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 managed to get all of the more difficult parts of the project done - desoldering all of the original switches (ughhh) and stripping the black backplate and giving it a brushed finish.
The hardest part by far was desoldering the switches, because unlike most standard keyboard PCBs the Disco has a double-sided PCB with traces connecting on both sides. Why is this a problem? If you don't take the time to really make sure that each lead is completely desoldered you risk damaging the plated through-hole / trace on the other side of the board when trying to take a component off. I found that I had to no only use a solder sucker but also go back to most leads again with some wick to make sure the holes were completely desoldered. This is more of an issue with the RGB LEDs, since the holes are so small and fragile. I learned this the hard way when I lifted a trace while removing an RGB LED on another board. This is where having a legitimate desoldering tool like a Hakko FR-300 or something similar is very handy - but, since I don't do this often and that tool is around $250, I did things the hard way. I actually tore-off a pad on the top side of the board that connects to an LED, but fortunately that pad didn't connect to a trace. I tested it afterward just to be safe and it still worked (really dodged a bullet there).
Stripping the paint off of the steel backplate:
After giving the backplate a brushed finish using sandpaper: