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
Oddly enough, Massdrop sells mechanical keyboards in their Tech section sometimes. I bought a Nixeus Moda Pro from there just before the holidays and it’s better than I expected for $50. And there is a drop open now for a Gigabyte Force K83 Cherry MX.
Are you typing in QWERTY, or a different layout? One of the nice things about the WASD boards is being able to throw a toggle switch to change to a few of the more common alternate layouts.
The Gigabyte keyboard is attractive! I'll be typing in QWERTY, anything else is too fancy for me lol.
Do you have any good sources for coiled cables? I think I'll just get an Amazon Basics micro-usb to usb-c.
Wow, good luck! Be sure to share images when you are done, I'm super curious to see what it will look like in the end.
But someone in that drop's discussion commented that a "better" keyboard is available on Amazon, and it happens to have blues: https://www.amazon.com/Mechanical-Gaming-Keyboard-Cherry-Detachable/dp/B01N23BAFB
I cannot find the type of USB cable socket on either board. Be careful not to buy the wrong cable, both Mini & Micro USB are common. I'd wait until you have the board in hand before ordering a coiled cable. And I don't know anything about cable sources. If you just want black, Amazon is probably your best bet.
Thanks for the tip, I typically buy my cables from Amazon, my preferred brand is Anker, but Amazon Basics makes good cables as far as I've experienced. I needed a usb power hub so I could easily power a bunch of Raspberry Pis for work, so I ordered retractable cables. They probably won't last, but I am worried about desk clutter more than anything.
I think finding a coiled cable will be more about luck than anything else lol.
Amazon's price is a bit more than Massdrop's was when I bought it. Massdrop will probably run it again.
If a TKL is enough, there is a drop open for the next 4 days with blues as an option: https://www.massdrop.com/buy/nixeus-moda-v2-mechanical-mechanical-keyboard?utm_source=linkshare&referer=AV5F4D
I wish I could safely remove that nexeus logo.