Layout optimization best practices: sources of your personal corpus (part 2)
Welcome back to our series on designing custom keymaps! After looking into how good/bad QWERTY is, the power of layers, and the potential of custom keymaps, last time we took the first real step by examining your options for compiling a corpus. As a recap: The corpus is simply a big chunk of text. We use this collection of textual data, often a single text file, to characterize your typing habits (calculating various language statistics), and feed it directly or indirectly as an input into layout optimization algorithms – to find the optimal keymap for you! Today we’ll expand on this idea by exploring your options if, like me, you prefer a personalized corpus rather than grabbing some general (and mostly irrelevant) data available online. Image 1: Letter frequencies – the most basic use of corpora – in this very post We've seen that a well-crafted, personalized corpus plays a key role in determining the outcome of the optimization process. We've also explored...
Sep 4, 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.