[IC] GMK TeraDrive | gb closed

[Retne]

With the kitting as it is now I don't see how I couldn't buy that base kit.  The support in the base is amazing and I really dig the theme.

[Techichi]

I see a black and grey set...I am interested.

[ephemeral25]

Those new JIS mods are really nice.

Definitely considering this keyset

[udller]

having a sega logo novelty would be cool. or like a metal artisan of some kind

[kidviddy]

Between the Japanese retro inspiration and the comprehensive JIS support, I think this set might be pretty popular in Japan! Have you considered approaching a Japanese vendor? Yusha Kobo is the biggest player, from what I understand. GMK JIS WoB lists them as a vendor already, so maybe speak to 2Moons about the best way to get in touch with them.

[2Moons]

Between the Japanese retro inspiration and the comprehensive JIS support, I think this set might be pretty popular in Japan! Have you considered approaching a Japanese vendor? Yusha Kobo is the biggest player, from what I understand. GMK JIS WoB lists them as a vendor already, so maybe speak to 2Moons about the best way to get in touch with them.

I'm happy to help in any way I can. Just contact me when you need something.

[kidviddy]

Hey, sorry to keep bumping this thread with extra posts!

I took the liberty of posting this in the Self-Made Keyboards in Japan Discord, to double-check the JIS kitting, and they pointed out one issue which I'd missed. In the number row, you have a "0, わ, を" key for the hiragana sub legends version, but no "0" key for the latin mono legends version in the row below.  This is necessary because if you try and use the standard ANSI 0 you'll end up with the top legends being "(", ")", and ")" for 8, 9, and 0 respectively, with two right parentheses.

In a JIS layout, there is no punctuation symbol above the 0, and with no kana sublegends, this means that the key will have only the single legend "0".  The usual thing to do here is to align it the same way as the rest of the numbers, so in this case it would go at the bottom-left. Here's a pretty representative example.

[Kingk22]

Hey, sorry to keep bumping this thread with extra posts!

I took the liberty of posting this in the Self-Made Keyboards in Japan Discord, to double-check the JIS kitting, and they pointed out one issue which I'd missed. In the number row, you have a "0, わ, を" key for the hiragana sub legends version, but no "0" key for the latin mono legends version in the row below.  This is necessary because if you try and use the standard ANSI 0 you'll end up with the top legends being "(", ")", and ")" for 8, 9, and 0 respectively, with two right parentheses.

In a JIS layout, there is no punctuation symbol above the 0, and with no kana sublegends, this means that the key will have only the single legend "0".  The usual thing to do here is to align it the same way as the rest of the numbers, so in this case it would go at the bottom-left. Here's a pretty representative example.

All your help is appreciated!

You're right, that 0 key with no subs is needed and I've updated the JIS kit to add it in.

[kidviddy]

A couple more points about JIS (I realise there is more to this set than JIS, so sorry to keep focussing on just that kit!):

• The Japanese discord users noticed a couple of other errors: the - and = symbols are the wrong way round (= should be above the -, not below), and the underscore _ looks more like a hyphen.  It seems you inherited these issues from GMK JIS WoB, so I spoke to 2Moons about it this morning and he said they were already fixed in the version sent to GMK, so it's just a case of updating the renders.
• The ¥ symbol looks like a wide-character ￥ rather than a single-width ¥ in the render. I think this, too, may be more to do with the render than the spec itself; I'm not sure if GMK already has moulds for the ¥ key but the spec that was sent to them used a single-width character so I'm sure it'll be ok.
• If I could make one request, it would be to include 1.25U versions of the 変換 and 無変換 keys in the JIS kit alongside the 1U versions you already have.  I know this is a difficult choice as there are already a lot of keys and you have to decide to make the cut somewhere, but I think there are enough keyboards utilising 1.25U keys in these positions that not including them will limit the usefulness of the kit overall.  If you have to cut something else to make way for them, I would suggest that the 1U 英数 key you have currently is less important than 1.25U equivalents of these keys.  The 英数 key is functionally equivalent to 無変換; it is just an alternate legend used by the Mac.  As a Mac user myself, I appreciate having it, but if push comes to shove I can always use 無変換 instead, whereas somebody who only has a 1.25U slot available for these keys has no option to fall back on. The かな key you have currently doubles as a 1U alternative to the カタカナ/ひらがな key, so if you can possibly keep it, I would.

The one other comment I heard from the Japanese Discord was by someone who sounded as if they might actually own a TeraDrive -- they said that the keys used on the original TeraDrive are quite cheap-feeling, so if you ever decided to do a future release of this set with full compatibility (ALPS stems, 1.5U 変換 keys, etc) they'd definitely be interested! They also said they don't really think this will ever happen, but the thought is there at least ;-)

Sorry again for cluttering up this thread with lots of JIS-specific requests! JIS kitting on GMK sets is fairly new, so I'm hoping that if we can get it right here it will also serve as a guide to future set designers wanting to add JIS support.  If you'd like to speak in more detail about any of these specifics off-thread, feel free to contact me on Discord.

[Kingk22]

A couple more points about JIS (I realise there is more to this set than JIS, so sorry to keep focussing on just that kit!):

• The Japanese discord users noticed a couple of other errors: the - and = symbols are the wrong way round (= should be above the -, not below), and the underscore _ looks more like a hyphen.  It seems you inherited these issues from GMK JIS WoB, so I spoke to 2Moons about it this morning and he said they were already fixed in the version sent to GMK, so it's just a case of updating the renders.
• The ¥ symbol looks like a wide-character ￥ rather than a single-width ¥ in the render. I think this, too, may be more to do with the render than the spec itself; I'm not sure if GMK already has moulds for the ¥ key but the spec that was sent to them used a single-width character so I'm sure it'll be ok.
• If I could make one request, it would be to include 1.25U versions of the 変換 and 無変換 keys in the JIS kit alongside the 1U versions you already have.  I know this is a difficult choice as there are already a lot of keys and you have to decide to make the cut somewhere, but I think there are enough keyboards utilising 1.25U keys in these positions that not including them will limit the usefulness of the kit overall.  If you have to cut something else to make way for them, I would suggest that the 1U 英数 key you have currently is less important than 1.25U equivalents of these keys.  The 英数 key is functionally equivalent to 無変換; it is just an alternate legend used by the Mac.  As a Mac user myself, I appreciate having it, but if push comes to shove I can always use 無変換 instead, whereas somebody who only has a 1.25U slot available for these keys has no option to fall back on. The かな key you have currently doubles as a 1U alternative to the カタカナ/ひらがな key, so if you can possibly keep it, I would.

The one other comment I heard from the Japanese Discord was by someone who sounded as if they might actually own a TeraDrive -- they said that the keys used on the original TeraDrive are quite cheap-feeling, so if you ever decided to do a future release of this set with full compatibility (ALPS stems, 1.5U 変換 keys, etc) they'd definitely be interested! They also said they don't really think this will ever happen, but the thought is there at least ;-)

Sorry again for cluttering up this thread with lots of JIS-specific requests! JIS kitting on GMK sets is fairly new, so I'm hoping that if we can get it right here it will also serve as a guide to future set designers wanting to add JIS support.  If you'd like to speak in more detail about any of these specifics off-thread, feel free to contact me on Discord.

Thanks again, I've fixed those 2 keys and you should see it reflected in our renders and GMK JIS WoB shortly!

As for the kitting change, I'm not entirely sure on this but I'll look more into it and talk to 2Moons about it further

If someone does indeed own a TeraDrive, I'd be very interested in getting in contact for reference and colour matching purposes.

[nsmk]

Much interested! Especially the JIS kit. Hope it happens soon!

[hottrout]

UK ISO possibly in the base or latin alpha?  Looks superb.

[nu_types]

Any thoughts on using "System" instead of "Super"? That's what Beta did for the JS set, so the molds should exist for this set. I think it fits the theme really well, too.

[Kingk22]

Big update, we have secured a number of vendors! Still a few pending but this is a big step for TeraDrive.

Small update, we've made some minor kit changes along the way based on recent IC feedback.

We've also managed to get in contact with someone that owns a TeraDrive and are trying to get as many pictures as possible so we can nail the colours, many thanks to @rzwv and kidviddy for helping make this happen.

[Kingk22]

Any thoughts on using "System" instead of "Super"? That's what Beta did for the JS set, so the molds should exist for this set. I think it fits the theme really well, too.

I have been thinking of using Sys/System after seeing it on GMK JIS WoB, will be discussed further.

[ephemeral25]

Just wanted to point out that Prototypist can't be considered as EU vendor anymore.

I don't want the transporters to cuck me more than VAT on top of the VAT.

Please consider another vendor

[Kingk22]

Just wanted to point out that Prototypist can't be considered as EU vendor anymore.

I don't want the transporters to cuck me more than VAT on top of the VAT.

Please consider another vendor

Sorry, I had the UK/EU labels flipped.

[ephemeral25]

Just wanted to point out that Prototypist can't be considered as EU vendor anymore.

I don't want the transporters to cuck me more than VAT on top of the VAT.

Please consider another vendor

Sorry, I had the UK/EU labels flipped.

Oh my bad then I should have paid more attention, thought you didn't have any EU vendor lol. Well done then !

[Reshala]

They will look amazing on a case swapped realforce rgb

[koolaidpapa]

As a fan of vintage keyboards, I approve. Very nice!

[paperassgasket]

I see mention of a spacebars kit in the IC form, but not this thread.
Otherwise I am really liking the base kit compat as well as a not awful basic 40's kit.

[lluvia]

Finally, a set that can justify having JIS.

[Kingk22]

I see mention of a spacebars kit in the IC form, but not this thread.
Otherwise I am really liking the base kit compat as well as a not awful basic 40's kit.

You're correct, the IC form was put up before we put some thought into our kitting.

We decided to split the keys from a traditional spacebar kit into the base kit (Alice bars and second B) and the extension kit (smaller convex keys).

[crestia]

an organic bump for this keyset

[JewishYoda]

Bump, this set looks amazing, glwic

[actress]

Love everything except that the JIS alphas are not in the base kit.

[dimo]

mod kit is so gorgeous

[Kingk22]

Love everything except that the JIS alphas are not in the base kit.

As all the JIS stuff is pretty new I don't feel like there's sufficient demand to force them into the base kit, of course this is still subject to change pre-GB.

Thank you all for the support, we're finalising some JIS-related details behind the scenes and will hopefully have some more news to share soon.

[chung]

i am in!

[Extra-Cwispy]

Nice! I'll be keeping an eye on this one, glwic!

[murderbymodem]

I love this. Sega does what Nintendon't.

[actress]

Do these colors match Gmk WoB? Color of text looks a but more grey-ish to me.

[chyll2]

Wow
.what a heavy base kit with really good looking safe colors.

Really interested

[Kingk22]

Do these colors match Gmk WoB? Color of text looks a but more grey-ish to me.

Unfortunately not, the key colours are custom and the legends aren't WS1.

[murderbymodem]

Love everything except that the JIS alphas are not in the base kit.

As all the JIS stuff is pretty new I don't feel like there's sufficient demand to force them into the base kitm of course this is still subject to change pre-GB.

Thank you all for the support, we're finalising some JIS-related details behind the scenes and will hopefully have some more news to share soon.

Did this change? I see the JIS Alphas in the base kit render now.

I'm not sure if it is logistically possible, but if you ask me it should be offered as a full JIS kit with both JIS Alphas and Mods, and then a full Latin-only kit with Latin Alphas and normal mods. Those are the two options I'd be personally be going for when using this set.

[Kingk22]

Love everything except that the JIS alphas are not in the base kit.

As all the JIS stuff is pretty new I don't feel like there's sufficient demand to force them into the base kit, of course this is still subject to change pre-GB.

Thank you all for the support, we're finalising some JIS-related details behind the scenes and will hopefully have some more news to share soon.

Did this change? I see the JIS Alphas in the base kit render now.

I'm not sure if it is logistically possible, but if you ask me it should be offered as a full JIS kit with both JIS Alphas and Mods, and then Latin-only kit with Latin Alphas and normal mods.

Nothing has changed recently with kitting, the base just has standard Hirgana alphas and all dedicated JIS keys are still in their own kit.

The vision of this set was inspired by the original TeraDrive keyboard so the base kit will always have Hiragana sublegends, but the JIS layout isn't popular enough to force it on everyone with standard mods in an additional kit.

At this stage some potential kitting changes under consideration are adding the Yen symbol to the backslash keys and adding an extension kit (relegendables, windowed keys, XT keys, etc).

[actress]

Love everything except that the JIS alphas are not in the base kit.

As all the JIS stuff is pretty new I don't feel like there's sufficient demand to force them into the base kit, of course this is still subject to change pre-GB.

Thank you all for the support, we're finalising some JIS-related details behind the scenes and will hopefully have some more news to share soon.

Did this change? I see the JIS Alphas in the base kit render now.

I'm not sure if it is logistically possible, but if you ask me it should be offered as a full JIS kit with both JIS Alphas and Mods, and then Latin-only kit with Latin Alphas and normal mods.

Nothing has changed recently with kitting, the base just has standard Hirgana alphas and all dedicated JIS keys are still in their own kit.

The vision of this set was inspired by the original TeraDrive keyboard so the base kit will always have Hiragana sublegends, but the JIS layout isn't popular enough to force it on everyone with standard mods in an additional kit.

At this stage some potential kitting changes under consideration are adding the Yen symbol to the backslash keys and adding an extension kit (relegendables, windowed keys, XT keys, etc).

Relegendables and windowed keys sounds great!

[Kingk22]

Hi everyone, sorry for the lack of updates, not much has been happening as we await quotes to finalise kitting and set pricing.

In saying that, I'd like to show you the deskmats we have planned to run with the set





We're also currently pursuing some artisan collabs with some of our favourite makers, more details to come soon!

Apparently I forgot to mention this earlier but TeraDrive will be running in August 2021 on all our regional vendors, you can find these listed in the main post.

[HungHingDaiLo]

I love the first deskmat! 

[hottrout]

Both deskmats are FIRE!!!

[Pyroo]

Looks sick, this is a nice use of weeb legends. GLWIC

[actress]

First deskmat is growing on me.
What a banger of a set! Are the kits final? Assuming no windowed or relegendables planned anymore?

[Kingk22]

First deskmat is growing on me.
What a banger of a set! Are the kits final? Assuming no windowed or relegendables planned anymore?

Thanks for the support, kitting is mostly final, as much as I would like to add some windowed keys the base kit is already pretty large as is and I don't think a small child kit of those would sell well. There'll be some minor changes to fix some sublegend intricacies and possible to move compatiibility around.

[sup3r170va]

Nice set
I understand the greys are a custom colour. Can I confirm that the blacks are CR? Thanks.

[audax989]

I like  it.

[Kingk22]

Nice set
I understand the greys are a custom colour. Can I confirm that the blacks are CR? Thanks.

Currently both are a custom colour, we're toying with making the black a stock colour but neither CR nor N9 are a perfect match, the idea would be to allow for compatibility with existing WoB extension kits but our legends aren't WS1 anyway so that won't work.

[sup3r170va]

Nice set
I understand the greys are a custom colour. Can I confirm that the blacks are CR? Thanks.

Currently both are a custom colour, we're toying with making the black a stock colour but neither CR nor N9 are a perfect match, the idea would be to allow for compatibility with existing WoB extension kits but our legends aren't WS1 anyway so that won't work.

Damn. I was indeed hoping for compatibility with other WoB kits. Guess not…

[Kingk22]

Hi everyone, due to some unfortunate circumstances the GB will be delayed, I'm not sure of an exact date yet but I'm hoping it's sometime this year.

Thank you all for the support and I hope I can give a better update soon.

[hottrout]

I will wait on this running, just don't cancel it.  Good luck with 'unfortunate circumstances'.

[_rubik]

I will wait on this running, just don't cancel it.  Good luck with 'unfortunate circumstances'.

Ditto. I’d really love to see this make it over the line. In the mean time, stay safe and be well King