Author Topic: WASD V2 87-key keyboard with custom Mac legends  (Read 11879 times)

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Offline mer

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    • Purple Ghost Software, Inc.
WASD V2 87-key keyboard with custom Mac legends
« on: Tue, 08 July 2014, 14:05:31 »
Just got my WASD V2 87-key keyboard. This is my first mechanical keyboard since I used to use the old IBM Model M keyboards, which had come standard on my IBM computers back in the day.

* My research

I almost purchased a new buckling spring board from Unicomp, but after some experimenting, I determined it would be too large for me and my trackball would be too far of a reach. So, I did a lot of research on the internet and it brought me to this site (geekhack.org). I love the idea of being able to customize my key caps so I decided to go with MX switches. And, after researching the various versions of the switches, I knew I wanted either blue or green. I ended up going with green switches.

* WASD Keyboards

I decided to go with WASD Keyboards as I really like that they are made in the USA and that they use standard key sizes and that you can specify your own individual keycap colors as well as create your own legends. You can put pretty much anything you want on the keycaps as long as you use their template file. So, that is what I did. I'm now a Mac guy, so I created a legend layout that I thought would be ideal for me to use with my Mac.

My experience was pretty good with WASD Keyboards. Within minutes of placing my order, I realized I submitted an old design of mine (keycap colors). I submitted one with the function keys being all gray and I actually wanted them alternating between white and gray. So, I emailed them and they simply had me email them a screenshot of the design I wanted and they'd take care of it. No problem. That was very good customer support. Then, a few days later I get an email letting me know they were out of white key caps and thus my order had to wait until they came in. This ended up delaying my board for a week or so but I finally got it today.

The only complaint with WASD Keyboards didn't happen until today when I got the board. I opened it up and realized they didn't give me the orange colored keycaps for the WASD key cluster that I wanted. They are simply white like the rest of the alpha keys. I just sent them an email letting them know of this mistake and asked them if they could simply send me orange WASD key caps. I hope they don't have a problem with this.

UPDATE: Got response from WASD Keyboards - they are sending my orange WASD keycaps ASAP.

* The Keyboard

The keyboard is actually heavier than I expected. It has a very nice weight to it. Much heavier than my Apple keyboard. The case looks very nice. It seems to be of a nice quality plastic. It has a matte finish so I don't have to worry about fingerprints.

I like the fact that this keyboard is very understated. It doesn't have any logos or the WASD Keyboards name anywhere on it. Just the keys and two red LED's for caps lock and scroll lock.

The gaps between the keys and the openings in the case all appear very even.

Turning it over, it has two flip down feet to raise the back maybe 1/2 inch or so. And, it has nice rubber "feet" at the front and back that keep the board from sliding about. Typing on it now it isn't sliding around at all.

The detachable USB cord is nice and can be routed out the sides or back. I have mine routed out the back and into a USB hub on my desk. This keyboard will pretty much just sit on my desk all the time so I won't be detaching the USB cable very often (if ever). But I like the thought that if something happens to the cable I can simply get a new one without having to operate on the board itself.

The keycaps are ABC with UV coating over the legends. They keys feel a tiny bit "rough", which I like as it gives a little grip to your fingers while typing. I cannot compare the keycaps to PBT or other types as I don't have any experience with those.

The legends looks very sharp and clear. The only thing I would change is some of the custom legends I added to the function keys. When seeing the previous track, play/pause, next track, etc legends in person, I'd like to tweak some of them as some appear a bit too "bold".

* MX Green switches

I decided to go with MX Greens as I really wanted something like buckling springs and I was a bit worried the blues would be a little too soft for me. I'm a programmer and I don't want to register keystrokes accidentally. For the limited typing I've done so far on this board (just this post so far), I'm really liking these switches. I like the sound and tactile feedback. But, I'm thinking I still may end up having to get a board with blue switches so I can compare.

It's certainly quite a bit different than my Apple bluetooth keyboard I have been using for years now (which obviously was expected). So far, I really like the feel of this board.

* Don't Panic button

WASD also allows you to create custom single buttons with any image you want. I sent them a "Don't Panic" image (Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy) to see how it would turn out. Ended up pretty nice. It's a little hard to read as it is rather small, but that isn't their fault.

* Pics!

My new WASD V2 sitting in my desk's keyboard tray:

70152-0

Right hand custom modifiers:

70154-1

Custom function key legends:

70156-2

Cherry MX Green switches:

70158-3

WASD V2 87-key vs Apple bluetooth:

70160-4

Custom "Don't Panic" keycap:

70162-5
« Last Edit: Tue, 08 July 2014, 14:08:29 by mer »
WASD V2 87-Key MX Greens
Profile pic is "Geek Hack" in Gallifreyan

Offline iLLucionist

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Re: WASD V2 87-key keyboard with custom Mac legends
« Reply #1 on: Wed, 09 July 2014, 07:53:49 »
That is really pretty!
MJT2 Browns o-rings - HHKB White - ES-87 Smoke White Clears - 87UB 55g

Offline mer

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    • Purple Ghost Software, Inc.
Re: WASD V2 87-key keyboard with custom Mac legends
« Reply #2 on: Wed, 09 July 2014, 10:18:07 »
That is really pretty!

Thanks! I should be getting my orange WASD keys by Friday according to tracking.
WASD V2 87-Key MX Greens
Profile pic is "Geek Hack" in Gallifreyan

Offline jterp7

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    • good typing
Re: WASD V2 87-key keyboard with custom Mac legends
« Reply #3 on: Thu, 10 July 2014, 14:40:23 »
looks great :thumb:

Offline osi

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Re: WASD V2 87-key keyboard with custom Mac legends
« Reply #4 on: Thu, 10 July 2014, 14:56:01 »
Nice pickup - A WASD v2 was my first mech too!

Welcome!!

Offline mer

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Re: WASD V2 87-key keyboard with custom Mac legends
« Reply #5 on: Thu, 10 July 2014, 16:32:02 »
Nice pickup - A WASD v2 was my first mech too!

Welcome!!

Thanks! From your sig it seems you now like 60% boards, eh? I'm thinking a 60% may be my test keyboard purchase, but I'm not sure about the lack of function keys.

I'm on a Mac and work from home with two monitors (a 30" and the 15" from my MacBook Pro). I pretty much always have video podcasts playing on my notebook monitor and I use the media controls of the function keys a lot during the day to control the podcasts (play, pause, volume, etc). I think it may be a pain to have to use Fn to access these functions each time.

I also use the arrow keys a lot as I'm a programmer and use the arrow keys a lot to move around in my code editor. But, I certainly can do without the insert/delete/home/end/page up/down cluster as I pretty much never touch those keys.

So, a 75% may be a better fit for me for my next board. And, it seems the 75% are a bit easier to find custom keycaps for (another thing I like about the TKL boards like the WASD V2). But, not sure. Doesn't seem like a 75% board is really much smaller than a TKL.

WASD V2 87-Key MX Greens
Profile pic is "Geek Hack" in Gallifreyan

Offline nraymond

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Re: WASD V2 87-key keyboard with custom Mac legends
« Reply #6 on: Wed, 16 July 2014, 19:01:26 »
So I happened to order a WASD V2 87-key myself a week ago, though I went with their standard Mac layout, which didn't include any media key Fn legends, and while I was tempted to go with something like their "Modern + Media Keys" legends with a standard Layout, it wasn't quite Mac-enough for me, and trying to combine it with their full Mac layout style just created a jumbled mess... so I guess that's why you went full custom?  However looking at the manual, the WASD puts the media keys in different places than you have with your custom legends - Insert, Home, End, Page Up, Page Down, Pause, F11, F12, and F13 by default.  So I'm curious, are you doing some sort of key remapping on your Mac to get the media key layout you have on your legends?  And how hard was it to do a custom Mac layout?

Offline iLLucionist

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Re: WASD V2 87-key keyboard with custom Mac legends
« Reply #7 on: Thu, 17 July 2014, 05:22:04 »
So I happened to order a WASD V2 87-key myself a week ago, though I went with their standard Mac layout, which didn't include any media key Fn legends, and while I was tempted to go with something like their "Modern + Media Keys" legends with a standard Layout, it wasn't quite Mac-enough for me, and trying to combine it with their full Mac layout style just created a jumbled mess... so I guess that's why you went full custom?  However looking at the manual, the WASD puts the media keys in different places than you have with your custom legends - Insert, Home, End, Page Up, Page Down, Pause, F11, F12, and F13 by default.  So I'm curious, are you doing some sort of key remapping on your Mac to get the media key layout you have on your legends?  And how hard was it to do a custom Mac layout?

For as far as it concerns mapping, you can remap almost everything very very easily with Karabiner (formerly called the famous KeyRemap4MacBook), see here:

https://pqrs.org/osx/karabiner/index.html.en
MJT2 Browns o-rings - HHKB White - ES-87 Smoke White Clears - 87UB 55g

Offline mer

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    • Purple Ghost Software, Inc.
Re: WASD V2 87-key keyboard with custom Mac legends
« Reply #8 on: Thu, 17 July 2014, 16:22:43 »
So I happened to order a WASD V2 87-key myself a week ago, though I went with their standard Mac layout, which didn't include any media key Fn legends, and while I was tempted to go with something like their "Modern + Media Keys" legends with a standard Layout, it wasn't quite Mac-enough for me, and trying to combine it with their full Mac layout style just created a jumbled mess... so I guess that's why you went full custom?  However looking at the manual, the WASD puts the media keys in different places than you have with your custom legends - Insert, Home, End, Page Up, Page Down, Pause, F11, F12, and F13 by default.  So I'm curious, are you doing some sort of key remapping on your Mac to get the media key layout you have on your legends?  And how hard was it to do a custom Mac layout?

For as far as it concerns mapping, you can remap almost everything very very easily with Karabiner (formerly called the famous KeyRemap4MacBook), see here:

https://pqrs.org/osx/karabiner/index.html.en

Yep, this is exactly what I did (used KeyRemap4MacBook - now called Karabiner). It is free and works great. The function keys now work exactly like they do on an Apple keyboard - even the on-screen brightness and volume notifications show up when using the function keys.

If you'd like, I'd be happy to post my layout file I used. Although, I think if I did it again I'd make the media icons a bit smaller. They just seem a tiny bit too large. I'm actually working on a new layout based on my original layout but it will only have icons for the mod keys and not the words (kind of like what the Granite set looks like).
WASD V2 87-Key MX Greens
Profile pic is "Geek Hack" in Gallifreyan

Offline nraymond

  • Posts: 89
Re: WASD V2 87-key keyboard with custom Mac legends
« Reply #9 on: Thu, 17 July 2014, 22:23:08 »

For as far as it concerns mapping, you can remap almost everything very very easily with Karabiner (formerly called the famous KeyRemap4MacBook), see here:

https://pqrs.org/osx/karabiner/index.html.en

Yep, this is exactly what I did (used KeyRemap4MacBook - now called Karabiner). It is free and works great. The function keys now work exactly like they do on an Apple keyboard - even the on-screen brightness and volume notifications show up when using the function keys.

If you'd like, I'd be happy to post my layout file I used. Although, I think if I did it again I'd make the media icons a bit smaller. They just seem a tiny bit too large. I'm actually working on a new layout based on my original layout but it will only have icons for the mod keys and not the words (kind of like what the Granite set looks like).

Ah, so I take that the Fn key when used with any key on a WASD v2 keyboard produces a unique keycode?  If so, then I understand how I could use Karabiner to make a WASD behave more like an Apple keyboard... I've been assuming for no particular reason that Fn key combos were hard coded to produce different key codes only for specific keys.  So now I wonder, since the keyboard has a Mac DIP switch mode, why wouldn't they enable remapping the media keys to Mac standard locations as well, and not just swapping Command and Option?  Seems like a missed opportunity there... only advantage to not relocating the media keys in Mac mode is if someone has a WASD v2 with keycaps with the WASD media key locations and moves that keyboard between a Mac and a PC and uses the media keys on both platforms, but that seems like a rather narrow case.

That'd be cool if you could post your layout file.  I'm not sure I'll use it anytime soon, but it could save me some time if/when I get another custom WASD.

Offline mer

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  • Posts: 29
    • Purple Ghost Software, Inc.
Re: WASD V2 87-key keyboard with custom Mac legends
« Reply #10 on: Mon, 21 July 2014, 08:48:22 »

For as far as it concerns mapping, you can remap almost everything very very easily with Karabiner (formerly called the famous KeyRemap4MacBook), see here:

https://pqrs.org/osx/karabiner/index.html.en

Yep, this is exactly what I did (used KeyRemap4MacBook - now called Karabiner). It is free and works great. The function keys now work exactly like they do on an Apple keyboard - even the on-screen brightness and volume notifications show up when using the function keys.

If you'd like, I'd be happy to post my layout file I used. Although, I think if I did it again I'd make the media icons a bit smaller. They just seem a tiny bit too large. I'm actually working on a new layout based on my original layout but it will only have icons for the mod keys and not the words (kind of like what the Granite set looks like).

Ah, so I take that the Fn key when used with any key on a WASD v2 keyboard produces a unique keycode?  If so, then I understand how I could use Karabiner to make a WASD behave more like an Apple keyboard... I've been assuming for no particular reason that Fn key combos were hard coded to produce different key codes only for specific keys.  So now I wonder, since the keyboard has a Mac DIP switch mode, why wouldn't they enable remapping the media keys to Mac standard locations as well, and not just swapping Command and Option?  Seems like a missed opportunity there... only advantage to not relocating the media keys in Mac mode is if someone has a WASD v2 with keycaps with the WASD media key locations and moves that keyboard between a Mac and a PC and uses the media keys on both platforms, but that seems like a rather narrow case.

That'd be cool if you could post your layout file.  I'm not sure I'll use it anytime soon, but it could save me some time if/when I get another custom WASD.

Yeah, I'm not exactly sure how the Fn key is affected by the Mac mode DIP switch setting. According to the V2 user's guide, the Mac mode only effects Command/Option keys. And, by default, IIRC, the Fn key sends out PC_APPLICATION key code. And, the DIP switch 6 is supposed to toggle the Fn key between Menu key and Fn key but it didn't seem to matter in my testing. With switch 6 on or off, I was always getting the PC_APPLICATION key code.

So, in my Karabiner setup, I used it to switch the Application Key to Fn. I also have the F1..F15 keys changed to media keys, brightness, etc. And I set it to change Fn+F1..F15 keys to F1..F15. So, without Fn key, the F1..F15 keys now access the special Mac functions (brightness, media, volume, etc) and I can use the Fn key to access the normal F1..F15 key functions just like on a normal Mac keyboard.

I've attached the layout file I used.
WASD V2 87-Key MX Greens
Profile pic is "Geek Hack" in Gallifreyan