Mechanical Keyboards

Pros:

• The clickety clack is creamy as hell
• The dial/knob is very useful already
• I really like the LED effects when I'm typing.
• The packaging was superb and it just generally looks amazing

Cons:

• Shipping (unrelated to keyboard):
  • it took 3 weeks to get here
• Keys / Spacebar
  • It's quite a high profile position and I find myself double-hitting the spacebar often which appears to have a hare-trigger
  • The spacebar is needlessly long, and my thumb can't quite reach the Alt or Win key without contorting my hand.
  • On my laptop, the spacebar begins at C and ends at M. Here it starts at X and ends at ,
• Customization
  • Modifying it in Linux is proving to be painful.
    • The qmk cli requires a full reflash, but no easy way to set macros
    • VIA has easy macros, but has no cli just a shitty Electron app that requires you to set your keyboard permissions to World Accessible for chrome to detect it (which is creepy).
• Gaming
  • I knew that some keyboards are better for typing and others for gaming, but I did not think the difference would be so big.
  • The arrow keys could be a lot more responsive
  • I've never noticed this issue with a normal keyboard.

I guess I love the look and feel of it, but it's incredibly frustrating to modify as a linux user and I'm making tons of mistakes with it whilst typing.

Is this all normal? Do I eventually get used to it? Or should I send it back and just use a normal $20 keyboard that I can just type and forget about.

What it says on the tin.

The raffle form for this week is open now: https://www.jellykey.com/raffle

Some information:

• Character Sculptures Collection: Cat Knights, Night Hunter, Magician Klown, Octopian (10 keycaps per sculpture)

• Colorway: Prism Circuit

• Price: $100

• Shipping fee: $12 per keycap (free shipping if you live in Vietnam)

• Keycap Compatibility: MX stem & meticulously crafted with multiple layers

• Shipping Commences: Starting from 03/19/2025 (one month after the raffle conclusion)

Rule:

• Only one entry.

• You will be banned if you don't pay the invoice when you win.

Raffle:

• This form will open in 24 hours (closed on 02/19/24 at 11 PM GMT+7).

• The invoice will start after the form has closed (30-90 mins).

Payment:

• We only accept PAYPAL with raffle sales.

• Payment will be open 24 hours before closing. Unpaid invoices will be cancelled & keycaps will be raffled again.

I see a lot of ads these days for fancy mechanical keyboards from numerous brands, but the thing I always wonder about is: how do we know these keyboards dont have keyloggers or other spying tech built into them?

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/8032101

From the author of the "Shift Happens" book that came out a little while ago.

i grew up with some beautiful, heavy mechanical keyboards and i just setup a new office. i would like to have the great clickity-clack snappy response keys back in action. any recommendations?

First handwired design/build

I designed this little desk-mounted macropad last week and finally got around to wiring it up yesterday. It was a fun little project but I’m not great at soldering so the wiring was a bit challenging. Really happy with how it turned out, though!

Specs:

• Raspberry Pi Pico MCU
• Gateron Oil Kings
• Drop Dasher

Not observant myself, but best wishes to those of the faith. My first ever hand-wired keyboard was a Planck with an extra column.

Even if this isn't really a 40, I'm posting it as it's my only new board this year so far.

34 Is close enough, right? Here's me hoping I'm not a day off. 😁

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/25738606

Had these on pre-ordered since 8bitdo announced them because I can't resist translucent electronics. Very much enjoying it over my old Keychron K4, although I am already missing my numpad.

The Xbox button actually opens the game bar in Windows, which is a cute touch.

I’ve been scouring the web to find a very specific config for a mechanical keyboard. It should be full size, have HE switches, and have a silver aluminum case. However the only one I found is the GMMK 3 Pro when you custom order it, but it’s very expensive at 470€ without any switches or keycaps.

Building one myself would definitely be an option, but I’m not sure if there even are any HE 100% PCBs, and the case it seems would have to be custom CNCd because they also don’t exist.

Any pointers would be appreciated!

TLDR:

• Keyboard: System 76 Launch
• Keypad: Keychron Q0 Plus QMK Custom Number Pad
• Keycaps: XDA profile
• Switches: Cherry MX SPEED SILVER Switches RGB
• Wristpad: Keychron Wooden Palm Rest (Wooden / K3 / K3 Pro / K7 / K7 Pro / S1 PR4)

www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/#/ for the last picture with the key layout

Details and Flavor:

This is my first hot swappable mechanical keyboard after having a few Durgod keyboards (switches are soldered to the board).

After the INCIDENT- I spilled a whole jack and coke on my Durgod - the entire thing was unsalvageable because only thing I could do was remove the keycaps, I couldn't remove the soldered switches or take it apart further. So the whole thing was a sticky mess even after drying it out, and the spacebar and CTRL were never the same. I probably could have dunked the whole thing in rubbing alcohol or something, but I just recycled it. So that led me down the path towards customizable mechanical keyboards with hot swappable switches.

Keyboard: System 76 Launch

84 Key variant of the 75% layout, with a split spacebar and extra key for super/function bottom left Super fucking useful why aren't all keyboards made like this I'm never going back to a keyboard with a full spacebar.

Keypad: Keychron Q0 Plus QMK Custom Number Pad

Has survived one accidental drink spillage, luckily it was just water (a whole pint) and I got it unplugged immediately and taken apart to dry. No shorts and all switches and the board were fine after air drying. There was some green paper taped to the bottom of the PCB that did not survive though. I bent a few pins when I manhandled the swtiches back in place, but nothing some tweezers and reinstallation couldn't fix.

Keycaps XDA profile:

I like the profile but these seem to be rarer and its difficult to find any see-through variants with the numbers/letters clear (to let the RBG shine through so I can PWN more in FPSs) Also having keys with a standardized profile, same shape keys regardless of the row, was important because of the oddball layout and key sizes for the system76 keyboards. XDA Tricolor Keycaps

Handmade Abalone Mother of Pearl Keycaps.

These are abalone round beads (meant for a necklace or bracelet) glued to 3D printed keycap mounts. Purchased for around $3 each from my local keyboard shop. They have some cool custom keycaps here: https://shop.yushakobo.jp/collections/artisan-keycaps?page=1 And even more in the store that never get put online. If you are ever in Akihabara Tokyo they are definitely worth a visit. Big disclaimer though: "Every product from this store is hella overpriced." https://maps.app.goo.gl/s4pksssA9sGrz75Z6

So look at the pretty things, but maybe check online or somewhere else first before buying anything lol

DIY if you wanna recreate the abalone keycaps:

There's a bunch of free models you can find online for the "keycap mounts" that might work. I haven't gotten around to making my own, still need to figure out a program in linux I can edit 3D models and figure out how to use it. Super easy to get them 3D printed once you get/make the models. The beads you can find on sites like esty, "mother of pearl round beads"

Switches: Cherry MX SPEED SILVER Switches RGB

I found the Kalih Box switch options from system76 to be too scratchy and I didn't like the Gatreon G Pro switches from Keychron either. I was used to the Cherry MX Speed Silver from my old Durgod keyboard. I prefer linear, super smooth feeling switches especially for gaming, so I went back to the MX speed silver.

Layout:

I used to prefer 96% or 100% (a lot of excel formulas) but the wide keyboard kept getting in the way of FPS gaming and I'd be constantly hitting my mouse against the keyboard, even with maxed out mouse DPI and minimal wrist movement, the keyboard was too wide. So for about 8 years or so I've been using a separate numpad.

Festivus Airing of the Grievances:

I had trouble customizing the keymapping on the Keychron keypad. I wish the keychron keyboard was more straightfoward to customize in linux, or at least compatible with system76's keyboard configurator https://github.com/pop-os/keyboard-configurator so I didn't have to dig through 10 year old arch forums and reddit threads.

"A new 12.5" open hardware laptop that is future-proof, modular, and highly performant"

Mechanical Keyboard Details

• Standard stagger, 80 keys
• Kailh Choc Brown switches
• N-key rollover
• Layout: QWERTY-US, laser-etched legend (international keycap sets available)
• Custom MBK Glows keycaps by FKcaps
• Customizable RGB backlight
• Raspberry Pi RP2040 controller
• OLED screen for system control functions
• Open source firmware

EDIT: Better sound link I hope

MP3 Download (I don't know why this is so hard)

Once more, with feeling. I finally got my new stabs in from Ali. This is a combo of 2 Monsgeek M2s; the first is the silver bottom (not really visible) that I had padded out previously with car audio foam stick on. I also used some stick on pads in between top and bottom case because the reverb with whatever alloy blend this is was terrible. I also added padding on the silly decorative side bar things. The replacement black top was actually a replacement new board, because hotswap switch sockets kept falling off of the original. After 6 months of back and forth with their customer service, who encouraged me to attempt my own repairs, then tried to play the "You voided your warranty by attempting your own repairs card," they finally sent me a returned board that they had in stock because they didn't actually have any replacement PCBs. Anyway, I replaced the garbage stock stabs with the utterly delightful Wuque Studio TPU 1.2s. I highly recommend these bad Larrys. I'm suddenly into click switches after discovering the retro joy that is the 8BitDo Board, so I loaded the M2 up with Kailh Speed Pro Heavy Clicky Deep Blues, which are 3 stage 70-95-10gfs. I thought I ran out of the Kailhs, so I grabbed a bunch of old Redragon blue Clickys I had lying around and I lubed up some 3 stage 88gf springs I got and swapped them into the Redragons for the F Key row. They sound and feel good, but not even close to the Kailhs, which are fantastic. Then I topped everything off with the Signature Plastics SA Geoma caps that some of you may remember from my previous post. I don't know what to say, but I just don't like those Geomas. I finally got them sounding and feeling great, and looking good, but there's something about the profile that just feels weird to me. And I am an SA guy, so I don't know what to tell you. These just aren't the caps for me. I also recorded a brief audio sample, and you will hear the difference between the two switches. Lemmee know if that audio file link doesn't work.

EDIT 2: Forgot to mention, I put the FR4 plate in the M2. The plastic plate is straight trash.

Hi! This is the Kimiko from Keycapsss and it has Kailh Box White switches because I like clicky things.

For the curious, this is the Ducky Origin Vintage.

The raffle form for this week is open now: https://www.jellykey.com/raffle

Some information:

• Character Sculptures Collection: Cat Knights, Night Hunter, Magician Klown, Octopian (10 keycaps per sculpture)

• Colorway: Shadow Amber

• Price: $100

• Shipping fee: $12 per keycap (free shipping if you live in Vietnam)

• Keycap Compatibility: MX stem & meticulously crafted with multiple layers

• Shipping Commences: Starting from 03/06/2025 (one month after the raffle conclusion)

Rule:

• Only one entry.

• You will be banned if you don't pay the invoice when you win.

Raffle:

• This form will open in 24 hours (closed on 02/05/25 at 11 PM GMT+7).

• The invoice will start after the form has closed (30-90 mins).

Payment:

• We only accept PAYPAL with raffle sales.

• Payment will be open 24 hours before closing. Unpaid invoices will be cancelled & keycaps will be raffled again.

...It was about ten minutes after I saw that my "ridiculous low-ball" Ebay bid for a branded battlecruiser had won. That said, it is way snappier (and louder) than any rubber dome I've ever used. It's not a bad board at all, really, though the terminal scan code set it was flashed with means the converter is more or less mandatory, despite the board having a PS/2 connector.

Source: https://store.starforged.com/products/starforged-imperial-inquisitor-statue-keycap-warhammer-40k

I made a thing! This was my first experience with electrical schematics, designing a PCB, fabrication, and making firmware for a new keyboard. The goal of making this keyboard was to learn all those things and see if going from idea to reality was possible for someone with little familiarity with hardware design. Turns out, even an excitable and distracted parent can figure it out over the course of an embarrassingly unspecified number of evenings. I wanted just a few things from the design; to be low profile, to have an HHKB style layout, and to have decent compatibility for common low profile MX stem keycaps (looking at you, 6u and 7u spacebars).

The result was the boethia60, featuring:

• rp2040 MCU with 16Mbit flash module
• firmware powered by rmk, written in blazingly fast rust
• which also has the side effect of working on most OSs (I use arch, btw)
• Kailh Choc hot swap sockets with Kailh Deep Sea Mini Islet switches
• basic sandwich FR4 case with 3DP middle layer still in the mail
• open source here: https://github.com/arviceblot/boethia60

JLCPCB printed and assembled the board, and they were super awesome at identifying my silly issues and providing technical support. It would be nice if they would start doing PCBA for Kailh Choc sockets as the do for MX, but just soldering the sockets was a small effort for a working keyboard.

There are a couple caveats that will need addressing another time. Turns out that choc stabilizers need a 1.2mm plate to mount correctly. Even though the plate has cutouts for them I don't have any stabilizers installed because the 1.6mm FR4 plate I had cut was too thick. Also, the original plan was to use a 6.25u spacebar but I could not find any choc stabs wide enough to fit standard MX stem keycaps. Someone more clever or with more time could probably figure it out, but the workaround was to add the split spacebar. And on a final note, if you're planning on printing top and bottom FR4 pieces from JLCPCB it's worth paying the little extra to remove the order number marks for the final version.

Of course, this project does not exist in a vacuum and I relied on a ton resources. These links did a lot of the heavy lifting for my learning:

• https://www.masterzen.fr/2020/05/03/designing-a-keyboard-part-1/ - a great blog series about a similar journey I had to follow, tons of great info about kicad, hardware selection, and PCB design
• https://wiki.ai03.com/books/pcb-design/chapter/pcb-designer-guide - classic by ai03
• https://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/ - great starting point for designing your layout, data used by lots of other useful tools
• https://kb.xyz.is/ - generates a basic kicad project with switch matrix and base PCB using KLE data
• http://builder.swillkb.com/ - plate builder using KLE data I used for the sandwich case

And many more worth finding, especially on this sub where others have well-written posts about their own journey designing a custom keyboard PCBs. If someone else decides to pursue this fun, it is a very satisfying experience to actually type on a keyboard that was once just an idea, as I am now. The problem now is to resist the urge to tweak the PCB and design a CNC aluminum case.

TL;DR It's a custom low-profile HHKB style keyboard powered by the Prince of Plots, Deceiver of Nations, He-Who-Destroys and She-Who-Erases, but it's probably fine!

Focus FK-5001 that I cleaned up and converted to USB. White Alps, original double-shot ABS caps. The calculator works.

EDIT: This fucker developed a short within like an hour of my closing the case back up. Now I have to either use my multi-meter to learn the entire 130-key matrix, or I have to desolder all the switches and kill the calculator function to turn the board into a hand-wired custom, though that would allow the left side function keys to be different from the top-row ones. Sigh.

[GROUPBUY] Mystic Snake artisan keycaps

Join our Groupbuy now: https://www.jellykey.com/artisan-keycaps/mystic-snake

The group buy will close on January 26, 2025, and will not be restocked. Free shipping is available for orders of 6 keycaps or more.

– This time, we offer two versions: SA profile and Naked. The SA profile keycaps are the same as the Naked ones but fully encased in a transparent resin block shaped like SA profile keycaps. The 1u size is R1, and the 2.25u and spacebar are R3 (all product images shown are of the Naked version).

– By default, the spacebar size is 6.25u. If you have special requests, such as 6.5u or 7u, please leave a note for us.

– Special gift: A Fortune’s Guardian Serpent keycap will be given for any order of 4 keycaps or more.

– The art toy is only available in the 1u size. Each keycap, regardless of size, comes in a handcrafted wooden box. The art toy includes a matching large CNC wooden box.

– Our keycaps are handmade using resin casting and multi-layer coloring, not 3D printed.

• JWICK 67g Yellow linears
• SA Tatooine
• DIY case including the emblem of the Taitō ward where the shop is located