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
RGB lighting is really nice! I love all the different color modes, and how there's even random color options for some of them. I know flashy LEDs are associated with the "pro gamer lowest common denominator" aesthetic and isn't too fondly viewed around here, but I'm a guy who loves his blinky lights.
I do have to admit that the keycap glyphs are terrible, but that's not really the keyboard's fault as they're the same glyphs you'd find on other Chinese-made boards you can find on Amazon. It's not so much the font, it's just... why does it say "HM" instead of "Home"? PU instead of Page Up? That's just lazy. I guess it's so they could only mark the top half so it would light entirely, but at that point you might as well just use icons.
The last thing is really just a nitpick... the sound isn't quite what I imagined. It's surprisingly hollow and quiet. When I thought "keyboard used in nuclear reactors" I was expecting a clackier, 1980s cyberpunk sound. I got the 70g springs and I guess they're mushier than I expected?