[IC] GMK sets interest check and planning

[KuhnTang]

Yeah, but it is what it is with the MOQ situation. I would like nothing better than making wild stuff but we have to reach certain number for them to be produced and I know that is not possible with certain colorways. I want to try our best to reach some balance of exciting colors that have broader appeal. I will keep trying to negotiate lower moq with GMK but only time will tell if they will ever be willing to do that.

yeah, I know.  Are GMK keys better?

[Jocelyn]

yeah, I know.  Are GMK keys better?

Are they better than what?

[IvanIvanovich]

They are better doubleshots than everything but original Cherry, of which they are basically the exact same.

[Moosecraft]

yeah, I know.  Are GMK keys better?

They certainly feel nicer because of their thickness, also cherry profile is far superior to all else IMO.

[pasph]

Why don't make the euro Keys pack in the Alpha color?

[IvanIvanovich]

Alpha packs will have multiple language options included also. I intend to make the language packs split into groups containing the most similar key groups to have smaller packs to minimize cost while still providing the most layouts we can effectively.

[Halvar]

Sounds great so far, thanks!   

I hope we find good color combinations for the alphas.

[kekstee]

Well, I hope everything works out in the end. I can certainly see myself torn between grey and orange alphanumeric choices. light blue vs purble seems a bit wonky, unfortunately.

[IvanIvanovich]

I think this light blue and purple looks fantastic, but each has their own taste.

[Jocelyn]

I think this light blue and purple looks fantastic, but each has their own taste.

Show Image

If this happened, I'd feel sick in the stomach about NOT buying purple mods lol

[kekstee]

Great. Looking at it more makes it less wonky.
Light blue keys are nice anyway...

[Dianoda]

I got curious and made this:

[IvanIvanovich]

Definitely some marmite there. But, for example if white on light blue won for alpha set, if you bought purple in the first round you have a nice options for a full set, and if you didn't you could vote for orange or X option modifiers to have another nice option to build a full set. See how I am headed with this modular approach?

[Acanthophis]

And how exactly do we have a full set with the purp mods from round 1 (which are mods only, no arrow cluster, no nav cluster, etc) + alphas?

[Dianoda]

And how exactly do we have a full set with the purp mods from round 1 (which are mods only, no arrow cluster, no nav cluster, etc) + alphas?

I'm pretty sure one of the new buys will be a set of arrow+nav clusters plus F5-F8 (and probably an ESC key, too, for good measure).  Assuming the alpha kit also includes spacebar, F1-F4, and F9-F12, you'd have all the keys needed to make a complete TKL set.

Edit: or the next modifier set will additionally include arrow+nav clusters plus F5-F8... that would probably make more sense.

[bazemk1979]

And how exactly do we have a full set with the purp mods from round 1 (which are mods only, no arrow cluster, no nav cluster, etc) + alphas?

I'm pretty sure one of the new buys will be a set of arrow+nav clusters plus F5-F8 (and probably an ESC key, too, for good measure).  Assuming the alpha kit also includes spacebar, F1-F4, and F9-F12, you'd have all the keys needed to make a complete TKL set.

Edit: or the next modifier set will additionally include arrow+nav clusters plus F5-F8... that would probably make more sense.

so we have to go trough 2 more GB in order to have purple/blue full 104 set? 1st GB for the arrow+nav keys + F keys in purple + alpha in blue. Then 2nd for the numberpad in blue/purple? Ru kidding me, and what happens if 1st GB reaches MOQ ( awesome for TKL users) but 2nd GB don't reaches since they are less people using 104 boards??

That's mess up, if we all agreed to purchase sets with ISO and bunch of different alpha keys and modifiers then a shot for a full set 104 purple/blue should be in 1 GB.

Sure lots of people will run for TKL layout, but then when 2nd GB comes for the tenkeypad, down the drain.

I supported the 1st GB even though I wish was a full set, but never the less I joined so we build a relationship with GMK, so did a lot of people too. But there is no need for building more relationships in splitting the purple in 2 more GB's..... because the tenkeypad will flop when time comes...

I'm fine if we try to do the rest of the purple modifiers + blue alpha numeric, but it has to be for 104 set in 1 GB... if happens great, if not on to the next one.

[Jmneuv]

I'm sure light blue would also go well with clear legends.

[IvanIvanovich]

No, I think you are still totally not grasping how this is going. Next buy will have option for nav, numpad and function row purple keys as one option. There will be alpha set base which will include all the common keys between all set include numpad, plus language packs. So, assuming one participated in the first buy and got a modifier pack you could buy the nav pack, the alpha pack and a language pack and have a full set for complete full size keyboard or anything smaller.
After this buy we move on to another colorway and all parts would be offered in the same time for third buy. So for each buy one would need to buy packs modifier, nav, alpha base, and language pack if they wanted a full set in that colorway, or one can just buy one piece as needed to build mix and match with existing sets if that is all they want.

[CPTBadAss]

Ivan, I've been following this thread for a long time and this is the first clear description of how the buys are going to be run. It's been so incredible confusing to try and figure out what is actually going to be sold that I just said that I'd wait until the GB comes out so I can see the pictures. I think you should post mockups or pictures or have a simple description that says like:

R1 = Mods
R2 = function row/nav cluster/numpad, alphas
R3 = New colorway

I appreciate all the work you've done and continue to do to get us these caps sets. I just think that information is a little hard to digest and could use some clarification .

[Halvar]

Ivan, so what you're saying also means that there's no way to get a full set from "Round 2" alone -- you either have to have the purple modifiers from "Round 1" or you have to wait for "Round 3" to get the new colorway non-alphas -- right?

Couldn't we take the new colorway non-alphas into round 2 already? I'd like to be able to collect a full set from Round 2 alone, because we don't know if we will meet MOQ for the purple R2 set (in Cpt.'s terminology), and everyone who didn't participate in Round 1 will be more motivated if they can buy a full set in one round.

[IvanIvanovich]

Not everything is final yet, so we still may do some other things. For me the main focus is trying out the alpha and language pack system and seeing how well that works.

[Dianoda]

When we are ready for voting on colorways for the next round, can we put the voting in a new thread?  A fresh start probably couldn't hurt...

[kekstee]

I'd like to be able to collect a full set from Round 2 alone, because we don't know if we will meet MOQ for the purple R2 set (in Cpt.'s terminology), and everyone who didn't participate in Round 1 will be more motivated if they can buy a full set in one round.

Some people (me inclueded) ordered more than we needed, so at least more people could complete a set than were part of round 1.

[KuhnTang]

Does anyone in the US want to sell me a set of purple mods?  PM me if interested.

[biochem]

I prefer to have two Alt keys on my keyboard rather than one Alt and one AltGr. Thus I'd like to make one suggestion for the Modifiers pack.

Change:  Alt (3 keys):  1.0, 1.25, 1.5
To:            Alt (6 keys, 2x each):  1.0, 1.25, 1.5

This change might make the Modifier pack more desirable for the users of US ANSI keyboards. Note that I'm not suggesting that the AltGr keys be removed.

[Halvar]

Here are two original Cherry sets that came up on Deskthority in the meantime. I actually like both of them.

Blaupunkt "Chocolate" set. Yummy, and you could make your own Milka set together with purple if you know what I mean: 







More: http://deskthority.net/photos-videos-f8/blaupunkt-btx-keyboard-t5525.html


The second set is the marine blue / grey one that this Cherry keyboard originally had before it yellowed to green. You can see the original colors on the LED panel, NOT ON THE KEYS!





More: http://deskthority.net/keyboards-f2/have-you-seen-this-keyboard-t5988.html

 

[Photoelectric]

That marine blue-green-gray color is gorgeous.  It is in fact my favorite color, and I've been swooning every time someone posts vintage keycaps with teal lettering.  I would love a full set like that, and it's sad no one's been making one (more in standard colors, like standard red, or standard blue, or standard green).

[SeriouSSpotS]

Interested, all looks sweet.

[cgbuen]

Here's an ANSI version of that bluish-teal color (via Reddit a while back):

http://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/1djo1q/photos_a_cherry_g81_with_blue_doubleshot_keycaps/
http://imgur.com/a/csnSR

[IvanIvanovich]

Yes that one TA blue shows how it is supposed to look colors, not sun faded. I think that should be a top consideration for first full set packages.

[Moosecraft]

So if I understand correctly you won't be able to get a full set from round 2 only?

[Acanthophis]

That marine blue-green-gray color is gorgeous.  It is in fact my favorite color, and I've been swooning every time someone posts vintage keycaps with teal lettering.  I would love a full set like that, and it's sad no one's been making one (more in standard colors, like standard red, or standard blue, or standard green).

This?

[Photoelectric]

I meant the white color of caps + bluish green lettering, as on the photos of the old Cherry doubleshots above.  I can't remember the brand, perhaps it was Royal, but they also had some nice teal-ish green on white/cream caps.  Those are the ones that caught my attention first.  I never see anything like them on sale anywhere, and really wish one of the dye sub PBT GBs in the past and present used that color.

ETA:
I'm wrong!  Apparently BSP dye subs are going to be available in that color



Too bad they are ridiculously expensive

[CPTBadAss]

I can't remember the brand, perhaps it was Royal, but they also had some nice teal-ish green on white/cream caps.  Those are the ones that caught my attention first.  I never see anything like them on sale anywhere, and really wish one of the dye sub PBT GBs in the past and present used that color.

You're thinking of a color way from Triumph Adler or Royal Adler (I think). They were a typewriter company that had MX compatable caps; I almost got a set of alphas (since none of the mods would fit) but the price wasnt right. The original vote had the TA set as a color option. I voted for it as well as the purple.

[nubbinator]

You're thinking of a color way from Triumph Adler or Royal Adler (I think). They were a typewriter company that had MX compatable caps; I almost got a set of alphas (since none of the mods would fit) but the price wasnt right. The original vote had the TA set as a color option. I voted for it as well as the purple.

The TA set is one of my dream sets.  So simple and beautiful.

[Photoelectric]

Ivan, you should scratch the Hollow set for the R2 GB and arrange the blue-green Royal-style color legend instead   *wink*  We might totally get a lot of orders for it!

[Moosecraft]

Ivan, you should scratch the Hollow set for the R2 GB and arrange the blue-green Royal-style color legend instead   *wink*  We might totally get a lot of orders for it!

I would prefer this aswell, btw does anyone have a purple modifiers pack that they wanna sell?

[Jocelyn]

I would prefer this aswell, btw does anyone have a purple modifiers pack that they wanna sell?

Ivan still has eight sets for sale. Send him a PM

[IvanIvanovich]

Yeah, the green/light grey TA set is another one that would be really good. I have it but it is not compatible with anything modern, or rather it is missing many non alpha keys.

[Dianoda]

Yeah, the green/light grey TA set is another one that would be really good. I have it but it is not compatible with anything modern, or rather it is missing many non alpha keys.

imsto has light gray PBT caps, right?  TA green on light gray would be perfect for dyesub.

[Photoelectric]

I was informed that the Irish set in the Round2 PBT Dye Sub GB was modeled after the Royal colors (the darker green after that bluish green and the brighter green after the side-printed fonts), so if anyone's interested in those colors, the set to order is here:

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=43328.msg884516#msg884516



I guess the mockup is a bit off in terms of color accuracy.

[IvanIvanovich]

I don't know if can get 100% set of light grey, but this is the wrong thread for dyesubs talking.

[Photoelectric]

Sorry, didn't mean to derail--just seemed relevant to point to one of your GBs following the conversation from the previous page.  I'll leave now!

[Jocelyn]

Yes, more or less this is the plan.
I think we will have a vote on the colorway for the alpha set. I think narrowed the choices white on grey, clear on grey or black, white on light blue, white on red as those that I feel probably have the highest chance of making moq.
Then depend on winner of colorway alpha, we then vote on colorway modifier to have something that is also complimentary in some way.
Also have classic modifier pack white on black 'lite' since many of the keys really are not necessary to replace, and one big 'Euro' keys pack in white on black.
I think this should be a good amount of things.

I can't wait for this vote to go up!!

[IvanIvanovich]

Soon, maybe later in the week when I have finished shipping GMK orders. I just need to finish the mock ups that show what keys come in each set, and color choices.

[IvanIvanovich]

New poll is up, go nuts. I will be populating the rest of the pack mock ups as I have time. Meanwhile if you are unsure what keys are in a specific language refer to the wikipedia entry.

[rainb1ood]

Form filled! Even though this is only IC I'm all out support for group buys because its sure ball that you get one

[nubbinator]

Looks like I'll be passing on the Alphas.  Based on those colors, we'll be looking at something like these (paired with the purple for now), basically the Tai Hao group buy, but with thicker caps:









Is the grey supposed to be kind of like Dolch? 

I guess I just thought there were some other popular ones that got glossed over like Triumph Adler and Olivetti:







or a lighter grey like Dolch



Or even a Purple on Cream or on White to go with the set:

[biochem]

Form filled.

#1 Grey
#2 Blue

[bazemk1979]

Question:
4 1x1 windowed key 1 for each row B-E profile

are B-E profile are Row 1 as in Esc, F1-F12 etc etc etc?

Voting for Alpha blues and the rest of purple