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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: CommunistWitchDr on Wed, 26 June 2013, 20:11:31

Title: A halfway objective keyboard guide (DRAFT)
Post by: CommunistWitchDr on Wed, 26 June 2013, 20:11:31
A Communist's Mostly Objective Guide To Keyboards And Keyboard Accessories

WARNING: This is in a public draft phase, don't take it seriously yet!!!

Prelude
Long has the world of keyboard enthusiasts been plagued by an abundance of inaccurate information and opinions treated as fact. Long have people repeated opinions they do not even hold, but rather have only heard repeated, oft by people who themselves only heard them repeated as well. Long have they passed this information on to newcomers, often resulting in dissatisfaction. I, along with several others, have reached a conclusion; opinions of switches, keycaps, boards, and the like are by and large useless. As a result I have created this guide, to tell newcomers the facts of the keyboard world, without opinions, sensationalism, or other useless nonsense. Nothing on which switch is the best for anything, nothing on which keycaps feel the best, nothing about the best layout, just raw facts.

It is a long term goal to make ALL describing terms numeric, but until I measure the decibels of clicks and the tactile force, basic description will do.





Part One: The Switches
There are four primary families of mechanical switches that can be (moderately) easily obtained today; Cherry MX, Topre, Buckling Spring, and ALPS/ALPS like. There are many other vintage switches that I will not touch on here


Cherry MX


(http://i.imgur.com/gmLCybG.gif)Generic Cherry MX

Weight: 45-80g to actuate, g to bottom out
Tactile: Varies
Clicky: Varies
Key Travel: 2mm to actuate, 4 to bottom out
Variety: 9 varieties of Cherry MX are currently in production
Modifiability: The springs and stems can be swapped, o rings can be added, switches can be lubed, and many more mods
Keycaps: Many Cherry MX keycaps and keysets exist
Boards: Many vintage and modern boards exist

GIF is a placeholder
(http://i.imgur.com/2bqqIxr.gif)Black Cherry MX

Weight: 60g to actuate, g to bottom out
Tactile: No
Clicky: No
Availability: One of the most common switches, available on most modern boards and many vintage
(http://i.imgur.com/gmLCybG.gif)Blue Cherry MX

Weight: 50g to actuate, 60g to bottom out
Tactile: Yes
Clicky: Yes
Availability: One of the most common switches, available on most modern boards
(http://i.imgur.com/mUtr0NH.gif)Brown Cherry MX

Weight: 45g to actuate, 55g to bottom out
Tactile: Yes
Clicky: No
Availability: One of the most common switches, available on most modern boards
(http://i.imgur.com/qwJquQ8.gif)Clear Cherry MX

Weight: 55g to actuate, 65g to bottom out
Tactile: Yes
Clicky: No
Availability: One of the rarer switches, available only on select boards
(http://i.imgur.com/kcpRWn9.gif)Red Cherry MX

Weight: 45g to actuate, g to bottom out
Tactile: Yes
Clicky: No
Availability: One of the most common switches, available on most modern boards