The search for the perfect keyboard continues, and two days ago I placed an order for iKBC G-87. I currently have Filco Majestouch and Ducky Zero. Will this tireless endeavor ever end, and why do we care? I will try to write a short review when it arrives, but for now I thought about sharing some of my ideas to try to answer those questions.
Let us for a moment try to imagine the story of the Keyboard (capital K) in which we have a happy ending. The year is 1985 and IBM decides that despite the market demanding lower prices it will continue producing Model F. Computers evolve, interfaces change, but IBM evolves being the successful company that it is and continues to satisfy the needs of its happy customers...
Unfortunately that wasn't meant to be, and what happened was Model M. After the storm of the "affordable PCs" even the cheaper Model M keyboard wasn't cheap or exciting enough and the last goodbyes were said. It quietly retreated to the cozy corners of people's basements and school's storage rooms where it would patiently wait for the chance to show its magic on the used market. If only that was the ending, but the drama continued with the last nails in the coffin being placed by Unicomp.
As successful as Unicomp have been to seize an opportunity, they have completely misunderstood the market. Just because the technology behind Model M is liked by the community it does not mean that they can afford to not satisfy the demands of its current users. The market for quality keyboards is growing; people have realized the need for having a comfortable keyboard that they spend a large portion of their lifetime typing on. The reason why Unicomp have been unable to attract new customers is theirs alone, and it has nothing to do with the great technology that they have acquired. The following three questions begged being asked to Unicomp, as a company that has failed to address the needs of its customers.
1. Where is NKRO with full speed USB controllers? 6KRO might be enough, but 2KRO is absolutely NOT.
http://deskthority.net/workshop-f7/plan-for-nkro-in-a-model-m-t6763.htmlhttps://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=401112. Where are the TKL and 60% models? Broken molds, or broken something else…
3. Why aren’t there any new Model F keyboards being developed and produced?
http://deskthority.net/group-buys-f50/brand-new-f62-kishsaver-f77-industrial-model-f-s-made-this-year-t11046.htmlThe #1 and #2 are urgent; they needed to be addressed 3 years ago. Let’s hope they get it done soon, like tomorrow, before somebody makes a successful Kickstarter and creates cheap manufacturing rig in China and it is all over. It will happen sooner rather than later, and when it does Unicomp won’t be able to continue hiding in the shadows anymore hoping nobody notices. Somebody will be laughing then, but it won’t be the people over at Unicomp. The patents for Model M and Model F have long expired. Doing #3 along with #1 and #2 will place Unicomp in a very unique spot, allowing them to claim a position as a premier (read lots of $$$) keyboard manufacturer, and I believe will ensure a safe haven from the impending invasion.
I’m not a buckling spring user, but if they were available for under $500 I will own a compact TKL Model M and especially F with NKRO. Not all is grim in the history of keyboards, however, and thanks to the lack of quality keyboards some years ago Cherry MX and Topre were born to fill in the gaps. Both have great mechanical switches, and they provide more options to the consumers. Although Topre is not for me, it seems to be flourishing and that is great news to the consumer. The Cherry MX story is still being written, and lately some moves within the industry are a bit mystifying, leading me to believe that many of the manufacturers are not responding appropriately to the market pressures.
Cherry MX keyboard 101:
1. Cherry MX switches (Made in Germany)
2. Full, TKL, 60% form factor.
3. Compact design. No, Logitech, your useless wrist rests and extra buttons will not sell the keyboard, the quality mechanical switches in it will, together with your great software.
4. Standard layout. Apparently some companies decided that having strange first row spacing is cool. No, it isn’t. Filco are probably the first that made the decision what the spacing should be, and it became standard for cherry MX keyboards. It is what it is. Trying to be different here does not get you any love from the community.
5. 2 layer PCB. More durability is great, and there is no reason not to have it now, allowing people to safely mod their keyboards.
6. Full speed USB NKRO controller with a dip switch on the back for 6KRO compatibility mode. PS2 is dead, good bye, you served well. There is no reason today why NKRO shouldn’t be a standard mode for anybody, even if people never need it. Although an Fn toggle works, there are a few problems with it. First, it forces the keyboard to have a default mode. The computer always supplies power to the USB peripherals, even when turned off, but if one was to unplug the computer, or unplug the keyboard, the keyboard will go back to its default state the next time it is plugged in. The next problem is that it is difficult to know in which mode the keyboard is in, unless there is an LED indicator light. And having a f...ing LED light on all the f…ing time when in NKRO mode gets pretty f…ing annoying after a while. So the perfect solution: dip switch 6KRO/NKRO with a full speed USB NKRO controller allowing full functionality of the keyboard in both Mac and Windows.
7. No more LEDs, please. OK, I will admit, being able to control every LED individually in 255 different RGB values using software and on the fly profile switching can be useful. But everything short of that and it is pretty useless feature. Not to mention that it greatly limits the selection of keycaps and that having keycaps with transparent lettering makes the legends harder to read when not lit.
8. Caps Lock, Scroll Lock and Num Lock go on separate LEDs on the keyboard cover, NOT on LEDs on the keys themselves. The reasons should be very obvious by now. First, all popular opaque keycap sets do not have those keys with transparent LED indicators. Second if the keyboard is backlit, there is no reason for those keys to not be backlit like the rest.
9. Please sell the keyboard with cheap ABS top printed keys. There is no way to satisfy the taste of every customer as it would be impractical to sell 20 different versions of the same keyboard with different keycaps. Rather include a cheap set, and focus on making quality keycaps and offer them as an accessory.
10. Software. Unfortunately because big companies like Logitech, Razer, Roccat and Corsair have completely missed their mark on many of the above mentioned points, most of us are stuck having to look elsewhere to other less desirable alternatives. Regardless, their very well developed software with the ability to do custom key mappings with on the fly profile switching could definitely be a great selling point of any keyboard. Many might never use it, including myself, but that does not mean that having this functionality is useless.
11. I’m among the people that like to use Cherry stabilizers because there are no problems with thick PBT keycaps.
https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/2l1xqg/guide_fixing_grindingsticking_thick_pbt_keycaps/As such, I would like to see more manufacturers that use cherry stabilizers follow Ducky and start selling their keyboards with clipped cherry stabilizers.
12. I like to use o-rings and thick PBT keycaps. Currently only the Ducky PBT keycaps work well with this setup in mind. With Cherry profile the o-rings reduce the travel too much.
https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=60729.0Vortex profile has one of the struts that support the stem removed, and as a result the o-rings cause the keycap to slightly tilt and wobble when bottoming. It is not clear to me why they chose this design. If there are LEDs they can be on either side, and OEM keycaps that have normal 4 struts do not touch the top of the LEDs. The lack of this 4th strut is trying to solve a problem that does not exist in the first place. As can be seen in my picture below, normally the o-rings make contact with the base of the switch in only two places. The hole of the piston is too wide, so the left and right sides of the o-ring don’t really make significant contact with the base. As little as it seems, it is adequate. With Vortex keycaps, however, the top contact where the red arrow is pointing is missing.
13. I like to use thick PBT keycaps with OEM profile with dyesub or double shot legends. I do not understand why it is so difficult to have some sets available at all times with regular color schemes. Those include:
Gray with black legends.
Light and Dark Gray with black legends.
Black with white legends.
People will appreciate different colors and limited editions, as long as the basic sets are available at all times.
I have owned a Filco for a while now, and recently I have been using a Ducky Zero for which I wrote a review here. I have sent numerous Emails asking Ducky to release a firmware that makes NKRO the default mode with the NKRO LED indicator off. I have also asked them to fix their annoying default LED indicators for their useless key repeat feature. It can be turned off, but it is turned on by default, and when the keyboard or the computer is unplugged they light up on start. They have ignored my emails. Another small annoyance that I thought was going to be easy to ignore is the lack of the locks LED indicators, having PBT dyesubs. After using this keyboard for almost a year the annoyance is increasing. It is strange how such small details become important when they have been overlooked. It seems to me that the whole industry is putting their bets in the wrong places and the customers’ needs seem to have gotten lost in the endless race to feed us with the next useless and shiny feature.
I hope to hear people’s opinions on this. Is it possible that the whole industry is playing us for fools, hoping that if we are never quite content, they can keep selling us their flawed products and we’ll keep posting threads in this forum hoping that somebody is listening?
