Post by: FoxWolf1 on Sat, 17 January 2015, 12:10:52
RC930 with capacitive switches (look like the same as Noppoo 2nd generation capacitive), available with RGB backlighting and ABS doubleshot (unconfirmed) or without backlighting and either PBT/POM caps (not sure which), 87 and 104 sizes (though I don't think the 104 is available yet), 45g or 55g.
RG928 with Greetech MX-compatible switches, RGB, white, or blue backlighting, 104 key, some kind of ABS keycaps.
Prices very low all around, at least in China; looks like on the RGB front, even Kailh RGB models like V-Ox G11, Tesoro Lobera Supreme, and the various Rosewill RGB80 variations are in danger of being undercut. Though I'm not sure what the final price difference will look like here in the US.
(http://i.imgur.com/yQdY709.png)
(http://i.imgur.com/1luOipT.png)
(http://i.imgur.com/B9T7tnh.png)
Post by: bowji on Sat, 17 January 2015, 12:57:52
If shetty, swap out the sliders. Its still under a buck per slider.
Post by: Firebolt1914 on Sat, 17 January 2015, 13:45:04
Post by: Roibhilin on Sat, 17 January 2015, 18:32:08
gotta buy it to try the switches tho
Post by: hwood34 on Sat, 17 January 2015, 18:59:21
Post by: Coreda on Sat, 17 January 2015, 19:12:08
Post by: rowdy on Sat, 17 January 2015, 21:40:39
1. (electronics engineering) An improvised device, usually crudely constructed. Typically used to test the validity of a principle before doing a finished design.
2. (general) Any construction or practice, typically inelegant, designed to solve a problem temporarily or expediently.
3. (computing) An amalgamated mass of totally unrelated parts forming a distressing whole.
Any one of those definitions would put me off this keyboard :eek:
Post by: Oobly on Mon, 19 January 2015, 06:16:03
Code: [Select]
Royal
[roi-uh l]
adjective
<snip>
10. extreme or persistent; unmitigated:
a royal nuisance; a royal pain.I would not like to own a Royal Kludge of any sort.
Seriously, though, it looks like a good source for MX compatible sliders for a Topre board without having to buy a Novatouch. The casings even have LED holes. I think some enterprising GH member could make proper "Royal Kludge" by mixing parts from this, an HHKB and a replacement controller. :D
Post by: BucklingSpring on Mon, 19 January 2015, 20:24:40
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kludge
Post by: SpAmRaY on Mon, 19 January 2015, 20:26:07
Post by: hwood34 on Mon, 19 January 2015, 20:32:54
How do we know the sliders are compatible with topre boards?It looks a little like the slider and the base are actually one piece, though it's pretty hard to tell the picture is so bright
Post by: Oobly on Tue, 20 January 2015, 07:24:24
How do we know the sliders are compatible with topre boards?
Well, the housings and sliders look a lot like the Noppoo ones (http://deskthority.net/wiki/Noppoo_capacitive), which are essentially Topre clones with LED positions added. I don't think it would take much to modify a Topre board with those housings and sliders, or just the sliders if they fit.
http://deskthority.net/product-news-f44/tkl-rgb-keyboard-with-noppoo-topre-clone-capacitive-switches-t9645.html
http://deskthority.net/product-news-f44/noppoo-tease-a-very-familiar-capacitive-switch-design-t6741-30.html#p165268
Post by: Oobly on Tue, 20 January 2015, 07:28:22
Post by: henryhaha on Tue, 24 February 2015, 07:21:58
Post by: mougrim on Thu, 12 March 2015, 11:32:03
Post by: dustinhxc on Thu, 12 March 2015, 11:55:06
Post by: hwood34 on Thu, 12 March 2015, 16:33:02
Hmm... capacitive with an MX-conpatible stem... Nice :)"Royal Kludge: for people who want a Novatouch but with a dumber name and a horrendous font"
Post by: heedpantsnow on Thu, 12 March 2015, 16:52:55
Post by: FoxWolf1 on Thu, 12 March 2015, 16:58:00
Post by: foxer on Thu, 12 March 2015, 17:27:10
Post by: heedpantsnow on Thu, 12 March 2015, 18:03:52
If you get the non-backlit version though, you get POM caps with a regular font (see the first picture). And there's no such thing as a NovaTouch with RGB backlighting...
But aren't you getting fake Topre switches as well?
Post by: jacobolus on Thu, 12 March 2015, 18:06:15
Anyway, HaaTa brought one of these to the last Bay Area meetup, but someone took it apart and so all the springs were all over the table before I got to try typing on it.
Post by: spiceBar on Thu, 12 March 2015, 18:15:50
Edit: link is:
https://www.massdrop.com/buy/royal-kludge-rc930-87?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Massdrop%20-%20Master%20-%20Mechanical%20Keyboards&utm_campaign=Mech%20Keys%20Product%20Announcement%202015-03-12&mode=guest_open
Edit 2: and a very recent review by a fellow Geekhacker:
http://www.keychatter.com/2015/03/12/review-royal-kludge-rc930-87-rgb/
Post by: smoseph on Thu, 12 March 2015, 18:20:03
http://www.keychatter.com/2015/03/12/review-royal-kludge-rc930-87-rgb/
Post by: jacobolus on Thu, 12 March 2015, 18:20:32
Post by: Air tree on Thu, 12 March 2015, 18:22:55
That has to be one of the worst looking boards I've seen with backlighting..
Post by: strict on Thu, 12 March 2015, 18:36:32
Post by: jdcarpe on Thu, 12 March 2015, 19:10:06
Royal Kludge + decent caps = waaaay more expensive than a NovatouchIs a Royal Kludge + decent caps > Novatouch + decent caps?
Who uses stock keycaps??
Post by: heedpantsnow on Thu, 12 March 2015, 19:15:05
Royal Kludge + decent caps = waaaay more expensive than a NovatouchIs a Royal Kludge + decent caps > Novatouch + decent caps?
Who uses stock keycaps??
This is true. Not me. But at least the Novatouch is real Topre and includes usable stock caps.
Post by: FoxWolf1 on Thu, 12 March 2015, 19:32:28
(https://massdrop.imgix.net/resizer/product-images/MD-5721_20150212100716_7e85bda3d483d478.jpg?fm=jpg&q=70)
As a bonus, the non-backlit caps are fairly thick POM:
(https://massdrop.imgix.net/resizer/product-images/MD-5721_20150212100716_1903371974eb3a0d.jpg?fm=jpg&q=70)
Post by: Novus on Thu, 12 March 2015, 20:10:31
Royal Kludge + decent caps = waaaay more expensive than a NovatouchIs a Royal Kludge + decent caps > Novatouch + decent caps?
Who uses stock keycaps??
Thin ABS THUG LYFE
Post by: a_ak57 on Fri, 13 March 2015, 07:17:44
Also a shame that apparently even removing the o-rings doesn't really make it feel like true topre. Granted, most people who don't want to pay the premium to experience true topre are also unlikely to wanna open up the board and de-band it, but still, could have been nice for that niche.
Post by: intelli78 on Fri, 13 March 2015, 07:26:23
Post by: a_ak57 on Fri, 13 March 2015, 07:37:40
Post by: saturnotaku on Fri, 13 March 2015, 08:41:34
Post by: a_ak57 on Fri, 13 March 2015, 09:43:06
Intelli, have you used 30g topre? I'm curious if you'd say the tactility (or lack thereof) is comparable on the kludge and 30g. That might give some indication to the answer about 55g.
Post by: intelli78 on Fri, 13 March 2015, 09:48:09
Yeah, I was wondering about that too. The fact that removing the o-rings didn't change the feel very much makes it apparent that the dental-banded feeling is basically just inherent to the design rather because of the o-rings, but this also means it's possible the 55g version could provide enough extra tactility to make it feel as tactile as a 45g topre board. Of course, on the other hand it could still just feel like dental-banded 55g.
Intelli, have you used 30g topre? I'm curious if you'd say the tactility (or lack thereof) is comparable on the kludge and 30g. That might give some indication to the answer about 55g.
Only a few keys on a variable realforce. The RK is heavier than those. It feels like 38-40g or thereabouts.
I wonder if the 55g version feels more "true."
So do I, wish I had one to test.
Post by: a_ak57 on Fri, 13 March 2015, 09:55:03
Post by: Liar on Fri, 13 March 2015, 09:56:00
Thanks to a post I saw on Massdrop, I saved 14 dollars from the lowest MD price including shipping - and it should arrive much sooner.
http://en.jd.com/search?key=rc930 (http://en.jd.com/search?key=rc930)
Edit:
It appears the non-backlit versions are Sold Out on JD now - apologies if you sought those!
Post by: saturnotaku on Fri, 13 March 2015, 10:31:57
Post by: henryhaha on Fri, 13 March 2015, 17:54:31
(https://copy.com/rsKHH7jgDxcqbT0l)
It has some really funky modes though that are hard to figure out as the manual is in Chinese.
Actually, the more I type on this thing the more I am liking it. My favorite keyboard to date is the 55g topre (seen in picture).
Post by: thebornotaku on Fri, 13 March 2015, 18:26:44
Hmm... capacitive with an MX-conpatible stem... Nice :)"Royal Kludge: for people who want a Novatouch but with a dumber name and a horrendous font"
Who uses stock keycaps? Who cares about the name of the keyboard?
A lot of keyboards have dumb (or really arcane) names, what about CM Storm Quickfire Rapid-i? That's a pretty stupid name, let's be honest.
My bottom line is that it's a budget board and does not feel the same as real Topre. That said, it's a solid value for what you're getting.
^That's gotta be the important bit here. It's a Topre knockoff board for the same cost as most Cherry MX boards. It also has MX Compatible stems and that's only something you're gonna get in a 1. Novatouch, 2. Nova-modded Topre board, 3. Knockoff Topre, because Topre has an exclusivity deal with CM for the MX stems.
Right, it's not fair to knock it simply based on how topre-like it is since it is its own board, but I do think it's important to get the message out that it's still not the true topre feeling as I'm sure most people who'll buy this will buy it expecting that they can then judge whether or not topre is for them.
I mean, to be completely fair, it is *trying* to be a Topre board but at ~half the price of a Novatouch I'm sure we can forgive some of it's downsides for that.
Royal Kludge + decent caps = waaaay more expensive than a Novatouch
Really? RK board on Massdrop is what, like $100ish, plus a set of doubleshots from Massdrop for another $30 is somehow "way more expensive" than a $180+ Novatouch? Somebody's maths isn't quite right...
Even if you go off of SP prices, $90 for a keyset + $100 for the RK, that's only a $10 difference and at that point you have both a board *and* keycaps.
So where this "waaaaaay more expensive" comes from, I have no idea.
Royal Kludge + decent caps = waaaay more expensive than a NovatouchIs a Royal Kludge + decent caps > Novatouch + decent caps?
Who uses stock keycaps??
Seriously though... Doubleshots for life.
The name perfectly matches the concept (knock-off Topre domes/springs + MX-compatible sliders + backlighting). Same name would also be appropriate for the Novatouch IMO.
Anyway, HaaTa brought one of these to the last Bay Area meetup, but someone took it apart and so all the springs were all over the table before I got to try typing on it.
Bay area meetup, you say? I'm intrigued...
Post by: heedpantsnow on Fri, 13 March 2015, 21:53:19
Hmm... capacitive with an MX-conpatible stem... Nice :)"Royal Kludge: for people who want a Novatouch but with a dumber name and a horrendous font"
Who uses stock keycaps? Who cares about the name of the keyboard?
A lot of keyboards have dumb (or really arcane) names, what about CM Storm Quickfire Rapid-i? That's a pretty stupid name, let's be honest.My bottom line is that it's a budget board and does not feel the same as real Topre. That said, it's a solid value for what you're getting.
^That's gotta be the important bit here. It's a Topre knockoff board for the same cost as most Cherry MX boards. It also has MX Compatible stems and that's only something you're gonna get in a 1. Novatouch, 2. Nova-modded Topre board, 3. Knockoff Topre, because Topre has an exclusivity deal with CM for the MX stems.Right, it's not fair to knock it simply based on how topre-like it is since it is its own board, but I do think it's important to get the message out that it's still not the true topre feeling as I'm sure most people who'll buy this will buy it expecting that they can then judge whether or not topre is for them.
I mean, to be completely fair, it is *trying* to be a Topre board but at ~half the price of a Novatouch I'm sure we can forgive some of it's downsides for that.Royal Kludge + decent caps = waaaay more expensive than a Novatouch
Really? RK board on Massdrop is what, like $100ish, plus a set of doubleshots from Massdrop for another $30 is somehow "way more expensive" than a $180+ Novatouch? Somebody's maths isn't quite right...
Even if you go off of SP prices, $90 for a keyset + $100 for the RK, that's only a $10 difference and at that point you have both a board *and* keycaps.
So where this "waaaaaay more expensive" comes from, I have no idea.Royal Kludge + decent caps = waaaay more expensive than a NovatouchIs a Royal Kludge + decent caps > Novatouch + decent caps?
Who uses stock keycaps??
Seriously though... Doubleshots for life.The name perfectly matches the concept (knock-off Topre domes/springs + MX-compatible sliders + backlighting). Same name would also be appropriate for the Novatouch IMO.
Anyway, HaaTa brought one of these to the last Bay Area meetup, but someone took it apart and so all the springs were all over the table before I got to try typing on it.
Bay area meetup, you say? I'm intrigued...
Wow, thanks for the classy and helpful correction! I can tell you're going to make a ton of friends here.
#yesthatssarcasm
Post by: jacobolus on Fri, 13 March 2015, 21:59:31
Bay area meetup, you say? I'm intrigued...The most recent was http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=68697 (http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=68697) last weekend at MassDrop. Next meetup on April 18, but no thread yet, and no venue picked out.
Post by: dustinhxc on Sat, 14 March 2015, 13:38:45
Post by: nightdriver on Sat, 04 April 2015, 13:14:52
guess this board is getting mailed back to china? sigh... it does feel pretty nice. and it sounds real quiet compared to any cherry.
Post by: berserkfan on Mon, 27 April 2015, 21:48:02
http://www.cart100.com/Product/42503771165/
Selected:"The green axis white and clean the mud"
Or you can always choose "RGB red mud + cleaning shaft"
Or maybe this "87 key black light mixing shaft + black clay"
Judging from all the mud references, this is a TRUE ROYAL KLUDGE!
btw am getting interested in seeing more reviews. The price looks good enough to try out.
Post by: Cbisquit on Tue, 28 April 2015, 03:22:22
This is really awesomeLol, these translations. Btw, keep in mind that this is for the RC928, their Greetech switch keyboards rather than the RC930 with the electrocapacitative. I myself used Liar's link to http://overseas.jd.com/search?key=rc930 (http://overseas.jd.com/search?key=rc930) to get myself the 55g, non-backlit version, spent some ~$90 shipped. At first when I looked, they were Out of Stock, but you can email them to contact you when they're back in stock, and jd.com responded promptly and within their expected time frame of being in stock, so I was very impressed by that. Shipping took about 2 weeks to get to me, and you can only get a belated view of the shipping progress when you're logged into your account, but I wasn't expecting much to begin with, so no big deal.
http://www.cart100.com/Product/42503771165/
Selected:"The green axis white and clean the mud"
Or you can always choose "RGB red mud + cleaning shaft"
Or maybe this "87 key black light mixing shaft + black clay"
Judging from all the mud references, this is a TRUE ROYAL KLUDGE!
btw am getting interested in seeing more reviews. The price looks good enough to try out.
I've been using it at work for the last 2 weeks and am extremely pleased with it! The spacebar feels so nice~ I've never used an authentic Topre board, but if Topre-esque is enough to give me a taste, count me in! I bought the RK to see if electrocapacitative was up my alley, and now I'm a believer. A Realforce 55g is definitely staying on my wishlist for future, but for now, I'll just keep thocking away. :thumb:
Post by: berserkfan on Tue, 28 April 2015, 05:59:55
am kinda waiting (not exactly impatiently, I confess) for more reviews.
But even if it is that good, I really want to make my own split layout... goodness knows how tough that would be and how many years before other geeks create their own electrocapacititative PCBs that I can copy and swipe the sliders to a Kludge from...
Post by: nightdriver on Tue, 28 April 2015, 16:02:00
Post by: nightdriver on Thu, 14 May 2015, 14:16:22
Post by: unoab on Thu, 14 May 2015, 15:38:25
popped my symbiosis keycaps on there this morning
:eek: Huh? symbiosis is shipping already from PMK? neeeeed pictures....
Post by: nightdriver on Thu, 14 May 2015, 16:23:15
(http://i.imgur.com/g8JV3q3.jpg)
Post by: berserkfan on Thu, 14 May 2015, 16:44:50
ended up agreeing to keep it at a lower price because it seems they really did not want to pay return shipping on a defective item. anyway, popped my symbiosis keycaps on there this morning and was surprised to find that the stabs are actually lubed! don't think i've seen them come stock like that before...
ok, now that you've settled with the seller are you going to change the LED then? I am curious, since they are RGB leds and presumably more of a challenge to change.... also want to see some keyboard porn.
Post by: nightdriver on Thu, 14 May 2015, 17:06:39
ended up agreeing to keep it at a lower price because it seems they really did not want to pay return shipping on a defective item. anyway, popped my symbiosis keycaps on there this morning and was surprised to find that the stabs are actually lubed! don't think i've seen them come stock like that before...
ok, now that you've settled with the seller are you going to change the LED then? I am curious, since they are RGB leds and presumably more of a challenge to change.... also want to see some keyboard porn.
i've pondered it but the fact that it's an RGB LED gives me a little pause. will take pics if i do go for it, though! wonder how i would find an exact replacement. i guess it's even possible it's just a bad solder joint or something, who knows?
Post by: unoab on Thu, 14 May 2015, 17:08:08
yeah i got mine this morning! posted a pic in the "what did you get in the mail today?" thread. guess i'll repost here since they are in fact on my RK:Show Image(http://i.imgur.com/g8JV3q3.jpg)
Ah didn't look at that thread, but they look great, and mine may go on my RK too when they arrive since my phantom may be heading to work.
And wondering on the LEDs too, I got one of the non-backlit ones and opted for the better keycaps, but I may need to pop mine open and see if they have all the respective holes for the LEDs in case I change my mind later down the road.
Post by: nightdriver on Thu, 14 May 2015, 17:35:17
Post by: dante on Thu, 14 May 2015, 19:00:14
I like that the RK comes pre-dampened, has costar stabilizers (easy to lube), stock POM, and has a prewired cable.
The next immediate keyboard I'm going to buy is a toss up between the RK 45g and Topre 104 Pro 30g LE ... it sounds crazy I know ... The 30g uniform Topre is rare ... but the RK 45g is $300+ cheaper ...
Post by: unoab on Thu, 14 May 2015, 20:21:49
i knew that i'm never happy with stock keycaps anyway, so why not go for the bells and whistles?
but the stock caps are actually not that bad, here is a photo of the back of them next to some of the hacked by geeks caps:
(http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb385/unoab/keyboards/th_DSC04559.jpg) (http://s1203.photobucket.com/user/unoab/media/keyboards/DSC04559.jpg.html)
And I actually got curious and took apart my RK without the backlighting to see how different it is. It looks like it would be way more work to add backlighting after the fact than the cost differential if you are thinking about adding it later. There are 3 SMD resistors per LED that are not populated, the RGB LEDs, based on the pads I saw are probably little 4 pad SMD LEDs, something like this (http://uk.farnell.com/kingbright/kaa-3528embsgc/led-smd-plcc4-rgb/dp/8530203). The controller parts for controlling the LEDs are also depopped (12 transistors and resistors RGB x 4 backlight zones), and the connector for the additional cable is not there either. I took some photos for the hell of it since I don't feel I will be opening it again (the 3 indicator LEDs are through hole and go through the rubber membrane, so it cant be removed from the PCB unless you desolder them first, which I didn't feel like doing)..
(http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb385/unoab/keyboards/th_31e40e17-9217-48e8-9a1d-f57e50915aeb.jpg) (http://s1203.photobucket.com/user/unoab/media/keyboards/31e40e17-9217-48e8-9a1d-f57e50915aeb.jpg.html)
(http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb385/unoab/keyboards/th_DSC04548.jpg) (http://s1203.photobucket.com/user/unoab/media/keyboards/DSC04548.jpg.html)
(http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb385/unoab/keyboards/th_DSC04550.jpg) (http://s1203.photobucket.com/user/unoab/media/keyboards/DSC04550.jpg.html)
(http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb385/unoab/keyboards/th_DSC04551.jpg) (http://s1203.photobucket.com/user/unoab/media/keyboards/DSC04551.jpg.html)
Post by: MigZm on Fri, 03 July 2015, 16:51:02
Quote
This is an examp0;le olf a sentence written u7sing the keyboard. According to switch hitter p0;ressing p0; triggers ;p and 0p.
Any ideas? Seems pretty ****ed to me.
Edit: If I unplug and plug it again, it goes back to working fine for another while.
Post by: tomdubliner on Mon, 17 August 2015, 11:00:50
don't know if this is the right place for my question, hopefully somebody can help.
I've got few days ago my RG-987, that's the RGB TKL Royal Kludge. It works fantastically well and I'm very happy, however the software to customize
the lighting does not work. I'm on Win 10/64bit, when running the Tiny87 application it tells me that there is no keyboard connected (while indeed it is).
I've tried to run the app in compatibility mode with same result, also tried to run it within a VM running Win XP with same result (I thought would never work as the hardware is the same, but was worth a try)
anybody got any idea ?
thanks
Tom