Author Topic: A decade on Geekhack  (Read 2424 times)

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Offline Findecanor

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A decade on Geekhack
« on: Fri, 22 May 2020, 05:27:46 »
Today marks my ten-year anniversary as a user on Geekhack.
Yet. It does not feel like ten years. Where has all the time gone?

I had found this place because I wanted to customise a keyboard with a Star Wars theme when building a new PC, and I found posts here about a custom called the Datamancer ­— that had been built from a Model M.
I got a tip on some mechanical keyboard, bought a few and really liked them. Then I experienced hand and arm problems from typing and mousing a lot at work, which prompted me to change to mechanical keyboards with light feel — and I was hooked.

I experienced the explosion of the keyboard hobby(hobbies), from a relatively small group of die-hard enthusiasts who used mostly vintage, to mechanical keyboards becoming mainstream and then the the rise of customs.
I got most of my small collection in the first few years — after that they were not dirt-cheap any more. :-ž
I knew of Ripster, before it was evident he lost his mind. I saw Razer ask the community about keyboards —  the community answering that they wanted clicky, the result kickstarting the mainstream and then being ridiculed for being too pedestrian when it got overtaken by the rest of the industry.
I was in the first run of the ErgoDox. I remember when Signature Plastics DCS was the **** (because that was the only custom keycaps there was), and I was in the first attempt at a group order from GMK. I saw people leave and found Deskthority, and I helped kick-start their Wiki by entering info from Geekhack's old lost one because I thought one was important.

I had got a collection mostly to try different things, to find what I like and to learn.
I found my preferences relatively early: I am happy with blank PBT keys in Cherry profile and Cherry MX Clear (albeit lubricated and silenced). I have seen a lot of people join, and a lot of weird trends.

What should I do next?
I still have not finished and released my home-made firmware: I resume work on it now and again and it will probably never hold up to the likes of QMK. And I have had an ergo design for a bunch of years (although I don't really use ergo keyboards myself). But I dunno, with so many other things being out there by now.
I am still learning and I am still fascinated by this hobby -- but there are so many things going on now that I have a difficulty keeping up.
« Last Edit: Fri, 22 May 2020, 06:28:18 by Findecanor »
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Offline suicidal_orange

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Re: A decade on Geekhack
« Reply #1 on: Fri, 22 May 2020, 05:52:21 »
Glad to hear the passion's still there after all this time without feeling the need to buy every shiny new thing (not that it's possible anymore)

Would be interesting to see a true veteran's take on firmware and keyboard design too.
120/100g linear Zealio R1  
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'Split everything' perfection  
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Offline Sintpinty

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Re: A decade on Geekhack
« Reply #2 on: Fri, 22 May 2020, 07:59:48 »
To think that i was 6 years old when you joined is nuts. Am 16 now
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Offline fohat.digs

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Re: A decade on Geekhack
« Reply #3 on: Fri, 22 May 2020, 08:35:57 »

I knew of Ripster, before it was evident he lost his mind.


My anniversary is coming up next spring, I think.

Ripster was still rational when I started, and I had a couple of pleasant and informative exchanges with him. He was a bit snarky at the time but nothing cray.
"Starting in 2011, the deficits again started to shrink. During Obama’s term  the deficit was reduced by $900 Billion  before finally in 2015 the GOP managed to wrangle a “reconciliation” bill out of Obama where he again cut corporate taxes, as well as made permanent some of George W. Bush’s original tax cuts. This is the year everything reversed. Before this, under Clinton, Bush and Obama the deficit in almost every year was gradually decreasing. The balance we had of taxes and the economy was bringing the deficit down, the money coming in was slowly catching up with the money going out until 2015. Trump’s subsequent tax cut has continued the new trend even after the rest of Bush’s cuts have since expired. Obama had an average GDP of 2.3%, with 11.6 million jobs created and unemployment peaking at 10% in 2009, then falling to 4.3% in 2016. If we had continued on that downward deficit track, we would have again reached balance and another surplus in 2017-2018.
– Frank V Walton 2025-07-01

Offline ergonaut

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Re: A decade on Geekhack
« Reply #4 on: Mon, 25 May 2020, 02:57:26 »
Happy anniversary! Since you asked (rhetorically?) what to do next and listed a few options, I thinking building your own ergo board sounds the most interesting.

Offline Kavik

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Re: A decade on Geekhack
« Reply #5 on: Mon, 25 May 2020, 23:25:23 »
That's pretty cool that you've seen all that and have the "war stories" from the old days. I've been on here only a bit over three years because I kept coming across the site when googling info about Model M's. I got sucked in when I joined the F77 and M65-A groupbuys. I seem to get into everything right as it's getting popular/mainstream, so I am envious of your ten years of history here! I hope you continue to stick around.
Maybe they're waiting for gasmasks and latex to get sexy again.

The world has become a weird place.