I gotta give that sub props. They got me hooked. Went to a meetup for that sub in DC last year and it was really cool to see how friendly that community is and how creative they are.
I recently purchased a low-profile mechanical keyboard with low key travel (Havit tenkeyless) and it’s been amazing (I’ve always disliked how high profile and long key travel cherry switch keyboards have). The switches feel great but build quality on everything else seems lacking. I’m tempted to buy a half dozen of them in case they are discontinued. Does anyone know of other keyboards similar to this one? Thought it would be useful to ask here. Thanks.
You talking about the 87 key one? Its so awesome because it fits in my bag and I can travel with it.
As far as being discontinued, the low-profile switch is made by Kaihl and is still fairly new I think so I hope maybe more companies will start building keyboards with them.
It uses Kailh Choc low profile switches, and you can build your own board using them if you want, in any layout you want ranging from bog-standard to off-the-wall crazy.
Thanks for linking this, I’m actually in the design phase of this project right now so the timing couldn’t be better. I’m going to try it some time this week.
I was just talking to a coworker about mechanical keyboards, and how it feels like a right of passage at this point to transcend into full techie. Like picking a side in Vim/Emacs. I'm thinking about getting one, /r/mechanicalkeyboards has a buying guide, I'm thinking about buying this budget one to see what its all about: https://www.amazon.com/Mechanical-Keyboard-68-Keys-Magicforc...
> it feels like a right of passage at this point to transcend into full techie
I own an ErgoDox (which is featured in several of the photos, though I own the EZ, which is a pre-assembled version; most of the ErgoDox's seem to be the DIY variant), but I own it because my wrists were starting to hurt after I started using Apple/MBP keyboards.
(I've also used a Kinesis Freestyle with the metal vertical structs, and that was satisfying too. I value the ErgoDox's customizability and FOSS firmware more.)
If you work in an open office or share a workspace your co-workers will hate you. No one wants to listen to machine gun fire while your neighbor types animated gifs into slack.
I own a mechanical keyboard, and I have the displeasure of working in an open office space. Two things:
1. The keyboard really isn't that loud. I've used this keyboard for well over a year, and have yet to have had any complaints about the noise; compared to other noise sources (any conversation, the jackhammers outside my office, occasional city noises), the keyboard is quieter. It's also the sort of "noise" in my opinion that is easy to tune out, as opposed to stuff with signal, like nearby conversations/meetings.
2. Hate towards such owners is misdirected. The problem is the open office layout, not the keyboard.
Now, I also have quieter switches (Cherry MX Browns, I think).
I'm not sure if that's true. Yes open offices are horrible. Even offices with cubicles (semi-open), or offices where the doors are open. I have several neighbors who built their own keyboards or bought mechanical ones and it drives me crazy. They are loud and distracting. But Ive never mentioned it to them. Why? It's a pointless disagreement in the workplace. One of those pick your battles scenarios, so even though you've had no complaints doesn't mean it's not an issue.
You can make a mechanical keyboards significantly quieter. Most of the noise isn't actually from the switches themselves but rather from the impact of the keys bottoming out into hard plastic. So a set or 2 of o-rings on the keys will really cut down on the noise.
When I get around to constructing my next custom. I'm going to use non-clicky switches with a thick acrylic plate and of course a set of o-rings. In theory, it should be very office acceptable.
That's an argument against open offices and other such setups. Mechanical keyboards are much more ergonomic and can prevent or reduce RSI from typing. I'm can't type on anything else because of my RSI. They can be understanding or they can go fuck themselves. At this point I couldn't give a fuck. My health is simply more important.
Personally I don't find anything with a staggered layout ergonomic. It's better than standard though. I've gone totally ortholinear now. Ergodox at home and Truly Ergonomic at work.
This got my hopes up about something I was just talking about a few days ago [0]. However, this does not seem to be custom bespoke keyboards, but rather DIY keyboards. It also seems to be limited to mechanical key switches with the bulky key caps. I'm not too interested in building my own keyboard, but I do see the appeal. Some of these are truly works of art.
Manufactured or pre-made split keyboards aren't cheap. However if you're making your own the costs aren't all that different. So it's easier to ignore the cost and effort if you're making a split keyboard. Also by definition, you're talking about someone willing to go down the less beaten paths.
I would love for split keyboard to become more mainstream. They're far superior to the traditional key layout. But if the sample set is customs, it's probably selection bias.
If you can deal with not having instant gratification, Massdrop [0] has group buys of custom keycap sets, which are designed by members of the community.
Nice! My mechanical keyboard wishlist item is for an ortholinear keyboard that has a full set of rows including number keys and function keys, so that I can play Starcraft 2 on it. :)
Pretty much all of them are fully programmable. So you can swap Caps Lock with Ctrl, move Esc to the grave key, and put backspace on the backslash key. If you want to customize the actual size and position of the keys, then that is harder to find.
How does one go about building a custom mechanical keyboard? Are there any good resources to get started? I've long fantasized about building a standard-layout keyboard with a couple of extra unobtrusive shift/modifier keys.
Get yourself a switch tester [0], find a layout you like (or handwire your own [1]), and compile your own firmware [2]. The r/mk wiki has a great page [3] for starting to build your own.
Build your layout with keyboard-layout-editor, paste the raw data into builder.swillkb.com, order plates from Lasergist or export files for a different service, buy switches of your choice (I recommend Kailh Box switches), hand wire them up to a Teensy or Pro Micro, set up QMK for your matrix and layout, and program it.
In fact, my custom board is there.
https://scrapbox.io/MECHKEYS/Mitosis_Anaphase:_full-custom_h...