Mechanical keyboard appreciation thread

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One fully soldered, assembled and tested Ergodox Infinity with MX blues (somewhat obviously). It arrived a few days ago and I had grand plans to do a build log and loads of pictures, but it's actually so simple that I didn't bother. You just solder the switches and assemble it in the case, testing as you go. Keycaps will arrive at the end of the month, or early November!
 
Very nice! Which keycaps did you order for it?

I caved - ordered Granite from SP. Really feeling the fall in the value of the pound (thanks Nigel).

Need to figure out how to explain to the wife and kids that Christmas is cancelled for them, but looking good for Uncle Nutball.
 
The caps will be Overcast DSA, via Massdrop: https://www.massdrop.com/buy/mito-dsa-sci-fi?mode=guest_open

I've gone for the blue/white/red variant, rather than orange/white/black. Can't wait! I don't have any spare blanks to put on it just now to get it programmed, so I'll just have to wait for the Overcast set to show up. For anyone wondering how difficult it is to build a keyboard like the Ergodox, the only skilful part of the build was the soldering, and I'm a novice at that stuff and still didn't find it difficult. Anyone with a steady hand could do it.
 
The price of a given item drops as more people order it. This happens at set break points, so say the first price drop is after 25 orders, the second price drop after 50, and so on.

These key cap sets can have lots of options, depending on what you want to tailor for your keyboard. Each option set has its own price break thresholds.
 
I use a keyboard with brown switches at work and was amused the other day when my ten year old nephew popped into the office and asked to use my computer briefly (to play Agario or something similar). He immediately went, "Oooh, like the keyboard!" Probably the first time he's encountered a mechanical keyboard and he'll be used to cheapo spongy keyboards.

As a kid (when I was a little older than him), I remember the old IBM clickety-clack keyboards fondly - those things were beasts!
 
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I'm typing this reply on it! It's not a perfect layout by any means, and I haven't finished all the remapping gymnastics yet, nor are the keycaps perfect (look at the blank red and green 1.25u instead of 1.5u that I really need), but it's a lot of fun. I type very slowly on it and make a lot of mistakes, but I'm going to persevere until I'm happy (or I've put it in a drawer and gone back to a normal keyboard!).

Still can't quite believe it works, too, given I soldered it!
 
Ok, first off "yick" to the busted keyboard above. It's very well done and all, I just don't like split keyboards. Second real quick I gotta ask you Rys where did you get your wristrest? I seriously think I'm in love and need to get one.

Lastly, I'd like to introduce y'all to my newest bestest friend the Velocifre VM01. It's my first mechanical keyboard in about 20 years, last time I had a mechanical keyboard we called them "keyboards". (For some reason I found that funny as hell, bugger off! :p ) I know it looks a little basic, and it is..but that's what I love about it. It's got some brown switches that feel really good to my fingers, and the back illumination isn't like it looks in the picture. The letters on the keys light up and that's all, none of that nasty looking backglow like in the picture.

Best part? $35us. I figured I could take a chance at that price, and I've just been delighted by it.

So if you've been reading threads like these and wanted to see what they feel like without investing a ton, I highly recommend this puppy. It's heavy and has a hefty feel to it, like I could beat a raccoon to death with it if the occasion arises again.

Sorry, I've only had it a little while but I've totally fallen in love with it. It's just a nice little mechanical keyboard with backlit keys, and for only $35.

I'm cheap, yet happy. :)

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Rodéric said:
Interesting Rys, share your impressions/improvment with it please ! :)
Click to expand...
Initial impressions are I hate it and want to throw it out of the window and desk flip my computers into oblivion, and never touch anything that needs a keyboard ever again. I type so slowly due to making repeated mistakes that I feel, honestly, like I have a form of motor neurone disease affecting only my fingers.

I'm effectively learning how to type from scratch all over again, with the side effect that when I go back to a normal keyboard to game, I'm worse there too. I'll persevere despite the downsides, at least until I have given it enough of a chance for my experiments to have completed.

There's a huge amount of muscle memory in my way right now, and a lot of friction in day-to-day typing in the things I do that I didn't anticipate. So I hate it so far. It's going to take weeks before I'm even close to proficient with it.
 
Rys said:
Initial impressions are I hate it and want to throw it out of the window and desk flip my computers into oblivion, and never touch anything that needs a keyboard ever again. I type so slowly due to making repeated mistakes that I feel, honestly, like I have a form of motor neurone disease affecting only my fingers.
Click to expand...
I can totally sympathize with that, very similar layout to the Kinesis.
 
Spilled coffee on my new keyboard a day or so ago. Rinsed it off with distilled water, waiting a few days for it to dry out thoroughly to see if it's toast or just fine. :s
 
Oh, I'm remembering that plenty right now. If it's fried, I'm getting me another one!

I was looking at that wristrest Rys has and whilst it is bloody sweet, it costs twice as much as my keyboard does which doesn't seem very me to me..if y'know what I mean.

So I'm looking at cheapy leatherette replacements, this one is my lead contender so far...but only if my keyboard works. Also, I was thiniing of picking up some o-rings to put on it to quiet it down a bit more....do I need to get clear ones for the LEDs to work or would something like this be fine? I was hoping that for $7 I could give it that much more of a quality feel/sound, if anyone has experience with o-rings please let me know if it's worth it and any advice.

Heck, even if my keyboard is fried I'll probably get another one and the above listed items anyways...so any o-ring input would be appreciated. (I figure wrist rests are more of a personal opinion thing, and I just like the idea of leather or vinyl instead of that cloth that gets all soaked and nasty over time)
 
Well I plugged it in to test it and it seemed to work just spiffy, so I went to grab my other keyboard to unplug it and knocked my new mechanical one off the desk and on to the floor HARD! :(

And it still works just spiffy! :D

Something good happened today, I am enthused.
 
WOW! Got the wristrest and o-rings today and just put the o-rings on the numbpad so far but it is a huge sound and quality difference! Very much more muffled, less travel distance, and it just feels higher quality now! :D

The wristrest is pretty nice too. Nothing like Rys', a cheap knockoff...but a pretty good cheap knockoff. It feels very comfortable and it's vinyl textured like leather so it won't absorb sweat. I likes!

If you've considered o-rings, I'd highly recommend 'em. A huuuuge difference to me.
 
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