Mechanical Keyboard Autism Thread - Because Cherry MX switches get you laid.

[AmpleApricots]

PCB hard membranes are now available for the A500, A600 and A1200. Not sure if it's possible to solder Cherry MX switches onto one of those; even if it is possible, it would be time-consuming.

No, that wouldn't work. Kinda surprised nobody whipped up one then. My guess is probably missing proper keycaps/weird widths.

I got my SA Dolch keycaps from domikey and I actually really like them, they feel very satisfying to press and touch and they look great. They also fit very well to the white case of the G80-1800 and give the keyboard a very distinctive retro look. Some legends are a bit wonky (< > are not at the same height, weird U on the numpad keys, only one super key) but honestly nothing too bad. I thought it would take a while to get used typing on them but actually, no, not really. I think people are used to rest their wrists on the corner of the case, desk or a wrist rest and then the keys might be too high to reach comfortably but you're ideally actually not supposed to do that to begin with but float with your hands over the keyboard and have your wrists straight out, not at an angle.

All in all, thought I'd feel bad for buying plastic pieces for ~80 euros or so but no, they're actually fun enough that it was worth it. Also the pictures online are kinda bad and make them look cheaper than they look like irl. I actually think now their other-colored sets might actually look less garish and quite decent in person.

 

[Pee Cola]

Whilst the Amiga mechanical keyboard project may have stalled, it's now possible to build a mechanical keyboard for a C64 (assuming you have a 3D printer or can get access to one; needed to print the Cherry MX to C64 keycap adaptors).

 

[Bongocat]

Ducky One 3, contender for the stupidest name anybody ever came up with for a product, has been announced. It looks like they're actually taking acoustics seriously this time, AND it's hotswap. The extreme difficulty of acoustics modding was my biggest issue with the last one, so that's a big plus. Hotswap is something I did not expect, but it looks like they listened to everybody yelling at them for it.

 

[BroccoliBrain]

I have a Logitech G910 that was a hand-me-down from a friend and I want to dump this bulky thing. Really new to mech keyboards, I'm absolutely overloaded with information, but I've come away from my reading surer than ever that I don't like this Romer-G shit. As a beginner who doesn't want to solder should I just buy a Royal Kludge and mod it? Or, since I need the ergonomics, should I buy a prebuilt Iris from keeb.io or are split keyboards a meme?

 

[Bongocat]

I have a Logitech G910 that was a hand-me-down from a friend and I want to dump this bulky thing. Really new to mech keyboards, I'm absolutely overloaded with information, but I've come away from my reading surer than ever that I don't like this Romer-G shit. As a beginner who doesn't want to solder should I just buy a Royal Kludge and mod it? Or, since I need the ergonomics, should I buy a prebuilt Iris from keeb.io or are split keyboards a meme?

The most painless route overall is to find a board that's hot-swappable. No soldering on those, you just push in the switches and go. You're probably going to go through several switch types before you find one you really like.

I don't like split keyboards, but mostly because I like to move mine around and they obvious make that really obnoxious. If you want ergonomics, try to find an "alice style" layout. I've been happy with that and there's some reasonably priced options, though it's been a while since I've checked on all this so you'll need to browse for that.

 

[Kosher Dill]

Has anyone ever heard of a carrying case for a full-size keyboard? There are a great many out there for micro-keyboards, and even one or two for TKLs, but I'm having trouble finding anything for full-size.

 

[Love Machine]

Hey boys, whats the best way to relearn how to type. I just switched from chicklet to mechanical and im like a baby. I used to be able to fucking hammer it out on chicklets but now i can barely type.

 

[Bongocat]

Hey boys, whats the best way to relearn how to type. I just switched from chicklet to mechanical and im like a baby. I used to be able to fucking hammer it out on chicklets but now i can barely type.

It's been several years now but I used to do this for about half an hour every morning until I got it https://sense-lang.org/typing/tutor/keyboarding.php

Use the "my text" option and paste stories or book segments you like in there.

 

[seri0us]

Is there a reason to re-learn how to type the "correct" way (Fingers resting on home row) or should I continue using my self-taught style?

 

[BlueSpark]

Is there a reason to re-learn how to type the "correct" way (Fingers resting on home row) or should I continue using my self-taught style?

If it works for you and is reasonably fast and accurate then there's no real reason to learn the "proper" way.

 

[Bongocat]

Is there a reason to re-learn how to type the "correct" way (Fingers resting on home row) or should I continue using my self-taught style?

if you can hit ~80 wpm and you're happy with that, there's no real point in changing style. If you're a programmer, typing speed isn't your limiting factor past that point anyway.

The only thing is that you should make sure you're not setting yourself up for RSI. By the time you start to feel that coming on, it's too late.

 

[Phys]

Is there a reason to re-learn how to type the "correct" way (Fingers resting on home row) or should I continue using my self-taught style?

I actually would recommend everyone to learn touch typing if you just have the time and patience to do so.

I found myself doing way less typos and actually managing to upkeep my top speed consistently. If I had to guess my average and best results in WPM are generally the same as I switched to touch typing.

Knowing which finger every key is assigned to is much better than finding them by feel with a random finger. It is ergonomically smart as well, less wrist strain depending on the way you type now. Also as a programmer, it gave me access to workflow enhancers like Vim (keybinds).

 

[Bongocat]

I actually would recommend everyone to learn touch typing if you just have the time and patience to do so.

I found myself doing way less typos and actually managing to upkeep my top speed consistently. If I had to guess my average and best results in WPM are generally the same as I switched to touch typing.

Knowing which finger every key is assigned to is much better than finding them by feel with a random finger. It is ergonomically smart as well, less wrist strain depending on the way you type now. Also as a programmer, it gave me access to workflow enhancers like Vim (keybinds).

it really just depends on what "self taught style" means. I "touch type" but I dont use all the prescribed fingers on the prescribed keys. My left pinky and ring finger are both weaker than normal from an accident a few years ago and trying to use them for typing is impractical. Despite that, I still get 90-100 on average even if it's not "proper".

For me, the dividing line is being able to type without looking at the keyboard. If you can't do that, yeah you need to fix it.

 

[Kknd]

I hear the tooling is so original that it's barely even been maintained since the '80s, and quality control is very spotty. I haven't verified this for myself though since I didn't feel like spending a couple hundred dollars on a gamble.

I bought one years back maybe around 2010. Had heard the same things. Build quality was solid enough but the keycaps had a wobbliness I don't remember from an original model M I came across earlier. It just died one day after three years or so. Never contacted Unikey about it. Had to buy a special tool to disassemble it I think it was a long thin walled 5.5 mm driver. Didn't see anything visibly wrong with the electronics (no blown caps etc). Never spilled anything in it or abused it. I suspected it might have been the motherboard or PS/2 adapter that gave up but I don't think i tested for that.

Bought a half off Steel Series keyboard with black Cherry switches and never looked back. I still have the model M in a cupboard somewhere.

Recently bought a virgintastic keyboard with RGBs out the ass and cherry red switches but poured my drink in it day three. Tore it apart for drying and haven't reassembled it yet.

For typing in a world without other people in it I would prefer the model M but so far for general use I like the red cherrys the best.

 

[AmpleApricots]

Had to buy a special tool to disassemble it I think it was a long thin walled 5.5 mm driver.

You need to have that too for the original Model Ms. They don't have any wobble but the 122-key Terminal version is literally too heavy for itself and it shows after a few years. The normal ones are rock solid though. IMHO probably not worth buying for the fantastic prices these days. Still good keyboards, fun to type on.

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Having owned everything, that G80-1800 I talked about earlier in this thread is a solid keyboard that's most of all available easily and not some rare and difficult to get thing you're half-afraid to use because you know you're never gonna get it replaced if it breaks somehow.

I like my keyboards in off-white and without bells and whistles though, YMMV - also it comes with fair quality PBT keycaps which is a thing to consider. The replacement dolch keycaps I talked about earlier got shiny in basically weeks but strangely honestly - on these keycaps it doesn't look bad and actually kinda makes them look fancier. and also somehow (I think because of their shape) they don't feel "sticky" like ABS keycaps sometimes do when they get shiny. I wish they were all evenly shiny by default and since they're double-shot, them wearing off like this didn't affect the legends. I can now safely say after a few months that SA profile keycaps are nice to type on and feel "meaty", for the lack of a better word. Comparing all I used from buckle spring to red to membrane I think I prefer cherry blacks as a good medium that basically always fits and is just the right amount of stiff. Of course it's all a matter of taste.

I also think all the key-lubing and all the other things people do to their switches is insane. One thing I did though in this keyboard is "stabilizing" the space bar stabilizers with some of this putty-like, barely sticking glue people use for posters and is sort of like chewing gum. It made the space bar quieter and more solid feeling, by default it was a bit wobbly.

 

[Bongocat]

I also think all the key-lubing and all the other things people do to their switches is insane. One thing I did though in this keyboard is "stabilizing" the space bar stabilizers with some of this putty-like, barely sticking glue people use for posters and is sort of like chewing gum. It made the space bar quieter and more solid feeling, by default it was a bit wobbly.

Have lubed three sets of switches, can confirm I'm insane.

It gets faster the more you do it but it still takes an ungodly amount of time. I just put on a movie every time I had to do it. I doubt I'll ever do it again because it's such a pain.

 

[JoseRaulChupacabra]

I actually would recommend everyone to learn touch typing if you just have the time and patience to do so.

I really fucking wished I learned to touch type in college. It would have saved me a lot of time and headache.

Anyone have any experience with the nice!nano micro controller? I'm looking to rid my desk of cables ever since trying out wireless mouse some 3 years ago.

 

[malt ipecac]

Is there a reason to re-learn how to type the "correct" way (Fingers resting on home row) or should I continue using my self-taught style?

I don't think it's worth even trying to type the "correct" way on a Qwerty keyboard. There's no good reason to have your right-hand fingers primed to type low-frequency characters like J, K, and semicolon, yet "correct" touch-typing technique demands you constantly return your fingers to these bizarre default positions.

Colemak has been much better at steering me toward typing the "correct" way because its home row comprises the ten most common letters in the English language; that's largely why the home row keys are actually the most convenient places to put your fingers.

If you learn an alternative keyboard layout, you'll likely learn to type the "correct" way as a side effect. But if you're sticking with Qwerty, "correct" typing will only satisfy your inner pedant.

 

[Anal Eclipse]

I got scammed by a friend 130 bucks for his old Corsair K65 red switches keyboard and them RGBs got messy. So I got some China keyboard, Ractous RTK61, for 53 dollars including tax n free shipping. It comes with pudding keycaps and gateron optical switches. I chose brown optical switches because black ones would ship many months later. I like this keyboard a lot though it took me a long time to get used to 60% layout. Also don't recommend this keyboard if you are wanting to use other switches besides gateron optical switches. Otherwise, it's a kickass keyboard and NEVER go for the normie brand keyboards.

 

[F_Break]

I got scammed by a friend 130 bucks for his old Corsair K65 red switches keyboard and them RGBs got messy. So I got some China keyboard, Ractous RTK61, for 53 dollars including tax n free shipping. It comes with pudding keycaps and gateron optical switches. I chose brown optical switches because black ones would ship many months later. I like this keyboard a lot though it took me a long time to get used to 60% layout. Also don't recommend this keyboard if you are wanting to use other switches besides gateron optical switches. Otherwise, it's a kickass keyboard and NEVER go for the normie brand keyboards.

On the gaming side of things, most "normie" brands (except Corsair) are just using custom branded clone switches while still keeping the same pricing from when they were using more expensive Cherry MX switches. People are paying $120+ for what are just glorified Chinese budget boards with a couple of extra bells and whistles like USB passthrough or layered RGB. With budget brands like Redragon embracing more premium features like legit 5 pin hotswap, and decent entry level custom keyboard kits for less than $200, I don't see the "premium" gaming keyboard market existing in its current state for much longer.