Author Topic: Those extra 4 keys on 108 key keyboards and SA keycaps  (Read 2435 times)

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Offline Madrobby

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Those extra 4 keys on 108 key keyboards and SA keycaps
« on: Sat, 01 December 2018, 07:39:24 »
As you well aware of, many modern full-size keyboards have 4 extra keys beyond the PC industry standard 104.
These keys are usually, though not always: mute, volume down, volume up and some sort of function key.

For example, on a Topre Realforce RGB, the function key toggles the sensitivity of when keys register a keypress. On the Wooting full-size the last extra key toggles between Digital and analog mode, etc.

Now if you get a fancy schmancy SA keycap set, there's no R1 caps for these 4 extra keys. Some SA sets may include some novelties with the right profile, but I haven't seen volume/mute keys.

Are there R1 volume/mute keys available? And if so, which colors? (E.g. for SA Honeywell, they should be dark grey with white labels.) And perhaps a "Fn" key for the extra function (again as an example, for SA Honeywell that should probably be red with white label).

To sort of work around this, I've ordered a few blank SA R1 black caps, which in itself is hard to find as I don't think anyone actually sells blank SA keycap sets, so these are just harvested from grab bags and factory rejects (?).

Why don't manufacturers include these keys? The reality is that more and more full-size boards go the 108 key route (personally I love the volume keys and find them super useful, even tho I use a Mac where F11/F12 is mapped to it s well; for Macs you could even pop these caps on F11/F12 on a 104 key).