Nostromo N52 Black Cherry Mod

[mike2h]

My point has been that I run 4GB of memory without any need for virtual memory.

no your point is, that you run either 2gb(your original post on this subject) or 4gb of ram with you having disabled pagefile. doesnt mean you dont need it- you do for best perf- just that for whatever reason you choose to run your comp without something that helps the perf of your comp & has no downside.
anyway, i have had this discussion countless times withh people & they either do some research & turn pagefile back on or stay with what they have for no real reason other than sheer stubborness.
anyway sorry for the trainwreck,  &those trains are cool:)
how do you make any progress on your project when you are staging all these 'scenes'? lol

[timw4mail]

just that for whatever reason you choose to run your comp without something that helps the perf of your comp & has no downside.

Actually, I have been really hard disk space limited in the past. (There was one point when I had 8GB of space, on two 4GB hard drives, running XP) And the pagefile does take up space on the hard disk. And actually, I'm not running without a pagefile, last I checked.

On topic... Have you decided what switches you are actually going to use, Ripster?

[mike2h]

Yes.  I think it's the MIKE2 or TIM4 model.

I can't remember.  Must not have enough memory.

lmao.
actually it would be lack of pagefile slowing your thought proccess.

[mike2h]

depends on what you like, but overall id say no. fyi im a strategy  & rpg fan so my perspective is biased.
i replaced my nostromo with a fang gamepad, i just noticed that the keys on the fang actually have some stiff resistance( this forum has twisted my brain- now i actually 'feel' the key action whenever i press keys on anything) at first then just give away. think im going to have to open it up unless one of you guys can tell me its just some rubber dome variation.

[timw4mail]

depends on what you like, but overall id say no. fyi im a strategy  & rpg fan so my perspective is biased.
i replaced my nostromo with a fang gamepad, i just noticed that the keys on the fang actually have some stiff resistance( this forum has twisted my brain- now i actually 'feel' the key action whenever i press keys on anything) at first then just give away. think im going to have to open it up unless one of you guys can tell me its just some rubber dome variation.

Please, please, use capital letters.

[msiegel]

Please, please, use capital letters.

all lowercase and no newlines makes homer something something

[mike2h]

look, im still learning to type. i have a messed up rt arm that gives me grief typing. right now im just trying to get my speed up so i spend less time typing, thereby reducing discomfort levels.
 i basically use one finger from each hand, i am trying to use more fingers, but at this point remembering to hit the caps key is not high on my priority list.
sorry if it offends you or anybody else.
for me any of the left hand pinky keys are a problem, i broke a cpl of knuckles & fingers when i was younger & my left pinky kinda points a little crooked. anyway, at this point it is what it is, if my lack of caps offends you or anybody elses' sense of propriety please dont read my posts. frankly, im tired of hearing about it. if, in 6-8 months my typing hasnt further improved to yours or anybody else's satisfaction please give me a 'nudge' because that means ive been slacking. otherwise pls follow above advice.

[mike2h]

all lowercase and no newlines makes homer something something

hopefully this was meant in good fun. otherwise the implication is becauae i dont type up to certain standards im an idiot. homer is an idiot after all...
im sure you didnt mean it that way, but sometimes people need to think before they make quick, snippy comments. guilty of it myself.

& thx ripster, maybe i am to sensitive about it(i do hate to be bad at anything:)), but it is someting im working on, its just that age & pain make it a much slower proccess than what i(& others) would like. very frustrating.
do appreciate you guys getting me on the 'path to enlightenment' though.

[mike2h]

aint that the truth.

[timw4mail]

hopefully this was meant in good fun. otherwise the implication is becauae i dont type up to certain standards im an idiot. homer is an idiot after all...
im sure you didnt mean it that way, but sometimes people need to think before they make quick, snippy comments. guilty of it myself.

& thx ripster, maybe i am to sensitive about it(i do hate to be bad at anything:)), but it is someting im working on, its just that age & pain make it a much slower proccess than what i(& others) would like. very frustrating.
do appreciate you guys getting me on the 'path to enlightenment' though.

I don't mean to make it an insult, it's just that it makes things a lot easier to read if you have capital letters beginning your sentences. Before I learned to properly type, I still used capital letters and periods for all my sentences. (Although this was before I had access to an internet connection. And I'm only 19, so before you think I'm old...)

I don't want to seem overly jaded, but seeing sentences all run together without capital letters reminds me too much of unintelligible IM speak. Even if I'm typing on my iPod touch, I still like to use complete sentences with capital letters and appropriate punctuation.

Now that we've had our rants with each other...

Ripster, how's this mod actually coming along? Or are you spending too much time photographing legos?

[J888www]

Hey Mike2h, you should drink some warm amber nectar, like the liquid stuff in my IBM mug. It'll certainly calm your aggravated ego, it tastes quite nice too.  :tea:

[mike2h]

pass it on over. of course i would like your definition of 'warm amber nectar'.
has more to do with frustration than ego.

[mike2h]

lol, think i asked that same question myself earlier in the thread. ripster must have a lot of free time on his hands. he is very entertaining.

i posted a query earlier about my fang gamepad keys, anybody have a clue or you going to make me brea.. ah disassemble it.

 fyi tim, my girlfiends did my typing in college for me some 20 years ago(didnt go till i was 30) my so called 'typing skills' were developed through im & posting in tech forums over the last 10 years. you know how that goes. so i am unlearning while learning.
and of course you are right about appropriate sentence structure. 'tis a work in progress:)

[itlnstln]

Hey Mike2h, you should drink some warm amber nectar, like the liquid stuff in my IBM mug. It'll certainly calm your aggravated ego, it tastes quite nice too. :tea:

I would love to have a cup of apple cider (especially if it's spiked).
 
 
Wait... Don't you pee in your IBM mug

[mike2h]

lol, what i was wondering..
being warm kind of rules out a nice brown ale. could be a nice single malt or small batch bourbon, or your suggestion. but i keep coming back to the pee thing.

[mike2h]

lmao.
hope it works. what keys you deide on? the reds.. or did you already answer that?

[mike2h]

great work ripster.
 so when are you going to start mass production?

[Hofy]

"When" I get some spare time I will have to try this with the old Nostromo N50 I have sitting on the shelf.

[Rajagra]

"When" I get some spare time I will have to try this with the old Nostromo N50 I have sitting on the shelf.

Just remember the N50 didn't have n-key rollover.
I wonder if adding diodes would help or just confuse it.

[kyamei]

Could you post a shot of the wiring across the switches?  I got a spare n52 laying around so I want to try doing this too.

[JBert]

Why are you listing some guy's keyboards collection? Sure, he has a N52 and double-shot keys on his keyboard, but I don't see the point. :yawn:

[timw4mail]

Why are you listing some guy's keyboards collection? Sure, he has a N52 and double-shot keys on his keyboard, but I don't see the point. :yawn:

Don't forget the $2 bill.

[Rajagra]

Don't forget the $2 bill.

What a cheapskate!

[itlnstln]

Damn, that font Cherry uses on their keys is butt-ugly.  I would love to buy a 'board to harvest some double-shots from, but that font kills me.  All it would need is sharp edges on the end of the letters.

[timw4mail]

Damn, that font Cherry uses on their keys is butt-ugly.  I would love to buy a 'board to harvest some double-shots from, but that font kills me.  All it would need is sharp edges on the end of the letters.

Matter of preference. I like the rounded letters.

[mike2h]

why not use reds on q & e? you use then for strafing so the same reason you used reds on wasd should apply. jmo.

[mike2h]

guess i should have looked above. duh. i post/use several tech forums so i tend to do a lot of drive bys as i dont always have time to read everything im interested in. please have patience.
that & i forget way to easily. lol.

[itlnstln]

While she didn't shave the key stems, IIRC, Chloe did cut the springs in the switches of several of her keyboards to lower the resistance.

[timw4mail]

While she didn't shave the key stems, IIRC, Chloe did cut the springs in the switches of several of her keyboards to lower the resistance.

How does making the spring shorter lower the resistance? I thought the more coils the spring had, generally the easier to bend it.

[itlnstln]

There's less travel to activate the switch, thus less force it takes to compress the spring that far.

[mike2h]

dont think that is true. the distance traveled has nothing to do with 'force' required to compress the spring- unless the spring is designed to offer different resistance at different points of compression.
since there is a smaller distance to push the key that could be perceived as a 'lighter' switch, but it would be just that, a perception. the force needed to compress the spring is stils the same - just less distance. with the above mentioned caveat applied of course.

how is the mod coming ripster? had enpough time to test yet?

[sixty]

Where did you get Cherry reds from ripster? Or did you just put brown springs into black switches?

[Rajagra]

And check this.  7 key rollover (all 7 keys recognized) on USB.

How they do that?

One was Alt!

Had me going there.

[timw4mail]

Sidenote: I also stuffed it with one of the heavier elements in the periodic table currently banned in California.  This thing now weighs almost a pound, more than most rubber dome keyboards.

If that refers to lead, I still don't understand the big fuss about it...lead really is only bad for you if you ingest it. It's not good for you, but I don't think it's quite as poisonous as they make it out to be.

[itlnstln]

You can absorb lead through your skin (Fiestaware, anyone?), too, but it does have a more immediate effect if you ingest it.
 
Mmm... paint chips.

[itlnstln]

Does the keycap on the "orange button" interfere with the D-pad at all?

[NeoDiNardo]

well its nice to see a post related to what I am struggling with for sure. However, which games did you test it with? FPS? MMO? RTS? I think that makes the difference. And I am not convinced that a gaming keypad is the same as playing on a qwerty keyboard. But very good to hear another vote for the browns.

I am basically down to these keyboards:

The Tenkeyless Filco Cherry Blue

The Tenkeyless Filco Cherry Brown

The Deck Tactile Legend

So my forum browsing here tells me that Browns are very light, perhaps too light. And that Blacks are too stiff for typing and have no real tactile feel. I want some tactile feel. So the Clears where nice in that they straddled the issue. But I am still thinking. I want to order today though. All my other parts are coming in soon.

So ripster, you hated the clears completly huh?

[chimera15]

Omg, pure awesomeness man.  I didn't notice this thread since I wasn't reading the forum much when you posted.  I've been wanting to do this since forever.  Blows me away man.

[chimera15]

This is also really educational in how to convert any rubber dome into a mechanical. Really amazing.  I haven't read the entire thread yet, do the lengths of the wires matter?  Any more detail on the wiring you did and any problems you had?

[chimera15]

I found the detail on page 7.  Yeah I saw the kbmania mod, before which is why I wanted to try it, but not very helpful in so far as a how to that I could follow.  This is truly amazing.  What caused you to burn out the diodes you think?  Misswiring or something else?

[itlnstln]

I also know why even Topre seems to have a hard time keeping keys perfectly aligned. We are talking tenths of a mm tolerances here.

Exactly, even the slightest misalignment in a switch could show it self greatly on a longer key like Shift or Space.

[chimera15]

I  assume the heat although I was very very surprised.  I haven't burnt out a diode in ages.  This mod is pretty safe to the controller as far as I can tell since I had lots of shorts on that connector as I attempted to solder to those 17 or whatever pins.

Only other advice I have is to go slow and test frequently.  I had one ribbon connector I replaced since all the flexing broke one of the wires.

I also know why even Topre seems to have a hard time keeping keys perfectly aligned.  We are talking tenths of a mm tolerances here.

Yeah I had the same problem when I converted that hhk light to acer switches, the first kb mod I did here on the forums, the holes I cut out just didn't work and I had to canabalize the original acer I stole the switches from and put the plastic into the hhk light so the switches would seat properly cause the holes I cut just didn't hold the switches solidly enough.  

  Anyway really impressed.  I may try this with a n52te so I can get it to be clicky. lol  I like the internal programmable memory of them a lot more so you don't have to set up the software and junk except on one computer.

[Rajagra]

I just dug out a couple of old N50s - the 10 key version. I could do something like this with them.

(I also found a MS sidewinder strategic commander! It's like a big plastic slug. Was hoping it was a rare and valuable item, but ebay prices say otherwise.)

I hated all the programming software that came with the N52.  I just created a profile with what keys the N52 mapped to (I hated that the default had Caps Lock mapped), and I just remapped each game in the game's settings.  That way, I wouldn't have to remember to load various profiles, or whatever.

Edit> I misunderstood this first time - I thought you were doing what I do with my N52te - I can program in some standardised profiles into the onboard memory (using the shift states) and can then plug it into any PC without the software, and select a shift state/profile to match the game.

The N52 software was more versatile - in fact many people removed the controller from the N52 and put it in the N52te.
I chose not to do that because the Dpad and scroll wheel kept going offline on my N52, I think it was a software issue.

[itlnstln]

I hated all the programming software that came with the N52.  I just created a profile with what keys the N52 mapped to (I hated that the default had Caps Lock mapped), and I just remapped each game in the game's settings.  That way, I wouldn't have to remember to load various profiles, or whatever.

[chimera15]

I didn't know the new N52s had programmable memory!  Maybe Topre can learn a thing or two from Belkin about this.  DIP switches in 2009 - Inconceivable!

Yeah the te's are really a step above the normal n52's.  They cost more than twice as much on ebay now though.  You can get normal n52's pretty cheap now, so this mod definitely has merit.  The keys are almost good enough too not to need replacing, they're also a ton above the normal n52 keys, but still not mechanicals, or clickies.  It might be worth the extra nanosecond or two of response in some games to make them mechanical.

[Rajagra]

What's the Dpad like on the te though?  They look kinda funky.  Also, the advantage of the Cherry Reds is you can rest on the activation point and spam like crazy.

I don't use it for moving, just as 4 extra keys (I ignore the 4 diagonal positions.) I'd have to find my N52 (non te) to compare the feel.

[chimera15]

What's the Dpad like on the te though?  They look kinda funky.  Also, the advantage of the Cherry Reds is you can rest on the activation point and spam like crazy.

It's basically the same as the normal n52, but it adds a little hat so you can use it like a joystick if you want instead of just a pad.  You can remove the little circular hat though so it's the same as the old one.

[chimera15]

I'm just curious your guys impressions.  It's only $50 at Walmart, Where America Shops so I could always pick one up if I wanted LEDs.

Did they fix the round thumb button too?

The one above the thumbpad? It's still round..what do you mean fix it?

[chimera15]

Hmm,  I don't think the button on my n52 is ridiculously stiff, maybe it was just something to do with the one you had.  The one on the n52te definitely isn't.

The problems with most other gamepads in my experience has always been the drivers.  Most of them suck.  I really love the te's driver and editor.

[ricercar]

now you guys are making me want to take apart my Nostromo 50. No particu\ar reason, just thegeneral inability to resist a hardWare projec+.