Personally I'm good with just the colored keycaps myself, no desire for any "novelty" caps - my keyboard is a tool that gets heavily used daily.I think this sort of attitude is common with a lot of BS board owners from what I've seen; many of them don't seem to want the "exotic" caps.
But yes, 0100010 hit the nail on the head. Other than maybe a blank colored keycap or two, or the Black/Gray/Green sets, most of us who favor buckling spring also pretty much drive these things into the ground. (Well okay, maybe that's just me.) We largely buy 'em because they are damn near indestructible and we use them constantly. We're not looking for flashy shiny pretty thing - though I'd personally love a side-printed set - we're looking for a very sturdy tool to get the job done.
+1 here @ tool. I prefer get the job done and go home. I like my boards to get out of the way instead of screaming look at me.
Boring black blank boards = win.
Well, it's also true that there's only a limited selection of layouts for buckling spring keyboards.
And while there are different types of mechanical switch, buckling springs come in only one "flavor" - like MX Blue, they have strong tactile feedback and are noisy. So they're for typists, not gamers. That naturally lends them to a less-flamboyant crowd.
Well, it's also true that there's only a limited selection of layouts for buckling spring keyboards.
And while there are different types of mechanical switch, buckling springs come in only one "flavor" - like MX Blue, they have strong tactile feedback and are noisy. So they're for typists, not gamers. That naturally lends them to a less-flamboyant crowd.
Don't generalize, I game on my BS board some times.
It's because nobody can manufacture custom stuff for buckling springs. SP doesn't deal in BS at all, and Unicomp's custom stuff has looked pretty bad in the past. I remember seeing an old order thread for red "GEEK HACK" keys manufactured by Unicomp that were all off-center and uneven.
Actually, I could see it being simpler to do some exotic stuff for a buckling-spring board because there's no profile issues-- alll caps the same height. But they'd almost have to be done as two-part key tops, due to the complexities of the bottom half of a BS key.
But yes, 0100010 hit the nail on the head. Other than maybe a blank colored keycap or two, or the Black/Gray/Green sets, most of us who favor buckling spring also pretty much drive these things into the ground. (Well okay, maybe that's just me.) We largely buy 'em because they are damn near indestructible and we use them constantly. We're not looking for flashy shiny pretty thing - though I'd personally love a side-printed set - we're looking for a very sturdy tool to get the job done.
My dream BS keyboard would be a black tenkeyless with black ninja-printed keys and red LEDs for the indicators.
Besides Unicomp, it appears that Fentek has some colored / printable BS keys available - http://www.fentek-ind.com/keys.htm (http://www.fentek-ind.com/keys.htm)Show Image(http://www.fentek-ind.com/images/SNAPCAPS.jpg)
Hooleon also had a picture and link to colored BS keys - but they never responded to my sales inquiry emails -http://www.hooleon.com/products/ibm-model-m-keyboard-keycaps (http://www.hooleon.com/products/ibm-model-m-keyboard-keycaps)Show Image(http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0055/8312/products/IBM_Model-M_color_Keyboard-A.jpg)
This is what my Unicomp looks like.Show Image(http://i47.tinypic.com/2ue7cpu.jpg)
Like dis (http://mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=199) more or less. (Different font and white instead of gold but you get the idea.)
As for how many people own buckling springs and would be interested in a more modern looking one? Uh... I'm gonna go with probably close to half the people around here, if not more.