Hello!
Seriously nerding out today, first post in way too long.
There's been so much junk going on in the world I felt like I didn't want to add to that, and I couldn't think of much else to babble about.
But now I have something. It's nerd-cliche. Ready anyway? My Recent Keyboard Journey. Oh yeah.
A couple of decades back, maybe a little more, I was doing web-based tech support, and was able to finagle some time off to learn a different keyboard layout so my hands wouldn't hurt as much from typing.
I learned to touch type the Dvorak layout in about three weeks. At about two weeks in, I was pretty sure I'd broken my ability to type anything, but steady persistence paid off. Now I can also type on QWERTY keyboards, though not nearly as quickly and painlessly as with a Dvorak layout.
I settled eventually on a Kinesis Advantage style split keyboard and never looked back. The cost and slight technical issues of using the keyboard and key layout were far less hassle than hand and wrist pain.
A few months ago, I found the ZSA Moonlander and snapped one up with Cherry Brown keyswitches, after I figured out that those were what the Kinesis Advantage2 uses. I set up a key layout on the Moonlander to match the Advantage2, then modified that to move away from some left pinky usage, since I'm having some shakes on that finger for some extension actions.
I use my Moonlander flat, and took off the palm rests. I fiddled with the layout a little more, then started going through some key switches and caps. Tell you what, that is a deep hole to fall into.
You can tell a lot about what a key switch will be like from a tester, but until you have enough switches in your keyboard to make words and stuff, you can only get a rough idea of keyswitches changes. I wanted to lighten up the key action, and quiet the keyboard down in general. I really liked the feel of Kailh's speed copper switches, then started working on the noise aspect, trying out Kailh's silent pinks and browns. I'd gotten used to the very high actuation point on the coppers, so while the silent pinks fit the bill for how much sound I wanted with a pretty decent feel, I kept missing keypresses because I wasn't pushing quite deeply enough. Could I learn to use the pinks? Probably, but the speed coppers felt really good, so I abandoned the silents.
I tried out some Kailh speed silvers, hoping that they might give me a good compromise between the copper feel and pink sound. I think I've found The Right Switch For Me. You can find your own reviews all over the place.
As far as taking sound down another notch, I could put some o-rings on, but my experience with those left me a bit underwhelmed when I tried them before. Yes, the o-rings dampened the sound, but the inconsistent mush when bottoming out was a bit much.
So what I want are silent speed silvers, heheh.
For the keycaps, my key layout is mostly Dvorak with some modifications, so keys aren't in the standard rows, even for Dvorak based layout. I've finally accepted that I need to just get a bunch of blank PBT keycaps and live without key legends. Part of that journey was ordering and installing various parts of Drop's Susuwatari keycaps. Those are NICE caps. I have them installed in the Ergodox that I have at work. I found that I really like varying row heights rather than the same height on all the rows like the default Moonlander keys. I pulled the caps off of my Advantage2 to use on my home Moonlander, and like that feel, too, maybe due to years of familiarity.
So I have a work Ergodox with Kailh speed copper switches and Susuwatari keycaps, and a home Moonlander with Kailh speed silver switches and Kinesis Advantage2 keycaps. I'm waiting for a set of blank PBT keycaps to arrive so I can try those at home.
It's kept me out of trouble for a while, kept my mind fairly ok while a lot of other things have been going on. I know the value of a good hobby, but I'd like one that's less expensive, heheh.
Fortunately, I think this journey's at an end. For now. I'm sure there'll be a new Moonlander version out. ZSA seems like it's always going to push to see what else can be done, and with the near-miraculous advent of 3D printing and rapid circuitboard development, there's going to be some more cool input hardware coming, like the Azeron Cyborg gaming .. uhh .. "claw"...?
I'm avoiding looking at the Azeron Cyborg too much. The multi-month wait time isn't doing a lot to keep me from thinking about it. My Razer Tartarus v2 occasionally gets a key stuck, which doesn't help.
It's tough to be an input nerd sometimes... heh.
Be safe and well, everyone.
Seriously nerding out today, first post in way too long.
There's been so much junk going on in the world I felt like I didn't want to add to that, and I couldn't think of much else to babble about.
But now I have something. It's nerd-cliche. Ready anyway? My Recent Keyboard Journey. Oh yeah.
A couple of decades back, maybe a little more, I was doing web-based tech support, and was able to finagle some time off to learn a different keyboard layout so my hands wouldn't hurt as much from typing.
I learned to touch type the Dvorak layout in about three weeks. At about two weeks in, I was pretty sure I'd broken my ability to type anything, but steady persistence paid off. Now I can also type on QWERTY keyboards, though not nearly as quickly and painlessly as with a Dvorak layout.
I settled eventually on a Kinesis Advantage style split keyboard and never looked back. The cost and slight technical issues of using the keyboard and key layout were far less hassle than hand and wrist pain.
A few months ago, I found the ZSA Moonlander and snapped one up with Cherry Brown keyswitches, after I figured out that those were what the Kinesis Advantage2 uses. I set up a key layout on the Moonlander to match the Advantage2, then modified that to move away from some left pinky usage, since I'm having some shakes on that finger for some extension actions.
I use my Moonlander flat, and took off the palm rests. I fiddled with the layout a little more, then started going through some key switches and caps. Tell you what, that is a deep hole to fall into.
You can tell a lot about what a key switch will be like from a tester, but until you have enough switches in your keyboard to make words and stuff, you can only get a rough idea of keyswitches changes. I wanted to lighten up the key action, and quiet the keyboard down in general. I really liked the feel of Kailh's speed copper switches, then started working on the noise aspect, trying out Kailh's silent pinks and browns. I'd gotten used to the very high actuation point on the coppers, so while the silent pinks fit the bill for how much sound I wanted with a pretty decent feel, I kept missing keypresses because I wasn't pushing quite deeply enough. Could I learn to use the pinks? Probably, but the speed coppers felt really good, so I abandoned the silents.
I tried out some Kailh speed silvers, hoping that they might give me a good compromise between the copper feel and pink sound. I think I've found The Right Switch For Me. You can find your own reviews all over the place.
As far as taking sound down another notch, I could put some o-rings on, but my experience with those left me a bit underwhelmed when I tried them before. Yes, the o-rings dampened the sound, but the inconsistent mush when bottoming out was a bit much.
So what I want are silent speed silvers, heheh.
For the keycaps, my key layout is mostly Dvorak with some modifications, so keys aren't in the standard rows, even for Dvorak based layout. I've finally accepted that I need to just get a bunch of blank PBT keycaps and live without key legends. Part of that journey was ordering and installing various parts of Drop's Susuwatari keycaps. Those are NICE caps. I have them installed in the Ergodox that I have at work. I found that I really like varying row heights rather than the same height on all the rows like the default Moonlander keys. I pulled the caps off of my Advantage2 to use on my home Moonlander, and like that feel, too, maybe due to years of familiarity.
So I have a work Ergodox with Kailh speed copper switches and Susuwatari keycaps, and a home Moonlander with Kailh speed silver switches and Kinesis Advantage2 keycaps. I'm waiting for a set of blank PBT keycaps to arrive so I can try those at home.
It's kept me out of trouble for a while, kept my mind fairly ok while a lot of other things have been going on. I know the value of a good hobby, but I'd like one that's less expensive, heheh.
Fortunately, I think this journey's at an end. For now. I'm sure there'll be a new Moonlander version out. ZSA seems like it's always going to push to see what else can be done, and with the near-miraculous advent of 3D printing and rapid circuitboard development, there's going to be some more cool input hardware coming, like the Azeron Cyborg gaming .. uhh .. "claw"...?
I'm avoiding looking at the Azeron Cyborg too much. The multi-month wait time isn't doing a lot to keep me from thinking about it. My Razer Tartarus v2 occasionally gets a key stuck, which doesn't help.
It's tough to be an input nerd sometimes... heh.
Be safe and well, everyone.