DCX vs DCD vs DCL - Drop’s Keycap Profiles Explained
We’ve covered the basics of keycap profiles before—spherical/cylindrical, sculpted/uniform, etc. One thing that has come up more and more over the years as we’ve expanded our portfolio of offerings here at Drop is the distinction between some of our similar profiles. Specifically, what is the actual difference between DCX, DCD, and DCL? Cylindrical Profiles To recap the previous article on the topic, one of the most basic ways to separate various keycap profiles is by shape (cylindrical, spherical, or flat). DCX, DCD, and DCL are all cylindrical profiles. The most famous cylindrical profile is Cherry profile, as defined by the original manufacturer of the keycaps—Cherry. GMK now owns those tools, and as such, only they can technically claim to produce “Cherry” profile keycaps. Similar keycap profiles are often called Cherry profile colloquially, but are in actuality slightly different. For the sake of not splitting hairs, all of the cylindrical profiles discussed here are...
Apr 9, 2024
Solution 1 - Remap within System Settings on Mac The easiest and most universal solution is to change the mapping within System Settings on Mac; software remapping will work with any keyboard, regardless of whether the keyboard is compatible with popular remapping solutions like QMK or VIA. This works on a per keyboard basis, meaning that the changes you make to your mechanical keyboard will not affect the layout of your laptop and/or Apple-branded keyboard.
- Open the macOS Keyboard settings (Spotlight Search “Keyboard”, or System Settings -> Keyboard)
- Click “Modifier Keys…” (lower right)
Remap the Cmd and Opt keys as desired (left key description is the physical keyboard, drop-down menu selection is the software action to map)Solution 2 - Remap the keyboard itself This is significantly more difficult (though made easier and easier thanks to community tools - don’t be scared away if it interests you) and requires a keyboard that can accommodate custom mapping (Drop CSTM65, CSTM80, Alt, Ctrl, and Shift are easily remapped, while Drop Entr cannot be remapped—use Solution 1 above for Entr). The downside to this solution is that the key remappings are hard-coded into the keyboard logic itself, so if you move the keyboard back and forth between Mac and Windows machines, the layout will now be reversed on the Windows computer. Hardware remapping to swap Cmd and Opt is really only the ideal solution if you only use Macs and you are also interested in remapping other keys which cannot be configured in software (most common in a more custom layout board). I won’t be going into detail about the remapping process here, as it is more advanced and each method has its own detailed instructions already. Drop Configurator
Instructions for Drop Alt
Instructions for Drop Ctrl
Instructions for other keyboards
How to remap the Function keys The question of how to remap Function keys has come up a lot over the years, so it’s worth addressing specifically. This functionality is not built into macOS itself. One of two workarounds is required—either remapping the keyboard itself, as described above (Solution 2 for swapping Cmd/Opt), or using software to remap. Software is by far the easiest and most universal solution here. It works for any and all keyboards, including our Entr and Lord of the Rings keyboards.