Mionix to see if I can get one of their wrist rests.

I still haven't opened mine yet, but might this weekend since it's supposed to be all hurricaney.

I did notice what looked like an attachment point for a wrist rest.

Costar is so lazy it looks to me like they kept the CST-104 designation despite a new two piece PCB design.

N8N wrote:I still haven't opened mine yet, but might this weekend since it's supposed to be all hurricaney.

I did notice what looked like an attachment point for a wrist rest.

Minoix replied to me this morning about the wrist rest. They are going to try to send me one.

So far, I am really enjoying this 'board. I really like having the extra front lip as it helps space my fingers away from the keyboard a bit. The extra work WASD puts into lubing the stabilizers and such really pays off. The key stroke on the stabilized keys is very smooth. It's better than my Duckys (Cherry-style stabilizers) and Noppoo, for sure.

So after cycling through a Filco and a bunch of other Taiwanese keyboards, you're back to a Filco, albeit this time in an uglier case? You make little progress on the path to enlightenment as transcribed by the Keyboard Oracle.

I'm a lazy collector. If I can't buy it in the US, I don't buy it. I would love one of the custom 'boards from Korea, but they're not available here. The mods the WASD guys do make some noticeable improvements in the feel as well.

If you have recommendations, I'm all ears. I would love a non-"Taiwanese" keyboard.

Would you suggest a TypeNow Solid?

Nah, it should have been fully programmable for that price.