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Anyone have a quick gut check on Keychron as a company? This keyboard looks perfect: https://www.keychron.com/products/keychron-k6-wireless-mechanical-keyboard?variant=31440990044249 I've assembled a, uh, "standing desk" at home, out of cardboard boxes on top of a sturdy dresser, since Covid WFH purchases have destroyed the stock of every standing desk manufacturer (and doubled the lead times on ones that were already made-to-order). As part of this I've been using a Logitech K380, which is a goofy-looking but surprisingly usable mini keyboard, but I have been missing the clicky-clack. I need wireless due to the extremely small space constraints (literally do not have the room for a wired plug coming out the back of the keyboard), plus I've started using my iPad as a "second screen," and having the Bluetooth connection to multiple devices means I can swap to it quickly. I think this keyboard is literally the only game in town for these constraints - and the layout looks wonderful compared to every compact keyboard I've seen in the past; it's the first compact with arrow keys I've ever seen that made space for a real right-side shift key and a proper backslash - so I'm gonna go ahead and slam order unless anyone has had bad experiences with the company. If anyone else knows of a keyboard with a similar layout and wireless setup, let me know. It's been tricky to Google since "mechanical keyboard bluetooth switcher" just comes up with results for mechanical keyboards with bluetooth that list their switches 
abraham linksys fucked around with this message at 23:56 on Jul 11, 2020 |
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Jul 11, 2020 23:52
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mini layouts are weird to me because I feel like everyone has some weird keys they rely on. for example, I write JavaScript for my day job, which means I am constantly using backticks for strings. most compact keyboards eschew a backtick/tilde key or combine it with Esc. I'm actually getting that Keychron K6 which does this, but my plan is to rebind Esc as backtick and set up Caps Lock as a combined Ctrl (hold)/Esc (press). which, actually, I should double check to make sure Karabiner works with MacOS Catalina... and that's still a mostly normal layout; when I see some of the mini layouts in here that cram every non-alphanumeric key into a separate layer, it hurts my brain. finally, the experience of using a weird touch screen keyboard layout, now in physical form! abraham linksys fucked around with this message at 16:33 on Jul 14, 2020 |
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Jul 14, 2020 16:30
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Well, poo poo, looks like Karabiner is completely busted on Catalina, so I might have totally wasted $70 on this Keychron K6. I can't find any way to rebind the escape key to backtick/tilde and I do not think I'm going to be able to learn to hold the fn keys to access them, breaking a decade of muscle memory  I should have bought one with a real fn row, this is depressing. I guess there's probably a secondhand market for this stuff?
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Jul 22, 2020 15:24
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CRAYON posted:Karabiner-Elements is remapping keys fine for me on Catalina. Is it not launching at all or is something else happening? The "devices" list is empty and none of my remaps are working. The log shows that the observer is seeing the devices correctly, but it's not populating the window  I've got everything set up for "Input Monitoring" under the Security settings:  Do any Karabiner processes show up in any other part of the security interface for you? I know when I first launched it I was supposed to "Allow" it in the Security & Privacy window, but I don't know if that worked correctly. It didn't show the kext deprecation popup, which I think it is supposed to? Also noticed that Karabiner isn't showing up in the menu bar, don't know if that's related.
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Jul 22, 2020 16:08
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CyberPingu posted:Have you tried the old uninstall/reinstall yeah, doesn't seem to help other weirdness: * the "Input Monitoring" entries didn't auto-populate, I had to add those manually. normally they're supposed to show up there and then you just have to check them * someone on this thread describing my issue suggested running a command in recovery mode which is how I discovered that this work laptop has a firmware password on it preventing me from accessing recovery mode, waiting to hear back from IT about that
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Jul 22, 2020 16:31
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ah, thanks for checking it out I'm sure people in this thread have adapted to much stranger layout changes, so I think for now I'll just try adapting to having to use the fn key for tilde/backtick. as I think I mentioned in this thread before, I write JavaScript in my day job, which makes heavy use of backticks, so I use those keys more than you'd expect. One upshot is that since I'm stuck at home and not working on the go, I'm never using my internal laptop keyboard, so I don't have to both adapt to a new keyboard and keep using a more traditional layout. I've since gotten a bigger desk with more space instead of the weird crammed setup I had, so if I could do this all again, I would have just bought the Keychron K2 (or even the upcoming K8 which is just a normal-rear end tenkeyless layout). If I can find a buyer for the K6, I think I'll go ahead and get a K2. At least these are, relatively speaking, very cheap (and shipped in only like a week which is kind of incredible given the state of the world and, like, normal mechanical keyboard lead times) on the plus side: mac has the ability to remap caps lock to ctrl built in, which is pretty impressive. I know Windows now has the PowerToys thing for basic rebinds like that but it's nice you can mess around with modifier keys with no extra software abraham linksys fucked around with this message at 16:57 on Jul 22, 2020 |
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Jul 22, 2020 16:54
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CyberPingu posted:So ErgodoxEz have released a new board gotta say, by the time you hit the price tag, they sure as hell have justified it for what it is. i'd probably consider getting one if it were wireless, but considering the thing has a loving arm processor in it, i get why it's not
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Jul 29, 2020 19:32
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cherry browns had way more tactility than these fuckin gateron browns, which might as well be linear switches. my one big regret with this keychron i guess maybe part of the problem is that these keycaps are lighter than ones i'm used to? that's a thing, right?
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Aug 4, 2020 17:35
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what are the hot next-gen switches that people like? particularly, which ones are what the browns are supposed to be (clicky without the click).
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Aug 4, 2020 20:23
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teethgrinder posted:I don't know what "next-gen" is but Cherry Clears are tactile and quiet. And there are two or three versions of Zelios Zilents that work as advertised. I love both brands' versions mostly meant it as a goof, but as Constellation I noted there are a lot of new (or more easily-accessible) switches since I first decided to start buying MX Browns back in like... 2013. I have no idea what the state of the art is now, especially in mass-produced boards that aren't like massdrop fodder
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Aug 4, 2020 20:39
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hosed up that i cant find anywhere to just buy those keycaps probably would be less cute with my boring black plastic board anyways
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Aug 6, 2020 20:24
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hey, keychron actually has a low-profile compact guy on the way https://www.keychron.com/pages/keychron-k3-wireless-mechanical-keyboard happy with my k6 other than the horrendous home/end/insert/del/page up/page down situation:  why the gently caress didn't they just give delete, pg up, pg down their own keys, and map insert, home, and end to the respective fn layers for those. i have anxiety about getting new keycaps for this thing because i will definitely never remember that fn+[ is delete without it being explicitly labeled, christ between that and my earlier-described tilde woes i'm thinking about getting a k2, tbh... though i need to convince someone to buy my k6 first. this would also let me upgrade from the kinda-bad gateron browns to blues, which my roommate will just have to Deal With (also, keychron are definitely the only game in town for a mechanical keyboard that pairs to 3 bluetooth devices and lets you swap at-will, right? that's a loving incredible feature for a $70/$80 keyboard and i fuckin love it, makes my ipad infinitely more usable on my desk than it would be with just the touch screen) abraham linksys fucked around with this message at 02:10 on Aug 20, 2020 |
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Aug 20, 2020 02:06
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the hell does that circle in the center of the space bar do
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Aug 31, 2020 23:42
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Constellation I posted:Obviously the solution is to make your switch name sound dumb enough that no company wants to trademark it. considering the origin of Glorious's full name, I'm not sure this is possible
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Sep 14, 2020 18:14
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.Z. posted:Keychron K4 gives you a wireless 96% option. You are limited to Gatreon Brown and LK Optical Brown for tactile switches. And I've got no clue what LK Optical switches are like. minor pushback to this: while I find the featureset, build quality, and price of my Keychron delightful, the Gateron Brown switches feel real bad compared to actual Cherry Brown switches (which already tend to be a bit love-it-or-hate-it) - not nearly as much bump, making them almost feel like lightweight linear keys that said, I've heard the Gateron Blues are a lot better, and I'm kinda curious about the LK Optical ones myself
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Sep 22, 2020 18:55
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what options are there for buying keycaps that will ship in the short-term and aren't, like, six month limited time preorders? are there actually any?
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Sep 30, 2020 17:20
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fwiw, if you want those features with different layouts, keychrons aren't that far off in both price and options. main thing is you'll be paying >$100 for hot swapping and the keycaps are ABS instead of PBT (except for a couple variants i think?)
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Oct 29, 2020 20:51
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Eric the Mauve posted:Hi keyboard maniac friends, does there yet exist a wireless mechanical keyboard (blue switches for preference) that costs under $100 and won't die in 6 months? i'm pretty happy with my keychron, if you're okay with gateron blues instead of cherry (dunno how they compare tbh)
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Nov 4, 2020 23:08
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also, you get to buy a keyboard from a company that thinks this is an acceptable name and branding to have in 2020 love to found a company branded after an "ironic" racist meme!!
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Nov 5, 2020 08:09
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shrike82 posted:I'm looking to get a Keychron K2 V2 as a first proper mechanical keyboard and it looks a bit thick. Is it comfortable to use or do you pretty much need a wrist rest to use it? so, it's funny, Neurosis asked this earlier and I forgot to reply, but ever since that post, I've been hyper aware of my hand positioning while using my Keychron. I do use a wrist rest, but I've been trying to be more ergonomic with my setup at home, and one thing I've read is that your wrists should never actually rest on the wrist rest while typing. I've found this pretty easy to do, but I have found that I naturally wind up resting my wrist on the rest while doing WASD gaming. I think this is okay if you got a comfy wrist rest (I've got a Grifiti) and aren't doing lots of marathon MMO sessions, but others who are more versed in the hellscape of wrist problems I will at some point encounter in the future might have thoughts on that the thing is, I've been thinking about other keyboards I've had in the past, and I'm not actually sure that it's any taller than other mechanical keyboards. other folks can chime in here, but outside of the weird and controversial various low-profile keyboards out there, I kinda assume the listed "30mm - 41mm" height with keycaps (from front to rear) is more or less standard? I would say you should definitely avoid using the feet on this keyboard, since that'll naturally bend your wrists further down
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Nov 8, 2020 00:48
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is there anyone out there making desk mats smaller than 900x400mm? i have a pretty small desk and a 65% keyboard, so I don't need anything that large, but i want some kinda gaming deskmat/mousepad i can also rest a cup on. think i'm looking for something that's like 22 x 12 inches or 600 x 300 mm
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Nov 26, 2020 20:02
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Keyboard Megathread 2020 - I love my lubed pandas.
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Nov 28, 2020 19:35
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I love my Keychron keyboard except that Gateron Browns really kinda suck. They have even less bump than Cherry Browns. The Gateron Blues, OTOH, I've heard are much closer in quality to Cherry Blues.
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Dec 3, 2020 00:09
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GnarlyCharlie4u posted:I wouldn't consider it a particularly 'nice' keyboard, but from purely a utilitarian perspective, it does the job. see, I actually think the Keychron is fantastic from a featureset perspective. the only thing it's missing is QMK, which doesn't really matter with a K2/K4/K8 where you don't need to do any layout adjustments (I would have liked it for my K6, but only because Karabiner mysteriously refuses to work on my Mac). It's got Bluetooth, USB-C (with a nice physical switch to swap those), multi-pairing for Bluetooth, etc. does a lot better than a lot of more expensive keyboards on that front. the keycaps are... fine, I don't know. they're an obvious step down from the mid-tier boards I'd used in the past, like the WASD CODE, but I don't find them that uncomfortable except they're oddly lightweight. I probably should get a new set, I just have yet to see a keycap set that I thought was aesthetically pleasing and wasn't a 6 month backorder or over $100 for some reason.
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Dec 3, 2020 00:19
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CaptainPsyko posted:tl;dr: Keychrons customer service is really bad, and I am another day or so of this back and forth before just charging this paperweight back through my CC company. drat, that sounds like a loving awful experience. I've been weighing the idea of jumping up from a K6 to a K2 now that I have more desk space, but I think your experience was enough to keep me from buying another one. now that I've given up on using my iPad as a second screen on my desk (turns out most the work apps I wanted to use on it don't have good keyboard/mouse support) and I've got a USB switcher, I don't need Bluetooth at all anymore, so I supposed now I can start looking at all those weird fancy keyboards that don't have it. I still love the K2 layout though, dunno what other easily available boards have that.
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Dec 3, 2020 21:00
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.Z. posted:If anyone is in the market for a macropad with a rotary encoder, the CU7 GB went live. Not cheap though, $80 without any switches. what do people use rotary encoders for, serious question in the last six months I have seen people start to buy them and I have no idea what the gently caress they're using them for other than the world's most expensive volume knob, and if that's what you want, I think it's literally cheaper to buy an entry level (pre)amp lol
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Dec 6, 2020 19:30
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so, ever since someone asked about keychron keyboard height, and i got a new desk and chair, i've been keenly aware of the ergonomics of my setup, and specifically the height of my wrists. namely, with my keychron k6 (which appears to be the lowest profile of the keychrons), i feel like i have to put in a lot of effort to keep my wrists at a neutral angle. while i have a wristpad, everything i've read says "absolutely do not rest your wrists on the pad while typing or you'll have a bad time down the road." so, now what i'm looking for is a setup with: * a relatively low profile, desktop-to-keycap-top * a flat, or near-flat angle - the keychron has a 7 degree tilt, and most boards have a 5 to 7 degree tilt there's two main things i'm looking into: a keycap profile that is flatter (this board is OEMs), and cases that are flat or low profile. my understanding is that if i want "flat" keycaps, my best option is DSA keycaps - does that square with what y'all have found? i know the cherry profile is also lower profile than OEM and a little more traditionally sculpted, but i'm not sure if that'd make sense to use if i got a flat keyboard case finding a case has been a real challenge. everything people love to post about are either like tiny loving planck-style kbs (which tend to be low-profile/flat but gently caress learning a planck), or giant thick-as-hell keyboards that have like a 12 degree angle so you feel like you're working a model m or whatever, with no in between. i have spent like a couple days poking around trying to find flat cases and come up basically empty, until just now when i found this guy: https://kbdfans.com/collections/65-diy-kit/products/65-low-profile-soldered-mechanical-keyboard-diy-kit am I right in thinking I could combine that with https://kbdfans.com/products/dz68rgb-hot-swap-rgb-pcb for a no-solder build? KBDFans is the worst loving website of all time to the point I am terrified to even order from them, but they say those should be compatible, and I assume any "hot swap" PCB implicitly requires no soldering. at that point, I'd just need switches, keys, and... I dunno, stabilizers or some poo poo, right?' also, if anyone knows of any other kits or prebuilts that match my description, let me know. i'd totally go in on an ergo/split kb even, as long as the layout isn't as extreme as the planck - i am a programmer by trade and i play mmos sometimes, so i am pretty wary of giving up some of the keys those layouts move to other layers. abraham linksys fucked around with this message at 02:06 on Dec 18, 2020 |
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Dec 18, 2020 01:01
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LochNessMonster posted:Not sure about kbdfans being the worst website ever, I had no issues ordering from it in the past? I should clarify: the site itself seems like a normal Shopify site, but the descriptions on each page are a complete mess Someone else I know just got that Preonic and likes it so I'm thinking about it. My biggest concern is learning new layers, of course... I have enough trouble with this Keychron that requires me to press Fn+Esc to get a backtick character, and that's just one key. The other thing bugging me is that I can't find any images of the default layers, do you know where I can find that/did you end up modifying them?
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Dec 18, 2020 19:10
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i'm just trying to find a relatively ergonomic mech keyboard that's flatter and thinner than the big boxy angled ones that are so common, and ortholinears technically fit that bill and seem fun to learn maybe if i care about ergo at all i should just go full ergodox or something, though i wish some of the other split keyboard layouts out there were more available so i could drop like $180 instead of $350
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Dec 19, 2020 04:18
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GnarlyCharlie4u posted:I mean the Prime Elise I just picked up was $215. https://sneakbox.com/products/prime_elise I saw your post about this and was very tempted, but it looks to me that there's no switchplates left, so I wouldn't be able to build one, unless I'm missing something on this site I should have known there was a low profile specific Discord because of course there is, I'll take a look
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Dec 19, 2020 08:12
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dang, that Wormier actually looks super nice - there's a slight angle to it, but it looks much less steep than most cases, and it's pretty low profile. it looks like you can flash it with QMK, as well, though like any firmware flash it has a chance of bricking it that I'd be somewhat scared to risk
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Dec 19, 2020 22:30
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aw man, some of these look dope, but now I'm remembering that I, uh, don't actually know how to solder or anything. looks like they used to offer assembly but don't anymore, bah. I think I'd be fine assembling hotswap switches and keycaps, but anything requiring soldering is probably beyond me - I'm not particularly dexterous and would be terrified of loving up an expensive purchase also, this is a dumb question, but even if I did decide to give soldering a spin, where would I get cases for these things? are there guides to like 3d printer services that are accurate enough for this?
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Dec 20, 2020 20:23
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So, for a cheap and quiet option, I've used the Kinesis Freestyle 2 and thought it had the best membrane keys I've ever used. I guess my concern really is around the space you have - do you have space for a split keyboard like that, plus a mouse to the left/right? If you do, I think you could combine that with a cheap external numpad placed in between the two halves. Also absolutely not an expert on RSI or anything, so I can't say for sure if a Freestyle 2 is "enough" for what you're looking for. You might want to purchase it with tenting accessories if you think the tilt would help:  Also, if you have diagnosed RSI, depending on where you live, you should almost certainly be able to get your employer to cover at least some of the cost.
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Dec 30, 2020 20:21
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I'm learning an ortholinear layout on a Preonic and I'm thinking about buying a fuckin divider to put between the two halves of this keyboard so I'll be ready to move on to a split KB, since right now I'm still crossing over for a few keys the thing that's really going to gently caress me up is moving to a split keyboard with thumb clusters, though, and relearning where certain keys have been moved. This keyboard puts the -=[]\ keys on raise/lower + jkl;' and that's been really brutal to learn; gonna be even worse moving to a Moonlander I bet.
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Jan 5, 2021 22:35
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Gwaihir posted:Kailh has a lot of low profile options: https://www.aliexpress.com/i/4000803757746.html these have kinda limited support right? was thinking about doing some kinda split low profile board at some point but i think you need a special pcb that supports these kinda switches even for "regular" boards, didn't seem like there were a ton of low profile options out there
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Feb 22, 2021 02:32
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Constellation I posted:The Iris from keeb.io supports Kailh choc (MX and Alps supported as well). It's a pretty sweet PCB. oh jeez, they just added a prebuilt option too. $130 for just the soldered PCB (with hotswap switches) too steep for me at this exact moment, but since the unsoldered PCBs are $60 it's actually not that bad... (not actually sure if the chocs work for hotswap though, seem to recall seeing some build guides mentioned some special soldering instructions for them)
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Feb 23, 2021 19:36
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:christ now im looking at DIY cables mods update thread title for 2021 with this plz
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Mar 2, 2021 06:12
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numbers are easy, the true horror of those form factors don't reveal themselves until you need to write a dash or plus sign
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Mar 4, 2021 01:14
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lord help me, but after three months with my preonic, i'm thinking of dropping some money on a moonlander. i'm finally all-in on ortholinear, i want a split, and i'm giving up on waiting to see if any of the other hipster split boards ever have pre-soldered-pcb options that said, the thing giving me pause is the switches. I know the Moonlander has hot swappable switches, but if I'm paying $365 for a keyboard, I kinda want it to come out of the box with switches I like, or at least ones that are interesting enough I don't feel silly keeping them around in a bag. I don't want anything full-clicky because I'd like to be able to travel with this board without getting murdered by anyone sitting near me in a coffee shop. In general, I've used tactile switches - currently rocking heavy-rear end Halo Clears on my Preonic, but I've used Gateron Browns recently as well that I thought were okay. I'm curious if anyone has takes on the various tactile/linear options the Moonlander has: * Kalih Copper * Kalih Box Brown * Kalih Silver * Kalih Box Red * Kalih Box Black I've been thinking of trying the Box Black, which are linear, but require a lotta force to press, so it sounds like they end up feeling a lot like heavy tactile switches without a bump in practice. Anyone here tried those particularly? Otherwise, I might just get Box Red switches - basically, my thinking is that I have enough of these Halo Clear switches I could swap em out with whatever I get in the Moonlander, so this is as good a time as any to try out linear typing for the first time. If anyone particularly likes the Copper or Box Brown I'd be curious to hear more about them, though; seeing a lot of contradictory reviews when I look them up online.
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Apr 14, 2021 17:40
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Heck Yes! Loam! posted:My Keychron K7 shipped. extremely interested to hear your trip report! I kinda feel too deep in the ortholinear/split life to go back, but I've always been curious about low-profile keys and switches ever since they popped up
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Sep 6, 2021 19:55
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