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
Was just doing regular casual gaming upon my new ALT high-pro when all of a sudden my character in-game just suddenly lost control but kept running forward at the same pace. Noticed the RGB on the keyboard went completely dark, and Alt-Tabbing out of the game was a no-go, then the horror sank in. It seems that the keyboard is dead . :( I had plugged in to my PC via standard USB-A 3.1 slot, to the keyboard's leftmost USB-C port, via Mechables coiled A-to-C cable. None of my other USB peripherals died in this fashion and continue to operate nominally, and no hardware events were discovered about this specifc device other than it had disconnected from the built-in backplane hub. I tried unplugging it and replugging it via its rightmost USB-C port, no go. Also tried doing a reset of the keyboard by unplugging it completely, holding down the reset button under the keyboard and plugging it back in. No go. Tried plugging it in to my personal and work laptops, no go. Nothing was spilled on this keyboard, and I take very good care of all of my hardware. I'm at a loss. The next step would be to do a PCB inspection but I'm afraid that doing so will void the warranty, damnit. If it's something simple like a cold solder joint or blown fuse somewhere on the board then I can fix that in 5 mins myself. Has anyone else had issues with their ALT High-Pros since receiving this latest batch? Breaks my heart, man... it was my favorite keeb out of the MD collection... really hope its not truly toast. :( I've had this keyboard for only about a month now, and had just sung its high praises in a MD review only a week prior to this unfortunate turn of events. Really disappointing overally. Welp, if anyone has any recommendations on next steps I am all ears, with warranty preservation in mind. I have a strong feeling that if I engage MD support on this one, they will simply issue a refund instead of sending me a new unit and I'll have to wait until God-knows-when before they are offered via drop or standard purchase again. Ugh !