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[IC] DCS Ulivi - Incorporating feedback!

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Piperaceae:


DCS Ulivi
A full icon-mod DCS set, inspired by the Olivetti M24 Keyboard 2

February 28, 2025: I've been making test renders incorporating feedback from this past month. Scroll down to the most recent posts to see renders with the changes.

Feedback Form


Vendors
TBD
I'm hoping to offer this once again through SPKeyboards's storefront and their international partners, as I did with DCS SMRT; provided I can demonstrate enough support to make it worth their while.


Inspiration
Ulivi is inspired by the Olivetti M24's Keyboard 2, from the mid-1980s. In the US, the M24 was rebadged by Xerox and AT&T under other names. But the original Olivetti version was the one to feature their trademark bright blue legends, used prominently on many of their boards from the era.

I had originally been playing with a color scheme closer to GMK Olivetti, but quickly realized it was very similar to SMRT. Not wanting to repeat myself, I started looking at historical Olivetti models for inspiration. The Keyboard 2 stood out, with its icon modifiers, bright blue legends, and minimalist single yellow and mint accent keys.

This is NOT meant to be an exact recreation; the original's profile was something closer to SA or OEM. This is a port of the colorway to DCS. It's inspired by the M24, but not a replica of it.

Here's some photos of the original, in a Deskthority post by Matt3o back in 2014

I want to include Italian alphas if the molds exist, since it's impossible to separate Olivetti from Italy; specifically, the Turin metropolitan area where they still operate today. I've also included a Turin bull ISO Enter novelty in the accent kit, as a nod to the region, and an olive branch ANSI Enter novelty.

Using full icon modifiers (the same as those used with DCS Paperwork) allows Ulivi's mods to be as language-neutral as possible.





Relegendable macro columns and big-ass Enter


Notes
• The Southern ISO kit depends on whether the molds exist in DCS - Melissa and Will are looking into this! (And of course, it also depends on whether there's enough support for it. If you've been wanting support for languages beyond the typical NorDeUK, here's your opportunity to demonstrate demand!)

• Unfortunately, Greek sublegends aren't available in DCS, so I wasn't able to make a kit featuring those. I had hoped to offer them as a nod to the Cherry G81-3011 HBQ.

• Putting UK ISO in the base helps reduce the size of the Southern ISO kit, since a couple keys overlap between UK and IT ISO. I use UK ISO myself, so this one particular kitting decision is not negotiable.

• SP is working on convex minibars for DCS - AND THEY'LL BE READY NEXT MONTH (MARCH 2025)!

Colors
All colors are Signature Plastics stock resins.

• Background is GAL warm light grey
• Legends and bright blue accents are BBJ (Dancer) blue
• Yellow accents are YDA yellow
• Mint accents are VDV green



40% with convex DCS minibars


Ergo blanks


Dates
TBD, but probably shipping about 2-4 months after going on sale, given how long recent sets have taken to produce.


Pricing
Base Kit: TBD
Extension: TBD
Numpad: TBD
40%: TBD
Accents: TBD
Southern ISO: TBD
Ergo: TBD


Kitting
Base Kit

The base includes UK ISO and Alice coverage.

Extension

Includes Big-Ass Enter, relegendable macro keys, winged R4 mods, 6u and 10u bars, and alternates

Number Pad

Includes extra function keys for 108-key coverage

40% and Ortho

Two of each minibar not already in the base, just like Noah

Accents and Novelties

Turin bull and olive branch novelties, HJKL and WASD keys, and an alternate bolder blue accent scheme


Stretch Goal Kitting

Southern ISO

Italian, Spanish and Portuguese alphas

Ergo

Includes all necessary keys for ErgoDox, Boardwalk and Promenade layouts.


Special Thanks
Thank you to Tour for sanity-checking my Italian; Deadeye for the bull novelty design; Will and Melissa at SP for putting up with all my questions; and to MadMax13 and Mori for their support during the design process.


Additional Renders

10u bar and big-ass Enter


Blue accents (ANSI Enter artwork still pending)


UK ISO with yellow accents


Yellow light render, UK ISO with blue accent, HJKL arrows, and Turin bull novelty




Feedback Form


I'm hoping that you'll find this is a clean, neutral set that will match well with pretty much anything, featuring expansive coverage, and multiple ways to dress it up if you desire.

Piperaceae:
Yeah. I know, I accidentally posted this to the out-of-the-way forum where I was previewing the formatting before posting here. I've asked the mods to delete the post from the auctions forum.

MoltenKhor:
Despite my hate for blue, as an italian this would be a nice piece to have in my collection.
For the ISO-IT MOQ, keep in mind that real italian enthusiasts 100% adopted ANSI-US rather searching for keycaps in outer space. Those who absolutely want ISO-IT will never spend over 20€ on keycaps. That said, i can’t speak for the entire italian community, IC form will.

Oh BTW, some ISO-IT keys will require 3 or 4 legends like {[]} on è and + keys, @ on ò and # on à.

Maybe next one will be inspired by Olivetti Valentine, my beloved  ;D

Piperaceae:
I adore the Valentine.

I rolled Italian alphas in with Spanish and Portuguese, for no other reason than having seen "southern ISO" kits before in other profiles, and hoping that together they'd make the kit more viable. I'm waiting to hear from SP if the molds even exist first, and then if they do, I can further check to see if those tertiary legends are included. Assuming they are, I'll add them to the renders.

From my research, it seems like the "real" Italian layout is divisive; IBM made their own, and there's no good way to type a tilde symbol? I found more proposals for new Italian layouts than info about the existing one.

I want to offer it for the sake of the theme, but if they aren't feasible it's not the end of the word.

MoltenKhor:
Funny to say this in my 30s but i might be too young for ever used or seen a keyboard from the time where ISO-IT wasn’t a standard already. Back in the days every manufacturer would just slap keys around the qwerty standards.
 

This is what i’ve been using in the past 30 years and yes, the tilde is hiding somewhere under ALTGR and some other 2 keys to be pressed at the same time, like {}. That’s why the first lesson we take in CS here is to learn Ansi-us  :))

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