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'm pleasantly surprised it only got up to $1273. Converting this back to my own currency makes this look a bit better (Converted with current exchange rates). €1138,-. Still a lot of money. Still worth it. Since I'm not based in the US, a portion of that money is in shipping costs. All shipping for everything together amounts up to $195, or €174. Over 30% of that is just Signature Plastics (please fix that).
Some background info on me: I'm 18 years old, took a break from school, and have worked full-time for just over a year now. I live with my parents at no costs, am a major gearhead and like working on my own stuff.
I started this hobby when I built my first PC. First the Ducky, then about 11 months later came the blank keycap set. That kicked off the custom part of this. At the end of the year I took the next step, a second keyboard. Then I convinced myself that needed a custom set, and Canvas just happened to pop up a few months later (Jan 2017). Since then the Planck dropped, just as I was piecing it together from various sources, that needed keycaps, so I went with SA, as I wanted to try it. Since the shipping would amount to $43 I figured I'd throw in as much as I wanted. Then DSA Granite redropped and I figured I'd give my TKL an upgrade (March 2017). When may rolled around I fell madly in love with Miami Dolch DSA, so much so that I bought the simultaneously dropping XD60 kit for it. It needed a different colour plate though. Finally I thought It'd be nice to show the world my love for the Mechanical Keyboard, so I bought the keychain. There you go, my entire MK life. Some regrets: Not buying SA Dasher/Dancer, not being there for SA Nuclear Data.
I'll leave the future out of this, because I'd easily be able to double the numbers, and I'm not ready to accept that yet ;).
P.S. The Vortex Core and DSA HC Granite are looking pretty good, though...
P.S.S. Just kidding, I've got two cars that need repairs. Spending a lot of money on hobbies is fun, but make sure you keep your priorities straight.
Up for next month: MiTo's GMK Laser.
Month after that: GMK Red Samurai, 24K gold stabilizers, 60 MOD-H switches.
After that: A custom 60% plate for the Matias switches, a plate for my Miami Dolch build, an AMJ40 carbon fibre kit and a few sets of transparant stabilizers.
Then finally I have to get a hold of Halo True switches and a high profile 60% case.
Budgeted about $719 in keyboard stuff for the next few months. I budget everything in USD, and then pretend what I wrote down is in Euros. That way I can trick my mind that I'm not spending as much when the receipts come in.
That being said, what parts are you going for on your new Planck? (I'm tempted to buy a Easy On The Wallet Planck kit at some point.)
EDIT: Those in the picture are the EOTW version, I really like the gold stuff, it's just tacky enough to be tasteful-ish. Now should it have Blacks or Speed Golds?