Author Topic: [IC] GMK CYL Mac Add-on Kits | R4 Row Unification & Dolch Added (Read 7081 times)

Kaisar · « **on:** Sun, 08 September 2024, 10:07:34 »

Timeless classics — now mac compatible!

BACKGROUND

The four GMK classics are WoB, BoW, Beige and Dolch. They have been a staple in the mechanical keyboard community for their history, versatility and timeless designs. However, there is a gap in the market—while these GMK sets are popular and widely loved, there aren’t any dedicated compatibility kits specifically tailored for Mac users.

Prior GMK keycap sets have included such Mac compatible “command” kits such as GMK Modern Dolch 2 and GMK Minimal R2. This begs the question why the community stables haven't yet received such. These kits would include all the necessary keys for a Mac layout including function row icons, text modifiers and icon modifiers, ensuring that Mac users can enjoy the aesthetic and quality of GMK without any compromises.

Mark The Weeb and I are eager to gauge the community's interest. If this sounds like something you’d love to see, please let us know! Your feedback and support will be invaluable in making this project a reality—the IC form is linked below.

IC FORM

Link to IC form

KITS

Mac function row kits
The function row kits include both the new and old icons, e.g. launchpad as well as spotlight for the F4 key. The icons are front printed which prevents your fingers from touching the print ensuring their longevity and still keeps the icons easily visible.

White on Black (WS1 on CR) function row kit

Black on White (CR on WS1) function row kit

Beige (U9/L9) function row kit

Dolch (N9/CC) function row kit

Mac text modifiers kits
There is included enough to satisfy every mac lover. Windowed caps lock is added to mimic the green dot on caps lock on all current mac keyboards. In case your Beige or Dolch set is R5, there is added R4 arrow keys to convert your layout.

White on Black (WS1 on CR) text modifiers kit

Black on White (CR on WS1) text modifiers kit

Beige (U9) text modifiers kit

Dolch (N9) text modifiers kit

Mac icon modifiers kits
For those of you that love the iconic command symbol! Can be used for a full icons keyboard or just bottom row mac icons. In case your Beige or Dolch set is R5, there is added R4 arrow keys to convert your layout.

White on Black (WS1 on CR) icon modifiers kit

Black on White (CR on WS1) icon modifiers kit

Beige (U9) icon modifiers kit

Dolch (N9) icon modifiers kit

RENDERS

Model 13 by Plyktra (unreleased keyboard)	Model 13 by Plyktra (unreleased keyboard)
Werk One by Werk Technica	Werk One by Werk Technica
Portico75 by TKC	Portico75 by TKC

All renders by Mark The Weeb.

VENDORS

EU - Oblotzky
NA - TBD
CA - TBD
UK - ProtoTypist
OCE - TBD
CN - zFrontier
SEA - iLumkb
KR/JP - GEONWORKS

AKNOWLEGDEMENTS

Special thanks to Mark for partnering up and guiding me through the process of my first IC, and for doing all the amazing renders! Couldn't do it without him!
Thanks to maxvoltar for nudging me to do my own IC and connecting me with Mark.

Q&A

Will this be in UV print or double-shot injection?
The aim is to do all kits with double-shot injection. However, the windowed caps lock keys will be in UV print due to limitations, and the function row icons will be too. However, since the function row icons are in the front, you are not touching the prints and there should be no fading over time.

Do the function row icons work?
In MacOS you are able to easily add keyboard shortcuts and map all the keys to their desired functions. There will be a guide once the GB runs.
Some functions (but not all) are also able to be mapped through VIA.

What about ISO-UK Mac keys?
Unfortunately, there are no molds made for Mac specific ISO. The same for NorDe specific Mac keys. I may do a project for this in the future.

STATUS

08 Sep 2024 - IC posted
15 Oct 2024 - IC update: Refined the kits and added Beige colorway and icon modifiers kits
18 Nov 2024 - IC update: Added R4 arrow keys for row unification and added Dolch colorway

Next: Talks with vendors.

SOCIALS

Discord

Kaisar: @kaisar2105
Mark The Weeb: @marktheweeb

SIGNATURE CODE

If you would like to show your appreciation for Mac child kits!

Code: [Select]

[url=https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=123634.0][img]https://i.imgur.com/Gyds28q.png[/img][/url]

twitchytheinsideman · « **Reply #1 on:** Sun, 08 September 2024, 13:19:19 »

glwic

amorino · « **Reply #2 on:** Sun, 08 September 2024, 19:15:02 »

I understand that the reason of not offering icon mods are because WoB and Minimal (less BoWs sets than Minimal) are text but I feel that decision alienates the Mac users from users that don't care about that. Mac users are more accustomed to read icons as almost all macOS software show shortcuts as icons and not with the name of the modifier not to mention the current and past versions of the Magic Keyboard which is the reference for macOS keyboards. Text mods feel like a compromise to appease to a wider audience instead of the macOS users which I feel are the audience who will buy.

In the same way, if it's decided that text mods are the final option, Icon + Text feels very weird on the Caps Lock Command key because OG Cherry is only text which is the offering for GMK WoB and a lot of WoB sets, for Minimal is worse because it is Text Only . Maybe is because some recent sets use Icon + Text, specially the sets from Omnitype but doesn't translate well because of the reason previously explained.

Edit: Something very cool for mac users can be something like GMK CYL Extended 2048 in Cherry mods for WoB and Bow.

crowTFT · « **Reply #3 on:** Tue, 10 September 2024, 14:10:26 »

Would 1000000% buy this if beige was offered

emrebag · « **Reply #4 on:** Sat, 14 September 2024, 11:16:23 »

Realistically, this would all be UV printed, right?

Kaisar · « **Reply #5 on:** Sun, 15 September 2024, 04:56:53 »

Quote from: emrebag on Sat, 14 September 2024, 11:16:23

Realistically, this would all be UV printed, right?

Our plan is to do all this in doubleshot except for the f-row front prints and the windowed caps

Kaisar · « **Reply #6 on:** Sun, 15 September 2024, 05:01:55 »

We appreciate everyone who filled out the IC form and commented their feedback. Your suggestions have been invaluable, and we’re making several updates, including the addition of beige kits and icon mods!

Stay tuned for an update with new renders coming soon

Kaisar · « **Reply #7 on:** Tue, 17 September 2024, 15:09:30 »

Opinions needed!

To confirm whether we should include Beige or Dolch compatability for the Mac Add-on kits, we have created a simple form for the interested. We appreciate if you fill it out!

Beige or Dolch Form

Kaisar · « **Reply #8 on:** Tue, 15 October 2024, 16:14:44 »

Thank you everyone for your feedback and suggestions! We have now updated the kits accordingly.

Changes:
- Beige Colorway Added
- Icon Modifiers Added
- Refined the Kits to Your Suggestions

We will now begin talks with vendors!

IOVERCALLHISTIOCYTES · « **Reply #9 on:** Tue, 15 October 2024, 16:22:08 »

Dumb questions about the beige:

Are the majority of GMK beige sets in circulation R5 (Hineybeige, classic beige) vs any other version? Is jumping back to R4, say in contrast to the arrows of your kit, something those people want?

WoB sold so many kits I’d figure that r4 is the majority.

Kaisar · « **Reply #10 on:** Tue, 15 October 2024, 16:29:24 »

Quote from: IOVERCALLHISTIOCYTES on Tue, 15 October 2024, 16:22:08

Dumb questions about the beige:

Are the majority of GMK beige sets in circulation R5 (Hineybeige, classic beige) vs any other version? Is jumping back to R4, say in contrast to the arrows of your kit, something those people want?

WoB sold so many kits I’d figure that r4 is the majority.

Not a dumb question at all. Well spotted, thank you.
That is correct, the recently sold beige sets have had R5 bottom row. I may need to change this—I will get back to you.
Thank you.

rulz · « **Reply #11 on:** Tue, 15 October 2024, 16:32:55 »

Geon's Black Snail "U9 Modifiers" kit is R4. Oblo's NorDe is also R4. Both selling in-stock as I type.

GMK CYL OG Extensions is also R4.

I vote for R4.

Kaisar · « **Reply #12 on:** Tue, 15 October 2024, 16:50:12 »

Quote from: rulz on Tue, 15 October 2024, 16:32:55

Geon's Black Snail "U9 Modifiers" kit is R4. Oblo's NorDe is also R4. Both selling in-stock as I type.

GMK CYL OG Extensions is also R4.

I vote for R4.

Thank you!
I will look further into it and choose wisely.
In the mean time I have added an option in the IC form to choose either R4 or R5 for beige bottom row.

rulz · « **Reply #13 on:** Tue, 15 October 2024, 16:59:31 »

R5 "Command", "Option", etc. molds might be an issue too (i.e. they might not exist and new molds raise costs AFAIK), but that's something you would need to check with GMK, I guess.

GLwIC, by the way! Looking forward to these.

amorino · « **Reply #14 on:** Tue, 15 October 2024, 17:15:24 »

👏 Will join for some sets

IOVERCALLHISTIOCYTES · « **Reply #15 on:** Tue, 15 October 2024, 18:22:30 »

Quote from: rulz on Tue, 15 October 2024, 16:32:55

Geon's Black Snail "U9 Modifiers" kit is R4. Oblo's NorDe is also R4. Both selling in-stock as I type.

GMK CYL OG Extensions is also R4.

I vote for R4.

There’s def some r4 out there in the world. My hunch is r5 sets outsold them, but as you point out it’s not night and day like WoB where drop bought immense quantities, the repurposed old double shot kits are r4, and r5 was in a cyrillic kit and there were some add on child kits over the years with probably 10% tops being r5. Gmk minimal and classic BoW are r4.

Since there’s one kit where you have a mix…what if you added 3 bottom row arrow keys? Those who have r5 can pick up the kit and have a matching r4 base. The remainder don’t have to adopt a new profile and they pay 4$ more. The numpad people…eh, there’s not many of us

dvorcol · « **Reply #16 on:** Tue, 15 October 2024, 18:56:37 »

Quote from: IOVERCALLHISTIOCYTES on Tue, 15 October 2024, 18:22:30

The numpad people…eh, there’s not many of us

Numpad kits typically sell between 20% and 30% of matching TKL Base kits, sometimes more.

IOVERCALLHISTIOCYTES · « **Reply #17 on:** Wed, 16 October 2024, 00:26:41 »

I’m impressed we buy that many!

But I think a poll to establish a row is a good idea, and if you’re split something like 60:40 maybe arrows for row unification across a TKL or smaller might help.

mr_foggy · « **Reply #18 on:** Wed, 16 October 2024, 04:12:00 »

honestly I'd gut the BoW kits in favor of Dolch. I've seen way more of the latter around.
btw very nice project! glwic.

Kaisar · « **Reply #19 on:** Wed, 16 October 2024, 12:22:59 »

Quote from: mr_foggy on Wed, 16 October 2024, 04:12:00

honestly I'd gut the BoW kits in favor of Dolch. I've seen way more of the latter around.
btw very nice project! glwic.

While I can see the interest in Dolch, this would somewhat defeat the purpose of doing a mac themed add-on kit as most apple-esque keyboards use white keycaps.
Between Dolch and Beige there were more votes in favor of Beige but not by a lot.

Thank you!

linearscringe · « **Reply #20 on:** Mon, 21 October 2024, 13:25:25 »

I thought the purpose was to extend classic timeless GMK sets to support Mac layouts. Extended 2048 is 'Apple-esque'. WoB with Mac keys is just WoB with Mac keys. I don't want mac keys to do an Apple OEM keyboard theme, i want them to match what the keys do and look like the shortcuts i'm looking up

I would also rather see Dolch than BoW, N9 mac mods would help with a lot of sets. It's your set ofc but it might be worth seeing if BoW is more useful to people than Dolch

Kaisar · « **Reply #21 on:** Sun, 17 November 2024, 18:57:10 »

Thank you again everyone for your feedback. Here are some updates:

We have added Dolch to the kit selection. This bumps it up to 12 kits in total which may be too many.
We will try our best to make them all happen but cannot guarantee them all succeeding. We will know better after talks with vendors.

Changes:
- Dolch Colorway Added
- Added R4 row unification (full-sized keyboards not supported)

rude2024 · « **Reply #22 on:** Thu, 05 December 2024, 20:31:03 »

My father told me when I was young "Son, one day you're gonna grow up and build the perfect mechanical keyboard." Since that day, having never found the perfect components for the perfect keyboard, I have remained a disappointment to my father. But hope in the form of this IC has revealed a possibility that once was thought to be beyond possible: GMK Hineybeige with Mac Modifiers. The final component for the perfect keyboard that my father foretold.

To the people in charge of this project: Please free me from the chains of my father's disappointment. Allow me to reconnect with my father after 20+ years and show him that he was right. Allow me to build the perfect Hineybeige keyboard.

Kaisar · « **Reply #23 on:** Tue, 10 December 2024, 02:30:43 »

As it looks like right now, I may have to split this IC up into two or more GB rounds. R1 with only White on Black to gauge how much interest there actually is in buying Mac keycaps while also ensuring a low enough MOQ to succeed. Later rounds could then introduce the rest of the colorways if interest is high with White on Black.
Running two or more colors at once would be a lot to stomach. The interest is hard to gauge relative to the amount of kits. Doing White on Black first would make it easier to gauge the interest for later rounds.

DeMechanica · « **Reply #24 on:** Fri, 13 December 2024, 07:08:05 »

Hyped for this! I actually don’t mind it being split into multiple rounds, but I’d definitely buy a WoB set and a beige set

News:

Author Topic: [IC] GMK CYL Mac Add-on Kits | R4 Row Unification & Dolch Added (Read 7081 times)