As the alps adviser during the development of the Knight75, I would like to go into details about some of the ideas behind this keyboard, as a 75% lover and as an Alps user in general.
1. First widely available 75% with alps support
2. Our takes on fixing the 75% layout
3. Clean look with no markings and brandings
4. Weight system
1.
- You can make full size Alps custom with Leeku's legacy pcb
- You can make tkl Alps custom with pcb's from Leeku, the Time, the Leaf, and upcoming Hineybush's pcb
- You can make 60% Alps custom with Hasu's pcb
Now you can make 75% Alps custom. Please be aware of what you're getting into.
2.
a. Top row:
The stable of 75% boards all suffer from the same boxy look because of the ortholinear top row. A lot of us recognize the problem and there are many revisions on it so far (Fox Orange 75, E7-V1, Xeno, etc...). We approach the fix based on functionality, purely:
- The 12 F-keys have to be separated, it helps with recognizing their general positions ever since IBM established that system.
- As for the most right cluster of 2 extra keys, it is part of the 4 keys below it. Working an office job, after going through so many email chains and engineering drawings I come to realize the importance of the Navigation cluster. It saves me so much times backtracking and looking for the exact data that is mentioned briefly in a 30-chains email between 7 engineers. The top right corner of the Knight75 gives you both the topological space usage while retains the navigation cluster's togetherness. And honestly, the navigation cluster on 75% makes more sense than the traditional Nav cluster IMO: finally you can have Home and End sandwiching both PgUp and PgDn.
b.
Bottom row:
I appreciate all the blocker solutions that were introduced for the bottom row, mainly Canoe for bringing back the usage of 6.25u space in a more aesthetically way and Singa for offsetting the symmetrical top row. Hence we do offer the blocker version and we are open to more suggestions on how to improve on that front. I want to focus on the non-blocker version and explain why it is my preferred choice for the Knight75:
- First of all, good cap sets for alps come in 7u spacebar with 1.5u modifiers.
- The Knight75 already breaks up the top row, breaking up the bottom as well just adds more to the uneven look. Whether it's split space or not, spacebar will always be the first thing that catches your eyes when you look at the board, it takes up the most space. So by having the even number of modifiers on both sides of the spacebar with the non-blocker version, it brings back some symmetry within the asymmetrical layout. Harmony and chaos, symmetry and asymmetry.
3.
The market is dominated by mid-seam board and we would love to see some change in that. I also personally believe that a custom keyboard is a high-class suit. I would like to sell you elegant and comfortable suits. Then as the end users, you guys could fashion the suits with your own brandings through cufflinks, ties/bowties, inner shirts, jackets,.... The Knight75 will retain very clean outer look with absolutely no markings. If there are any markings or brandings, those will be inside, hidden from visible views.
4.
Let's get one thing out of the way first: the familiarity with the OTD's Koala bottom is the by-product of our principles behind the weight design:
- The board will be heavy, but we want to give the users some sort of finger-grips, hence the slight curvature.
- The curvature has to end some where because the weight will be massive and rectangular. We want the weight to at least covers up the main alphas cluster. We recognize that the change in materials might result in uneven sounding so the weight have to be big enough for uniform sound distribution.
