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
- Form factor - 65/68 key. Like the MagicForce 68, the Leopold FC660M - must have arrow keys, don’t care if it doesn’t have an F1-F12 row.
- Bluetooth 4 / Bluetooth Low Energy BLE multi-device pairing . Modern, multi-device BT pair switching, like the Logitech K480 or K380 and predecessors. Most keyboards with this functionality have the ability to link to at least three devices - in my case I want one keyboard to swap between at least two paired devices - a PC laptop and an iPad Pro; and it’d be nice to also be able to connect to a third item (an iPhone), but not essential.
- Hotswappable switches. Nope, I’m not hardcore and do not give a rat’s about learning to solder. Hey, I’m late to the buy-your-own-switches party, but now with some heavy Halos, Zealios, Hakos, Box Royals and some others on hand to deal with the not-so-keen-on-clicky open plan office, I really like the option to use my own switches. Hell, if the GK-68 can do hotswap for $142 and the Glorious Modular Keyboard for $85 (and it’s a great keyboard for the money), then it can be done!
- QMK Programmable (or similar). Usually this isn’t a factor, although always nice to have - buuuuut now with a locked-down work Windows laptop, on-keyboard QMK-ish editability to swapping the functions of CTRL / WIN / ALT to act pretty much like CTRL / OPT / CMD is now front and centre.
I have or have on order the following related keyboards, which tick some of the boxes, but not one of them ticks ALL the boxes in one package:- MagicForce 68 v2 Bluetooth 4.0 / USBC - this is probably the closest, but no hotswap switches (I got MX Whites) and I’m not sure about how the ‘reprogrammable’ part works. https://www.massdrop.com/buy/78045 (reprogramming isn’t very good, and mine died after a week. Bugger)
- GK68 - sooooo close, hotswap, 68ish key, reprogrammable... no BT though. https://www.massdrop.com/buy/65062
- Whitefox Vanilla - nice, I like it and use it daily, but no BT, no hotswap switches. https://kono.store/products/whitefox-mechanical-keyboard
- Glorious Modular Keyboard - hotswap switches, very nice for the the price (my kid loves it), but no BT, it’s a TKL not 68ish, etc. https://www.massdrop.com/buy/62258
- Logitech K380-ish - My wife has one of these, and the BT pairing / switching is perfect. Shame it’s not mechanical, programmable or enjoyable to type on! https://www.logitech.com/en-roeu/product/multi-device-keyboard-k380?crid=1762
Are these worthwhile options?- https://www.nizkeyboard.com/product/hot-selling-bluetooth-usb-ec-keyboard-75-84-87-108-pro-keys-non-rgb/ - is this a Topre clone with MX-compatibility? I have the Topre switched Leopold F660C, and... Topre are (for me) meh.
- Some other thread suggests a Rama M65-A which looks nice, but I can’t even tell from the lack of text if it has BT. https://rama.works/m65a
- This page suggests Vortex launched a Vorted Race 3 with BT (Vortex Hybrid?) but my Google-fu failing me https://www.techpowerup.com/245114/vortexgear-joins-in-with-more-wireless-mechanical-keyboards
I’ve looked at a few others, but they all seem to have no more than three out of the four things I want:- https://www.massdrop.com/buy/if2-68-key-bluetooth-mechanical-keyboard - not quite.
- https://www.massdrop.com/buy/gk84-75-bluetooth-wooden-mechanical-keyboard - BT3?
- https://www.massdrop.com/buy/massdrop-alt-mechanical-keyboard - no BT.
- https://www.massdrop.com/buy/nym-84-aluminum-mechanical-keyboard - no BT, no hot swap.
- https://www.massdrop.com/buy/keycool-kc-sp68-bluetooth-mechanical-keyboard - I’d give this a red hot go, but missed the drop, and it looks like no reprogramming and no hot swap. Better off with the MagicForce 68 V2, I reckon.
- https://www.massdrop.com/buy/punchy-kb68-bluetooth-4-0-mechanical-keyboard-kit - this could have been a go-er but bleh, soldering, and I think at $300 it never got up?
{EDIT - I have tried the USB-Bluetooth adaptor that Massdrop has up a while ago - I bought this one https://www.massdrop.com/buy/handheld-scientific-bt-500-bluetooth-adapter. It’s a bit hit and miss with connection, and clunky. Hey, the fact it exists is good, however ideally BT built-in with multi-pairing is much, much better.} Lonnnnnng story short - there’s a really obvious one (or seven) keyboards with all four attributes that I’ve missed by being inattentive, right? Help much appreciated! {EDIT2 - looks like the answer to this question is ‘it almost exists but not quite yet’. Thanks to everyone who replied, and I’ll keep an eye on KBDFans.} {EDIT3 - Might have found it on Kickstarter... So, this looks interesting enough on all criteria that I backed it... for those wondering, I went with the version that includes a battery. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/woo-dy/woo-dy-a-67-keys-mechanical-keyboard-that-is-breathing }