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Just ordered a vortex core with clears, and a macropad with grays to go with it. And a fancy escape key for it. And pretty keycaps for my TKL:  It's a bit scary how I can come up with justifications for these purchases. Das Keyboard is still going strong 6 years on, but blues are too noisy for using in the office. CODE with clears is great and only 3 years old, but it's not as portable as it's like. So here I am. I've never used 40% before, and I'm not sure if I'll end up keeping it. Anyone have experience switching over from a traditional size keyboard, or tips for transitioning?
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Jul 7, 2017 04:08
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RIP ZEEZ 
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drat those godspeed caps look amazing. Is that a set you've got to wait for a group buy or Massdrop for?
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Jul 8, 2017 12:44
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I got my partner an iKBC fullsize with browns, and then added some PBT keycaps (and o-rings) from Pheilcia. Same bad apt lighting/instagrammed photos:   The set didn't come with media keys, so I got two WASD novelties that look like our cats (one's quiet, one's loud) instead:    I'd been sticking with the default WASD keycaps but now I think I'm going to have to get a set for myself too... foutre fucked around with this message at 20:02 on Jul 15, 2017 |
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Jul 15, 2017 20:00
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Thanks! The dream is to someday get the Meowcaps, if they ever come back:
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Jul 17, 2017 00:23
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Rexxed posted:Most spacebars take inserts that have a little rectangular piece of plastic that the wire from the stabilizer fits into. You may have to pull them out of your old spacebar unless they're somehow built in (I doubt that they are). If you need extras: Late, but thanks for posting this. I'd run into the same problem and was struggling. Now I've swapped out all the keycaps on my TKL, but have a full set of lovely numpad keys left over. I'd like to get a numpad to put them on, but am having trouble deciding on one to get. I'm leaning towards the Leopold FC210TP with browns, but it's 1) out of stock everywhere except a kinda sketchy Ali Express site that's 20 dollars more expensive and 2) it looks like the 2016/17 versions output true numpad codes whereas the 2015 one doesn't, and it's really hard to tell which one you're getting. Does anyone have any alternative suggestions for numpads, or advice re: figuring out which one you're getting? I'm basically just looking for a black numpad with the correct key sizes, like this (but in stock): 
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Jul 21, 2017 17:25
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sarr posted:I'm going for the Mars look: I missed the option to get multiple child sets the first time, reordered with Solar Alphas, GodX and Apollo base text. Now I just need to buy a second keyboard by February... I have a problem.
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Aug 2, 2017 03:06
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Wasd has white backlighting I think; if you're ok without RGB it's great. The IKBC full size is a good keyboard, comes in browns and has a /ton/ of RGB options, including just plain white. Got it for my partner with browns as her first mech keyboard and she likes it a lot.
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Aug 8, 2017 01:28
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Oh, whoops! I just assumed It'd be the same. As a more helpful suggestion, the IKBC F108 with browns would probably fit the bill. Advantage over a Corsair board is that it has standard keycap sizes for the modifiers if you end up wanting to swap out the keycaps.
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Aug 8, 2017 01:57
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teethgrinder posted:If anyone wants a deal and doesn't mind a slightly worn ABS spacebar, I want to sell: Pm'd!
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Aug 12, 2017 12:35
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Holy hell that's a nice keyboard. Really well done, drat. I like the layout, if you're going to make it from scratch makes sense to make something unique life that. Also, was this was your first time building a keyboard? Did you already know how to wire it up and whatnot, or did you learn as you went along? That's all real impressive.
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Aug 21, 2017 03:37
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Speaking of Leopold numpads, are there any good equivalents to the FC210TP? I've been trying to find a black version of it in clears or browns but it seems like it's perpetually out of stock. I basically just want the same layout in black with tactile switches but that's been really hard to find.
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Sep 1, 2017 01:05
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Does anyone have reccs for a 65/68% (basically, small with arrow keys) keyboard that comes in white or silver? Hopefully with as few non-standard keycaps as possible, I have a set of Godspeed keycaps arriving in February that I want to put on it. I finally found a white Leopold FC210TP with Cherry Browns; my (god willing...) endgame is so close (well, at least 4 months away, but hey). e: Was looking at a Tada68 with Zealios/silver aluminum, but I'm not sure if the keycaps are standard/at that point it's ~$200 and there's maybe better boards at that price point.
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Nov 8, 2017 10:04
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Thanks for the links! It looks like I really should have gotten a 1.75 shift key for a lot of these, whoops.
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Nov 8, 2017 11:14
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mewse posted:I think if you wanted to put godspeed on it you would've had to have ordered the TSAFOX modifiers. Yeah, I didn't see them in the latest drop unfortunately, I think they went with a non-standard blanks set. I have enough weird modifiers for everything but the shift key though. CyberPingu posted:Id checkout /r/mechmarket, usually guys sell off random caps on there so you may be able to pick up some spares from other GodSpeed sets. Good call, I'll check in February when the newest drop starts arriving, gotta imagine people who did order the blanks will have extras. Matching non-standard keycaps with weird keyboards is a hell of a thing~
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Nov 8, 2017 22:27
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^^ True. Nice keeb! I got another variety of Phelicia keycap and learned the hard way I'm not as good of a touch typer as I thought, but man they're pretty.HappyCapybaraFamily posted:My first keycap purchase: SA Godspeed Solar Alphas and Novelties arrived in my home mailbox from Massdrop without incident: drat that makes me excited for mine to arrive, looks great! Post pics when you get it all put together please.
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Nov 9, 2017 05:50
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Pollyanna posted:
If you just want a red escape key, WASD sells them (though out of stock atm) as well as EliteKeyboards: http://elitekeyboards.com/products.php?sub=access,cherrymxkeys&pid=cds_redesc. Neither is quite as cool as the ascend one though, alas.
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Dec 13, 2017 17:31
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Fwiw the Code pretty much is the back-lit WASD offering, just slightly different branding and a collab with an outside designer. WASD sells it on their site (it's one of their two lines), they just also built out a separate site iirc. It's a great keyboard, seconding the recommendation.
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Mar 25, 2018 02:19
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I think I've hit my endgame, Varmilo VA68M with magnesium body, Godspeed caps and Brown switches (realistically, someday I'm going to get another keyboard with weird tactile switches because of this last part, but hey):  The backslash key being white bothers me a little bit, but there's not really a good alternative to slot in there. I'm also not sure about the cluster of red in the top right - specifically, thinking about swapping the red 'PANIC' and yellow 'ABORT' keys, but those are real minor things. Also somewhat debating getting a color-coordinated cord for it, but I think that can wait. Overall, super happy with it though, worth the ~8 month wait for the keys. e: Not aluminum... foutre fucked around with this message at 03:16 on May 28, 2018 |
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May 28, 2018 02:35
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Don Lapre posted:You know there is a VA68m with a magnesium body.... Oh, that's actually what I have, yup. Whoops....
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May 28, 2018 03:16
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LochNessMonster posted:I have the same keys but on a pok3r and I’m not too happy with them. I like both the texture as sculpture of the default pok3r caps better. At least you can hopefully recoup a good bit of the cost! I had trouble getting used to the shape/texture for a day or two but at this point I'm a fan. It does seem like keycap shapes/textures can be pretty specific, maybe that's the next iteration of switch testers.
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May 30, 2018 07:08
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I've been looking for an inexpensive tkl with brown switches of whatever type, sans backlight (or just with a backlight that can be turned off). At the moment, I'm looking at the Velocifire TKL02 & TKL01, which are both ~$34 on Amazon at the moment (I assumed you could turn off the backlight). Are there any other keyboards on particular I should look at, ideally under $40 - this is a second keyboard for the office.
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Jul 24, 2018 22:27
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Perfect, I'll go for that then.
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Jul 25, 2018 00:44
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net cafe scandal posted:Would anyone be willing to write a post like this but for 75% keyboards instead? This is such an insane and intimidating yet overall pretty cool world. Also look at 65% imo, once you're going TKL you may as well commit! It still has arrow keys and four little page up/down etc. keys in a cluster (or two as the case may be), but is still real fuckin' small. You do lose dedicated function keys, however. I have and really like the Varmilo VA68M, but it's expensive -- it does take standard keycaps though. The Leopold FC660M is also great, but has one or two weird size keys. The Vortex Race 3 is also a solid 75%, fwiw. It's smaller than most TKL's, I think. Minimum Syntaxing posted:But kinda scratch all this stuff I wrote because in these past 30 days I've been getting some RSI pain in my hands out of the blue, which kinda makes me question whether I should even bother getting a decked-out keyboard if it looks like I can't even use it a whole lot anymore. Maybe I just need to do some stretches and give my hands a rest, pretty frustrating that this happens as I'm looking into treating myself though. Tbh this could be an excuse to get a fancy split keyboard for ergonomics.
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Feb 24, 2019 01:31
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mrking posted:The thing that threw me the most going from full to 60% was losing the tilde key to esc while gaming. I never used f-row keys on a full size keyboard though, and i only really missed the key in Wow with all its crazy keybinds. I also fat fingered esc when trying tk press 1 sometimes, but that only lasted a week or two Yeah, tilde was the big one for me - harder to access console commands. As other people have mentioned, the only other thing was camera keys etc on fn. I also have a 65% not 60, so I still have arrows but honestly I'm not sure I'd really miss them.
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Mar 6, 2019 19:16
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I haven't actually tried it, but the Anne Pro 2 looks like a solid wireless option, assuming it's just similar to the regular one, at a much higher pricepoint: https://www.amazon.com/Anne-Mechanical-Gaming-Keyboard-Backlit/dp/B07M66R9DG.
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May 8, 2019 06:25
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I got my girlfriend the older version of that with browns and she loves it, been going strong for a year or two now. Very solid build quality. Definitely curious to hear about the switches too.
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Aug 30, 2019 19:34
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Are there any other wireless 65% hot-swappable keyboards? I can't really find any, and that kind of ticks all the boxes otherwise...
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Jan 16, 2020 00:41
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Gay Retard posted:How do you feel about Kickstarter? Two 65% hot-swappable projects are going right now: If everything's on Kickstarter anyway I'm up for it, thanks! Backed the Velocifire, will report back to the thread re: how it is.
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Jan 17, 2020 23:40
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Soul Glo posted:Thinkin' 'bout picking up a Ducky One 2 Mini w/ blue's, and their website redirects to mechanicalkeyboards.com, anybody have anything negative to say about that seller? Do they ship pretty quickly? Not gonna end up selling my information anywhere? Pok3r is also good, or the Leopold F660M which has a different aesthetic you could take a look at. I don't think the latter has RGB, but they're otherwise all pretty similar. And yeah, that's one of the big websites. They're pretty reliable, although not necessarily super fast or anything. foutre fucked around with this message at 02:49 on Apr 4, 2020 |
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Apr 4, 2020 02:47
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Anyone have recommendations for a good wrist rest for a 60% keyboard? I've been having a hell of a time finding one that doesn't have mixed reviews/is in stock (or doesn't have the little glorious logo on it).
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Apr 30, 2020 23:32
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Zarin posted:Edit: Just checked the OP, looks like 60% is smaller than that. I'm not sure how many inches that is; it looks like they have an 8-inch version that's nominally for a mouse. Or, y'know, a knife on a bigger one I guess. (or just shift it to the left or right I suppose) Thanks for the recommendation! It turns out the 12 inch is perfect for 60/65%, at least my particular one. Feels a lot better to type with.
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May 6, 2020 21:39
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Lowness 72 posted:I just picked up a Varmillo TKL. Despite also being MX Browns - it is a 100% better board than my Corsair gaming keyboard. Like - I am astounded at how nice this is to type on. These keycaps are incredible. Now I'm realizing just how wobbly the corsair keys were too. Yeah, I have a Varmilo 68% and I think just the weight of the board/the better materials makes a huge difference as well.
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Jun 21, 2020 02:01
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Eezee posted:
I have the VA68M and love it, it has a solidity to it I really appreciate and it's held up very well over the last couple years. Mine's a kind of weird version with a case made from a magnesium alloy, so I imagine it'll feel a bit different, but it's a solid brand imo. There's a bunch more TKLs now than there used to be, but I have, and like, the WASD Code, which is v solid as well. I'm sure other people will have more recommendations, but I don't think you can go wrong with either.
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Aug 6, 2020 20:33
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ihatepants posted:I got in as one of the lucky 200 who are part of the duckboard group buy. Pretty hyped for a $23 number pad with QMK, rotary encoder, OLED and underglow LEDs. This is great, the rotary encoder is so cool. Hopefully there'll be a second round someday.
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Aug 12, 2020 21:06
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Boz0r posted:Do you 60% board users never miss the rest of the keys? I can dig the portability of them, but they seem really cramped. Try a 65%, it's the best of both worlds - still very portable, but you get arrows, delete, etc. without layers.
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Aug 15, 2020 16:07
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Love it! Which switches did you go with? On a similar note, does anyone have recommendations for a macropad kit with rotary encoders? I've done some soldering stuff before, and am pretty comfortable setting up Arduinos etc., but I would prefer a PCB over hand-wiring. Basically I just think it would be fun to try out, and want to have some little aluminum knobs to scroll through pages and whatnot with.
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Jun 21, 2021 03:39
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GnarlyCharlie4u posted:In contrast, THIS is an amazing IC. Oof, that's a really nice keycap set. A couple years ago I was like 'ah, I've got me Godspeed VA68, surely I'm good on keycaps now' but drat, those novelties esp. are just great. Also, interesting to hear about everything that goes into making keycaps from y'all, never would have thought about things manufacturer colors DNE rgb colors and whatnot.
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Nov 19, 2021 00:03
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Is the moonlander/ergodox the go-to ergo split keyboard still? Or is there something else I should look at? Basically I want max ergonomics while still having nice keyswitches.
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Apr 8, 2022 23:52
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Taffer posted:check my posts in the thread for lots of thoughts on the moonlander. It's overall a really good board but the thumb buttons aren't the best. If you wanna make heavy use of those (you should), might be worth looking at another board. I've got my eyes on the sofle v2 but haven't pulled the trigger yet. Ah great, I'll take a look! The little OLED screens are realistically certainly not useful but I'm into it. E: realized I missed your most recent post about it, that's very helpful. I wonder how much realistically I would use the knobs versus a thumb cluster. I do see the argument for the latter, even if I like rotary encoders on principle. Unsinkabear posted:Any split board is an ergo board, but if you want Ortho and thumb clusters and poo poo then people seem pretty happy with the new Iris I'll have to add some in stock notifications for it, ty! foutre fucked around with this message at 17:04 on Apr 9, 2022 |
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Apr 9, 2022 15:49
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That bottom one especially is great. On a different note, I'm working on building a Sofle (following this guide: https://josefadamcik.github.io/SofleKeyboard/build_guide.html) and I've got everything working except the OLEDs. I wanted to double check to make sure I haven't missed any troubleshooting steps. The bridging looks correct, and I redid the solder joints between the OLEDs and the PCBs just in case. I've tried a couple versions of the firmware, all with the OLEDs enabled, but no dice. I'm kind of at a loss re: what to try next; I guess I might just get different screens to try, but it didn't seem likely both are bad. If anyone's run into other issues, or has ideas re what to do I'd love to hear them. Googling around hasn't done much for me so far. This whole process is, on the one hand, not ~that~ difficult, but man was soldering the diodes an absolute journey. I just used a small tip and regular solder and I'm absolutely going to get flux and a heat gun before doing that again.
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Apr 26, 2022 11:52
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