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
It’s with great regret to inform you that as of this time the group-buy from BSP is cancelled. We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused everyone involved. If you are affected please take the time to read the following details of our situation and our plans moving forward.
Our intention to run a BSP group-buy to the end has always been a top priority, and we can only hope the following explanation will help to detail how this buy has failed. In February of this year our team used a broker to develop relations with BSP Asia, Logicalkeyboard, to provide us with blank keycaps for our group-buy projects including single 1u caps. With our brokered relationship with BSP appearing secure we proposed our first group-buy for high quality PBT dyesub reissues of classic Cherry keycaps. The reception of this group-buy was very popular and we quickly procured samples of a dyesub product through our contacts. After posting the sample images our group-buy expanded globally. We were encouraged by the public reception of our samples and excited to offer these high quality sets. The months which followed became a nightmare which ultimately lead us to today.
After collecting all the orders from all of our vendors globally and submitted documentation through our broker we received no response. We began to seek further clarity and reached out to BSP, Logicalkeyboard, directly. When direct communication was finally accomplished we were told PBT keycaps are no longer an item which can be ordered . We really wanted to make this work for everyone - the members, Massdrop and the design of the keycaps.After all, BSP keycaps is one of the most authentic cherry sets for keyboard enthusiasts. In the end, after long sessions of communication our offers to increase the MOQ, and even offers to purchase the molding from Logicalkeyboard were ultimately ignored. We feel a great deal of remorse and guilt in cancelling this group-buy. We were unable to reissue caps or save the old original Cherry pbt mold. As we have come to know, BSP sublimation keycap production is very expensive outside of Europe. Changing international trade climate high postage and tariffs between Europe to Asia makes reopening relationships impossible. While we are apologetic we also have a plan to resolve this problem in the long term.
We are launching a new product we will call H(ammer)SP. Our goal is to retool and improve upon the best features of what made BSP keycaps a true legacy product. For those who wish to remain in our group buy we are offering two complete the sets of HSP for each set of BSP ordered; one set for your original order, another will be the never-sold Cyrillic or Hebrew dye-subbed set. The Hebrew and Cyrillic sets will be distributed randomly, For example, if an Arabic set was ordered a customer would receive either a Cyrillic or Hebrew set in addition to the Arabic. The difference in between the original order and HSP is the keycaps will not be made by BSP. We will also offer refunds for anyone in the group buy who would like it, please reach out to Massdrop Support for the refund/cancellation
The HSP keycaps are similar to the BSP in profile, feeling, and color. In addition to doing our best to recreate these qualities we have improved the following defects we felt were not a feature of the product:
- Normalizing R4 height to Cherry standard while retaining the BSP R5 standard.
- ISO layout support.
- WK layout support.
- 6U, 6.25U, 7U pbt spacebar support.
- A variety of four homing key molds: bars, scoops, dots and no homing.
This announcement has not come without a considerable effort from team Hammer to fix the issue before causing a problem for enthusiasts. We have already completed the injection molding, finish, and production proofing. The performance of our manufacturing is very satisfying testers who work closely with Team Hammer. By moving to the city which the injection factory is located we have had a hand in adjusting the fit and finish of the products coming out of our custom molds.To be clear about our plans for production after completing our duty to existing customers we will have four sets planned for regular release: Original Tulip \ Tulip GK \ APL \ Arabic. Our price for future group-buys will be announced soon and set a new standard for affordable quality.
Sincerely,
Team Hammer
Sep.,6,2018
# Thank Binge for helping proofreading!
Because things are moving forward with HSP already, I am wondering if it can offer added compatibility moving forward -- a 1.75u R4 Shift would change things IMMENSELY for HHKB, 1800 and 1800CP, 65%/75% layout users. I have many other changes to suggest for added compatibility, like GMK sets do nowadays, but just the 1.75u Shift key (and a 1u R4 Fn key) would make a huge impact already.
I ordered quite a few sets as well, so if the addition of "one additional set per BSP set ordered" is true, then I would end up with a couple of extra sets, with possible repeats. I am wondering if Desko and Peacock will also come back. There's also Blue and Green Hebrew; Blue Cyrillic as well.
Thanks, Team Hammer, despite the unfortunate circumstances for working hard to bring quality products to the enthusiast community.
Few questions: 1. Is there any updated time line for this? New ETA? 2. Is there a cut-off date for those who want to cancel 3. Is everything included in the base-kit? If so, are the icon modi kit + color kit being refunded? 4. For those who ordered multiple sets (ordered 3 myself), if i chose to stay, is it possible to secure to get at least one of the hebrew + one cyrillic? 5. Is it possible to send a review-set to Anthony (001keyboards)? He look very closely into products and have handled a lot of different PBT sets. I think a lot of customers would feel better if he approve of them. 6. There was also a big price difference between the different sets. Will this remain or will the future kits be closer in price? If so, will the difference be refunded?
- Please no banana shifts - Please no warped spacebars or long keys - Added compatibility is the best
I love good PBT dyesubs. Make PBT great again.
And yay for short shift and no banana keys!!!
Also, just to be sure, the sample picture shows both alphas/mods as same color (may just be the picture)... will you be matching to the BSP color?
I ultimately joined this drop to receive something that came out of the old Cherry molds (otherwise I would have just picked up a bunch of ePBT sets). Now I'm unsure whether to stay or cancel.
It would be really funny if HSP ended up being priced lower than the ePBT sets in stock on KBDfans.
*edited for context
You can see in these posts here that the quality of dye-sublimation that Team Hammer used to provide for their BSP sets was quite superb: https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=74405.msg2024804#msg2024804 and https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=64188.msg1842207#msg1842207
I can also say from experience that both OG Cherry and BSP sets have felt wonderful to type on, despite the nipple F/J homing keys feeling worse than the famous Cherry-profile scoops. EnjoyPBT can be pleasant too, but they do feel much more textured, more similar to that of the rougher HHKB/RF Topre-OEM sets.
My main concerns with EnjoyPBT sets are (1) the cap's top texture (very important; it is much, much rougher compared to OG or BSP, even), (2) inconsistent/fuzzy legends (like having a thicker S and thicker f in the word "Shift", than the rest of the letters) or varying heights of where the text is dye-subbed, and finally the degree of warping on long keys on PBT, although admittedly, BSP was infamously known for the "banana shifts" and 7u spacebars were never made in PBT.
Secondly, good on you to move forward and work toward finally bringing back high quality Cherry profile dyesub PBT back to its former glory. I support the idea 100% and very much look forward to seeing how it develops. It has immense potential.
Absolutely staying in, and very interested to see the end results.
My question is if BSP is not making the keycaps anymore what are they going to do with the Cherry moulds also what will they make if not keycaps? Granted I don't know what else BSP makes other than keycaps.
As for my order. I ordered 2 sets, Apl and Arabic. Could I get both cyrillic and hebrew so I don't end up with two of the same kind?
Second, I ordered both extra Mod kits. Will there be a refund for these or a price reduction etc?
Happy the project is carrying on, rather than to cancel the whole thing due to BSP blanks not being available.
Hi Hammer,
I am seeing that the Chinese GB is open -- can you please support split backspace? Mainly the following keys circled in the image below. I believe this will be a make-or-break aspect for many, many people, because the new HSP has promised added compatibility, and split backspace is crucial for many layouts, especially HHKB-style.
Thanks!
If you had more then 1 order of BSP in the original drop, do you get that many equivalent free sets?
1 BSP order = total of 2 HSP 2 BSP order (within the same transaction) = total of 4 HSP 3 BSP order = total of 6 HSP
I ask because some people ordered 3 BSP keysets. HSP keysets are around $95 in the China GB happening right now so the "free" set is really just because HSP is that much cheaper vs the $180 or so we paid per BSP keyset. So if they ordered 3 keysets, they should received 3 "free" keysets.
If this is not how it works, can those people modify their orders to only 1 keyset? So they originally ordered 3, get refunded for 2 sets, and stay in the drop for 1 set (but still get their free set) or will they have to cancel entirely?
Thanks!
Edit: Never mind. I see my questions were previously answered.