[IC] GMK Coniferous R2 - Back in IC

[donutcat]

Would be nice to have a render of alphas with u9 kit, just to get a sense of what it looks like. Might impact the poll results, too.
Sorry if you already posted and I missed it earlier.

Show Image

Picture shop of questionable quality, but I think it gets the point across.

Thanks! Looks nice

Any ETA for GB opening?

Not currently, depends on the time it takes to hear back from GMK and get everything setup. Don't want to give a hard date as it's too easy to shoot past that by mistake.

Will not you sell Novelties separately?

It is very fantastic.  :eek:

Novelties will be available as a separate kit for sure and maybe included in the other kits.

[donutcat]

Couple updates:


Updated Base kit, cleaned up numpad with novelties removed


Updated Bonsai kit, novelties taken out


Novelty kit, new home for the now expanded novelties to make them easily available to R1 owners and other buyers, will be included in the Base kit for R2 automatically

As long as these updates look good then I'm ready to start moving towards GB phase, perhaps get it going before the month is out.

[LeoShi]

Can't wait for the GB

[hervuli]

Nice! My R1 set is getting a lot of use (I really love U9 as a base color). Will definitely pick up the novelties.

[donutcat]

I figure, given the support for the current state of the kits and the lack of really any reason not to, it’s finally time to get this going. Planned GB open date of October 1st with the buy going for most of the month. Planned proxies of Mechboards.co.uk and zFrontier. Currently getting quotes from GMK. Planning on perhaps running this slightly differently than the last couple due to problems that have popped up with my site and the pre-order plugin.

[Allo]

Could you add R4 1u novelties for the novelties kit? As a round 1 owner, I'd love those to replace the Windows icon keys I have to use now.

[donutcat]

1u R4 novelties added, probs won't have a render for a bit.

[donutcat]

Surprise, GMK being quick on the draw. Got quotes today as well and for the most part they look pretty good. A couple things need more looking at so I'm taking the chance to do that.

[dantambok]

Yay! I’m happy this is finally happening. More so because zF will be a vendor (hopefully that doenst fall through)

[donutcat]

Yay! I’m happy this is finally happening. More so because zF will be a vendor (hopefully that doenst fall through)

zFrontier are quite excited about the set, so I don't see very much chance at all of it falling through on their end.

[dantambok]

Awesome. Thanks!

[donutcat]

So, here's the current state of things:


Base kit


Spacebars kit


Novelty kit


Bonsai kit

These are the kits we're currently planning on running. Monotone mods was dropped because there simply wasn't the interest needed for it to hit MOQ, and because I thought that the price at which I'd have to offer it, due to GMK's prices and the current exchange, was unreasonable for what it is. Since that is gone, the Bonsai kit has also lost its spacebar to cut cost slightly since compatibility with the Monotone kit was the reason it was there.

Unfortunately I couldn't have novelties both included in the Base kit and in their own kit while sharing an MOQ due to how GMK's system works. Because of this, I've kept them separate in order to keep them accessible outside of buying the Base kit. This increases the cost a little due to having their own kit, but I felt it was more important to have them be accessible rather than stuck inside another kit.

No prices just yet since I need to finish nailing them down after the kit adjustments, but I will say that for the most part they should be entirely reasonable based on the keys included and the current state of GMK pricing and EUR->USD conversion. I'm also going to be running this GB different from the previous two I've run. Due to *issues* with invoices being paid on time at the end of the GB period during the previous two, payment will be required when you submit an order. I had been running the pre-order system in order to help people out who couldn't pay until the end of the buy period, but mostly it just caused more issues with invoices being paid in a timely manner. This should also help with order confirmations not being sent from the pre-order plugin I had been using.

Now is a good time to ask any questions you may have.

[donutcat]

Alright, waiting now on the GB thread to be approved and then we're ready to roll. I'll copy some of the relevant information over here so that people can read up before everything gets going:


As it says, let me know if you think I missed anything important.

[donutcat]

GB thread at https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=97544.0

[donutcat]

Opened this back up for discussion and planning.

[Laughmaster]

I ended up buying a used R1 set

Still planning on supporting R2 spacebars/novelty/bonsai if it gets run again. I'm going to swap the alphas with the ones from Camping, so I'll probably post the resulting keebs to reddit when that's done. The alphas looked better than the renders when I saw them at the Atlanta meet up, so I'm expecting it to be good 

[sdg2416]

As someone who is very new to the keyboard scene, looking at pictures of this keyset helped convince me to take up this hobby! Definitely in support and would love to join an R2!

[Rykno]

I wasn't able to support R2, but I'd like to grab a bonsai set.

Any way to swing icon mods? Those would be amazing

[JSaintS]

Bump! I'd be in for Basic kit and Bonsai most definitely

Edit: I'd be in for the novelties as well!

[urbantheii]

I will for sure be in if R2 goes live again (base + spacebars)

[JSaintS]

Any new on this?

[vicissitude]

Wait for another chance to GB.

[Kenneth888]

In for base if it goes live again!

[Rykno]

Donut I think some good calibrated renders would help the cause. I found the alphas more earthy and impressive in real life.

I'll be in for a full spare set in R2 regardless but I'd love to see icon mods make their way in.

[mta]

Would be down for another release of this

[Darknight00z]

updates?

[donutcat]

[IOVERCALLHISTIOCYTES]

Ready for noveltrees anytime donutcat

[depletedvespene]

At this point in time I'm still open to kit suggestions and do need some assistance with the ISO keys to make sure they're what they should be.

You're one key short of full UK ISO support: the kit is missing the R3 '@ key. If you can add TWO keys, then you could also add an R3 \| as well and with that you'd have complete UK+US ISO support.

HTH!

[donutcat]

At this point in time I'm still open to kit suggestions and do need some assistance with the ISO keys to make sure they're what they should be.

You're one key short of full UK ISO support: the kit is missing the R3 '@ key. If you can add TWO keys, then you could also add an R3 \| as well and with that you'd have complete UK+US ISO support.

HTH!

I'll plan on the '@ key for sure and see what the consensus is on \|.

There's a bit before I'm planning on running this since Camping in Japan is going to happen soon and there's a fair amount of overlap with them being green sets with some sublegends.

[varzaman]

At this point in time I'm still open to kit suggestions and do need some assistance with the ISO keys to make sure they're what they should be.

You're one key short of full UK ISO support: the kit is missing the R3 '@ key. If you can add TWO keys, then you could also add an R3 \| as well and with that you'd have complete UK+US ISO support.

HTH!

I'll plan on the '@ key for sure and see what the consensus is on \|.

There's a bit before I'm planning on running this since Camping in Japan is going to happen soon and there's a fair amount of overlap with them being green sets with some sublegends.

Will you have the sublegends as optional or will it be part of the base kit (or normal legends split into its own group)?

[donutcat]

Right now the kits are planned to be the same as they are a few comments up. I'll get those pics into the op for better visibility.

[Mcnos]

Bonsai!

[varzaman]

Right now the kits are planned to be the same as they are a few comments up. I'll get those pics into the op for better visibility.

That is perfect! Can't wait to see them go through!

[MdotMaxson]

Ortho support? I’m all up in this bee

[BrambleTheBoar]

100% Onboard for a Base, spacebar, and novelty kits!

[infinitykw]

Here's some support from Beijing.  I'm in for base, sublegend and novelties.

One of the best green sets in terms of colorway.  Thanks for your work. 

[infinitykw]

No, I will be in for all kits. YASSSS

[vicissitude]

Ready to grab one.
Look forward to GB.

[varzaman]

why would you run r2 if r1 barely made MOQ

Well I want it for starters haha.

[Sintpinty]

Love the happy tree modifiers!

[donutcat]

Here have a poll https://www.strawpoll.me/18594702

I'm probably going to add the R3 `@ key for UK-ISO, but I'm curious if there's enough desire for the R3 \| key for US-ISO to bother adding it.

Also I'm curious for feedback on the current kits to see if there's anything else that should be considered for changing. Pro gamer tip: don't say "Take the numpad out of the base kit".










BTW, considering a possible November GB period depending on if it looks like there's enough interest and the response from GMK is good.

[infinitykw]

Personally, a better GB time window is to get ahead of Camping

[donutcat]

Perhaps, but it's already crowded for sets right now.

[infinitykw]

Now I am getting worried as there are more green sets coming in, namely camping, terra, botanics, ursa, delta and etc, though Confenirous has the best green colorway of all time

[depletedvespene]

Here have a poll https://www.strawpoll.me/18594702

I'm probably going to add the R3 `@ key for UK-ISO, but I'm curious if there's enough desire for the R3 \| key for US-ISO to bother adding it.

Weeeeeeeell... as the kits stand now, I'm in a bit of a bind: on one hand, I would very much like to see the R3 \| key included (required for US English over ISO or ANSISO), BUT on the other hand, the base kit has every keycap for full UK English over ISO support EXCEPT the R3 '@ keycap, which definitely should be present, given the rest of the UK-specific keycaps is already there. So if it comes to one or the other, you should go with the latter instead of the former (as much as it'd pain me).

On the gripping hand, the however, the Bonsai kit has the Hiragana alphas for just two of the keys required for UK English (R3 #~ and R4 \|), which puts this set in the weird position of having differing support for said national layout on each alpha set (5/6, with 6/6 being discussed, in the base set; 2/6 in the hiragana set); R3 \| isn't present, either.

In my opinion: if nothing else, support for UK English over ISO and/or US English over ISO or ANSISO should be the same in both sets of alphas (I know this might require scaling back support to avoid an overincrease of the total amount of keys).


With that said, there's one other thing that calls my attention in the base kit, which may be a mistake OR may be me being an ingorant dumbass: in R4, there are two Fn keys, 1.5U and 1.25U (okay so far), but they show up again in R3, in those same sizes. I'd understand a 1.75U Fn key (to take the place of Caps Lock) and a 1U Fn key (for some 17-column 79% and 69% layouts) but I don't remember seeing R3 Fn keys in the intermediate sizes before.



Finally, if it can be done, I'd add a couple 1U convex space keys in the spacebars kit (but this falls in the "nice to have" category, IMHO).

[donutcat]

Here have a poll https://www.strawpoll.me/18594702

I'm probably going to add the R3 `@ key for UK-ISO, but I'm curious if there's enough desire for the R3 \| key for US-ISO to bother adding it.

Weeeeeeeell... as the kits stand now, I'm in a bit of a bind: on one hand, I would very much like to see the R3 \| key included (required for US English over ISO or ANSISO), BUT on the other hand, the base kit has every keycap for full UK English over ISO support EXCEPT the R3 '@ keycap, which definitely should be present, given the rest of the UK-specific keycaps is already there. So if it comes to one or the other, you should go with the latter instead of the former (as much as it'd pain me).

Yeah that's the main thought going into it. I'm gonna leave the poll awhile longer to try and get a bit more response, but right now it seems to be leaning more towards US-ISO and "as long as there's a key for the spot".

On the gripping hand, the however, the Bonsai kit has the Hiragana alphas for just two of the keys required for UK English (R3 #~ and R4 \|), which puts this set in the weird position of having differing support for said national layout on each alpha set (5/6, with 6/6 being discussed, in the base set; 2/6 in the hiragana set); R3 \| isn't present, either.

In my opinion: if nothing else, support for UK English over ISO and/or US English over ISO or ANSISO should be the same in both sets of alphas (I know this might require scaling back support to avoid an overincrease of the total amount of keys).

This is another issue. Looking back, I don't think GMK actually has a mold for the `@ key with sublegends, as neither Serika nor Laser had one, with Laser not even giving ISO users any sublegended key for R3 at all. If I didn't want to deal with new molds I'd have to stick with US-ISO in Bonsai, which as you said should probably match the main kit for support. It's a bit of a situation and I don't want to completely kill proper layout support for our poor brexit brethren, so I'll have to see how stuff goes with that.

With that said, there's one other thing that calls my attention in the base kit, which may be a mistake OR may be me being an ingorant dumbass: in R4, there are two Fn keys, 1.5U and 1.25U (okay so far), but they show up again in R3, in those same sizes. I'd understand a 1.75U Fn key (to take the place of Caps Lock) and a 1U Fn key (for some 17-column 79% and 69% layouts) but I don't remember seeing R3 Fn keys in the intermediate sizes before.



Finally, if it can be done, I'd add a couple 1U convex space keys in the spacebars kit (but this falls in the "nice to have" category, IMHO).

The Fns are leftover from R1 for some basic odd-layout support in the absence of a proper 40s kit. I'm really not sure how much people used them. 1.75u and 1u could be a good idea, but not sure how much demand there is.

Taking a look back at the spacebars in general could be a good idea. Iirc it was put together back before we had more convex molds, so it could be good to update it to the "modern standards".

[depletedvespene]

On the gripping hand, the however, the Bonsai kit has the Hiragana alphas for just two of the keys required for UK English (R3 #~ and R4 \|), which puts this set in the weird position of having differing support for said national layout on each alpha set (5/6, with 6/6 being discussed, in the base set; 2/6 in the hiragana set); R3 \| isn't present, either.

In my opinion: if nothing else, support for UK English over ISO and/or US English over ISO or ANSISO should be the same in both sets of alphas (I know this might require scaling back support to avoid an overincrease of the total amount of keys).

This is another issue. Looking back, I don't think GMK actually has a mold for the `@ key with sublegends, as neither Serika nor Laser had one, with Laser not even giving ISO users any sublegended key for R3 at all. If I didn't want to deal with new molds I'd have to stick with US-ISO in Bonsai, which as you said should probably match the main kit for support. It's a bit of a situation and I don't want to completely kill proper layout support for our poor brexit brethren, so I'll have to see how stuff goes with that.

If the necessary molds don't exist, then stuff gets more complicated, indeed.

Perhaps a good compromise, in that case, would be going with full US English over ISO or ANSISO plus UK English over ISO support in the base set and full US English over ISO or ANSISO support in the Bonsai set without any UK English-specific keys at all (or perhaps not - I've been told that some people in Europe have come to accept "Atlantis ISO" out of necessity, and as such, would accept partial UK English over ISO support in the Bonsai set).

I'd love to know exactly which molds with Hiragana do exist and which ones don't, so this issue can be reliable decided upon. (what if the R4 <> key with Hiragana exists, too? THAT would complicate matters even further  )

[donutcat]

Based on Laser and Serika, the only ISO molds GMK has for the Gaijin subs is the 1u \| key. Vaporwave also did the thing that Laser did with not having a R3 ISO key for the sublegends kit.

I do think I may just do the full US and UK ISO keys in the base since it's adding only two keys at this point to keep compatibility quite high.

[donutcat]

While I'm thinking of it: Thoughts on an extra Tab key to basically give you two boards worth of mods? Seems like a few sets have done that and I just remembered.