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
* Micro-switch for the insert key was soldered about a quarter cm higher than every other key - it sticks out, literally. * The stabilizers for the long keys (shift, enter, space, etc) really suck. If you press near the edge of the right shift or enter key, they won't work. * Some keys that normally lack stabilizers are also difficult to push when hit near the edge. Tab on my board seems particularly prone to this issue. * The switches are very inconsistent. I ordered a board with blue switches, and some of the switches don't even click. * The LEDs flicker quite distractingly on the highest and lowest settings.
I've got a Quickfire rapid that cost me 1/3 the price of this board, and it is much more pleasant to type on, due to just how inconsistent the switches in this board are. It appears MKC doesn't really have very high QC standards.
On a positive note, the chassis itself seems to be quite nice on a cursory inspection, and that is the main selling point for this board.
Some additional notes now that I've had a chance to use it:
* After pulling off some of the caps, I realized that the stabilizer bars are completely missing from everything other than the space bar. * The "v", left arrow, and scroll-lock keys are non-functional. * The spacebar easily gets stuck. * No way to turn off the LEDs. * Printing on the PBT caps is low quality. * The PBT keycaps themselves seems to be pretty good quality. * Appears to have full NKRO, which is a good thing. * The orange LEDs with the white PBT keycaps are quite attractive.
The board is unusable with the broken keys and missing stabilizers. Even without these issues, it would be an awful board to actually use due to the low quality of the switches. I'm not sure where they managed to find such low quality cherry switches, but I suspect they may be fakes or rejects.
I honestly would have probably just been happier if this had just been a drop for the chassis. The chassis is nice, but the board is completely useless garbage.