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
you should really waste 5 minutes to read livingspeedbump's review at keychatter: https://www.keychatter.com/2015/03/12/review-royal-kludge-rc930-87-rgb/
Some little copycat from there:
So no, these switches don’t provide a faithful reproduction of the Topre sound and feel. They’re:
Less tactile, more linear Less thocky More whooshy and whistly Still very smooth, with a cushioned bottom-out In short, not quite capturing that je ne sais quoi / mystery sauce of genuine Topre
His review has given me the last kick to wait for Alex setting up a drop for a Realforce 87U Tenkeyless 55g (White/Gray). Do you hear me mate :-)
Have a nice weekend
But honestly, I've tried the Keyboard and Aaron nailed it. Does it feel remotely as refined as the 55g Topre switch? Not even close. Is it worth the price tag? Without a doubt.
In the end, I wouldn't label this as a "substitute" for Topre, but rather an "alternative." The feeling is...familiar, but at the same time it is very obviously not Topre.
I'm actually in the drop just to tear it apart as soon as I get it to answer some of the questions about it. "Are the sliders interchangeable with Topre keyboards? Are the springs interchangeable (I hear not), direct dome comparisons outside of the keyboard, etc"