Support for Alternative Layouts
This is a summary of how alternative layouts have been supported by kits such as Colevrak and Homing. It is not a discussion of alt layout performance and development, but if that interests you I highly recommend starting with Pascal Getreuer’s A guide to alt keyboard layouts (why, how, which one?). It’s a concise and comprehensive overview with links to some great sites that go deeper. He also has a separate Links about keyboards page. The Keyboard layouts doc he recommends explains layout goals and metrics in detail, summarizing the alt layouts discussed here as well as more than one hundred others. Sculpted-profile The majority of custom keycap sets are sculpted-profile (Cherry, SA, MT3, KAT, etc. - more on profiles generally here) so let’s start there. Because each row has a unique keycap shape, alt layouts require a unique keycap for each legend that moves off its QWERTY row. At first there were two The Dvorak layout was patented in 1936 by August Dvorak & William L....
Apr 23, 2024
- The programming switch is on the bottom of the PCB which when screwed in can't be accessed. The screws can't be accessed without removing keys. When you remove keys, the switches come apart. And the tiny screws that are holding it on don't do an adequate job.
- The LEDs are on the bottom of the board. It's a solid case. You can't see them.
- The quality of the keycaps is not good, and there are significant omissions:
- mac command keys are not included but option keys are why one but not the other?
- blank keys - none included, so if you have a different layout than what is pictured, there are no options.
- wide keys that fit - these are made for a center space bar with spacers. They don't fit on this board.
- No instructions. The message board got me pointed in the right direction, but no information was included (like what QMK keyboard this falls under), and there weren't even basic assembly instructions.
I don't feel like this drop had much thought put into it, and would stay away from future drops that look like this one. I'd also like to know where these keycaps came from so I can avoid them.