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
Fwiw, I got a variable weight from Massdrop last time around and love it. Wanted a 55g for home and wasn't able to get one on this drop... sharing just in case anyone else was in my predicament!
Right now I have a Topre 55g board and a CL Novatouch with 45g Topre keys, and right now I'm really loving the Novatouch. The 45g switches are light and fast, and it seems like 45g is just on the verge of having just enough tactility. It seems any lighter and that tactile feel may be lost. So I'm very curious about the feel of the 30g keys on the variable weight board.
I've gotten much better, but it does take some focus.
The variable-weight is for work where I code and type all day long. The 55g board will be for home where I'll be both coding and playing a game here or there, hence the added weight and consistency of the WASD keys.
If the 45g EK edition was available, I might have gone with it... but I was impatient enough as it is :D
I'll check back in when I have the 55g board, but I'm guessing it will be after this drop is finished.
(Sorry. Couldn't help myself.)
Source: I have a Landing Pad modded Novatouch and a 55g Realforce. Both are awesome.
https://elitekeyboards.com/products.php?sub=topre_keyboards,rftenkeyless&pid=rf_se18t0
But then you don't get the PBT spacebars... and they are a worthy upgrade imo. You might be able to find someone out there who has one they could sell you.
Muirium at DT: http://deskthority.net/keyboards-f2/topre-with-cherry-keycaps-t12251.html made a nice sound comparison video.
Have a nice day
It's really that I prefer the 45g weight over the 55g weight. At least for now, it seems to be working out that way. That's why I prefer using the Novatouch a little more over the 55g Realforce.
That's not to say the Novatouch is a higher quality keyboard than the Realforce. It is not. The Realforce is much more solid. The sound of the Realforce is also more solid, yet quieter. The Realforce is really a step up, as everyone says.
Having said that, the Novatouch is quite a pleasure to use. The quality is very good, IMO, just not as deluxe as the Realforce. The Novatouch does have a slightly more clacky sound. But that's in comparison to the Realforce. The sound of the Novatouch doesn't bother me at all. It's nowhere near as clacky as MX Browns, or Matias Quiet Clicks, for example. All-in-all, it's actually pretty quiet and damped sounding.
Now, I am using my Novatouch with Ducky cream/green BPT keycaps, which may heavier and better damped than whatever may come stock with a Novatouch keyboard, so maybe that's improving the experience for me (I got the barebones Novatouch in a previous drop, and also the Ducky BPT keycaps in another previous drop).
I'm liking the 45g weight so much that I'm eagerly awaiting the time when I can afford to spend the cash on a 45g Realforce. Of course, I do like the 55g a lot, too. It's just that they take a tad more force to activate than I currently prefer. I hear that they break in a little bit, so maybe It'll be my favored weight after some use.
The Realforce is truly a premium keyboard. The unfortunate thing about them, however, is that the key action is so unique, that despite how many forums and opinions you read, you don't really know what key weight will be perfect for you until you've actually tried them out. So though I personally lean to the 45g, I'm still intrigued by how the variable weight board might feel. Such is life in the Topreverse!