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Offline sz42

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Greetings... and first post
« on: Tue, 01 September 2015, 19:09:52 »
Greetings, all.

Very glad to be on here, finally.  Been lurking for a little while picking up bits and bobs of juicy info.  I'm really impressed by the awesome community and all the cool toys being built and I figured it was time to make my account and join in.  Mostly, I will really appreciate being able to talk to others about keyboards without their eyes glazing over after about the second sentence.

I bought my first commercial mechanical keyboard a few months ago;  Cooler Master QuickFire Rapid-i with Cherry MX Blues.  Pretty nice upgrade for me but I quickly learned about those little key dampeners and I installed the 0.2mm ones.  Then, I tried a set of blank DSA keys--I haven't decided if I prefer the DCS caps yet.  After a month or so of hunting for parts and hmming and hawing about my plate DXF, I came to realize that getting keycaps is about a zillion times simpler if I don't wish for anything strange like "sets that come with 1.75 shift keys" or "DSA profile keys with support for backlighting".  I know I still have a lot to learn about keyboard stuff.

I'm pretty comfortable with LibreCAD and I'll *definitely* get around to learning KiCAD sometime.  Maybe OpenSCAD too.

And now, my journey begins...

So... anyway... Howdy, folks!
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Offline rowdy

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Re: Greetings... and first post
« Reply #1 on: Wed, 02 September 2015, 05:50:31 »
Welcome to Geekhack!

Dampeners - O-rings, landings pads of silicone balls?  Bet you never knew there were so many options ;)

I don't think I've seen any DSA sets that are backlight-friendly, so you're safe there :p

But any keyboard that has a standard US ANSI layout you shouldn't have any difficulties finding keycaps for.
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"Because keyboards are accessories to PC makers, they focus on minimizing the manufacturing costs. But that’s incorrect. It’s in HHKB’s slogan, but when America’s cowboys were in the middle of a trip and their horse died, they would leave the horse there. But even if they were in the middle of a desert, they would take their saddle with them. The horse was a consumable good, but the saddle was an interface that their bodies had gotten used to. In the same vein, PCs are consumable goods, while keyboards are important interfaces." - Eiiti Wada

NEC APC-H4100E | Ducky DK9008 Shine MX blue LED red | Ducky DK9008 Shine MX blue LED green | Link 900243-08 | CM QFR MX black | KeyCool 87 white MX reds | HHKB 2 Pro | Model M 02-Mar-1993 | Model M 29-Nov-1995 | CM Trigger (broken) | CM QFS MX green | Ducky DK9087 Shine 3 TKL Yellow Edition MX black | Lexmark SSK 21-Apr-1994 | IBM SSK 13-Oct-1987 | CODE TKL MX clear | Model M 122 01-Jun-1988

Ị̸͚̯̲́ͤ̃͑̇̑ͯ̊̂͟ͅs̞͚̩͉̝̪̲͗͊ͪ̽̚̚ ̭̦͖͕̑́͌ͬͩ͟t̷̻͔̙̑͟h̹̠̼͋ͤ͋i̤̜̣̦̱̫͈͔̞ͭ͑ͥ̌̔s̬͔͎̍̈ͥͫ̐̾ͣ̔̇͘ͅ ̩̘̼͆̐̕e̞̰͓̲̺̎͐̏ͬ̓̅̾͠͝ͅv̶̰͕̱̞̥̍ͣ̄̕e͕͙͖̬̜͓͎̤̊ͭ͐͝ṇ̰͎̱̤̟̭ͫ͌̌͢͠ͅ ̳̥̦ͮ̐ͤ̎̊ͣ͡͡n̤̜̙̺̪̒͜e̶̻̦̿ͮ̂̀c̝̘̝͖̠̖͐ͨͪ̈̐͌ͩ̀e̷̥͇̋ͦs̢̡̤ͤͤͯ͜s͈̠̉̑͘a̱͕̗͖̳̥̺ͬͦͧ͆̌̑͡r̶̟̖̈͘ỷ̮̦̩͙͔ͫ̾ͬ̔ͬͮ̌?̵̘͇͔͙ͥͪ͞ͅ

Offline sz42

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Re: Greetings... and first post
« Reply #2 on: Wed, 02 September 2015, 15:45:47 »
Thanks.

I've pretty much come to the conclusion that backlighting is neat but *not* one of my must-have features.  Again, in order to simplify my switch matrix wiring requirements, LED backlighting is probably not a feature I will attempt to build in on my first try.  On the plus side, there are waaay more beautiful keycap options out there that aren't so backlight-friendly.

Sticking to standard layouts when making a first keyboard from scratch is probably very wise advice for newbs like me (94-keys looked kinda neat on paper... until I went looking for full keycap sets).  I'm thinking to aim for a boring TKL design initially.  I'm guessing that I'll probably graduate to a 60% to 75% keyboard once I try some layering experiments on an actual programmable 80% one.  Gotta keep my ESC key handy for Vim.

I only slightly regret spending on a commercial keyboard when I could have put that money towards parts for making my own, however, owning one has been a really good learning process.

* sz42 gets dangerously close to placing another keyboard part order
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Offline demik

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Re: Greetings... and first post
« Reply #3 on: Wed, 02 September 2015, 22:35:08 »
hi
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Offline icyskyz

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Re: Greetings... and first post
« Reply #4 on: Thu, 03 September 2015, 00:42:40 »
welcome to GH!
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Offline krbuck

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  • Location: Denver, CO, USA
Re: Greetings... and first post
« Reply #5 on: Thu, 03 September 2015, 07:38:05 »
Welcome to GH!
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POK3R - Brown Cherry MX

Offline rowdy

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Re: Greetings... and first post
« Reply #6 on: Thu, 10 September 2015, 05:59:22 »
Quote from: sz42 on Wed, 02 September 2015, 15:45:47
Thanks.

I've pretty much come to the conclusion that backlighting is neat but *not* one of my must-have features.  Again, in order to simplify my switch matrix wiring requirements, LED backlighting is probably not a feature I will attempt to build in on my first try.  On the plus side, there are waaay more beautiful keycap options out there that aren't so backlight-friendly.

Sticking to standard layouts when making a first keyboard from scratch is probably very wise advice for newbs like me (94-keys looked kinda neat on paper... until I went looking for full keycap sets).  I'm thinking to aim for a boring TKL design initially.  I'm guessing that I'll probably graduate to a 60% to 75% keyboard once I try some layering experiments on an actual programmable 80% one.  Gotta keep my ESC key handy for Vim.

I only slightly regret spending on a commercial keyboard when I could have put that money towards parts for making my own, however, owning one has been a really good learning process.

* sz42 gets dangerously close to placing another keyboard part order

Your wisdom is growing :)

An idea is to create a keyboard that is a subset of a standard layout, like the JD40.  Or a superset, where the extra keys are readily available.
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"Because keyboards are accessories to PC makers, they focus on minimizing the manufacturing costs. But that’s incorrect. It’s in HHKB’s slogan, but when America’s cowboys were in the middle of a trip and their horse died, they would leave the horse there. But even if they were in the middle of a desert, they would take their saddle with them. The horse was a consumable good, but the saddle was an interface that their bodies had gotten used to. In the same vein, PCs are consumable goods, while keyboards are important interfaces." - Eiiti Wada

NEC APC-H4100E | Ducky DK9008 Shine MX blue LED red | Ducky DK9008 Shine MX blue LED green | Link 900243-08 | CM QFR MX black | KeyCool 87 white MX reds | HHKB 2 Pro | Model M 02-Mar-1993 | Model M 29-Nov-1995 | CM Trigger (broken) | CM QFS MX green | Ducky DK9087 Shine 3 TKL Yellow Edition MX black | Lexmark SSK 21-Apr-1994 | IBM SSK 13-Oct-1987 | CODE TKL MX clear | Model M 122 01-Jun-1988

Ị̸͚̯̲́ͤ̃͑̇̑ͯ̊̂͟ͅs̞͚̩͉̝̪̲͗͊ͪ̽̚̚ ̭̦͖͕̑́͌ͬͩ͟t̷̻͔̙̑͟h̹̠̼͋ͤ͋i̤̜̣̦̱̫͈͔̞ͭ͑ͥ̌̔s̬͔͎̍̈ͥͫ̐̾ͣ̔̇͘ͅ ̩̘̼͆̐̕e̞̰͓̲̺̎͐̏ͬ̓̅̾͠͝ͅv̶̰͕̱̞̥̍ͣ̄̕e͕͙͖̬̜͓͎̤̊ͭ͐͝ṇ̰͎̱̤̟̭ͫ͌̌͢͠ͅ ̳̥̦ͮ̐ͤ̎̊ͣ͡͡n̤̜̙̺̪̒͜e̶̻̦̿ͮ̂̀c̝̘̝͖̠̖͐ͨͪ̈̐͌ͩ̀e̷̥͇̋ͦs̢̡̤ͤͤͯ͜s͈̠̉̑͘a̱͕̗͖̳̥̺ͬͦͧ͆̌̑͡r̶̟̖̈͘ỷ̮̦̩͙͔ͫ̾ͬ̔ͬͮ̌?̵̘͇͔͙ͥͪ͞ͅ

Offline bocahgundul

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Re: Greetings... and first post
« Reply #7 on: Thu, 10 September 2015, 06:39:17 »
WELCOME TO GH MA BRO and hope you enjoy it here like I do
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