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
Generally these switches seem about equivalent to Cherry MX quality and consistency out of the box.
Greys: A decent linear switch with a bit less sandiness than the Cherry linears but not as smooth as the Gateron yellows I have used. The 50g actuation gives the switches a decent debounce, apart from that not much else to say.
Purple: Decent clicky switches, slight inconsistency in tone of the click but no more so than the MX Blues I have in a board at the moment. A few of them feel like they're lighter than the others but I haven't rip-o-metered them to confirm it. Would be a decent budget clicky switch.
Oranges: Like clears, these have a satisfying bump and debounce, I would probably buy a batch of these to build into a keyboard at some point - and wonder what they would be like lubed and with heavier springs, ergoclear style.
I was planning to build these into little left-hand boards for gaming but I'm having difficulty with the cases at the moment, as the laser cutter I planned to use to chop out the stencils is refusing to work and doesn't seem likely that the issue will be resolved soon (ancient drivers not available anymore). Once I get these built into boards I'll put some info about how they are in regular use. I'd like to echo the other users by saying that I would be willing to both purchase these from EG for builds, if they were made available., and would consider buying a board if some of my hangups are addressed, namely the design was less "gamer-y" and made more subtle, disassembly was simple for repairs and a nice-to-have would be something that could work with a custom controller a-la the Ghost Squid and CM QFR XT
Since a selling point is the sturdy metal construction, something like a Noppoo Lolita style would be awesome.