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geekhack Community => New Members => Topic started by: danwomansan on Fri, 09 January 2015, 22:25:37

Title: Hello.
Post by: danwomansan on Fri, 09 January 2015, 22:25:37

Hello, I am a french-canadian programmer/tracker musician currently in not-french canada with messed up hands, and I am here because I want to scope out and discuss some things that seem rather rare to me as far as I've looked - a keyboard marked with both US standard and Canadian french standard with low-actuation light mechanical switches that isn't a mini keyboard, to name one - and I can't use google proficiently at all so I'd be far more likely to find things participating in the community here.

I also have poor grammar (in both english and french) so I apologize beforehand if any of my posts don't make any sense.

To sum up everything you need to know about me when it comes to keyboards, I have dupuytren's contracture rather badly in both hands and I rarely have fingernails, so I have an unnecessary bias against any keyboards with heavy and/or deep keys, so don't be surprised if I talk negatively about your favourite keyboard because I can't press the buttons in, and also constantly have my room mic feeding back and use typing keyboards for note entry (fasttracker II layout (http://wikide.openmpt.org/images/thumb/5/50/Setup_keyboard_keymap.png/500px-Setup_keyboard_keymap.png)) so I also really hate loud keyboards, and might also talk negatively about those.

Title: Re: Hello.
Post by: byker on Sat, 10 January 2015, 03:01:08

Hello and welcome to Geekhack. Have you tried Cherry MX Reds? They are linear with a low actuation force. You don't want a minikeyboard, does that mean you are looking full size or tenkeyless?

Title: Re: Hello.
Post by: Evo_Spec on Sat, 10 January 2015, 08:19:29

Welcome to GH!

Hope people have good suggestions to help you out, i got nothing...

Title: Re: Hello.
Post by: danwomansan on Sat, 10 January 2015, 13:35:36

Thank you!

I need a full keyboard, since the FTII scheme uses every single key of a full US standard keyboard, save a few function buttons and a couple of the numerical row. The most notable use of the numpad in an FTII-based tracker would be the original usage, which is to change instruments on the fly. Of course, if I used the modplug scheme then I could use even down to a 60%, but the modplug layout is horrible and relies heavily on the mouse. I will keep looking into full keyboards with a variety of switches that I like (which all seem to generally be mini keyboard only) and I don't think it should be too hard to find caps with both US standard and Canadian multilingual standard on them.

Title: Re: Hello.
Post by: rowdy on Sat, 10 January 2015, 22:45:27

Welcome to Geekhack!

You should call it "Viking disease" - sounds more impressive ;)

MX reds might be something to look at, they are the lightest commonly available MX switches.  You could even swap (or have someone swap for you) springs to even lighter ones.

MX switches have 4mm travel distance, and all actuate after 2mm.  You can reduce the total travel by installing O-rings, which are rubber rings that cushion the downstroke somewhat, reduce bottoming out sound, and reduce the downward travel distance.  The switches do still take 2mm to actuate though.

Alternatively there are tales of 30g Topre switches, although I'm not sure which keyboards are available with those, and it is extremely unlikely that you'd find a Topre keyboard with all the characteristics you seek.

There is an extensive ergonomics (https://geekhack.org/index.php?board=125.0) section, and many knowledgable people here :)

Title: Re: Hello.
Post by: danwomansan on Sat, 10 January 2015, 23:35:13

what about cherry ml? I've heard they're a bit lighter than mx switches and have a smaller travel distance without modification (which is not something I want to do unless I have to) but I've only ever seen them in 60% keyboards

Title: Re: Hello.
Post by: rowdy on Sun, 11 January 2015, 05:41:23

I haven't heard much about Cherry ML, I don't even know if they are still being made.