[IC] Alps DCS Infinity mods kit

[njbair]

Matias sells keycaps alone

This was the missing piece of the puzzle in my understanding.

So then to summarize, this "mod pack" will complement an existing full ALPS keyset, namely the non-standard bottom row of the Infinity keyboard. The only remaining question mark is getting a 6U ALPS spacebar in the DCS profile (or settling for a DSA spacebar). Did I get it right?

FWIW, as a Matias newbie who's here because of the Infinity, I think the key to this set's success will be to heavily promote the set on the Massdrop discussion page, and make sure anyone in the same boat as me knows how this set is supposed to work.

Anyway, count me in. I'm going to look into getting a full set of caps from Matias this week.

[FrostyToast]

Is there any way to fund molds for 7x and 6.25x ALPS spacebars in DCS?
They don't have those right now if I recall.

[njbair]

Is there any way to fund molds for 7x and 6.25x ALPS spacebars in DCS?
They don't have those right now if I recall.

I doubt it. Mold tooling is incredibly expensive. I think the best bet for custom spacebars will be to wait until Matias starts selling their own custom caps online.

[rsadek]

Matias sells keycaps alone

Anyway, count me in. I'm going to look into getting a full set of caps from Matias this week.

Cool. Could you report back once you order from Matias? It might interest the thread to know what's involved, available options, if we have the correct contact person, etc.

[jdcarpe]

Is there any way to fund molds for 7x and 6.25x ALPS spacebars in DCS?
They don't have those right now if I recall.

Got an extra $10,000 lying around?

[njbair]

Matias sells keycaps alone

Anyway, count me in. I'm going to look into getting a full set of caps from Matias this week.

Cool. Could you report back once you order from Matias? It might interest the thread to know what's involved, available options, if we have the correct contact person, etc.

So last night at about 6 p.m. I sent an email to barb@matias (dot ca) asking about ordering a full set of keycaps. Then around 11 p.m. I got a reply from Steve asking for some clarification on my order and he wanted to know my Zip code to calculate shipping. So I replied with the details he asked for. Tonight I checked my email and saw a reply from Steve with ordering instructions. My total cost would be $50 for the full set of whites with black printed legends + $15 shipping = US$65.

Here's the really fun part. My instructions for placing the order were to go to Matias.ca and place an order for (65) $1 armor clip anchors, and to put "Matias keycaps as per Steve" in the order memo line. So I did this and checked out with PayPal. This was definitely the strangest checkout experience of my life, but hey, I'm getting my keycaps so whatever!

Also of possible interest, Steve told me they sell blank white caps individually:

• US$1.00 each for 1x1
• US$2.00 each for bigger than 1x1
• US$5.00 each for spacebar

+ shipping

[FrostyToast]

Is there any way to fund molds for 7x and 6.25x ALPS spacebars in DCS?
They don't have those right now if I recall.

Got an extra $10,000 lying around?

Well considering the amount of funding 7Bit gathers to make molds through his buys it wouldn't be impossible to gather funds with a GB.

[njbair]

Sounds like there's market demand for Artisan ALPS spacebars............

[jdcarpe]

Is there any way to fund molds for 7x and 6.25x ALPS spacebars in DCS?
They don't have those right now if I recall.

Got an extra $10,000 lying around?

Well considering the amount of funding 7Bit gathers to make molds through his buys it wouldn't be impossible to gather funds with a GB.

No, it's not impossible. But no one here wants to run a keycap group buy on the scale that 7bit does. And, unfortunately for us, Alps is a niche within a niche, so there wouldn't be that broad appeal required for an epic scale group buy to fund a new mold. If you think of it this way, the max number of orders for an Alps set would likely be around 100 orders at the outside, so divide whatever a spacebar mold costs ($8000?) by that number, and you would need to add $80 to everyone's order to fund a mold.

I'm not trying to be a pessimist, just a realist.

[njbair]

Is it possible to get some MX DCS 6U spacebars and somehow mod them with the right stems/stabs for ALPS? You could use other ALPS caps stems and somehow glue/epoxy them into place...

[FrostyToast]

I believe Nubbinator is working on a modular stem system which could be of use to you.

[njbair]

Is this idea still alive?

[Badwrench]

Is this idea still alive?

Yup.  Just a couple small details to iron out before I start the buy. 

[Touch_It]

Maybe a dumb question but would these work for s Dell at101w?

Thx in advance.  It is a lot to try to read on my phone.

[zombimuncha]

Maybe a dumb question but would these work for s Dell at101w?

Thx in advance.  It is a lot to try to read on my phone.

Not a dumb question. Legacy Alps keyboards are only slightly more complicated than rocket science.

I think you should be ok for the key sizes. Please look closely at the render and compare with your keyboard!

Since these are coming from SP, they'll have cruciform (cherry mx style) mounts for the stabilizers. This means that for keyboards with standard Alps stabilizers like yours, you'll need to get some compatible balance bars to be able to attach the stabilized keys to the stabilizers clips on your keyboard. Hopefully these will be available from Matias soon, or maybe they're one of the "small details" Badwrench is working on.
My understanding is that Infinity users will not have this problem with the stabs, but I'll be happy to be corrected as I haven't really been following the Infinity keyboard project.

In other news - it was mentioned in another thread that Matias is working on getting some Alps DCS doubleshot sets to carry in-stock. If this works out as planned there will be no need to mix and match different profiles on the same keyboard with this set. Simply get a black or white doubleshot set from Matias and add this mod pack, and you're golden. Everything matches ferpectly 
edit: except for weird keys like "bigass enter" etc

[Badwrench]

Ok guys and gals, here is my Final render of the Infinity kit:



There was very little feedback on other logos, so I decided to add a pair of each of the donated logos to each layout.     This way each user can decide how they want them paired. 

[ideus]

Are those suppose to be mountains profiles?

[Badwrench]

Are those suppose to be mountains profiles?

Yup - Alps.   

See the op for a higher res. image.

[njbair]

I am honestly not the biggest fan of all the logo keys but I'm definitely buying to support the Alps modding community. What's the MOQ for this buy?

[ideus]

Are those suppose to be mountains profiles?

Yup - Alps.   

See the op for a higher res. image.

I am sure you have given them enough thought, but I may suggest something more in the line of the image bellow:

[nubbinator]

Looking great.  I'm looking forward to this.

Are those suppose to be mountains profiles?

Yup - Alps.   

See the op for a higher res. image.

I am sure you have given them enough thought, but I may suggest something more in the line of the image bellow:

I like mine better...plus, I'm paying for the legend.  Open for suggestions, but really do not like that one.

[Touch_It]

Do you have a solid idea on price?  I'm modifying s Dell board with Matias switches and aek keycaps.

[Badwrench]

Do you have a solid idea on price?  I'm modifying s Dell board with Matias switches and aek keycaps.

No price yet.  I will be submitting this to SP tonight and will start the GB when I get pricing. 

[ideus]

Looking great.  I'm looking forward to this.

Are those suppose to be mountains profiles?

Yup - Alps.   

See the op for a higher res. image.

I am sure you have given them enough thought, but I may suggest something more in the line of the image bellow:

I like mine better...plus, I'm paying for the legend.  Open for suggestions, but really do not like that one.

Of course: It's your call entirely; good luck with your GB.

[zombimuncha]

Oh, now there's no 1.5u alt key, after I asked for the "alps" pic on a 1.5u. I hadn't thought of that. D'oh! I like either or the logo keys but maybe not both on the same set. Should we do a poll for glider vs mountain on the win-keys? Or it could be glider on tbe the 1.25u winkey and mountain on the 1.0u?

[jdcarpe]

Ok guys and gals, here is my Final render of the Infinity kit:

(Attachment Link)

There was very little feedback on other logos, so I decided to add a pair of each of the donated logos to each layout.     This way each user can decide how they want them paired. 

Pretty darn close. For the WKL layout, I'd rather have the Alt keys restored, and have one of each logo on the 1u keys.

[njbair]

Pretty darn close. For the WKL layout, I'd rather have the Alt keys restored, and have one of each logo on the 1u keys.

By WKL you're referring to the 1.5U Ctrl/Alt keys shown in the Hacker row in the mockup? If so, I agree that it would be nice to have Alt legends instead of (or in addition to) Alps logos as well.

EDIT: To make the Hacker layout match the way the Standard layout is done, the Alps logo keys should be 1U and the 1.5U keys should have Alt legends.

EDIT 2: Like this:

[nubbinator]

Pretty darn close. For the WKL layout, I'd rather have the Alt keys restored, and have one of each logo on the 1u keys.

By WKL you're referring to the 1.5U Ctrl/Alt keys shown in the Hacker row in the mockup? If so, I agree that it would be nice to have Alt legends instead of (or in addition to) Alps logos as well.

EDIT: To make the Hacker layout match the way the Standard layout is done, the Alps logo keys should be 1U and the 1.5U keys should have Alt legends.

EDIT 2: Like this:
(Attachment Link)

Drop that extra star and I think that's perfect.  For some reason the Alps instead of Alt didn't click for me.

[CPTBadAss]

I really liked the geometric shapes. The Alps mountains and the weird dots I'm not into.

[zombimuncha]

I'm also not "feeling" the star. Diamond, maybe. Not star - in these colours it feels a little too... HomestarRunner.

Other than that, njbair's render is basically perfect AFAIC.

I'll be using this in an office context, where the glider can be used to score geek-cred points and as a conversation starter for all kinds of topics-geeky. The mountain is pretty, fairly unique, and a bit more stealthy - less likely to start conversations, but if it ever does, you can be sure it'll be about glorious ALPS switches!

[jdcarpe]

the glider can be used to score geek-cred points and as a conversation starter for all kinds of topics-geeky.

QFT

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glider_%28Conway%27s_Life%29

[CPTBadAss]

I really don't give a **** about geek cred points. Or the fact that I had to look it up on Wikipedia. I just want something that doesn't look like someone doodled 5 dots on a keycap.

[jdcarpe]

I really don't give a **** about geek cred points. Or the fact that I had to look it up on Wikipedia. I just want something that doesn't look like someone doodled 5 dots on a keycap.

Don't make me come over there.


You would rather have a Windows logo and menu icon?

[CPTBadAss]

Blank caps
Geometric shapes
Alps logo
Windows logo and menu icon
Meta/Super

I'd prefer any of these. Really not into either of the logos and I won't use them. I'll send them your way if the current designs go through .

[jdcarpe]

Blank caps
Geometric shapes
Alps logo
Windows logo and menu icon
Meta/Super

I'd prefer any of these. Really not into either of the logos and I won't use them. I'll send them your way if the current designs go through .

You're either wi' me, or again' me. Don't get rekt, bro.




Maybe badwrench can offer blanks as an option, for the plebian unimpressed.

[njbair]

Here...I shrunk all the logos and put the Alps logo inside a circle to make it a little more geometric. I am actually OK with the logos on this one:

[CPTBadAss]

For some reason....

Mountains alone? I don't like them
Mountains in a circle? I'm ok with them

I'm ridiculous.

I still dislike that dot logo though

[zombimuncha]

Im still liking the Alps mountain in the circle, but... my understanding was that these are double shot legend that already exist at SP, so modifying or resizing them would not be possible. Am I wrong? Donny?

If I had to lose one of those legends it'd be the glider, but I'm still in no matter what legends end up on the winkeys.

[jdcarpe]

For some reason....

Mountains alone? I don't like them
Mountains in a circle? I'm ok with them

I'm ridiculous.

I still dislike that dot logo though

What if we put the grid back in there on the glider?

I like the circle alps now too. Looks great with the circle.

[CPTBadAss]

What if we put the grid back in there on the glider?

I just want something that doesn't look like someone doodled 5 dots on a keycap.

[FrostyToast]

Oh great I can see it now:
I would like a "Windeaux" key, spelled just like that. I think a lot of Louisiana French-Southern descent keyboardists would agree.

10/10 would buy.


Do you have any Cajun/creole heritage?

Here...I shrunk all the logos and put the Alps logo inside a circle to make it a little more geometric. I am actually OK with the logos on this one:

(Attachment Link)

This is najs. Berry najs.
The absence of true alt keys killed it for me. I don't usually whine about legends, but that really did bother me.
I'm also fine with whatever mountains you use.

[jdcarpe]

What if we put the grid back in there on the glider?

I just want something that doesn't look like someone doodled 5 dots on a keycap.

#FITEMEIRL

[zombimuncha]

One day,  no-one knows when, jdcarpe will post something that I don't need to google.

[njbair]

Im still liking the Alps mountain in the circle, but... my understanding was that these are double shot legend that already exist at SP, so modifying or resizing them would not be possible. Am I wrong? Donny?

If I had to lose one of those legends it'd be the glider, but I'm still in no matter what legends end up on the winkeys.

AFAIK they do not exist but someone was going to donate the additional cost to make them happen. So really, that person would have to be OK with the change, for starters. Then obviously Badwrench would, as well.

I think it's the same story for the GOL Gliders...someone wants it so they are going to pay to make the doubleshot mold happen.

EDIT: Going back and reading, it's Nubs who wants to sponsor the Alps logo, and JD for the Glider.

[nubbinator]

I'm ok with the new Alps mod. Someone may need to add it to the file though.

[njbair]

I'm ok with the new Alps mod. Someone may need to add it to the file though.

Thanks!!! Will do. I'll make it a nice SVG even.

[njbair]

Here is a revised mockup with a new glider legend:

[jdcarpe]

Here is a revised mockup with a new glider legend:

(Attachment Link)

I like the original better. Thanks, though! CPT just isn't hacker enough.

[rsadek]

Two more cents:

I prefer the Alps without the circle; prefer the gridded glider to the "dots" one. I was also ok w/ the star + Alps + glider even if it cost me an Alt. Finally my preference for Alps > Star > Alt > glider.

I get the homestar runner issue at work, but I think it won't look tacky w/ the blue. On the flip side, the glider could result in long, tedious lecture interesting conversations about GPLv3 or copyleft.

[njbair]

I feel it's worth mentioning that I have no influence here...just throwing out ideas.

I'll also reiterate from my earlier post that I will support this set no matter what, because I want Alps group buys to succeed. Had I been around for the Delta Blue buy, I would have done the same there.