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zerspeN
23
Jun 11, 2018
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Hi everyone, I'm very new to mechanical keyboards so any help is appreciated ahead of time.
I've been staring at this page for the better part of an hour and I have a few questions.
I've done a bit of research on the additional 70 switches that you can but, with some emphasis on the Halo Clears. I noticed at the bottom that list there is the CherryMX Browns (RGB). Does that imply that the Halo Clears will not be RBG? Or are the LED's on the board instead of the actual switch? These are probably very basic questions but again, I am very new and I appreciate your patience.
Second question, what is QMK Firmware? I looked it up on Google and found a software on GitHub. Is this just a 3rd party software to make the RBG and Macro coding for keys easier as well as a possibility?
Thank you for your help and I'm sorry if I sound really dumb, I'm just very curious.
Jun 11, 2018
MiTo
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MiTo
Jun 11, 2018
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zerspeNLEDs are always on the PCB, never on the switches and all switches here are RGB compatible. QMK is the firmware of the keyboard which allows you to program it as you want, including keymap and macro functions, not to mention RGB schemes.
Jun 11, 2018
zerspeN
23
Jun 11, 2018
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MiToThank you so much!
Jun 11, 2018
Daed
574
Jun 11, 2018
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zerspeNQMK is immensely powerful firmware. If you have no experience coding, it can be a real challenge to work with. Don't get me wrong, there's tons of information out there if you're willing to learn, and I bet there are plenty of people who would be willing to modify the layout for you if you have trouble. But all that being said, flashing the firmware to the board can sometimes be tricky, depending on your system. I find it much easier to do in Linux than Windows 10, even though Windows builds have gotten better lately. I keep a Raspberry Pi around just for microprocessor flashing.
If you put the time in to learn it, you can do pretty much anything you can imagine with QMK, and a lot more.
I hope EasyAVR will support the ALT, though, for people who just want to rearrange the layout and maybe put on some simple macros.
Jun 11, 2018
zerspeN
23
Jun 11, 2018
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DaedThank you for your reply! I have some experience with Java as that is what I am currently going to school for. Would that be helpful at all?
Thanks again!!
Jun 11, 2018
MiTo
13953
MiTo
Jun 11, 2018
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DaedYou speak the truth. But I have an Atom47 that sadly practically sees no use because even though I came up with a clever keymap, shoving it into the keeb has been impossible simply put. I much prefer Bootmapper Client as I don’t need nothing too insane.
I gotta contact Martin so he can help me, but unfortunately I haven’t had enough time to look into that so far.
Jun 11, 2018
Daed
574
Jun 11, 2018
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zerspeNIt will definitely be helpful, but you'll still have a bit to learn, I imagine. I learned to program in Pascal in the mid-'90s, and even that was helpful :). If I'm not mistaken, QMK is written in C or some variation thereof. Knowing what functions and variables are helps a lot. You don't really need to learn C -- QMK is so chock full of specialized functions that you pretty much just need to read the QMK guides, and pick-n-choose the features you want. If you look at existing keymaps (https://github.com/qmk/qmk_firmware/tree/master/keyboards) and you're not computer-illiterate, you can figure out basic remaps in a couple minutes.
I don't see the ALT in there yet, but I'm sure it will be within hours of the first boards landing, if not sooner. At the very least, I'll have my version up there within days of delivery :).
What was hardest for me was the hardware interface. I never learned anything about microprocessors in my comp sci classes in high school. I had immense trouble getting my Windows computer to play nicely with the USB serial interface. It was a low-odds gamble every time I wanted to flash the firmware with my Pro Micro clones. A brand-name microcontroller like the Teensy made things a lot easier, and I never had any trouble getting my system to recognize my Infinity ErgoDox. There are new write-ups on setting up the build environment for windows, though, and I think they're a lot better than what I tried to use a couple years ago. I haven't explored it much, though, since I have it fairly well ironed-out on my Raspberry Pi :). You might want to start playing around with it while you're waiting for the drop!
https://beta.docs.qmk.fm/install-build-tools#windows-with-msys2-recommended
Jun 11, 2018
zerspeN
23
Jun 11, 2018
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DaedWow thank you so much! I'll definitely take a look at it. Most of what you said in that second paragraph went straight over my head so I've got my homework set out for me. But, I have a definite question for you. Is the ALT worth picking up? The pricetag is a little high for me as I'm coming from a pok3r RGB. I'm interested in why this drop is so much more popular than other mechanical keyboards. Is it because of the custom keycaps in conjunction with the board?
Any thoughts are appreciated and thank you in advance :)
Jun 11, 2018
Daed
574
Jun 11, 2018
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zerspeNI suspect a lot of it is the Laser caps. @MiTo is a great designer, and really killed it with the Laser set. For those of us who missed the the recent drop, or who just can't get enough of it, it's an attractive board. If you're not familiar, GMK keycaps are extremely high quality. They're relatively small-scale manufacturing, and made of high quality materials, to extremely-exacting specifications. That adds up to $150+ for a full set. This is cheaper because it's only 70 or so keys, instead of the >100 keys they usually come with.
It's also the firmware, I think. QMK is basically the ultimate keyboard firmware. As we've already covered, it's not because it's easy, but because it's so powerful. Once you get a taste of it, it's hard to give up for a lot of us. I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who who just don't care how wild and crazy their keyboard can get, though. If you have no interest in the macro capability of your Pok3r, and don't wish you could tweak its layout or capabilities, maybe it's not that big a deal for you. But if your keyboard is one of your primary tools, it can be very helpful to customize it to your needs. I'm a draftsman, and have dozens of AutoCAD macros programmed into my boards. It saves a significant amount of time for me on a daily basis. It literally earns me more money. I understand programmers are in a similar position. A lot of the boards here on Massdrop have very little, if any, layout customization. My very first mech board, the Ajazz AK33, was a great starter board. But if you didn't like the layout, tough. All of the fully-customizable ones seem to be up in this (>$150) price range. Instead of getting away with the simplest circuitry they can get away with, QMK boards have to use a full-fledged microcontroller. It's like an Arduino built into every board. When you add RGB underglow, and per-key RGB lighting, well, there's a lot that goes into a board like this. Just a year or so ago, per-key RGB under QMK was a pipe dream.
Now, I have no involvement with the development of this board. I came here today to learn about it, because I'm jonesin' for that Laser goodness. I'm usually an ortholinear guy (my office setup: https://i.imgur.com/DXvDYzF.jpg), but I've been thinking about going back to staggered layout at home. Once you get accustomed to the mech board craziness, this price tag seems pretty normal for a quality board, and from what I can tell, this is a quality board. It sounds like you're studying programming. If that's true, that means the keyboard is one of your main tools. I personally am a firm believer that you should NEVER be worried about buying the best tools you can afford. For someone who just wants a good board for gaming, or for emailing the grand-kids, this might be serious overkill.
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Obviously you don't want to get your car repossessed or lose the rent/mortgage money, but while other extravagant purchases may be frivolous luxuries, quality tools are an investment. Thus, it's definitely worth the $200+ for me.
Jun 11, 2018
MiTo
13953
MiTo
Jun 11, 2018
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DaedTrackballers unite!
Jun 11, 2018
zerspeN
23
Jun 13, 2018
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DaedWow. You are incredible thank you so much for all of this information. I think I will pick up this board and try to make some sense of half of the stuff that you've left me to research here. Thank you soooo much for all of this Daed I appreciate your patience with me as I am very new to this whole world. Have a great day :)
Jun 13, 2018
MiTo
13953
MiTo
Jun 13, 2018
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zerspeNQMK is indeed very nice, the community (as you can probably see) is super engaged and helpful when it comes to tinkering with it!
Jun 13, 2018
zerspeN
23
Jun 13, 2018
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MiToYes! I appreciate the help with all of this. I also caved on it and I bought it so I am looking forward to experimenting with the keyboard and QMK in November. Thanks for all your help as well MiTo and great work with the design :) One last question... I noticed that there are options for Halo Clear and Halo True. Are these tactical switches made by MassDrop? And would they be similar to Cherry Clears? Also, as this board is per-key RGB, does that mean that in order to have an RGB backlighting would you also want to purchase RBG switches? (such as the MX Browns that you are allowing us to purchase with this as well)
Thanks in advance :)
Jun 13, 2018
MiTo
13953
MiTo
Jun 13, 2018
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zerspeNHalo switches are tactile yes, and all switches offered here are RGB compatible. Halls are similar to clears, yes! More info here:
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/input-club-halo-true-halo-clear-mechanical-switches,34443.html
Jun 13, 2018
zerspeN
23
Jun 13, 2018
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MiToThank you so much! I really do appreciate your help. You are amazing!!
Jun 13, 2018
MiTo
13953
MiTo
Jun 13, 2018
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zerspeN
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Jun 13, 2018
Daed
574
Jun 13, 2018
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zerspeNTo add to MiTo's response, Cherry's RGB switches just mean that they're designed explicitly to work with board-mounted LEDs. A little history lesson helps it make sense.
A couple years ago, a lot of backlit keyboards (all? most?) worked by soldering the legs of a relatively big through-hole LED through the switch and into the PCB. This put the LED on top of the switch, just under the keycaps. The entire electronics industry has been moving towards much smaller and more efficient surface-mounted components (which have no legs to run through a switch), and manufacturers quickly saw that it would be a benefit for manufacturing RGB keyboards, too. We quickly got clear switch housings, and Cherry put windows in their opaque housings, to let the light from the PCB-mounted emitters get through to the top.
I presume the ALT has surface-mounted LEDs, I don't see any other reason why they'd offer Cherry's RGB line. But that's just Cherry's solution. The other switches in this drop (all of them, I think) have a similar window.
Jun 13, 2018
zerspeN
23
Jun 13, 2018
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DaedOh!! This actually completely changes what I was thinking. I had all of this based on my original Razer Blackwidow because that was my first real experience with a mechanical keyboard back in 2011. When I popped the caps they had the LED right on top of the whole switch like you said. I didn't realize that they were actually soldered onto the PCB. I just assumed the the RGB specification of the Cherry switch meant that they had the LED's mounted on them. Thank you so much for this clarification!!
P.S. I just pulled the cap off of my Pok3r and this is correct, so thank you so much for the information. You have made purchasing this keyboard so much easier.
Jun 13, 2018
Daed
574
Jun 13, 2018
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zerspeNIf you want to go nuts like so many of us have, you might be interested in joining one or more of the mech communities. The biggest ones appear to be GeekHack (https://geekhack.org/), Deskthority (https://deskthority.net/), and Reddit's r/MechanicalKeyboards (https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/). The latter is my keyboard haunt, and you're welcome to hit me up there (https://www.reddit.com/user/Justinicus) any time (I'm sure there are more communities out there... I started my own on MeWe, for example, where I remain the sole member!). This world was pretty overwhelming when I got into it, and a friendly resource makes a big difference!
Jun 13, 2018
zerspeN
23
Jun 13, 2018
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DaedThank you so so so much. I literally cannot thank you enough for your help. You've turned me from not wanting to purchase this keyboard at all to basically nose diving into the community and feeling very confident in my purchase of the ALT because it is so much fun to do. I'll definitely check out those resources and I just followed you on Reddit (I didn't know that was a thing you could do) but again, thank you so so much.
P.S. *infinite thank you's*
Jun 13, 2018
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