This travel log is a little out of order so if you want to see what I did on Sunday (I went to visit SmallFry), please check out that writeup here (http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=47366.0). And since I wrote too much and wanted to push some material out, I’ll be posting this and then adding/editing this as I go. So let’s do this: Keycon ’13 Diary – Sunday Edition here in the first post. Keycon for me lasted from Friday 8/16/13 to Tuesday 8/20/13. Here's the story as best I remember it.
I wrote way too much so I had to split this between two posts. I just wanted to have a nice detailed diary of everything I did so that people can live this vicariously. Sunday is here. You can scroll to the Table of Contents (#post_TOC). And you can jump to Saturday, Sunday brunch, Monday and Tuesday here (#post_Part2).
(http://i.minus.com/jBnKEFCJI6525.jpg)
Dianoda killin’ it in with the photos again…my KMAC looks better in this picture than it does in real life.
Friday
I’ve been looking forward to Keycon for a long time. I was the first person to post in the Keycon ’13 thread and I’m happy that work didn’t screw me over so I could attend. mashby and I decided we’d carpool up to Chicago since I was “on the way”. For a couple weeks, the thing I was most worried about was that I had way too much stuff to bring. I literally had nine keyboards to bring, all my caps, and my Grado SR80s. Luckily, the car that mashby got as a rental was huge; we got a Dodge Avenger. Best part of mashby coming to my place? He brought me dinner: Chargrilled chicken breasts, mashed peas, and watermelon. Anyone who cooks and serves me food is amazing, but to give some credit, the Ashbys know how to cook. ^__^
After delicious food, we packed up and tried to leave. But I was an ass and left my EZPass at my apartment. It’s an RFID tag that is used in New York, much of the east coast, and Illinois for paying tolls. Pretty much? I hate throwing change when I can just drive. Funny side story when we turned around, Hashby told me that she got carsick pretty easily. So when we did a U-turn, she was saying that one time hashby’s mom was driving and made a slick move. Whipped the car around into a parking spot and she was sick the whole rest of the night. And now they call it a victory lap. So let ‘em know, next time you’re driving and you wanna make a statement? Whip out the victory lap.
Anyways, I hadn’t seen mashby since March so it was great to see him again and catch up. Oh and guys, if you ever get to hang out with him, get ready to talk or listen…whatever, ‘cause that dude likes to talk. Oh wait, he’s a mod now right? Am I still allowed to talk **** about him? :P And I love to talk to so we just started talking about everything on GeekHack. Hashby was saying she was so lost and was trying to pick up on all the slang and how our little world even worked. And I remember saying things and having her say that, “Wow mashby, there are other people out there who are just like you and feel the way you do!?” Oh and because he’s a show off, he worked on his amazing presentation while we were driving up.
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-MJ5I8WYmJSo/UhKw46eZ6uI/AAAAAAAAAfI/-y899Ui7d-A/w893-h670-no/DSCN0596.JPG)
Look at that sexy slide! Mashby in action on Saturday. I just wanted to post a picture of his amazing work that he whipped out during the ride to Chicago (Picture courtesy of prdlm2009)
Now I’m supposed to meet up with Halverson and Sifo since the plan was that we were going to share a room. But we got in extremely late. Mashby and I both have day jobs, we worked all day, then went up to Chicago; just super tired. So I arrive into the room around midnight and wait for the boys to arrive in the lobby.
Apparently this was what they were doing (Thanks to TJ for this video)
We get this swanky hotel and they can’t even be bothered to give me free WiFi in my room? How am I going to surf GeekHack?? Sitting downstairs and Halverson shows up but I’m facing away from the door so he scares the **** outta me. I JUMPED out of my seat and saw Sifo and Halvy for the first time in real life. Gotta say, Sifo is really #legitballin and I gotta step up my sneaker game if I’m going to be associated with the D-Squad because they put me to shame. So we ended up splitting up since I guess tjcaustin was neaby and we didn’t have that many beds. Sifo has this incredible ability to sleep with earbuds in. And I got a sneak peak at his GON and LZ-S. Oh yeah remember? This is a keyboard thing :P.
(http://i.minus.com/jqs5cMrWQ4C5Q.jpg)
Sifo’s LZ-S, Dianoda-style
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/08/23/yvezezan.jpg)
Halverson’s Adidas Year of the Snake – you’re not ready for the sick sneakers
(http://i.imgur.com/rof3gNn.jpg%5b/IMG)
Sifo’s Swag
Oh and mkawa, don’t get mad at me but yes, I forgot to get a picture of Sifo sleeping. Plus it was kinda creepy haha.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Friday (#post_Fri)
- Saturday - Keycon (#post_SK)
- The_Beast’s Keyboards (#post_TBK)
- HoffmanMyster’s Keyboards (#post_HMK)
- Sifo’s DT-35, Binge’s 2TU, custom caps (#post_DT35)
- Project Praiano – TechKeys Business Card (#post_PP)
- jcrouse’s collection (#post_john)
- CPTBadAss’ collection (#post_CBA)
- Ergo-Dox, LZ-S, GON (#post_ED)
- Gold vs Silver springs, Modern vs Vintage blacks, lubed blacks (#post_EXP)
- wcass’ and rkinze’s buckling spring boards (#post_WR)
- End of Keycon (#post_end)
- After Party (#post_AP)
- Sunday after SmallFry’s visit (#post_Sun)
- Monday and Tuesday after Keycon – Halverson and friends visit (#post_MonTues)
Back to the Table of Contents in Post #1 (#post_TOC)
(http://i.minus.com/jkKeCEV4me4NP.jpg)
Some Clacks with the X-Rite ColorChecker Chart, a really awesome picture from Dianoda
Saturday - Keycon
Got up in the morning, not really knowing what the game plan for the day was. Went downstairs to grab coffee and met mashby. We figure out that we’re going to go pickup Binge at 9 am and then head into town to try and setup beforehand. I wake Sifo up and we head out; mashby is driving while hashby, sifo, and I are passengers. I get a hold of Binge and we head to O’Hare. Since I’ve seen his stream and I know what he looks like, we scared the **** out of him by beeping the horn and asking if he likes candy :D. Unfortunately I’m an absurd person and I’m terrible at navigation. We did establish that my voice is better than Siri’s but I got us lost probably three or four times. Instead of actually straight to the venue, we went to the wrong UIC campus and then I took us on a scenic tour of every hospital in Chicago. It took us about an hour, maybe ninety minutes, to get to the proper UIC campus.
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/mGPROebkm75uacGhBQvcaXNT-p6zd-Brz-lkWRujtFY=w276-h207-p-no)
UIC – Engineering and Science Building (prdlm2009)
Roll into the UIC building and get lost of course. Poor mashby has all the soda for the Con along with all his stuff. Turns out that it’s on the tenth floor and the room is smaller than I thought. But we didn’t get access to the room until around 10 am – 10:15 am. We were locked out and I managed to get a hold of mkawa, along with Professor Chris Kanich, and open up the doors. And of course being kawa and myself, we go crazy with trying to set everything up in time. I rush downstairs to hang up banners and flyers so that the other GHers know where to go. I think I met HoffmanMyster, The_Beast, Melvang and Mrs. Melvang, and jameslr downstairs. Oh and I somehow had mkawa’s cell phone and was posting pictures and stuff to GeekHack; that all important bathroom information and the pictures of the banners? All me baby.
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/ktseRSqS9smErjiQ429RTpJX_NelzCw7VmGzDq6Oy88=w303-h227-p-no)
Portal to our little Keycon world (prdlm2009)
Anyways, when I finally come back upstairs at 11 am or so, I find a spot in the front right corner of the room and setup shop. I had just finished picking out my spot near Halverson, Sifo, Elton5354, The_Beast, prdlm2009, HoffmanMyster, and Binge and unpacking when the guests of honor arrived. Baby_Fry, LargeFry, and Mama_Fry were introduced by mkawa. Kawa gave a speech, I almost teared up…and then pizza. Yeah, we’re great at timing lol.
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-_eHsBGOiHEI/UhKzQmbVA7I/AAAAAAAAAik/oLgRzznpC5w/w941-h706-no/DSCN0631.JPG)
Giordano’s Pizza! (Picture courtesy of prdlm2009)
After lunch we had presentations and introductions. The presentations were really cool. I gave a really horrible one since I didn’t know that a) people would care b) they were actually happening. I thought there were going to be any and then the schedule got posted like two days before…I’ll come prepared next year. The_Beast showed us pictures of his workshop, mashby had this insanely good history of compact keyboards, Binge laid out how he made his Binge-caps and then did a live carving, Sifo educated us on the real Korean board (DT-35), and i3oilermaker introduced Project Praiano a.k.a the TechKeys keyboard controller/business card. If you guys didn’t watch the stream or the VOD, do yourselves a favor and watch it. Binge is so ****ing handsome, i3oilermaker created something really cool, The_Beast really loves wood and is great at woodworking, and Sifo knows what’s up with Korean boards.
And then the INSANELY long introductions ‘cause kawa got too excited and interjected a lot (to be fair I did as well but I blame the kawa :P). But it’s ok, during this time I got to play with the following keyboards:
- GH60 Rev A PCB with Kirkle-Clears (55g lubed ergo-clears) in the undyed wood case that The_Beast and I designed
- Poker X with 55g MX blacks in the dyed black black case
- Tipro with The_Beast’s collection of MX clacks (It’s like Skittles, feel the rainbow!)
- Realforce 23UB with some Clacks including the translucent green one!
- The_Beast’s 65% Model M (http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=44875.20)
- Dolch PAC keyboard with stock MX reds
- A couple of his wood wristrests
(http://i4.minus.com/jbnSLtAT1z8gS.jpg)
Part of The_Beast’s collection at Keycon (Picture thanks to Dianoda)
(http://i.minus.com/jEMCNnK1Zw90e.jpg)
Other part of his collection (Dianoda’s picture)
My thoughts about his boards: The lubed blacks were nice but too light for my tastes; I also didn’t like the stock reds for the same reason. It was insanely awesome to play with the wood version of the keyboard case that The_Beast and I designed though. When I realized that, I was very happy and proud. Anyways, I’ve played with the Tipro before, it was the twin of the one that was originally in my keycap and switch test tour (http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=44312.msg915983#msg915983), it has stock MX blacks which I really like. I did really enjoy the 1800 layout though so I’d like to try that out again. Far and away my favorite board that he had though was the modded 60% buckling spring keyboard. The layout was fantastic and I thought it was really cool that he made the layout himself. I’m probably going to do the same thing at one point. He had an SSK as well but I was really smitten with his 60%. Or maybe it’s a 65% because of the function row...
Oh and he brought some wood samples and plates but unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to check those out.
(http://i.minus.com/jNvfOVZz66OSN.jpg)
Hoffman’s keyboard collection (counterclockwise or CCW from bottom left): LZ-GH with blue and black switches, Dolch PAC with CMYK caps and blue switches, and a Poker II with red switches. Other stuff include a Mimic/tjcaustin cable, Girldc Vader cap, an F&F cap, and a Sony NEX-F3
Oh and while I was there, I played with HoffmanMyster’s LZ-GH, Dolch PAC, and Poker II. I also had the chance to try check out my first girldc keycap: HoffmanMyster’s Vader. First off, can I just say that Hoffman and I are brass cap bros because we have these amazing photekq caps? They’re amazing. I wish I didn’t tarnish mine as fast as I did but it’s still cool. See?
(http://i1.minus.com/jBfw8Qztdtdax_e.jpg)
My cap on the left, thanks to photekq!, and Hoffman’s on the right (Dianoda‘s picture)
I’ve also got to say, I was skeptical about the girldc caps. But now that I’ve played with the Vader, I’m convinced. I really like them. Kawa described the process as something crazy. I guess the core is an odd alloy, and then he casts it as another layer in silver and then finishes it with an outer coating in black, silver, or gold. I forget exactly how the process works, I hope kawa will see this and explain. Regardless though, I was FASCINATED. I love metal and metalworking, and I was enthralled by the description. I really want a Ghostbro now.
What did I think about HoffmanMyster’s boards?
- LZ-GH (MX Blues) – The salmon color is a bit silly, not gonna lie :P. But I actually really liked it. It helped that my man had MX blues on the board already. But the board just felt very solid. Those LZ-GHs are a real beast, just too heavy. The kids didn’t lie, *all* of the weight is in that foot bar thing. I wish I had the chance to check out the macros and lighting. Oh, and he had MX blacks on the arrow cluster and on the escape key. That was a fun touch :D.
- Dolch PAC (MX Blues) – I’m not sure there was vintage blues in this board. The last time I tried the Dolch with vintage blues, they felt pretty good. The switches were a bit lighter and a bit smoother than the newer blue switches, but I think that’s due to the wear on the stems. Anyways, I love the layout on the board but it feels a bit too light. It’s not heavy enough and it feels a little flimsy.
- Poker II (MX Reds) – This was the first time I got to try this keyboard. I sincerely wish I got to try the programmable layers, but I’m ok with just trying the keyboard out. I’m a little mad that Hoffman removed the greatest spacebar ever: Enjoy your feeling, but I think I can overlook that small slight. Anyways, it retained the Poker X layout which was really cool. I’d like to test out the layers in the future.
I got to play with the OG Korean keyboard: Qsenn DT-35. I won’t lie; I was pretty excited to test this board out because I’ve heard so much about it. In the SC2 world, it’s become this board with a bit of an aura. Since all the PC-Bangs/PC cafes in South Korea had those keyboards, many SC2 pros got used to the keyboard. I think it was Boxer that had the checkered pattern on his DT-35. And guess what? I was really impressed by it. For a rubber dome keyboard, it’s nice. The domes are almost crispy; there is a wonderful rebound and feel really snappy. I couldn’t believe it. I wish I was joking when I said this but I actually liked this keyboard more than I like Topres. And I love how Sifo laid it out:
(http://i.minus.com/jbnUVkrKSWwJV.jpg)
He’s so handsome, both Sifo and Dianoda
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-PDXE5Eb3U1w/UhKziIhmC8I/AAAAAAAAAjE/780y4tYGS68/w941-h706-no/DSCN0636.JPG)
Close up of Sifo’s DT-35, prdlm2009 style
Oh and before I forget, Binge was being a machine the entire time; he was carving caps and offering us Sculpy to make keycaps with. Sifo carved this awesome Swag cap, Halverson made an amazing cap with a snail and a squirrel on it. I made a little stone that had 518 on it. But Binge? Binge made a custom derpling for me. He’s unbelievably cute!
(http://i.imgur.com/vwrKeki.jpg)
Custom derpling cap from Binge, natural colored Sculpy on an orange SP gamer profile cap
I also got a chance to play with 2TU as well. I’ve been oogling that board since Binge posted information about it (http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=43053.0). It just looks so good, SO GOOD. And it’s very programmable/customizable. The case is an aluminum and polycarbonate sandwich. There’s three layers: aluminum on top, polycarb in the middle, and aluminum on the bottom. The polycarb is frosted and theres LEDs underneath the keycaps and inside the sandwich. Oh and Binge had 65g blues in his board and I love them.
So somewhere during my stealth keyboard adventure, Guchi finally lets everyone introduce themselves (You know I’m joking right? <3) and we start to get to play. I of course, made a bee-line for the maker of i3oilers. Why? I NEEDED ONE OF THOSE BUSINESS CARDS. SERIOUSLY AWESOME. Check it out:
(http://i.minus.com/jkmbfsd30vlbG.jpg)
Oooo, ahhh (Dianodaaaaa)Video from Sifo (http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=47325.msg1009238#msg1009238) of the card in action
I had to have one. Had to. And I’m sorry to jdcarpe and Halverson that I didn’t get you guys one. Very sorry. I got too excited and I’ll make it up to you guys. I’m glad at least I got to get Sifo one.
I actually skipped mashby’s boards mainly because I got to have an intimate one-on-one time with them already. You can see our little get-together in Nashville here (http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=38767.msg847189#msg847189). No offense hashby and mashby :D. I think since I was already near them, I went to play with jcrouse’s Clack collection. How could I not? I really love Clacks, more than I let on sometimes. I’ve spent countless hours staring at colors and organizing the Clack Info Thread (http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=39794.0) and Clack Wiki (http://wiki.geekhack.org/index.php?title=Click_Clack#). So it was a sincere treat to get to check out all these great caps. He had them laid out in a chip dip bowl and wasn’t even guarding them! Check it out:
(http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/o580/eth0sz/KeyCon2013401.jpg)
Best chip-dip bowl ever. My favorite rare caps were the Lego head caps! (Picture from eth0s)
(http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/o580/eth0sz/KeyCon2013397.jpg)
A more organized picture of some of jcrouse’s Clacks (Picture from eth0s)
Jcrouse also had THE BEST COLLECTION OF KEYBOARDS. Seriously, he brought in a dolly and brought in literally *stacks* of keyboard. I think he made three trips and took up an entire table on his own. No one’s body was ready for this insanity:
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Eama5heybyo/UhKybDavr0I/AAAAAAAAAhU/oWvjGedYnsc/w941-h706-no/DSCN0619.JPG)
LZ-SE, Industrial SSK, 1391401 Model M, some kinda Sky Blue keyboard (I think an LZ-S) with SoWaRe (prdlm2009)
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-75v-1nsHhLc/UhKyhnmUC3I/AAAAAAAAAhc/vjWmgP30Rbs/w941-h706-no/DSCN0620.JPG)
Realforce 10AE?, HHKB, couple of Phantoms in litster cases with Valentine’s and Rebel Red Alert? (prdlm2009)
(http://i.minus.com/jg3UyzWU2Rvfh.jpg)
A proper picture of John’s collection (Dianoda)
Think about this guys. His collection was *so good*, we didn’t even get enough pictures of them. He must have had 30-40 boards. LZ, Phantoms, KMAC Happy, any Korean board I ever wanted to try? They were there. That LZ-SE was SO HEAVY that I literally hurt my shoulder after injuring it a week before. It seriously weighed 30 pounds; maybe more. I loved the board because the case looked incredible, the badge was amazing, the switches felt great to type on because of the build, and I got to try the Ragnorock set. Unfortunately, that board would destroy my wimpy keyboard tray.
The Phantoms? Jcrouse was like yeah, they were pretty cheap so I snagged four of the litster cases. They looked really sharp but more importantly, jcrouse was a really cool guy to talk to. He’s very personable and knowledgeable; he trusted all of us around all these goodies, and someone later told me he made sure I got my 3D printing samples back. Great guy, I wish I had more time to hang out with him.
Oh and one of the bigger surprises of Keycon was that I found that I really enjoyed the KMAC Happy. I was skeptical of the HHKB layout but I think it was the Topre switches related to it. I loved that keyboard. Really wish I had a picture of it. The layout finally made sense to me, and I obviously love the KMAC build, so it all just fit great overall.
Unfortunately, jcrouse’s collection also convinced me that I really don’t like Topre. I’ve now had plenty of exposure to Topre and I’m not finally done with trying them out. jcrouse had a Realforce 10th anniversary and an HHKB. Like I said right above, I’ve grown to like the HHKB layout. But I don’t really like the Topre switch. It’s a buttery smooth rubber dome. I think that’s great but it’s nothing special to me. It’s a refined rubber dome experience, but it still feels like a rubber dome to me. I don’t think it’s worth what I pay for it, the experience isn’t that much better. It’s not like when I first touched clicky MX switches or buckling springs or Alps; I couldn’t live without them after first touch. And to be honest, the switches hurt to type on for me; the bottom out was harsh. It felt like my pre-modded FC700R. The vibrations felt bad. I did give the HHKB one more real chance later, I’ll explain more later.
I had a little conversation with eth0s next. He showed me his Clack collection and I confessed to him that I thought he was a girl until like a week before. Sorry man!
I made my way over to grab something from my bags and started talking to Jalaj’s girlfriend. I’m so sorry I forgot your name but I met a lot of people really fast :(. What I do remember was that she told me she LOVED my keyboard colors. I mean obviously I do but who doesn’t like Valentine’s on my Pure or my KMAC :P. I had a really good time talking to her because I enjoy talking to people who are outside the hobby or new. It’s just fun to see how people react. And teaching to enthusiastic people can be a fun experience.
As promised previously, here’s my collection. All pictures courtesy of Dianoda. You’ve seen my KMAC at the top of the article.
(http://i1.minus.com/jbeEMxBndipHoP.jpg)
In the middle: Pure with MX whites, Valentine’s keycaps, various GH caps and on the right, jalaj playing with my MX switch tester
(http://i5.minus.com/jOCHTBJhXYzwD.jpg)
CCW from top left: Dauphin DCK-84 with Linear Black Alps (I think complicated); Filco Majestouch 2 with MX blues, mix of Raindrop and Valentines caps; Siig Minitouch with Monterey Blue Alps clones; Rev A of my Tofu101 board (currently just a 1087XM with Clicky White Alps)
(http://i4.minus.com/jbngopzZ48quUW.jpg)
Bottom right: Leopold FC700R with MX blues, WASD and mods from GMK, White on Black Cherry caps
One of the highlights of my Keycon experience would come next: I made my way over to wcass’ and rkinze’s table. It was the table that they promised they would cover with buckling spring boards and they weren’t ****ing around. But first, I got sidetracked by prdlm2009’s Ergo-Dox and Sifo’s GON and LZ-S.
I already had a chance to test out the GON and the LZ-S; seriously impressed by the GON. It was everything I enjoyed about the 2TU in a TKL format and low profile. In other words, there isn’t lip or wall or edge which blocks the bottom of the switches and keycaps. The caps and switches sit above the case. I enjoyed the design and the look. And the keyboard felt really nice to type on. Sifo had ergo-clears in the board.
(http://i.minus.com/jD9H66fFg2EXa.jpg)
prdlm2009 and Sifo’s boards (Dianoda)
Actually, we did a little experiment too. He swapped out some springs so it had 62g springs: silver and gold. And then he had vintage and modern blacks. He did them all together on one board and didn’t tell me really where things are so I could try them. Thoughts?
- 62g silver springs: Check out my thoughts on them here (http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=44749.0#post_Thoughts).
- 62g gold springs: They are slightly longer than the silver springs I think. At least Sifo pointed that out to me. They feel heavier than the 62g silver springs but just barely. I think the most accurate description of these is how Sifo described them: 63.5g springs. They do feel different, but just barely.
- Vintage blacks vs modern blacks: They feel ever so slightly smoother than modern blacks. And the spring actuation is a touch lighter than modern blacks. It’s so gradual that I can barely feel the difference; even less so when the cap is on the switch. I think the difference is so insignificant that it’s nice that I have some but if I can’t then oh well.
- Lubed blacks: I forgot which board I tried these on so I’ll just put the thoughts here since it makes sense anyways. For me? I’m going to forget the vintage vs modern debate and focus on the lube vs non-lubed debate. Lubed blacks are SO SMOOTH. And to me, the Korean springs like 65g have a slightly different feeling at bottom out so they feel a bit cushiony. Lubed blacks and Korean springs provide my favorite linear MX experience. I liked the lubed blacks so much, I’m going to re-open all my 65g blacks I prepared for my eventual Epsilon build and lube it.
Prdlm2009 had some new boards I was into: Ergo-Dox and this G80-1800. I was skeptical of the Ergo-Dox because I had no idea what to expect. It’s so divisive, there’s no, “Hey, that keyboard is so-so”. And I’m still unsure about a lot of the ergonomic mechanical keyboards in general. I tried his Maltron previously and previously they had all blank keycaps. It was completely mind boggling and uncomfortable to type on. I did like his Kinesis though. Anyways, with all these reservations, I actually enjoyed the Ergo-Dox a lot. Its non staggered but it’s not in straight rows like the Maltron or the Kinesis. There is still a bit of shift between the rows. It’s that slight shift that made the keyboard more comfortable to me to type on. I was surprised that I didn’t have more issues with it. But I’m not sure how I’d set up an ANSI QWERTY setup on it like I’m used to and prefer. I literally just typed randomly on it because prdlm had his own personal setup on it which made zero sense to me. The G80-1800 caught my eye because of the relegendables and I really like Cherry keycaps. He had it for sale and I ended up buying the keycaps later :D.
Onto wcass’ and Rkinze’s boards; these guys are crazy in all the best ways. If you didn’t already notice, there’s a bit of a flow to this writeup because this is pretty much how I bounced around the room. So Sifo/prdlm2009’s table was to the left of wcass’ and rkinze’s table. Anyways, here’s a picture of some of the insanity they brought:
(http://i.minus.com/jCV42lRYSjFDS.jpg)
wcass’ table of pure Buckling Spring madness (Dianoda)
(http://i.minus.com/jbhE8PhhHdf1zE.jpg)
wcass’ and rkinze’s mix of buckling spring boards (Dianoda)
(http://i.minus.com/jzGhQ33OMqX19.jpg)
My KMAC hooked up to Melvang’s rig, rkinze’s MX boards including his keyboard with R4 SA keycaps (forget what board that is, I thought it was a QFR) and a Phantom in a litster case (Dianoda)
Where oh where do I start with these boards:
In the first picture, these are wcass’ boards from top right, clockwise or CW…
- Buckling spring tester: It’s a bunch of buckling spring switches mounted on a flat acrylic plate. Wcass wanted to show how the BS switches would feel if they didn’t have the angle that 1391401s (or the “standard” IBM Model M) have. And you could see how the switches worked. It was incredibly cool.
- XT F modded to ANSI (http://deskthority.net/workshop-f7/bringing-the-ibm-pc-xt-into-the-21st-century-t3047.html):[/u] He made a custom acrylic plate which modded the keyboard to look like a monstrous TKL board. There was a six-pack/nav pack and arrows made from 1.5x mods. It had the wonderful capacitive buckling spring switches AND a format I really liked.
- Terminal SSK: (http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=20118.15) He cut off the six-pack/nav pack and number pad on a M122, what I call an aircraft carrier, and then molded the mat. I’d still tap that. It was a really amazing layout.
- Winkeyless Unicomp: I’m sure this was cool but I’m sorry, I was too excited when I saw…
- Custom 60% Model M: WCASS DID IT. HE MADE THE DREAM COME TRUE: 60 PERCENT BUCKLING SPRING BOARD WITH A CUSTOM CONTROLLER AND PROPERLY CURVED PLATE. I’m yelling because I’m excited. You have *no* idea how happy I was to see this. It had the proper Poker X and Poker II layout but in buckling spring switches. The angle was right. He had a controller that worked with USB. I’m drooling just thinking about it. It *felt* so good to type on it. I could keep going on and on but look, wcass is going to sell these, I will buy this faster than anyone else does. I promise you I will have the first one he has to sell. Check out more of his project here (http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=40111.0).
From the second picture, CW from top left:
- M122 and some SSKs, not that exciting since they were sitting next to…
- IBM 1391401 with a grease mod: First off, notice how the badge seems off? Wcass HAD A BUNCH OF BADGES CUSTOM ORDERED AND GAVE SOME OUT. He had gold on black, silver on black, blue on silver, etc. They look AMAZING. And I have one now. I can’t wait to put it on my SSK or another IBM keyboard. Anyways, the grease mod makes the switches feel smooth. Think lubed ergo-clear or lubed MX Black smooth. I think you put grease into the barrel and then sit the spring and caps on. Anyways, it’s a smoother buckling spring experience that I loved. I was gushing when I pointed this out to rkinze who told me that it was messy but I don’t care. I want this done now. I’ll probably be doing this to my SSK.
- IBM 1391401 with a floss mod: Think a BS board but slightly muffled and quieter. That’s how this felt. It wasn’t as pingy and not as loud. If I could get this effect with a grease mod, I’d be in heaven. However, the grease will make the floss soggy so it wouldn’t work out.
- M13: Pretty cool. Black with the little nib as a pointer.
Third picture there’s really one keyboard that stuck with me. Check out the board with blue and grey caps with white legends/alphas, middle of the picture. I forgot what keyboard this was but it doesn’t matter. For me all that matters is this sexy keycaps:
- Round 4 SA keycaps in the “Space Cadet” (blue mods, grey alphas) colorway: I *love love love* these keycaps. They’re tall and somehow they seem to reduce the travel in the switch. The top of the caps are bowl shaped and cup my fingers. The caps are made from ABS and super smooth. And even the corners of the caps have these fat fillets on them so they accentuate the smoothness. I haven’t been so taken with a keycap set/profile in a LONG time. The colorway is great too. It just feels so smooth and sexy under my fingers. Amazing.
I’m not going to lie; I have the biggest nerd/keyboard crush on wcass. He’s really knowledgeable, friendly, and enthusiastic. He knows a lot about anything keyboards and I wanted to steal most of his keyboards. Wcass dropped some serious knowledge bombs and he has some real dedication; flying in from Florida with his huge collection. Plus he’s fun to have a meal and joke around with. Great guy, I can’t say enough about his projects. Get his 60% BS board.
Next I found myself talking to Melvang who gifted me his breakout board (http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=45587.msg955666#msg955666). I got to check out his awesome activity LED mod (http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=43241.0) on his DasKeyboard. My favorite part of talking with him though? We wanted to figure out how the MX lock switch mechanism (http://deskthority.net/wiki/Cherry_MX_Lock) worked so we immediately popped out open. Live keyboard science? I’m loving it. I had setup my KMAC on his computer earlier so I gave his rig a test drive; he figured out a really sick trick too. So on the rig, there’s a power button and it’s just the right height Melvang’s kid to hit and play with. Melvang rigged the case so that the power button’s circuit would only be completed if he put in this little headphone jack adapter. Really cool idea. I loved it.
Finally the last real memory I have is catching up with keymaster and his girlfriend who I had met earlier this year. I grabbed my MX switch tester and had a nice conversation with them about the modded switches and switches in general.
Oh and there were some giveaways (http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=47623.msg1016128#msg1016128) and I saw tjcaustin trying to show people how he repaired and worked his cables. But what this meant is that it was near the end of the Keycon…then I realized Dianoda was taking amazing pictures. I mean he had a little corner of the room sectioned off with these flash umbrellas, his DSLR, the X-rite checker, his laptop to properly check the pictures, and a table. It was SO official. I mean seriously, how good are these pictures:
(http://i.minus.com/jbhaIknuBwZ9IG.jpg)
Binge’s 2TU with a custom CMYK cable
And unfortunately with that last note we had to leave and move on to the after party.
Saturday – Keycon After Party
After we get everyone’s stuff stashed safely we round up the gang to walk over to Three Aces. Halverson drove a Suburban so he had SO much room. Everyone stashed their stuff in his car or mashby’s. Think we had Sifo, Halverson, tjcaustion, Elton5354, Rkinze, mkawa, wcass, rkinze, hashby, and mashby in our little party. GH rolls deep you know? We walked about twenty or thirty minutes to the bar and I was super excited to see that there was an outdoor seating area. It was pretty comfy:
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-wMPuZd2ELVI/UhK1OeYKiWI/AAAAAAAAAlk/jcgZDsAJTj4/w941-h706-no/DSCN0659.JPG)
Outside of Three Aces (prdlm2009)
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-XRpdRQ7MUKM/UhK1F6Um-5I/AAAAAAAAAlc/agsr1lPXaRc/w941-h706-no/DSCN0658.JPG)
Some lovely Geekhackers at Three Aces, chowing down (prdlm2009)
I was seriously happy when I got my food. Just look at this menu (http://threeaceschicago.com/menu.php). It looked incredible just from the website and tasted amazing in person. I ordered an ace burger with fries and Bolognese sauce. I would say it’s the top three best burgers I’ve ever had. Actually I ate so well while I was in Chicago. I didn’t have a bad meal there at all :D. And the company was incredible. A few highlights:
- Mkawa telling us about his adventure with Krytox. I believe his exact quote was, “I have two keys of stuff and I need to push it out”. I laughed so hard.
- Watching Halverson eat slowly; I’ve never seen anyone eat so slow in my entire life. Oh and I think he had $80 worth of beer?
- Sitting down with wcass’ and picking his brain about an actual 60% layout buckling spring board
- Watching Sifo perform his lighter tricks with a Zippo
- Busting on engineers with Melvang and Mrs. Melvang. I’m an engineer and I’ve spent time on the shop floor trying to interpret the engineer’s thoughts. I totally understand his frustration.
- A very enjoyable conversation with John, also known as jcrouse. We chatted about trying to find a good machine shop that would allow us to work in. There’s nothing like access to proper tools like mills and lathes. He was telling me how he used to be able to make cocktail table style MAME cabinets at his workplace.
- The_Beast, jcrouse, Binge, and I sitting down to try and figure out how exactly Clacks are made.
I had a great time at Three Aces. Apologize if I missed anyone. I wish I had more time with all these lovely people:
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/24794081/_DSC9626.jpg)
Group photo at Three Aces (mkawa)
After, we kind just walked up and down the street trying to find a bar to hang out in but we just ended up standing around in various street corner and drank wonderful frozen lemonade. Had rkinze drive Binge and I back to the Holiday Inn where there was free wifi and where Elton5354 was staying. During the drive, Binge and I picked rkinze’s brain about all things GeekHack, modding headphones, and amps/dacs. I really enjoyed the ride and conversation. At the Holiday Inn, Tjcaustin, Sifo, Halverson, Binge, and Elton5354 had a DongSquad and friends mini-meetup. It’s so hilarious because usually we just hang out in a Skype chat, surf GeekHack, and shoot the ****. We did the *same exact thing* in person. Oh and we had some audio stuff so I got to try Binge’s Mad Dogs and I shared my Grado SR80s.
Finally that night at around midnight, Binge and I retired to the hotel room.
Sunday – Brunch after a visit to see Smallfry
This is what we did in the morning (http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=47366.0). After visiting SmallFry and his family, mkawa, myself, mashby, and hashby went to Bite Café in the Ukranian Village in Chicago. Hoffmanmyster, I’m sorry we didn’t invite you along. We had a crazy good brunch (http://www.bitecafechicago.com/). I had the second best poutine I’ve ever had in the USA at this café. Surprisingly there is a pub in Cincinnati that has a crazy good poutine. I enjoyed mkawa’s story about taking apart and rebuilding his WRX, talking about food stuff, and trying to comprehend kawa’s intake of caffeine. Then mashby, hashby, and I drove home. Thanks again for the ride guys!
Monday and Tuesday– Halverson, Sifo, and Elton5354 visit
Halverson has been sending a bit of stuff to my house since US shipping from eBay was cheap to my place. He sent me, a few items:
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/08/21/te4ujatu.jpg)
Just a few things…(Elton5354)
The craziest thing he sent me was three selectric typewriters. At the time I didn’t have a car so when I went to the post office with a co-worker, they gave me a cart with literally four man-sized boxes each weighing around thirty pounds. There were selectrics, a tactile NMB brown board, NIB Dell AT101W, and a bunch of other things. So he came to visit me and pick up his stuff.
We had Chick Fil A after I left work and then I took them to a store in the local mall called Game Swap which sells retro video games and Magic cards. We looked for some shoes first then went to Game Swap to get some goodies including two boxes of Magic Cards.
Back at my place we sorted Halverson’s crap bag and then I watched Sifo and Halverson play magic and do a draft. Elton5354 loved some of my mechanical music boxes and we just hung out. I also played with Halverson’s HHKB, an Altessa/Filco keyboard with grey Alps, and a Unicomp Wildcats keyboard. This is the nail in the Topre coffin for me. Just grew less and less impressed and hurt to type on. The Altessa were like a less refined version of the Matias Clicky switch. And the Wildcats board had an AMAZING colorway (CCnB?) and a touch lighter than the standard 1391401 switches.
Next day I had lunch with them and then the left me. Finally, it was the end of my four day Keycon experience. If I forgot anyone, I’m sorry. I really tried to write down all the details I could remember. You’re all wonderful people and I can’t wait for future Keycons.
Back to the Table of Contents in Post #1 (#post_TOC)