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
Sorry, I had to say it. Sure you can build your own 40% keyboard that does more than this, but not everyone is into doing that and all the DIY 40% keyboard kit cost more than this as far as I know. Personally, I am not a fan of flashing firmware to remap or reprogram keys, having something that is built into the board has worked more consistently for me compared to software based solutions. With software, you got the issue of whether or not its cross-platform, making sure you put your keyboard into firmware flashing mode, making sure you don't overwrite important keys, etc. Also, some people like having warranty on the things they buy, I know I do. I'm not tech savvy enough to do maintenance on my keyboards if something goes haywire, I'd much rather just file a warranty claim, get a new keyboard or tech support at least, and be done. So yes, I think there is value in the Vortex Core. It's essentially a mini Pok3r and is priced as so.