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
Seriously, though - $109 is super cheap for what you get with this board. I bought the full-size version in the last drop and I honestly can't believe how good it is for the price. I have owned genuine Realforce boards and I would say this board is 80% as good as a Realforce for roughly half the price. Plus you get pretty decent backlighting and it's much quieter than a standard Realforce. (The silenced RF are nearly 3x the price of this board.)
By contrast, the RC930 comes with little "dental band" o-rings between the tops of the key sliders and the base plate, so there is no "clack" sound when the key pops back up. The rubber domes are also a bit softer than genuine Topre, so overall the keys are a bit less tactile feeling, but not in a bad way as imho, it makes them feel nice and smooth. In my experience, the 55g RC930 feels somewhere between a 45g genuine Topre switch and a 55g genuine Topre switch in terms of resistance and tactility. 55g Topre is much more snappy and feels heavier than the 55g RC930, and I actually prefer the RC930 because I find the 55g Topre a little fatiguing.
Build quality between the Novatouch and RC930 is about equal. They both have very sturdy cases that do not have any noticable creak or flex. The Novatouch has kind of a "rubberized" coating on the case which gives it a slightly more matte appearance than the RC930, whereas the RC930 kind of has a finely textured plastic that makes it non-shiny, but not quite as matte black as the Novatouch. I like the look of the Novatouch case a little better, but I actually think the plastic on the RC930 looks and feels very nice as well and it resists fingerprints better than the surface of the Novatouch. In stock form, the key caps on the RC930 are much nicer than the stock keycaps on the Novatouch. They are thicker and have a little bit of texture to them, which I like. Overall, both boards are very well built. Neither are quite as nice as a Topre Realforce board, but that is sort of an unfair comparison as the Realforce is probably the ultimate benchmark for stock keyboard build quality.
In a nutshell, the Novatouch feels more like a Realforce. The RC930 feels softer and more linear, but still plenty tactile for me, and is much, much quieter. Overall, I prefer the RC930, but both are good, just different.
Hey, great description of the keyboard. I think you are spot on.
I have all the keyboards you mentioned, the RC930, the Novatouch, and the Topre 55g. I couldn't have described the feel of the key action or the sound of the keys any better than you did. Great description for anyone comparing the 3.
What struck me is that I agree with you 100% about how the Topre 55g can be fatiguing. While I like the general feel of it, I find the weight just a bit too heavy. I find I can only use it for a short while before I feel like switching to something else.
The Novatouch, at 45g, almost feel a little too light for me. Plus there's that noisy clack from each key on the rebound. This is one you wouldn't want to use at a library, or for taking notes in class for the noise. On some days the Novatouch feels just right. On other days, I find it feels too light and mushy. I find my accuracy goes way down on those days.
For me, the RC930 hits a sweet spot in terms of weight. Just right. I can type comfortably for hours on it. Now , I wish there were just a tad more tactility. But as you described, the effect is that it feels smooth with just enough tactility.
My two gripes about the RC930 are: 1. While the rubber dome response makes for a smooth tactility, I find the keystroke itself is a bit gritty. It reminds me of the sandy feeling keystroke of Cherry MX Blues. I wish they had used smoother sliders. 2. The LED lighting has a weird, sickly hue to it. This is especially apparent in the yellows and greens (take a look at the pictures on the product description). The colors are nowhere as pure and vibrant as on the other Royal Kludge RGB keyboard that drops here every so often.
But overall I really like this keyboard a lot. In fact, it's one of my favorite keyboards to type on. Recommended.
I also agree that I wouldn't recommend the RC930 to anyone whose top priority is the lighting. There are lots of MX boards that are better and I also recently picked up a Logitech G810 Romer-G board that smokes it in terms of lighting quality. The "sickly hue" is good way to put it. The yellow and white in particular are......not yellow and not white for sure.
But, as far as the overall typing experience and build quality, though, I am very satisfied with the RC930 and the lighting is good enough for the utilitarian purpose of being able to see the keys in the dark if you can find a hue that works for you. And if not, of course you can just turn it off and have a very pleasant Topre clone to type on.