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
I am not supporting this product, but I am also not bashing it either. I am very aware that this board is a love it or hate it thing and you can clearly see most people hate it due to the 165 responses with only one person actually buying it.
I want to make it clear that I am NOT the person who has purchased on and I do not plan on buying one either but I do think it's nice to see an aluminum board like this on the market. (Same goes for duckys year of the horse mini) I am not up on whether or not varmilo boards are high quality or not but I have not seen any complaints about them but maybe I missed that. What is varmilos relation to leopold also, does anyone know?
If you want some perspective about what I have spent on keyboards, I will be honest. I own many boards which have cost me plenty more than this board, one of which cost more than double this keyboards $400 starting price. Call me a sucker, I don't care, but I love high quality keyboards and I have a hard time buying a keyboard without an aluminum case these days. The aluminum casings make a big difference on the feel of the keyboard (both typing and just handling) and I am sure anyone who has tried them knows that. Whether or not that difference in feel is worth it is up to you, but I feel like it is.
Believe it or not, there are people in the keyboard community who spend over $400 for single artisan keycaps and upwards of $2000 on rare korean keyboards. It's all about perspective, if you are looking at this board from the perspective of someone who spends $160-90 on a keyboard and stops there (and is happy), you probably aren't going to be interested in this.
You can say people can just get an aluminum board if they want to, but that doesn't make sense to me. There aren't ANY boards like this on the market, so why can't this be the board to fill that market. Your only option of a fully aluminum tenkeyless board that is ready to buy, as far as I know, is the filco + tex alu case combo and those cases always sell out, so there IS interest for something like this. As I said, doing that voids your warranty, and plenty of filcos have died over the years (Usually the controller). Ducky did the full size aluminum board before but the only thing on it that was aluminum was the top piece. The bottom half was plastic, and while I never had that board, I have a feeling the board typed exactly like a plastic board since the bottom was plastic.
Plenty of people are just fine with plastic keyboards, yes, I am not saying everyone wants a metal case for their keyboard. I just get a bit bothered by people who are simply not interested in something like this, but instead of saying that, or moving on, they have to go on the offensive and start throwing out insults at the companies involved. People saying Linus is lining his pockets by featuring this board for 20 seconds at the end of an unrelated video, that gets to me. People saying massdrop is ripping its customers off, that bothers me. People giving their opinions about what COULD have been done, such as different switch and keycaps choices, different case colors/designs, that is perfectly fine and it helps everyone out. The customers get what they want, varmilo knows what to make, etc... Being so harsh doesn't help anyone.
The aluminum keyboard market is NOT oversaturated. There are hardly any aluminum keyboard options for people who aren't interested in community driven projects which can end up taking up to and over a year to complete. Leaving your money in the hands of a random person who may or may not be able to accomplish the task of producing the boards.
Filco and TEX are making a profit, I never said they weren't. You might not be aware, but there are a lot of keyboard communities out there like geekhack and otd which make these aluminum boards on the regular, those are keyboards that a lot of more casual keyboard enthusiasts might not know about (Really not trying to sound elitist here, but just being realistic). I never said you should take pity on anyone, as I said before, I am not partaking in this, whether this drop is successful or not doesn't have ANY impact on me. I just felt like giving my perspective on this.
That's not the case.
We just don't think it's the right fit for Massdrop. A site where you need a larger base apeal to make a group buy worth it.
Curious. You are quite adamant that you were not the 1 person who bought one.... **Why not**? You seem to think it's a great value compared to other options. A value that none of us are seeing. If it's so great, why haven't you jumped on it? If this is such a rare offering and you dump more than this on similar keyboards, why haven't you snatched one up?
Could it be that the style options do not appeal to you? You don't have first hand experience with Varmilo, so hesitate spending $350+ with them? That it doesn't work with mac? That over $300 pulls it out of the realm of impulse buy?
I don't see why you are trying to read into my posts for more than what they are. Just because I didn't buy this board doesn't mean I don't like it. It also doesn't stop me from giving my opinion on the board in general.
Maybe I'm wrong, maybe it isn't the same board, but they haven't stated that it is different in the comments or the description. If it is not, and there are additional features here, like being able to program it, then I'm obviously off base. But, based on the descritption that does not appear to be the case.
i would although like to give one last comment.
@HPE1000: I guess vou're overestimating the power of the so called "trolls" and underestimating the ability of the other people / potential buyers to make up their mind on their own.
@jdswhatwhat: Of course, i don't know. The employees are human beings, therefore i guess they might have thought, stupid comment, stupid troll ..... . I would! But as a company, no way, this is business, and if you cant stand the heat, you shouldnt enter the kitchen. And i cant see that much heat here.
Making "mistakes" or misjudge a product is everyday business, and no problem at all. The difference is made by the way you handle it. You can take the easy way out, which isn't good in my opinion, and say, these stupid people are to blind to see and blame the world. Or you may take a look at yourself, and ask, what should i do better next time, where had i been wrong and improve.
@thecomicsanshaters: Regarding the fact, that you've the opportunity to waste your time at MD, i assume you're living in a free part of the world, not being harassed by war or religious fanatics. This leads to the fact, that it is in your own hands to come up with a nice idea, make a good business plan, start your own business and make up a corporate design of your liking, get back to MD with your product, and get trolled for your taste/font :-) You will learn, It aint possible to please everybody.
@Varmilo: It might be a good idea to include two spacebars to your mechas, one branded and one clean.
@Massdrop: A "special" drop like this needs a much better description to let your customers see the value. Why not compare this with other products of this kind. Put them on a scale, make pictures to let me see this sucker has double weight, it's two times thicker etc. .....
@myself and many other: It seems to be true, the internet is made for porn and trolling many times, which is a shame! (or not, depending on your point of view)
Final verdict, neither Massdrop, nor Varmilo have lost any reputation to me, and this will be forgotten anyway in a short time for most of the people.
With best regards and have a nice weekend.