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
- FN + F1 - My Computer/Files
- FN + F2 - Browser
- FN + F3 - Calculator
- FN + F4 - Media Player
- FN + F5 - Skip Back
- FN + F6 - Skip Forward
- FN + F7 - Play/Pause
- FN + F8 - Stop
- FN + F9 - Mute
- FN + F10 - Volume Down
- FN + F11 - Volume Up
- FN + F12 - Keyboard Lock
- FN + Meta Key (Windows Key) - Meta Key Lock
- FN + 4 - Starts this LED flashing sequence where the 1 key will start flashing. You can press the 2 and 3 keys, and they'll flash very briefly, then the 1 key will continue to flash. You can press the 4 key again to stop this sequence. During this sequence, you cannot use the keyboard. Not really sure what this is, but I assume it might be part of the bluetooth pairing procedure? SOLVED: Switches between Bluetooth mode and wired mode. You can connect up to 3 devices, and pressing FN + 1/2/3 can switch between the 3.
- There is an LED under the spacebar. I have not found a way to turn it off. The keyboard is not backlit, but the only keys with included LEDs are the Caps Lock, 1, 2, 3, and spacebar. I assume the spacebar LED is on when the keyboard is plugged in and "charging"
- This keyboard's firmware cannot be replaced, though supposedly it is programmable. I believe the software can be found on www.kc-keycool.com, except I timeout when trying to reach that website, so that's rough.
- Have not been able to use its bluetooth capabilities. When I try to connect it to a device, I get a prompt to type an initial code to connect to the device, but as far as I know, the keyboard is not connected yet so I can't type and connect it. SOLVED: After typing the code, you can press enter and the keyboard will be able to connect.
- This keyboard did not come with a dust cover as advertised. It did come with a cloth (which can act as a dust cover maybe?), keycap puller, and extra, alternative keycaps.
I got brown switches with mine, and it's pretty nice so far. It feels relatively less tactile than other brown switches I've typed on, but maybe that's just me. I enjoy the form factor a lot. However, due to the lack of documentation on this board, I feel a little unsatisfied and feel like I didn't get my money's worth. If anybody, or even Keycool themselves, can tell us exactly what this board can and cannot do, I'm sure many people would appreciate that. EDIT: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/keycool-84-bluetooth-mechanical-keyboard-cherry-mx-clear-switches-wireless-game-keyboard-mx-brown-mini84-BT/32956506633.html This page on AliExpress seems to give some information on how you can use this board. The LED functions aren't really relevant, but everything else seems to be applicable.