deskthority

Hello Keyboard Wizards,

please help me out on this. A fellow forum member is willing to sell me one of his (cannibalized) Cooler Master Novatouchs.
Can i buy all the Parts online to rescue it and if so , what store do you recommend ? Thought about those deskeys sliders , but the missing stab housings worry me.

Happy Typing ,

Nick

Deskeys also sells stab housings: https://deskeys.io/collections/home-all ... 0414297123

Nuum wrote: ↑

21 Oct 2022, 17:03

Deskeys also sells stab housings: https://deskeys.io/collections/home-all ... 0414297123

Ahh very good, thanks !
So iam probably looking at like 120€ in sliders & housings just to get it running & then i have to get keycaps for it.
Seems not really worth it.

Have you tried out a Novatouch ? How are they ?

Here’s a few words on the matter:

viewtopic.php?f=45&t=8968

You make sourcing the caps sound like they’re not, by far, the best part! The stock caps are lousy, but the novatouch is all about compatibility with superb MX sets. I kept a set of Cherry’s own dye subs on mine for years, and it has Matteo’s MT3 Sindarin set on it now. It’s a keyboard that gets out of the way and lets its caps do the talking, while they ride on Topre domes.

They dress up real pretty:


But yes, those aftermarket bits are overpriced.

Muirium wrote: ↑

22 Oct 2022, 11:54

You make sourcing the caps sound like they’re not, by far, the best part! ........ It’s a keyboard that gets out of the way and lets its caps do the talking, while they ride on Topre domes.


But yes, those aftermarket bits are overpriced.

Yes , i know. Dont know why it sounded like that.
Sourcing the caps IS the best part. Just saying that all in all, iam looking at probably a fair bit for money and work to get it back to a usable & pretty state.

Iam comitted to buying it , HHKB is a very pleasent experience , but i would love topre in an TKL (preferred Layout) ISO DE setup.
Oh and if i would get the chance to aquire / make a high quality metal aftermarket housing for that board , that would elevate the whole build even further.
Thanks for the topre recommendation !

Did the same except I already had Niz parts and the board. And yeah you’ll end up spending quite a bit; up to you if it’s worth it or not. Deskeys are expensive/overpriced but they’re quite good and nothing else comes close. I actually like their sliders better than Novas and see them on par with topres.

Also aside from sliders (x5), stab housing and 2u slider+spacebar set you might need the 6.25 wire if yours doesn’t come with it. And your estimate might be off should be around $158 for all those.

kokokoy wrote: ↑

24 Oct 2022, 07:09

Also aside from sliders (x5), stab housing and 2u slider+spacebar set you might need the 6.25 wire if yours doesn’t come with it. And your estimate might be off should be around $158 for all those.

Yeah it was just a rough estimate when i was looking at their prices
Thanks for the parts list, what do you mean i need the 6.25 Wire ? Can i use a MX Stab wire ?

"Worst" Part is, ill need even more deskeys sliders as iam going to convert an HHKB too.... oh man , thats a project for next year.

No worries and no you can't. The wire's are different.

As for HHKB, might be good to wait. They have 2 kinds of 2u slider where the latest one was reported to be a bit bigger than the housing. They're revising it.

Also bear in mind the HHKB has a 6.0 unit spacebar, not 6.25. A much less ubiquitous beast in MX world.

kokokoy wrote: ↑

24 Oct 2022, 09:21

No worries and no you can't. The wire's are different.

Oh snap, is there any site i can purchase wires for that keeb ? otherwise iam pretty screwed since i already purchased the board.

kokokoy wrote: ↑

24 Oct 2022, 09:21

As for HHKB, might be good to wait. They have 2 kinds of 2u slider where the latest one was reported to be a bit bigger than the housing. They're revising it.

Thank you for the info ! I was not planning of purchasing all the stuff necessary until next year anyway , so no problem there.

Muirium wrote: ↑

24 Oct 2022, 11:04

Also bear in mind the HHKB has a 6.0 unit spacebar, not 6.25. A much less ubiquitous beast in MX world.

I know ! but thank you anyway.
I was planning on maybe talking to Tai-Hao to create some kind of HHKB DE Keycap set, since iam already working with them on Alps ISO Sets. Just would have to think about a good HHKB DE Layout.
Like that maybe more refined.
https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyb ... an_layout/

Looks pretty good.



The tab key should be modifier colour for that aesthetic to really work, and the Escape’s a bit muted compared to those bright blues. If I were doing it, I’d demand rigid uniformity so those Alts would also have to go, and # is surely just a placeholder. But the overall concept is sound.

How useable is that for German typing, do you think? And would you dare skip the front legends for the function layer? I learned HHKB nav keys on an XT (plus Soarer) without any such hints, it’s quite doable. Only newbs look at keys.

Muirium wrote: ↑

24 Oct 2022, 12:16

The tab key should be modifier colour for that aesthetic to really work, and the Escape’s a bit muted compared to those bright blues. If I were doing it, I’d demand rigid uniformity so those Alts would also have to go, and # is surely just a placeholder. But the overall concept is sound.

Agree ! But I would go for completly different colours, something more like a retro dolch scheme but that whole thing will be way out in the future.

Muirium wrote: ↑

24 Oct 2022, 12:16

How useable is that for German typing, do you think? And would you dare skip the front legends for the function layer? I learned HHKB nav keys on an XT (plus Soarer) without any such hints, it’s quite doable. Only newbs look at keys.

Looks very usable , tbh just having Ö Ä Ü und ß would probably be enough.
Since my typing is really f*cked and i cant really unlearn my years of typing in a cursed way , i prefer having (correctly) labeled keys.
Also my OCD forces me to.

guidemetothelight wrote: ↑

24 Oct 2022, 11:45

Oh snap, is there any site i can purchase wires for that keeb ? otherwise iam pretty screwed since i already purchased the board.

Deskeys. Got the wire from them for the one I posted.

kokokoy wrote: ↑

24 Oct 2022, 16:21

guidemetothelight wrote: ↑

24 Oct 2022, 11:45

Oh snap, is there any site i can purchase wires for that keeb ? otherwise iam pretty screwed since i already purchased the board.

Deskeys. Got the wire from them for the one I posted.

Somehow iam blind and didnt see it thank you