geekhack
geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: hamlet on Thu, 10 September 2009, 03:49:17
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We all know that mobility always conflict with capability, when we get a smaller size, it always accompanied with incomplete function, a smaller keyboard will keep your desk clean and neat, and it is easy to take with, so when we have a beautiful full sized keyboard, like G80-3K, we will start to pursue a smaller keyboard.
Same thing happened on desktop and laptop, now even we have a laptop, we may desire for a net book or MID.
I always want my desk clean so that I always keep an eye on smaller sized keyboard, my first small keyboard is a DELL Bluetooth foldable keyboard, can be applied to PDA and PC. This one can just put into the pocket, so I call it “Pockeyboard “, when I was in college, my schoolmates always took their laptop with them to go to the library to do their papers ,while I just put my BT keyboard and my PDA from my pocket and start to click, girls looked at me as a IT Geek, that was really nice.
(http://pic.yupoo.com/hamletchen131/5089380c2f4d/804ldwrx.jpg)
The keyboard was OEM by THINKOUTSIDE and it clicks likes IBM T43, already very good for a super slim keyboard, but when I need to input numbers, it was really killing me to use the FN key, especially when I need to input Chinese. So I have to give it up.
(http://pic.yupoo.com/hamletchen131/9847680c2f39/vkck3e82.jpg)
My second stop is PLUM 86, a Chinese brand mechanical keyboard, using Cherry blue switch. It was amazing that the designer can have the numbers pad into such a small layout without the shrink of the key size, and the blue switch clicks very nice, it is a very good choice for SOHO, (maybe a little noisy in the office) but you know, the nonstandard layout always brings small trouble, for Plum 86, the position of the backspace will kill you, you fingers will need to take a flight to reach it. Although you can use some software to remap the key function, but when you plug in another keyboard, you need to reset the layout, for these reasons, it is not my terminal, and I have to go on.
(http://pic.yupoo.com/hamletchen131/8542880c2f49/c1cr0o37.jpg)
By chances I heard Cherry G84-4100 is a perfect choice, some cherry fans gave very high comments for ML switch, when I got the keyboard, wow, it is so small that nowhere to put the logo and very cute,
(http://pic.yupoo.com/hamletchen131/4772780c2f3f/0hbm9psg.jpg)
but honestly speaking, it cannot even compare with IBM laptop keyboard, let alone the MX switch, also it is time consuming to get used to this layout, when you use 10 minutes blue switch and change to 4100, you will find it just like you fingers on the mud. So I give it up quickly.
(http://pic.yupoo.com/hamletchen131/3677280c2f41/lukwbncn.jpg)
At last I met Filco Tenkey less, actually it is not necessary to design a nonstandard layout, just a simple cut will make things perfect,.
(http://pic.yupoo.com/hamletchen131/3191780c2f33/s8l3fg85.jpg)
People love this keyboard and give it a nick name 80%.
(http://pic.yupoo.com/hamletchen131/4448380c2f1f/mpjmoc0b.jpg)
Also it provides a wire wrap and a plastic cover, I’d say the detail is better than Cherry.
(http://pic.yupoo.com/hamletchen131/2398280c2f3a/7espufvo.jpg)
All you need is to change the ABS keycap if you don’t like it, you can use a PBT set to change it.
(http://pic.yupoo.com/hamletchen131/3314080c2f1f/medium.jpg)
Sometimes we tend to use the complicate way and professional tools to solve the problem, while we solve the problem we bring another problem at the same time, but 80% tell us, simple is the best. For instance, a plastic rope will be a good tool to pull out the keyboard.
(http://pic.yupoo.com/hamletchen131/4790780c2f1c/qzsbwq3y.jpg)
Also I would like to talk some feelings for different switch.
Membrane Keyboard, like distilled water, flashy things, like most people around us are lack of motion.
(http://pic.yupoo.com/hamletchen131/3290980c2f47/ed0h4r3a.jpg)
Blue switch, like mustard, it may take some effort to eat it, but the aftertaste is amazing, of course, the mustard cannot eat alone, better with salmon, same as blue switch, it go with the right hands.
(http://pic.yupoo.com/hamletchen131/1986980c2f2a/es55p4eg.jpg)
Brown switch, in China, people call it tea switch, it is like tea, light and good smell, it can be typed for a long time, just like two old friends can chat with a cup of tea for hours!
(http://pic.yupoo.com/hamletchen131/4183880c2f31/l648fbuz.jpg)
Black switch, like Coke, it is excited when you drink a lot, and it is fresh when you take a little.
(http://pic.yupoo.com/hamletchen131/0832480c2f27/ll590i59.jpg)
Maybe we don’t need to buy every of them to find out which one it the best, if we are satisfied with our current keyboard, then make good use of it, same as love affair, we don’t need to taste each type of girl and find the best, what we need to do is cherish what we have.
(http://pic.yupoo.com/hamletchen131/1954980c2f24/g137upcv.jpg)
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Ummh... very nice. This is modern art :)
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hhkb???
also where do you get the PBT keys for filco
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That is the hot ticket for internet cafe surfers. That way you don't get any infectious diseases from a keyboard ten million people blew their noses on.
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I still need to give my G84-4100 a proper alcohol bath...
But it fits great on my netbook.
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also where do you get the PBT keys for filco
Same here. Where?
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I think he took them from a G80-3000. Cherry's keycaps are fantastic, unlike Filco's. The PBT keycaps feel absolutely stunning, and they also give a richer sound with less high-frequency noise to the MX blues.
-huha
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I believe they might be from the KBDTalking keyboard. I don't think Cherry does black on black printing. Very nice article btw, I agree about the Coke!
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I believe they might be from the KBDTalking keyboard. I don't think Cherry does black on black printing. Very nice article btw, I agree about the Coke!
Correct, seems Cherry only have pure black caps without printing, but don't have black-black one.
a key collector in China investigate to develop his own brand cap, including black black, non-printing and colorful caps, all made with PBT, that is the solution of Filco,DAS , and the mechanical KB with ABS caps, some pictures for your reference.
(http://gg.a.5d6d.com/userdirs/a/d/jjws/attachments/month_0908/09081909444a14b0e6c1d2a699.jpg)
(http://gg.a.5d6d.com/userdirs/a/d/jjws/attachments/month_0909/0909102050d23a60a5ea039e72.jpg)
(http://gg.a.5d6d.com/userdirs/a/d/jjws/attachments/month_0909/0909102059e9eecdf50272ddb8.jpg)
(http://gg.a.5d6d.com/userdirs/a/d/jjws/attachments/month_0908/090819094449e1568d18dadb1c.jpg)
(http://gg.a.5d6d.com/userdirs/a/d/jjws/attachments/month_0908/09081909445af2ac7b0d5254b8.jpg)
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Damn, I want some of those PBT caps.
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Don't forget about cherry's own compact keyboard with full size keys, of course its the G80-1800
http://www.cherry.de/english/products/office_business_G80-1800.htm
I use this keyboard for everything now. Just got get used to the position of the home/end/pg up/pg dn/ins/del being on top of the num pad. Fully modifiable of course.
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those look like lego blocks, so awesome
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wow those keycaps are sick. I want some!!
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wow those keycaps are sick. I want some!!
haha, I already ordered some , will get tomorrow, i will send some pictures later, btw , the price is very reasonable, only $30 for the whole set and $10 for the alphabet
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Damn, I want some of those PBT caps.
one good thing for Cherry KB is you never need to worry the caps, but now with KBC, Filco was like renewed, I heard Filco may release some new KB with PBT caps
by the way, KBC may not fit Cherry KB very well b/c of the height, I will test on G80-3K and let you know
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Well, now you're teasing us. International orders? Details please.
seriously, you don't care about the freight? it may much higher than the caps itself,
if you guys are interest i will help you contact the seller and let you know
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I am interested for sure. Shipping costs should be manageable. Thanks for helping out so far!
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Does the seller only do Cherry caps? I would love to get some Topre caps in various colors.
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Does the seller only do Cherry caps? I would love to get some Topre caps in various colors.
the cap may not exact match Cherry, but especially for Filco, DAS, 7G...because their caps are ABS
for topre caps are not avalable for now, actually i don't think there is any reason to change topre caps except you want to make it colorful
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haha, I already ordered some ,
Where do you order them from? Although, I admit, that for people living in North America instead of the Hong Kong SAR, ordering from this source might prove awkward.
EDIT: I've been doing searches for companies that do this sort of thing.
http://keycapsdirect.com/index.php
claims they do small orders, but as there's no information on the site about what kinds of keycaps they stock, it's difficult for me to determine whether what I'm looking for would be expensive or not in advance of sending an E-mail enquiry.
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the cap may not exact match Cherry, but especially for Filco, DAS, 7G...because their caps are ABS
for topre caps are not avalable for now, actually i don't think there is any reason to change topre caps except you want to make it colorful
Yea I'm after that colorfull look. Check out these pictures from KBDMania from what I can tell these keys are not dyed I need to register and start asking questions in the English section because I really want to know where they are getting these keys.
I think these are dyed but still look good:
(http://geekhack.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=4397&stc=1&d=1252609860)
But then again maybe not:
(http://geekhack.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=4399&stc=1&d=1252609860)
And he has a blank set as well in both black and white it look like:
(http://geekhack.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=4400&stc=1&d=1252609860)
Has a nice collection of Topre boards as well:
(http://geekhack.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=4398&stc=1&d=1252609860)
What I would really like are the blank white keys that way I can dye them to whatever color I want.
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87U has a set of colorful cap（ASDW ESC caplocks ctrl）. the HHKB i think it might be a MOD
seems only 87U has the subsitite caps
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http://keycapsdirect.com/index.php
claims they do small orders, but as there's no information on the site about what kinds of keycaps they stock, it's difficult for me to determine whether what I'm looking for would be expensive or not in advance of sending an E-mail enquiry.
Minimum order is 100 USD:
http://keycapsdirect.com/faq.php
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Those white blanks look sweet.
What I would really like are the blank white keys that way I can dye them to whatever color I want.
Agree and agree with webwit.
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Minimum order is 100 USD:
http://keycapsdirect.com/faq.php
So...how many doubleshot red Cherry-type escape keys is that?
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elite is supposed to be getting red+lavender keys for the hhkb any time now
but i was quoted $4+$16 respectively
which is waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too high
do the ones from the 87u fit on it?
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Minimum order is 100 USD:
http://keycapsdirect.com/faq.php
And that page answers another question - they do not stock keycaps with legends, not even the standard ones of the ordinary PC keyboard. So if I was going to spend over $100 USD, and, say, get enough keycaps for, say, five model M keyboards, I would have to put up with a short-run process for legends.
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I like colored keycaps but those kbdmania mods do nothing for me. They all look the same and it is overkill. It makes me want to have monocolored boards.
It should be noted that all those 87U pictures are the same board. But I also agree I don't really like the colors myself either but what I want to know is where they got the keys. When I saw the first picture I thought they looked to be dyed but then I ran across that second set of the same board that shows him opening the just received board. It looks to me he received the color keys as well as blank white and blank black keys. That is what I'm really after the blank ones so I can then color them how I want.
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I think the RGB Topres are official.. In fact KBDMania is running evaluation of that board right now from what I understood of the news
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I could seriously see buying that "SA" range, gorgeously cupped keys, from that KeycapsDirect site.
104 Cherry-compatible ones, in black, please. I'm not sure if I'd want lettering (double-shot is possible but likely costs the moon)
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I could seriously see buying that "SA" range, gorgeously cupped keys, from that KeycapsDirect site.
104 Cherry-compatible ones, in black, please. I'm not sure if I'd want lettering (double-shot is possible but likely costs the moon)
That would be what I'd get if I had $100 to blow.
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Oh yea that puts things in perspective. For the price of one set of keys I could get another Topre. I also bet Topre keys would be even more expensive as well because I bet they would have to make molds as well.
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Do you have some more information about KBC ?
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What kind of information are you looking for. We may or may not know the answer but you can ask.
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ripster) Sorry, for confusing. 6 months later I could write, "This place is getting so many new members.... " like you.
rdjack21) I just want to know contact point (website) of that keyboard (or keycap) seller.
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0
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ripster) Sorry, for confusing. 6 months later I could write, "This place is getting so many new members.... " like you.
rdjack21) I just want to know contact point (website) of that keyboard (or keycap) seller.
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Hamblet, impressive keyboard collection! The M15, KBTalking, Strongman and the Reuters would be interesting to at least see some pics of. I guess those G80-8* have a card reader? What's a Filco 86E?
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First of all. I have tried them. I do not have all of them right now.
Photos, If you do googling. You can find all pictures in a minute. They are all popular mass produced cheap boards.
Reuters, it has 131Keys, from England, used in stock dealing area. Check this site out. http://www.otd.kr/gn/bbs/board.php?bo_table=f8&wr_id=118&page=3 This is someone who introduced it to everybody.
Filco FKB 86E, if my memory is correct, it has German version too. Manufacturere was Ortek or something.
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An M15? Man, that must have cost a lot - unless you somehow picked it up when it was new.
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This is someone who introduced it to everybody.
I see on this site they also have
http://www.otd.kr/gn/bbs/board.php?bo_table=f8&wr_id=86&page=3
a picture of the Atex keyboard, used in newspaper typesetting. I had seen some mentions of that keyboard, but no pictures anywhere in a previous search.
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From those pictures it seems the Atex keyboard has a similar mechanism as the old BTC capacitive switches: a plunger with foam and a conductive plate on it, combined with a spring for upforce.
Reviews from the BTC weren't positive, the same may apply for the Atex.
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I've seen that one on Yahoo Japan to me it looks almost exactly like the SIIG even has white alps in it as well. If I remember I will post a picture of it later tonight when I get home.
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rdjack21) I just want to know contact point (website) of that keyboard (or keycap) seller.
I think their are quit a few of us here that would like to know where hamlet got those keys. But hamlet has not posted a link to the vendor that is selling them. But has only refered to them as a "key collector in China". Last night I did a little searching with google but came up empty mostly because I ran out of time. If you have the time start with "KBC The Keyboard to cheer you up". I found that mentioned in another forum as well and some sites in china but did not have the time to follow up. If you do find them please let us know as well. I'm not as interested in Cherry keys as others so may not put in the time needed to fully track this down but may give it another go tonight.
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Dear, rdjack21
Yor are very diligent guy. I did exactly the same surfing yesterday with no results, because I do not understand their language. Where is hamlet ...
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http://www.diatec.co.jp/products/det.php?prod_c=9
FKB-86E
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http://www.diatec.co.jp/products/det.php?prod_c=9
FKB-86E
Yep thats it. But I don't think they sell it any more. They also have some other interesting space saver type keyboards they used to sell as well that I've seen on Yahoo Japan. I've seriously thought about picking up some of them just to play with them for a bit then sell here. But I'm not sure their is enough interest in them to justify the expense of getting them. Other words I think I would loose money on the deal and the Alps switch's in them don't really interest me enough to loose money on them right now. Maybe later but not right now.
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Do you happen to mean FKB 82 Pro ?
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Actually I've seen both of them on Yahoo Japan. I almost pulled the trigger on the pro but decided not to at the last minute. I like the idea that you can program the Pro version of the board. And I'm pretty sure if I did not like that one I could sell it here and recoup most of the cost of getting one. I've also seen quite a few bluetooth filco boards but those generally get bidded up pretty high so have not really tried for one of those oh and they are brown cherry boards to.
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I am the one who got FKB 82 Pro in Japan Yahoo..
It was new one in original packing. Untouched, waiting just for me couple of years.
If my memory does not fail me, it was a little bit less then the price of Realforce that time.
But, I cleared my mind (I hypnosised myself not to climb ALPSssssss). So, sold it to another guy quickly. That is why it is not on my tried list.
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Reviews from the BTC weren't positive, the same may apply for the Atex.
It wouldn't surprise me if that were true. I was curious about the layout, that being a significant electronic typesetting system. I had no awareness of what the tactile characteristics of the keyboard might have been.
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I am the one who got FKB 82 Pro in Japan Yahoo..
It was new one in original packing. Untouched, waiting just for me couple of years.
If my memory does not fail me, it was a little bit less then the price of Realforce that time.
But, I cleared my mind (I hypnosised myself not to climb ALPSssssss). So, sold it to another guy quickly. That is why it is not on my tried list.
:rofl: It would have been very hard for me to not open that box and play with it a little. Are you the one that sniped that Topre MD01C0 out from under me? It was just like the MD01B0 in my sig below but different model number. I'm really curious what the difference is.
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Incidentally, taking a close look at the images of the Atex keyboard, I noticed that one of the two specimens shown had keys the legends of which were supplied by labels - and both had cylinder keys, not cupped, like the PC.
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MD01CO)
Never heard.
How about contact Moonlight Cafe, he know almost everything about Topre.
He lives in Japan. Speaks well English. Moreover very kind person.
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My second stop is PLUM 86, a Chinese brand mechanical keyboard, using Cherry blue switch. It was amazing that the designer can have the numbers pad into such a small layout without the shrink of the key size, and the blue switch clicks very nice, it is a very good choice for SOHO, (maybe a little noisy in the office) but you know, the nonstandard layout always brings small trouble, for Plum 86, the position of the backspace will kill you, you fingers will need to take a flight to reach it. Although you can use some software to remap the key function, but when you plug in another keyboard, you need to reset the layout, for these reasons, it is not my terminal, and I have to go on.
This was the earlier post about the PLUM keyboard I was mentioning.
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This was the earlier post about the PLUM keyboard I was mentioning.
Ah that's really interesting. I missed this post. The original post was amazing, and great insight about the backspace key. I bet it wouldn't be too hard to rewire the backspace key somehow.
Maybe rewire the whole number row, and shift it to the left, and move the tilde to that wierd location, and put the backspace where the + key is. The location of the . is also really weird. I'm not so hyped on this board now that I noticed these. Why would a keyboard enthusiast design a board with such a strange layout...
There's something really odd with that backspace placement, did they put an extra number in or something? The siig has room for a double sized spaced backspace, and space left over that the tab key has to cover up, why is the Plum missing a backspace there......odd, really odd.. The return key is even double spaced on the plum...what the heck.
(http://99hk.biz/Plum/86_Key/2.jpg)
(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3453/3709709557_2996356aec_b.jpg)
You can see with the siig, if you take out the extra space the backspace takes up, there'd be enough room for a tilde key, so what's going on with the Plum not having any room for a normal sized backspace? With the extra large return key, it should have enough room for an extended backspace.
Oh man! Figured it out!!! There's no [] or ;' keys either!!! The hell!
Wow you can see they're parts of the function keys now!! Geesh!
That's an odd board...wow.
The question mark is part of the f12 key??????
Maybe I'll pass on this one, I've had my fill of crazy layed out keyboards. I had such high hopes.
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Seems the designer of the Plum incorporated many keys into the Function Keys to save space, everything seems to be there but in a different layout. Seems a good idea as those keys are not so often used. This format, it becomes a NotTenkeyless,
KBC Official Point of Sale (http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&u=http://kbc.5d6d.com/thread-667-1-1.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dkbc%2Bthe%2Bkeyboard%2Bto%2Bcheer%2Byou%2Bup%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26hs%3DDQ5&rurl=translate.google.co.uk&usg=ALkJrhiPACkFmPDnuGaQWU10i-llJDalWg). Seven cities dotted in different regions of China, seems this group of Keyboarders are trying to start a major business. Just click on the sky-blue Link to check what they're selling.
Hey Hey, did I just invent a name for keyboard fanatics ?? :nod:
Keyboarders Forum ,seems more apt :nod:
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Seems the designer of the Plum incorporated many keys into the Function Keys to save space, everything seems to be there but in a different layout. Seems a good idea as those keys are not so often used. This format, it becomes a NotTenkeyless,
KBC Official Point of Sale (http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&u=http://kbc.5d6d.com/thread-667-1-1.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dkbc%2Bthe%2Bkeyboard%2Bto%2Bcheer%2Byou%2Bup%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26hs%3DDQ5&rurl=translate.google.co.uk&usg=ALkJrhiPACkFmPDnuGaQWU10i-llJDalWg). Seven cities dotted in different regions of China, seems this group of Keyboarders are trying to start a major business. Just click on the sky-blue Link to check what they're selling.
Hey Hey, did I just invent a name for keyboard fanatics ?? :nod:
Keyboarders Forum ,seems more apt :nod:
If they can make that board though, why can't they just make a siig minitouch with cherries. It looks like they used the same case.
Is that board the same size as a normal siig minitouch, or is it longer?
From the relative size of the flourish on the pen holder, it looks like it might be about an inch longer, but tough to tell.
If they remade the siig with cherries I'd take 2 or 3 if it was less than $60-70
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lol you guys'v already saw KBC black black keycaps
哈哈 看到老乡了。