Not All Linears Are The Same!
Figure 1: Not even all of these (mostly) KTT-made linears are the same! After all of my years of collecting, reviewing, and obsessing over switches, I can say with certainty that linear switches are the most misunderstood of all of the switch types. No, I’m not talking about mechanically either, as all of the claims of them “just going straight up and down” are somewhat kind of true. (Not too much though, don’t get that excited.) The part that is often misunderstood, though, is usually in what is being implied when people say that these switches just go straight up and down – “All linears might as well be the same.” If the title of this article didn’t make that obvious enough to you, I find that sort of idea to be completely and utterly wrong. The people who make these implications wouldn’t say that a Cherry MX Black is the same as a Novelkeys Cream switch? They also certainly wouldn’t ever claim that every Gateron-made linear is the same as every fancy TTC one out there...
May 29, 2024
Layer 0 - Default Layer
Toggle Keys
Keymapping The is pretty much a default keyboard layout except for the layer toggles. Layer 1 - LED / Fn Layer
Colors
Keymapping
Layer 2 - VIM / Word / Outlook Layer
Toggle Keys
Colors The yellow and orange are kind of hard to distinguish in the photos.
Keymapping
Navigation
Vim
Word Helpers
- U = ctrl + page up (Beginning of paragraph)
- M = ctrl + page down (End of paragraph)
- W = ctrl + right arrow (Navigates to next word)
- B = ctrl + left arrow (Navigates to previous word)
- 4$ = ctrl + home (Navigates to end of line)
- 0) = ctrl + end (Navigates to start of line)
I tried to figure out a way to navigate sentences but I didn’t want to write VB macros. Excel HelperShortcuts
Outlook
Word
Layer 3 - Excel Layer
Toggle Keys The Drop configurator has an option to toggle a layer for one keypress. I use this to toggle this layer from the Default layer and the Vim layer. After I press a shortcut, the keyboard reverts back to the previous layer. Colors
Keymapping
Formatting
Excel Commands
Excel Navigation
Conclusion This set up as worked out really well so far. I will probably make a couple tweaks here and there but I’ve gotten used to the layout after a full day’s use. It’s worked out so well I’m considering buying another one for home to replace my dev keyboard, an Apple Magic Keyboard. At $200 shipped, the Alt Keyboard isn’t cheap but what would you pay to finally learn all the Vim keybindings?