it is coming... SA RETRO!

[Ouro]

I've been wanting this set ever since I saw the keyboard it was inspired by.

I like PuLSe's contoured profile but I'm not opposed to trying new things with keyboards. Just be gentle

[Oobly]

....
The colors will be most likely WCK on TBN, which seems pretty close to the original. ...

Sounds good They're close enough. And TBN on GTM mods would suit nicely, too. Very much like the function keys on some of the boards.

Better start preparing for massive numbers of orders.... DSA Retro has whetted appetites for the colourway and the SA hype is big right now.

[Wilba]

The colors will be most likely WCK on TBN, which seems pretty close to the original. RBC is just for those who don't care about the retro aspect and just want a nice color combo.

I might add TBN on GTM mods, which looks pretty cool to me as an alternative.

I like both those colour ideas... off-white legends on the brown, brown legends on the beige.

If you add extra keys in OAS, you will have successfully hacked my wallet!

[Loligagger]

Will there be a sculpted ergodox (plum) mods set?

[Matt3o]

Ok, at this point all I need to know is.

Function row: ROW-1 or ROW-3 ?

Will there be a sculpted ergodox (plum) mods set?

possibly, yes.

[jdcarpe]

Ok, at this point all I need to know is.

Function row: ROW-1 or ROW-3 ?

Either one is fine, but I have a slight preference for Row 1.

[Ouro]

Row 1 please and thank tou

[matchstik]

I also love the look of that dark brown for alphas and mods, with just the function row in beige and lime green Esc/Enter.

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My fave so far. Definitely on the list for this set.

[Oobly]

I prefer Row 1.

[jdcarpe]

Since it appears that SP can do R4 1.25u mods in semi matte finish, I'd say run it in 1-1-2-3-4-4, as Oobly suggested. With R3 shifts, of course.

[Data]

I also love the look of that dark brown for alphas and mods, with just the function row in beige and lime green Esc/Enter.

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Oh yeah, this.  This right here.  Yes.

[Supergeek]

Technically feasible, but it would be still $9000 pro-bono. People complain if they get 3 keycaps that they don't use in each and every GB...

I meant more along the lines of expertise, milling/shaping/making the molds, CAD, etc. Obviously they don't just put money in a machine and the molds come out; there's some sort of process. Maybe that process can be assisted somehow. I dunno.

Like, for instance, someone could quote me $10000 for some landscaping, but if I was able to source my own materials from a landscaper friend, I could save some money. And if I dug it out myself with some friends and some beers ahead of time instead of paying them $150/hr, I could save more money.

[Matt3o]

Since it appears that SP can do R4 1.25u mods in semi matte finish, I'd say run it in 1-1-2-3-4-4, as Oobly suggested. With R3 shifts, of course.

I'm not sold about R4 on the modifiers. SA shape doesn't seem right for R4 in the bottom row. Actually probably row-2 would work better

[jdcarpe]

Since it appears that SP can do R4 1.25u mods in semi matte finish, I'd say run it in 1-1-2-3-4-4, as Oobly suggested. With R3 shifts, of course.

I'm not sold about R4 on the modifiers. SA shape doesn't seem right for R4 in the bottom row. Actually probably row-2 would work better

Actually, I think I'd like a uniform R4 set.



Here it is on jacobolus' keycap profile demonstrator. A little less angle on the "keyboard" and all the tops would be parallel to the desk.


Photo credit: jacobolus

[Zebadule]

A row 4 set would be cool. For wierd alternate layout ErgoDox people like me, mono-profile is the best!

[Matt3o]

Please double, triple, quadruple check it.

We still miss: ergodox and international kit (we will have 3: UK, DE-IT-Nordic, FR)

Of course we will have spacebars available in all sizes



These are the possible color combos:

Pure Retro


Limed


Plum


Sad man


I'm not sure about this last one. We'll see

[Jokrik]

Please double, triple, quadruple check it.

We still miss: ergodox and international kit (we will have 3: UK, DE-IT-Nordic, FR)

Of course we will have spacebars available in all sizes

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These are the possible color combos:

Pure Retro

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Limed

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Plum

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Sad man

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I'm not sure about this last one. We'll see

Please mang, I'm running out of keyboard to put all my keyset on
nevertheless, not sure about the last one myself
but the plum still look really good (I own the DSA one) :thumb: :thumb:

[rowdy]

I also love the look of that dark brown for alphas and mods, with just the function row in beige and lime green Esc/Enter.

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That is a nice design!

This may be my first SA set!

Might be my third :(

[Supergeek]

I've seen how the Plum looks on actual sets (even if they were DSA, not SA) but I'm not sure how the Sad Man colors would look in real life. With a new round of Penumbra probably coming up, I don't really want to get all the kits and blow my whole wad without knowing if I'll like it or not.

If someone could do a realistic render or hue adjustment on an existing photo so we could get a better idea of what Sad Man would look like, that would be awesome.

Matt3o, how about a dark gray instead of beige? Do you think that might be more appealing? That way you could stick with white legends. Let me find a photo of the Plum and I can do a hue shift on it.

Edit: Never mind, dark gray with dark brown would be lame.

[Supergeek]

I did some quick hue shifts to play around with colors a bit:

Brownish


Green


Gray


The beige/brown doesn't look too bad. Green doesn't look too bad either. I know this is DSA, but I just wanted to get a better idea.

Edit: The brown wasn't light enough, here's another version, with enhanced brown on the alphas because that photo made them look pretty black:

[Matt3o]

I like the gray one (a lot), but I believe 2 color combos (with green accent) are more than enough.

If there's interest I might change the burgundy with the beige/gray

[Wilba]

I like the beige a lot too, with white legends. The mockup with a pale beige/brown legends isn't as good as I expected... I think mods which are dark enough for consistent white legends throughout work the best for this set. A warm/brownish beige like GCS would work well.

For me, the "charm" of DSA Retro was it being that vintage brown feeling, not because of the plum/burgundy, or even the green (though that's a perfect accent colour). All mods in green or plum are too much "colour" for my taste, but that two-tone brown/beige really looks great!

[Matt3o]

Almost all kits. Please review! And cast your preference on burgundy vs gray

[Wilba]

Are brown function row keys missing?

[Matt3o]

Are brown function row keys missing?

yes the "standard" retro feel includes a beige function row (or yellow... as per the original C64)

[Zebadule]

Is the burgundy the same color as last time? I can't tell from the mockups, but I'm all for it if it is.

No love for Colemak?

[Supergeek]

If I had to pick one set of those, it would be:

Base + Burgundy Modifiers + Lime Gist

One suggestion, though: could you add one or two C= keys in green for the Lime Gist kit?

I did some more playing around. I inverted the colors of the base + burgundy, and then did one in gray:





I think the burgundy keys with gray mods looks amazing.

Please let me know if my suggestions are annoying or not helpful at all. I have a tendency to get over-enthused and butt into stuff sometimes! If that's the case here, my apologies!

[Matt3o]

Is the burgundy the same color as last time? I can't tell from the mockups, but I'm all for it if it is.

Yes, burgundy is the same color as DSA Retro

One suggestion, though: could you add one or two C= keys in green for the Lime Gist kit?

Nice idea! And please keep sending your suggestions

I don't know if there's enough interest to add another color for alphas though.

[Wilba]

Are brown function row keys missing?

yes the "standard" retro feel includes a beige function row (or yellow... as per the original C64)

Cool Lots of people like F1-F4 and F9-F12 to match the alphas when they have a contrasting mod colour, which they can't do with the burgundy kit.

Row 1 for function row! Awesome!

I liked how JD made the arrow cluster all row 4 in Hack'd by Geeks, with a row 2 up arrow as an extra, so it can be either common sculpted arrow cluster, or a "crater" within the arrow cluster. So looking at the current SA Retro layout, the left/down/right arrows are flat row 3, with a row 4 up arrow. Can you talk a bit about your design of the arrow cluster profiles, and the purpose of extra up arrows in row 2? My preference would be row 4 in the arrow cluster (I use arrow keys a lot and playing with some sample SA keys, it feels better to me). I'm not trying to be too critical just curious and giving my opinion.

[abjr]

Almost all kits. Please review! And cast your preference on burgundy vs gray

I know the gray is truer to the original C64 color scheme, but for some reason the gray function row just looks out of place to me. I'd opt for the plum/burgundy.

Are brown function row keys missing?

yes the "standard" retro feel includes a beige function row (or yellow... as per the original C64)

Any chance to add a brown stripe for the function row as well? I really liked the "Limed" option you drew up earlier.

[Matt3o]

Any chance to add a brown stripe for the function row as well? I really liked the "Limed" option you drew up earlier.

Fair enough!

[Oobly]

I prefer the grey by a large margin. Not interested in the burgundy. I think the brown/grey combo is great (Base + True Retro + Lime gist... very nice)!

[Supergeek]

I don't know if there's enough interest to add another color for alphas though.

Yeah I hear ya. If there's too many different kits, none of them will reach MOQ on their own.

Maybe if the buy is wildly successful, more colors could be added later?

[Data]

Yeah, I'd be in for that True Retro set and the Lime kit. Still unsure about the profile or if I should wait for DSA to come back around (maybe on Massdrop?).

[Matt3o]

Made other few updates



keep the suggestions coming

[cryptowillem]

I really like that colorway. I don't know yet if I'd go with the retro or burgundy modifiers yet. Let's be honest, though, I'd probably get both.

[Elrick]

I really like that colorway. I don't know yet if I'd go with the retro or burgundy modifiers yet. Let's be honest, though, I'd probably get both.

So true, BUT this forth coming Group Buy is looking to be SO BIG that it will cater to one and all especially when you look at all the extras being offered.

AGAIN we shall be Retro'ed to death for the next month or two with the numerous variety of colour-ways that could be applied here, staggers the average Geekhacker's mind  .

Good to be a registered forum user here on this site because of what's coming down the line  .

[rowdy]

To me the gray seems a bit odd.  The rest of the colours are orange/brown hue, with contrasting green highlights.

The gray just seems bland in comparison.

[Zebadule]

Why don't the burgundy mods have the green highlight keys?

Mito's PuLSE set offered a sculpted Colemak adapter pack that did well enough to tip. I imagine you'll get at least as much interest here. Certainly from me!

[Matt3o]

Updates



Can someone point me to a colemak kit?

Also, is the ergodox fine?

[Loligagger]

Ergodox kits look fine to me.

[nathanrosspowell]

Can someone point me to a colemak kit?

I'm not a colemak user, but this tipped: Pulse SA colemak kit

[abjr]

Any chance to add a brown stripe for the function row as well? I really liked the "Limed" option you drew up earlier.

Fair enough!

Molte grazie!

[Matt3o]

More updates! Still playing with the green keys. Added colemak... make it tip!



I believe we only miss the international kits

[Elrick]

More updates! Still playing with the green keys. Added colemak... make it tip!

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I believe we only miss the international kits

Personally I shall be going for an ALL Brown colour-way with authentic Commodore Insignia.

I'll make this baby tip, so don't worry Matt3o your latest artistic expression shall be SP's greatest version made yet, from their molds.

[azhdar]

as always anything with Inter kit will be an insta-buy for me.

[Wilba]

To be consistent, the numpad should use both ÷ and ×, or both / and *

Bumping my previous question:

I liked how JD made the arrow cluster all row 4 in Hack'd by Geeks, with a row 2 up arrow as an extra, so it can be either common sculpted arrow cluster, or a "crater" within the arrow cluster. So looking at the current SA Retro layout, the left/down/right arrows are flat row 3, with a row 4 up arrow. Can you talk a bit about your design of the arrow cluster profiles, and the purpose of extra up arrows in row 2? My preference would be row 4 in the arrow cluster (I use arrow keys a lot and playing with some sample SA keys, it feels better to me). I'm not trying to be too critical just curious and giving my opinion.

[Matt3o]

someone finds the UP arrow in R2 easier to press than R4. It's the same profile as the realforce.

[Lpwl]

as always anything with Inter kit will be an insta-buy for me.

^ this.

[rowdy]

The OS kits have Windows and Linux logo modifiers, but no Apple command and option icon modifiers?