Tips for a beginner

[Scurq]

Hello everybody, I'm totally new here on GH as you probably can see.

I don't own any special keyboards and don't have any experience with keyboards and caps, but I'm going to try to learn more about mechanical keyboards and so on. I'm so interested in mechanical keyboards and I've read guides and stuff so I just thought like "why not buy a keyboard and modify it?" so that's what I'm probably going to do.

As the title says, I want to know some tips for beginners like me about different types of caps and switches and stuff like that so I can buy a good keyboard and start nerding!

Sorry for my extremly awesome english.

Thanks for reading!

[fohat.digs]

If you are comfortable with tinkering, cleaning, and adjusting, it is often possible to find dirty old keyboards on ebay that can be made good again.

IBM Model M keyboards are built like battleships and are satisfying to restore.

[Scurq]

I forgot to say that i live in sweden so im using swedish ISO-layouts! Other keyboards cant write three very important letters, åäö.

[wetto]

I forgot to say that i live in sweden so im using swedish ISO-layouts! Other keyboards cant write three very important letters, åäö.

Yes, they can, all you need to do is properly set it to Swedish - US International (THIS IS IMPORTANT!) Layout:

Go to your Input Languages on your Operational System:



And open "Change Keyboard".



Click on "Add" and find "Swedish (Sweden)" and click on "Show More":



And then, scroll down until you find US - International:




Activate it, click on OK, set it as default and remove all the other keyboard layout that aren't Swedish - United States - International.

It should become like this:



It MAY not work at first, because some of your apps may still be using the old layout, so, if it doesn't works as soon as you did this (or works on some apps and not on others), just restart your computer.

I DO NOT recommend keeping more than ONE keyboard layout, since Windows is actually quite tricky and may do stupid stuff like changing layouts when you less expect.


Now, all you need to do is:

CTRL + ALT + W = å       (Or ALT GR + W if the keyboard has ALT GR)
" + o = ö
" + a = ä

I write in Brazilian Portuguese using an US-ANSI keyboard with no trouble at all. We use letters like "é, ã ó, à, á" a lot and I don't have any issues at all.

[jeroplane]

Apologies if you've seen these already, but everyone's first ports of call for getting into mechanical keyboards:

OCN Mechanical Keyboard Guide

Deskthority Wiki

[Hyde]

Here is how I'd summarize the switches for you, keep in mind everyone like different switches so this is only rough guideline:

Buckling Spring: Very Loud and Very Clicky.

Cherry MX Switches:
MX Blue => 80% Typing 20% Gaming => Clicky Sound Clicky Feel => Medium Pressure
MX Brown => 60% Typing 40% Gaming => No Sound Clicky Feel => Light Pressure
MX Red => 40% Typing 60% Gaming => No Sound Linear Feel => Light Pressure
MX Black => 20% Typing 80% Gaming => No Sound Linear Feel => Hard Pressure

Topre Switches:
Hybrid of Rubber Dome and Mechanical Switches => $300 => Expensive

If you're new to this I'd say start with the 4 common MX switch types first, maybe go to a local computer store and try them out.  The common ones you can find are Das Keyboard (MX Brown and MX Blue), Razer Blackwidow (MX Blue), SteelSeries 6GV2 (MX Black and MX Red), Corsair K60 and K90 (MX Red), CM Storm Trigger (MX Brown and MX Red), CM Storm QuickFire Pro (MX Brown), ThermalTake MEKA G1 (MX Black)... etc

[Scurq]

Yes, they can, all you need to do is properly set it to Swedish - US International (THIS IS IMPORTANT!) Layout:

Go to your Input Languages on your Operational System:

<img>

And open "Change Keyboard".

<img>

Click on "Add" and find "Swedish (Sweden)" and click on "Show More":

<img>

And then, scroll down until you find US - International:

<img>


Activate it, click on OK, set it as default and remove all the other keyboard layout that aren't Swedish - United States - International.

It should become like this:

<img>

It MAY not work at first, because some of your apps may still be using the old layout, so, if it doesn't works as soon as you did this (or works on some apps and not on others), just restart your computer.

I DO NOT recommend keeping more than ONE keyboard layout, since Windows is actually quite tricky and may do stupid stuff like changing layouts when you less expect.


Now, all you need to do is:

CTRL + ALT + W = å       (Or ALT GR + W if the keyboard has ALT GR)
" + o = ö
" + a = ä

I write in Brazilian Portuguese using an US-ANSI keyboard with no trouble at all. We use letters like "é, ã ó, à, á" a lot and I don't have any issues at all.

Oh, thanks i didn't know that! But yeah, i want a swedish keyboard at first.

Apologies if you've seen these already, but everyone's first ports of call for getting into mechanical keyboards:

OCN Mechanical Keyboard Guide

Deskthority Wiki

Ive already read those, thanks anyway!

Here is how I'd summarize the switches for you, keep in mind everyone like different switches so this is only rough guideline:

Buckling Spring: Very Loud and Very Clicky.

Cherry MX Switches:
MX Blue => 80% Typing 20% Gaming => Clicky Sound Clicky Feel => Medium Pressure
MX Brown => 60% Typing 40% Gaming => No Sound Clicky Feel => Light Pressure
MX Red => 40% Typing 60% Gaming => No Sound Linear Feel => Light Pressure
MX Black => 20% Typing 80% Gaming => No Sound Linear Feel => Hard Pressure

Topre Switches:
Hybrid of Rubber Dome and Mechanical Switches => $300 => Expensive

If you're new to this I'd say start with the 4 common MX switch types first, maybe go to a local computer store and try them out.  The common ones you can find are Das Keyboard (MX Brown and MX Blue), Razer Blackwidow (MX Blue), SteelSeries 6GV2 (MX Black and MX Red), Corsair K60 and K90 (MX Red), CM Storm Trigger (MX Brown and MX Red), CM Storm QuickFire Pro (MX Brown), ThermalTake MEKA G1 (MX Black)... etc

I know about this a little bit and ive tested out some keyboard switches and i really love mx reds and browns so that's what im going for. and maybe mod some blacks into ghetto reds on a quickfire or something.

Thanks!