Author Topic: [IC] Galaxy Class: Star Trek TNG keyset/artisan by Roddenberry Entertainment  (Read 69921 times)

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Offline norbauer

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Roddenberry Entertainment, the creators of Star Trek, have recently asked me to work with the keyboard hobbyist community to design and bring a licensed Galaxy Class keyset into being, with its design inspired by the in-universe "LCARS" computer graphical interfaces used in Star Trek: The Next Generation. This new set will include trademarked Star Trek insignia keys, custom Roddenberry collector's packaging, and a special artisan keycap. Roddenberry has a long tradition of making Star Trek-branded desk/office accessories, stretching back into the 1960s and 1970s, so they're very eager for this to be a new evolution of a category of product that they have long supported. The fact that we're doing this during TNG's 30th anniversary is a fortuitous bonus.

Firstly, if you're interested: please fill out this quick survey.  ;D
UPDATE: Group Buy is now live.
(If you don't necessarily follow GH threads religiously, you can also sign up on my email list to be notified when this product (and others I make) becomes available.)


More details

The current plan is to offer the set first through MassDrop as a group buy with an exclusive artisan keycap, and at some point subsequently through Roddenberry.com after the GB has shipped. (Note that Roddenberry will actually be producing the sets, packaging, etc., and shipping the product to group buy participants from its facility in Los Angeles.)

Roddenberry is a company that has a long history of profound respect for the fans, so they're not just willing but eager to incorporate input and feedback from the community on what this set should include. Hence this IC thread. :)

We've added Starfleet and United Federation of Planets insignia to the Print Screen / Num Lock / Pause buttons. And we'd like to do a special artisan.



Because we'd like to include some nice custom collector's packaging for the set, we'd ideally like to have a single set for sale, not lots of different sub-sets. My current thinking is therefore that the core, numpad, and ISO sets from previous group buys would be included. We'll probably also do a smaller "upgrade" set to include the logo keys and the artisan for those who want to add those special trademarked keys to existing sets.

Pricing is still uncertain, but expect it to be fairly standard for keysets manufactured at Signature Plastics, with some extra to cover the add-ons discussed above, such as the artisan, fancy packaging, etc. Of course, as usual, everything depends on quantities.

These are just some tentative/preliminary ideas. I look forward to hearing what you think!



Roddenberry Entertainment Inc: Star Trek and related marks and logos are Trademarks of CBS Studios Inc. All rights reserved.
PS: Thanks, as ever, to community member moz for originally long ago suggesting the concept of a TNG-inspired set here on GH.
« Last Edit: Wed, 01 November 2017, 13:51:24 by norbauer »

Offline zslane

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Any chance you could add the spacebar in a couple of the alpha/mod colors, not just gray?

How critical is it for this set to be compatible with the previous set? For instance, is it out of the question to make this a PBT SA set instead of DSA?

Offline Oblotzky

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The icon on ScrollLock looks to detailed to work for dyesub, will need a more minimalistic version

Also this is more of a R2 no?

Offline Atredl

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This is big news! The fact that they're supporting this is huge for the community and I'm sure it'll mean this GB will be a hit!

Offline ArchDill

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This set has been ran before right?

Offline norbauer

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The icon on ScrollLock looks to detailed to work for dyesub, will need a more minimalistic version

Also this is more of a R2 no?

This set has been ran before right?

In a sense this is an r4, but it's not completely identical to previous runs, and the fact that this is a licensed design means we can now use trademarked/copyrighted elements rather than just having something vaguely inspired-by.

Offline norbauer

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How critical is it for this set to be compatible with the previous set? For instance, is it out of the question to make this a PBT SA set instead of DSA?

DSA is a core aspect of the way in which the design evokes the flat-panel LCARS style from the show, and it has become a characteristic element of the Galaxy Class style, so I don't think that particular aspect is likely to change.

Offline norbauer

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Any chance you could add the spacebar in a couple of the alpha/mod colors, not just gray?

Absolutely. It'll likely be a second spacebar in purple, included in the set for those who prefer that.

Here is an example I found of what that looks like (image not mine):
« Last Edit: Sat, 20 May 2017, 13:58:45 by norbauer »

Offline ArchDill

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The icon on ScrollLock looks to detailed to work for dyesub, will need a more minimalistic version

Also this is more of a R2 no?

This set has been ran before right?

In a sense this is an r4, but it's not completely identical to previous runs, and the fact that this is a licensed design means we can now use trademarked/copyrighted elements rather than just having something vaguely inspired-by.
Nice, thanks for the clarification!

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk


Offline zslane

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How critical is it for this set to be compatible with the previous set? For instance, is it out of the question to make this a PBT SA set instead of DSA?

DSA is a core aspect of the way in which the design evokes the flat-panel LCARS style from the show, and it has become a characteristic element of the Galaxy Class style, so I don't think that particular aspect is likely to change.

Well, the use of DSA suggests to me a desire for spherical dishing, not flatness. Uniform R3 SA has essentially the same surface area and dishing depth as DSA, so I'm not sure what DSA buys you aside from compatibility with previous rounds. However, uniform R3 SA has the benefit of being thicker, taller, and smoother than DSA.

(If you really want to evoke a flat aesthetic, then you should go with G20. Unfortunately, that profile doesn't have an ISO return or a 7u spacebar yet, so there would be some compromises there.)

Offline Marvellion

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Please don't include the numpad in the base kit, TKL is fine but numpad adds an extra $15 at least.


Offline bciamny

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any chance for xda?

Offline Oblotzky

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Please don't include the numpad in the base kit, TKL is fine but numpad adds an extra $15 at least.

They want to run a single kit if possible, and quite a few people want Numpads. (like a fourth or even third going by recent MD SA sales)

Offline Skull_Angel

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I want to support this, but my wallet can barely keep up with the stuff I've already committed to ;;

Offline digisax

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Since this is dye-sub PBT are there any thoughts of doing it in XDA as opposed to DSA-ish?
niu mini - R2 T1s, MT3 Dev/TTY

Offline norbauer

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Since this is dye-sub PBT are there any thoughts of doing it in XDA as opposed to DSA-ish?

XDA is a very cool profile, but I think it's best to stick with Signature Plastics and their DSA profile for this since they've already worked out how to render the small detailed legends of the set properly, and folks already associate the Galaxy Class with DSA, I feel. However, we are very open to changes of the graphics/legends, and particularly the subject of what type of Trek-themed artisan to make.

Offline Unforgivable

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Love the set!

Will this be possible to do via dye sub?

I think adding HHKB/Winkeyless compatibility would be beneficial.

Offline PollandAkuma

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I'm so in! If the core set could include more keys, like a GMK set, I'd be most grateful. Some keys in the core set for layouts such as 40%s would be nice :)

Offline Marvellion

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Please don't include the numpad in the base kit, TKL is fine but numpad adds an extra $15 at least.

They want to run a single kit if possible, and quite a few people want Numpads. (like a fourth or even third going by recent MD SA sales)

Having a second mini box for everything else other than TKL base kit would't be a bad idea.

Offline consolation

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If you look at the numbers from the recent Miami drop on MD, only about half the people who got the base set went on to get TKL keys and even less needed a numpad. I think, you will be far better to offer a core kit that will cover the very popular 60% boards (Alphas + modifiers in 1.25 and 1.5u + iso) and increase the value of the package by your licensed tie-ins. Put the special logos on the main mod kits rather than burying them in an obscure nav cluster key.

 Then, have two expansions packages a TKL + Numpad and a freaky one for the Ergodox/Plank crowds. You can theme them so the core one will be Federation with their iconography, the expansion can have say a Klingon theme and the ErgoPlank can be umm.. Romulans? That way, more casual customers are not wasting money / resources and hardcore fans can get the expansion packs for the alternate themes. And people who need specific setups can get just the sets they need - say core+ergodox. Oh, and the upgrade package which can be bit of everything, that will also appeal to ST fans who don't care about keyboards but just want a few different keys.

This approach will also let you release expansion kits in the future for say; col/mak in new themes with some themed modkeys to use with the original packs. Just an idea; the aim being to lower the buy in cost and give your customers a reason to buy future releases - while reducing waste.

I'm attaching the numbers from the Miami drop, close to the end - since they had excellent granularity on their kits, you can get an idea of how the numbers stack up.

« Last Edit: Sun, 21 May 2017, 05:31:34 by consolation »

Offline norbauer

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Having a second mini box for everything else other than TKL base kit would't be a bad idea.

That's a good point, actually. Maybe a Core TKL kit and then an "everything else."

Offline dante

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You are running with the wrong team.  Where is the Borg keyset?

Offline norbauer

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Put the special logos on the main mod kits rather than burying them in an obscure nav cluster key.

The reason the logo keys are up there is because the set has some special design challenges relating to the fact that we've offset all the legends to the bottom-right. This properly evokes the LCARS aesthetic, but it means that if I put keys next to it that are vertically and horizontally center-aligned it feels haphazardly designed and all wrong to me for some difficult-to-articulate reason.

What do you guys think?



excellent granularity

I personally think extreme granularity should be avoided whenever possible. Not only does it make it really confusing for most casual keyboard hobbyists to figure out what they need to order, but more importantly it adds all sorts of hidden costs into production that only naively seem cheaper.  (This especially true when you're paying for sorting work done in the USA at our high labor costs.) I realize that may seem counterintuitive, but let me try to explain. On paper, with high-granularity sets, you only see the prices after all that complexity and labor overhead have been factored in to each set and sub-set. So, sure, if you take the numpad out of your cart at that point, it looks like you're saving money. But it's absolutely the case that the core TKL set costs more as a result of having to have lots of SKUs in the run, a fact that is hidden from view once the final prices have been set. So you end up with a situation where the people who want all the keys are actually paying more per key as a result of giving some people the option to omit some keys—which seems morally and economically kind of backwards to me. When it comes to manufacturing (as with most forms of human endeavor), complexity nonlinearly explodes costs and risks, so it's always best to limit it as much as possible. Doing so in this case averages cost-savings between people buying more keys and people buying fewer, instead of uniformly favoring those people who are contributing least overall to the run. And, anyway, from a purely self-interested standpoint for the buyer: if you ever want to resell the set to someone else (which folks seem to do pretty frequently), you're going to be better off if you have a "complete" set that is universally applicable rather than some narrow range of keys only specific to your particular needs.

That all being said, to be fair, I do think we can do custom packaging for two SKUs instead of one if we need to break out the numpad or the long-tail stuff like Tsangan and ISO. I just wouldn't want to add much more than that or things start to get crazy with extremely rapidly diminishing returns on the (simultaneously rapidly exploding) complexity and labor.

Also, frankly, speaking from a purely practical perspective: given what SP charges for its sets, any margins on this will be razor thin to nonexistent, so in order to keep the pricing palatable it leaves me with very little budget to cover stuff like designing, prototyping, and sampling multiple packaging designs for lots of different sets. And one of the Roddenberry design requirements is that their sets ship in nice fancy packaging that they can be proud of, including their standard Certificate of Authenticity (with the CBS copyright/trademark notification), etc., so we can't forgo that aspect of the project.

So, anyway, yeah that's a lot of words to say that I'd really like (and sort of need) to keep the number sets to an absolute minimum. :)
« Last Edit: Mon, 04 September 2017, 11:23:35 by norbauer »

Offline buzzking00

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Will this have compatibility for popular layouts such as 65%, 75% and 96? I am very interested, but would like it if it fits my 96 key layout!

Offline norbauer

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Will this have compatibility for popular layouts such as 65%, 75% and 96? I am very interested, but would like it if it fits my 96 key layout!

Could you tell me what's required to be compatible with 96? I'm just a boring old TKL guy, so it's hard for me to keep up with all the exotic layouts. ;)

I would like to make this set as widely compatible as possible and as such just need to know what people need. Any and all info would be much appreciated. :)

Offline Vigrith

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96 is pretty much just a 1800 but with no spacing.



PS: credit to Thesiscamper for his wonderful render and project (Kira).

Offline buzzking00

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http://cfile3.uf.tistory.com/image/236E873B589FADBF184977
http://cfile23.uf.tistory.com/image/257FC03B589FADBE1CB326
http://cfile29.uf.tistory.com/image/210E4E3B589FADBD1B153E

Here are some possible layouts. Extra 1u's and Definitely a 1.75u right shift will be very useful for the special layouts that are popular right now.

Offline FSund

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Any chance of a blank set (no legends) for international buyers?
I think blank alphas and numbers would be a nice compromise.

As far as I understand the legends are printed after the keys are produced, so a blank set shouldn't be that hard to produce.
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Offline zslane

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Beware the rabbit hole you'll fall into if you chase after alternate layouts. If your goal is to have only two kits, a base kit and an "everything else" kit, you will have a very expensive "everything else" kit if you try to accommodate all the whacky alternate layout requests you will inevitably get bombarded with. All the folks with standard ANSI full-size boards will scream over having to pay for (potentially) dozens of keycaps they will never use.

That's why I think a TKL Base + Numpad + ISO/Int + Alternates is the way to go, as a general rule. Put all the novelty keys in the base kit so nobody misses out on them, but offload the expense of marginal kits like ISO and Alternate where they belong: separate from TKL Base and Numpad. You still won't make ErgoDox users happy unless you supply lots of blanks or a dedicated kit just for them, but with four kits you'll hit 90% or more of the customer base (depending on how comprehensive you make ISO/Int and Alternates). You just can't do that with only two kits unless one of them balloons to a size nobody will be happy with.

Offline unterTboot

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Created an account on GH to contribute to this conversation.

I'm definitely in for this Galaxy Class set, but I would like to request that there be some consideration made for ortholinear users in the form of a separate kit. I personally use a Let's Split at the moment and will be picking up an Ergodox soon. It would be great to have the extra keys to make Galaxy Class viable on these boards. I understand there are a number of issues surrounding this (which you explained in detail above re having many SKUs), but I know there are a number of folks who would be into an extra set of blanks to make this work. Perhaps those blanks don't even have to be through Roddenberry (to avoid fancy packaging costs) if there's no printing on them...? That sounds like it would introduce more complexity rather than solve any problems, but figured I'd throw it out there.

Regardless, very excited for this set. Thanks for putting it together and for including the community!

Offline norbauer

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Interesting insights and food for thought, zslane, as always.

All the folks with standard ANSI full-size boards will scream over having to pay for (potentially) dozens of keycaps they will never use.

Haha. Well, this will be my fourth keycap group buy and my sixth GeekHack group buy in general, and I've learned that people screaming isn't really information (it's merely a sign that one is on the Internet). My general philosophy is to take as much input as possible from my fellow community members but ultimately to try to make something that I would want myself (or that makes sense to me) in hopes that others who share that perspective will want to join up. It's almost impossible until you offer something up for sale and let people vote with their wallets to see where the majority really rests—and whether it is a silent majority (as it often is). The question ultimately is not whether people will consider it sub-optimal to have to buy some "extra keys" but whether it will entirely preclude their participation. I put the term there in quotes because I still also think this notion of "having to pay for keys you don't use" (and that the alternative is a significant cost savings) proceeds from some factually false assumptions based on a misapprehension of how design and manufacturing costs work. However, I would want to provide some hard numbers to demonstrate this more clearly, and in this project we aren't that far along yet.

Just for the sake of intellectual exploration (I'm not trying to make a rhetorical point), I'm curious: has anyone ever done a GH group buy of keysets and only offered a single 100%+ set? Did it totally flop as a result? It's an interesting question, and I wonder if it's an untested hypothesis.

I recently bought a set of awesome thick PBT keycaps from MassDrop. It was a one-click purchase and I refreshingly didn't have to think about what a Tsangan kit was and whether I needed it, nor does it keep me up at night knowing that I have an ISO enter sitting unused somewhere in a box in my closet—and that I may have paid an extra dollar for it compared to a group buy where I have to spend ten minutes cobbling together the right micro-sets to cover my extremely standard keyboard. That plus the people who needed the extra keys got what they needed. I find this simplicity appealing.

There are two issues here. One is providing more keys such that we support a wide range of options, meaning some people will end up having to get keys that they don't end up using. Up to a point, I personally think this is fine. The other issue is not going too terribly far in supporting very unusual layouts, which I also favor. On that second point, I hasten to add, however: I get that the whole point of our community is to support weird and wacky keyboard pursuits (of which I am extremely in favor, of course), but I kind of feel like a Star Trek keyset has already thrown us well into the weeds, so some measure of restraint is perhaps called for in how far beyond that we venture. Remember that, with any luck, we'll be pulling in folks who are more Star Trek fans than necessarily mech keys diehards, and I don't want to make it too hard for them to figure out what's going on or what they need to buy to just cover a standard keyboard.

That's why I think a TKL Base + Numpad + ISO/Int + Alternates is the way to go, as a general rule. Put all the novelty keys in the base kit so nobody misses out on them, but offload the expense of marginal kits like ISO and Alternate where they belong: separate from TKL Base and Numpad. You still won't make ErgoDox users happy unless you supply lots of blanks or a dedicated kit just for them, but with four kits you'll hit 90% or more of the customer base (depending on how comprehensive you make ISO/Int and Alternates). You just can't do that with only two kits unless one of them balloons to a size nobody will be happy with.

This sounds like a reasonable strategy in general terms, though I don't relish having to design and test four separate custom boxes. =\

OK, so TKL + Numpad + International I get, but what would the alternates include? Again, I'm just a boring TKL guy, so you have to really spell out the details of odd layouts for my unlearned brain.

I'd be happy to cover 80% of potential interested people; 90% would be icing. As I recall, when Galaxy Class was originally being designed, I heard endless commentary on the subject of Ergodox compatibility and spent a lot of time designing for that and making mockups. When the drop finally happened, it turned out that like two people bought an Ergodox set. :rolleyes:

« Last Edit: Sun, 21 May 2017, 15:48:52 by norbauer »

Offline norbauer

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Created an account on GH to contribute to this conversation.

I'm definitely in for this Galaxy Class set, but I would like to request that there be some consideration made for ortholinear users in the form of a separate kit. I personally use a Let's Split at the moment and will be picking up an Ergodox soon. It would be great to have the extra keys to make Galaxy Class viable on these boards. I understand there are a number of issues surrounding this (which you explained in detail above re having many SKUs), but I know there are a number of folks who would be into an extra set of blanks to make this work. Perhaps those blanks don't even have to be through Roddenberry (to avoid fancy packaging costs) if there's no printing on them...? That sounds like it would introduce more complexity rather than solve any problems, but figured I'd throw it out there.

Regardless, very excited for this set. Thanks for putting it together and for including the community!

Thanks for joining and commenting! I hope I can come up with something you'll like and want to use, though for all the reasons I mentioned above, I have to be careful about getting too arcane with this particular run.

I have done blank sets in the past, though I think that would be beyond the scope of this particular project (whose goal is to do something explicitly Trek-themed and branded).


Offline norbauer

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Does anyone have any thoughts on adding non-Starfleet "novelty" (emblem) keys such as a the Romulan or Klingon insignia? It sort of breaks the LCARS theme a bit, but it might be fun.

Offline Mr_BeastQuake

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For 96-key and 1800 need 1.75u R Shift, 1u Numpad "0"

For WKL would like 7u spacebar, x2 1.5u "Ctrl", x2 1.5u "Alt"

For HHKB an additional 1u "Fn" type key, 1.5u Backspace, and 1.75u RShift (possibly covered in above kit). Also possibly 1u pipe key I can't remember if that isn't covered in something else.

These are fairly popular layouts. Important for us to remember DSA doesn't have the profile issues SA and Cherry sets have so compatibility isn't too difficult to achieve by adding a couple keys.

I don't mind buying one large kit that provides keys for many popular layouts (1800, WKL, HHKB) but would prefer to not go down "the rabbit hole" chasing every single layout with the base kit.

Less popular than the above 3 layouts but maybe also worth consideration is an additional 2.25u Shift for the Clueboard owners out there.
« Last Edit: Sun, 21 May 2017, 15:57:09 by Mr_BeastQuake »

Offline norbauer

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A nice suggestion from Reddit was to add an "LCARS" key. I think I'll use that for the Winkeys.

Another idea is to soften the numpad nav wheel graphics my making them gray rather than black. I think this is a major aesthetic improvement, as there was always something about the nav graphics that bothered me and I was having trouble coming up with what it was. I think they were just too prominent in black compared to the rather delicate and small text legends.




« Last Edit: Mon, 04 September 2017, 11:23:54 by norbauer »

Offline Marvellion

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A nice suggestion from Reddit was to add an "LCARS" key. I think I'll use that for the Winkeys.

Another idea is to soften the numpad nav wheel graphics my making them gray rather than black. I think this is a major aesthetic improvement, as there was always something about the nav graphics that bothered me and I was having trouble coming up with what it was. I think they were just too prominent in black compared to the rather delicate and small text legends.

Show Image


I think you're spot on about numpad. But not sure about making it gray, now it does not match well with the legends imo, maybe the wheel could be smaller or the numbers' base color could be purple rather than light blue?

Offline consolation

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Put the special logos on the main mod kits rather than burying them in an obscure nav cluster key.


What do you guys think?

Show Image


excellent granularity



By granularity I meant that: "by taking one for the team," the Miami drop gave us some actual numbers on what people need in terms of kits (DSA wise anyway). It lets us see what proportion you will exclude, and what proportion will feel like you are putting an unnecessarily long hand in their pocket  :rolleyes: , based on how you break down the kits. I definitely think that the days of core kits, larger than TKL, are past; the big advantage of DSA/XDA is that profile consideration don't keep people from re-purposing keys. To that end, icons > legends, as icons can be assigned arbitrary meaning by the user.

I see your kerning issues, but the fed icons look so much better on the big keys, is there any issue stopping aligning them BR. TBH, I'd avoid the issue completely by making the modifier key all have "theme" icons; that way having them centred, won't look out of place...
« Last Edit: Sun, 21 May 2017, 19:05:57 by consolation »

Offline consolation

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Another idea is to soften the numpad nav wheel graphics my making them gray rather than black. I think this is a major aesthetic improvement, as there was always something about the nav graphics that bothered me and I was having trouble coming up with what it was. I think they were just too prominent in black compared to the rather delicate and small text legends.


I think that whole graphic is problematic; it removes functionality from the navpad without adding much from the looks perspective; if you fade it, it will just look like the caps are aging badly. How about fading it a lot more and overprinting contrasting numbers on top? If you really want to go with that kind of design, maybe something along the lines of model M terminal pad?




Apologies for the awful image with missing key, it's from when I first picked up my board, before it got a clean... That's 25 years of character, that is!
« Last Edit: Sun, 21 May 2017, 19:27:07 by consolation »

Offline norbauer

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As a bit of background: the Nav wheel design on the numpad is meant to be evocative of the helm controls wheel on the Enterprise LCARS interface, as seen in the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual.

This motif is seen through a number of TNG-era Trek designs.

Offline zslane

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Important for us to remember DSA doesn't have the profile issues SA and Cherry sets have so compatibility isn't too difficult to achieve by adding a couple keys.

That's very true.

However, to accommodate all the alternate layouts out there you'd have to supply Shift keys in every size (and more than one in some sizes). There are also a few sizes of Backspace and/or Delete that are needed. The number of bizarre layouts grows with every passing year, and it's getting to the point where you can't cover them all without a rather large Alternate layout kit. Look at the proliferation of bottom row layouts with every conceivable combination of 1u, 1.25u, and 1.5u modifiers around the spacebar. When you consider the Star Trek-based novelty keys that are being targeted for that bottom row, making them available in all those sizes starts to get expensive.

Offline Mr_BeastQuake

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However, to accommodate all the alternate layouts out there you'd have to supply Shift keys in every size (and more than one in some sizes). There are also a few sizes of Backspace and/or Delete that are needed. The number of bizarre layouts grows with every passing year, and it's getting to the point where you can't cover them all without a rather large Alternate layout kit. Look at the proliferation of bottom row layouts with every conceivable combination of 1u, 1.25u, and 1.5u modifiers around the spacebar. When you consider the Star Trek-based novelty keys that are being targeted for that bottom row, making them available in all those sizes starts to get expensive.

Ya. Frankly, I've got multiple boards that this should fit at least one of. My pointing out what some of the layouts needed was more because OP was inquiring about it. I think 1800, WKL, and HHKB are probably 3 of the more popular alternative layouts and wouldn't really require a vast number of keys added. I'm not well versed with how pricing works outside of more caps = more money and am aware that "No" is a word that at some point needs to be used or the set will just explode to an unreasonable level.

Curious to see what happens with the numpad. I can see its inspiration but if there was one thing about this set I've not been particularly fond of, it's the design on the numpad. Not using it is an option for me too but just agreeing that reworking it a bit is time well spent.

Offline unterTboot

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Very much like your substitution of LCARS for the logo!

Also, have a suggestion re the numpad. Rather a few separate suggestions that may interact well together or not...
- consider using yellow keys rather than blue for the nav wheel, and maybe use purple for the other numpad keys? (this is linked to the next two suggestions and I throw this out both for contrast and for replicating the LCARS interface coloring of the nav wheel)
- for the actual icons on the nav cluster what if you moved away from a circular print to simply having arrows in all directions (so for instance the bottom left key would be an arrow pointing SW)
- your nav keys are actually inverted in relation to the actual LCARS interface and I wonder how it would look if you did it with a black rectangle with an arrow cutout in the center to show the key color. (Not sure if this is a clear explanation as its midnight and my brain is tired.)
- if you're determined to stick with the round theme, then what about a thinner outline of a circle rather than total fill? I'm thinking it would look like a surrounding ring so your arrows would look like they're point at parentheses... Terrible description, I know. And you could have just a small filled circle on the center key?

Just some tired thoughts on this. Looking forward to seeing this set evolve!

Edit: added clarification to final bullet.
« Last Edit: Mon, 22 May 2017, 02:24:40 by unterTboot »

Offline Latin00032

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This is amazing! I feel like the mech keyboard community is hitting the big time.

Offline zslane

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This is amazing! I feel like the mech keyboard community is hitting the big time.

Hmm. Hitting the big time (in the sense of attracting this kind of attention) may not be such a good thing...

I think it's cool that Roddenbury Inc. has decided to become a partner rather than threaten to sue for some kind of IP infringement (which is the normal first move in the Entertainment Legal Dept. Playbook). But I wouldn't get too excited about this setting any sort of positive precedent. A lot of keysets only exist by flying under the radar of these large entertainment entities, and practically none of them would grant a license, much less participate directly, for something so small and insignificant as a custom keycap set. But they sure would shut it down right quick if they thought it would be worth rattling their sabre and sending a C&D letter.

Offline norbauer

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This is amazing! I feel like the mech keyboard community is hitting the big time.

Hmm. Hitting the big time (in the sense of attracting this kind of attention) may not be such a good thing...

I think it's cool that Roddenbury Inc. has decided to become a partner rather than threaten to sue for some kind of IP infringement (which is the normal first move in the Entertainment Legal Dept. Playbook). But I wouldn't get too excited about this setting any sort of positive precedent. A lot of keysets only exist by flying under the radar of these large entertainment entities, and practically none of them would grant a license, much less participate directly, for something so small and insignificant as a custom keycap set. But they sure would shut it down right quick if they thought it would be worth rattling their sabre and sending a C&D letter.

I think an important element here is that we were very careful not to violate any IP in the earlier versions of the set. I never used any Trek logos or even any copyrighted phrases, and we never advertised it as a Trek set. And the font used was a publicly available one, for which I paid to have the right to use. The earlier versions of the set were just sort of loosely inspired by the LCARS aesthetic. This was in opposition to a lot of people jostling for Starfleet logos and such in the original interest check thread (you can go back and see the debates in the original IC). It was a hard line to hold but I'm glad I did or I think this new project wouldn't have been possible. I also never made any money from the original run, so it was truly a community-driven not-for-profit project.

When folks appropriate trademarked or copyrighted elements for keyboard projects without any official imprimatur, especially on for-profit projects, it makes me very uneasy, and I think it's generally a bad idea. Relying on "flying under the radar" is a very tenuous sort of strategy.

It's also worth noting in this case the CBS is the rights holder. Roddenberry just happens to have a longstanding exclusive arrangement with CBS (previously, it was Paramount) that allows them to produce items for direct sale to consumers that use Star Trek IP. This project is an example of the latter.
« Last Edit: Mon, 22 May 2017, 12:29:10 by norbauer »

Offline chuckdee

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I think an important element here is that we were very careful not to violate any IP in the earlier versions of the set. I never used any Trek logos or even any copyrighted phrases, and we never advertised it as a Trek set. And the font used was a publicly available one, for which I paid to have the right to use. The earlier versions of the set were just sort of loosely inspired by the LCARS aesthetic. This was in opposition to a lot of people jostling for Starfleet logos and such in the original interest check thread (you can go back and see the debates in the original IC). It was a hard line to hold but I'm glad I did or I think this new project wouldn't have been possible. I also never made any money from the original run, so it was truly a community-driven not-for-profit project.

When folks appropriate trademarked or copyrighted elements for keyboard projects without any official imprimatur, especially on for-profit projects, it makes me very uneasy, and I think it's generally a bad idea. Relying on "flying under the radar" is a very tenuous sort of strategy.

It's also worth noting in this case the CBS is the rights holder. Roddenberry just happens to have a longstanding exclusive arrangement with CBS (previously, it was Paramount) that allows them to produce items for direct sale to consumers that use Star Trek IP. This project is an example of the latter.

Thanks for this post and the explanation!

Offline zslane

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Relying on "flying under the radar" is a very tenuous sort of strategy.

Yes, indeed, but of course it is the norm. My comment wasn't so much aimed at the legitimacy of the new Galaxy Class set, as it was aimed at the dubious notion that we should celebrate "making the big time" with respect to landing on the radar of large entertainment entities. For designers and hobbyists who would like to see the flow of Marvel- and Star Wars-inspired keycaps (to name just two examples) to remain unhindered, this is not a trajectory they should be excited about.

Offline Latin00032

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This is amazing! I feel like the mech keyboard community is hitting the big time.

Hmm. Hitting the big time (in the sense of attracting this kind of attention) may not be such a good thing...

I think it's cool that Roddenbury Inc. has decided to become a partner rather than threaten to sue for some kind of IP infringement (which is the normal first move in the Entertainment Legal Dept. Playbook). But I wouldn't get too excited about this setting any sort of positive precedent. A lot of keysets only exist by flying under the radar of these large entertainment entities, and practically none of them would grant a license, much less participate directly, for something so small and insignificant as a custom keycap set. But they sure would shut it down right quick if they thought it would be worth rattling their sabre and sending a C&D letter.

I think an important element here is that we were very careful not to violate any IP in the earlier versions of the set. I never used any Trek logos or even any copyrighted phrases, and we never advertised it as a Trek set. And the font used was a publicly available one, for which I paid to have the right to use. The earlier versions of the set were just sort of loosely inspired by the LCARS aesthetic. This was in opposition to a lot of people jostling for Starfleet logos and such in the original interest check thread (you can go back and see the debates in the original IC). It was a hard line to hold but I'm glad I did or I think this new project wouldn't have been possible. I also never made any money from the original run, so it was truly a community-driven not-for-profit project.

When folks appropriate trademarked or copyrighted elements for keyboard projects without any official imprimatur, especially on for-profit projects, it makes me very uneasy, and I think it's generally a bad idea. Relying on "flying under the radar" is a very tenuous sort of strategy.

It's also worth noting in this case the CBS is the rights holder. Roddenberry just happens to have a longstanding exclusive arrangement with CBS (previously, it was Paramount) that allows them to produce items for direct sale to consumers that use Star Trek IP. This project is an example of the latter.
That's interesting.

It's cool seeing how the innerworkings panned out.

Offline rioc

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Any chance you could add the spacebar in a couple of the alpha/mod colors, not just gray?

Absolutely. It'll likely be a second spacebar in purple, included in the set for those who prefer that.

Here is an example I found of what that looks like (image not mine):
Show Image

Yay, that's mine :)

I've already got two sets, but I'm in for a third. Eta on this?

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Offline xtrafrood

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As a bit of background: the Nav wheel design on the numpad is meant to be evocative of the helm controls wheel on the Enterprise LCARS interface, as seen in the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual.

This motif is seen through a number of TNG-era Trek designs.
Show Image


Another book to add to the collection, thank you. I hope to see more updates about this licensed keyset very soon