Unidentified switch nomenclature

[Daniel Beardsmore]

I'm going to be putting unidentified switches here to ensure that we have a record of them on the wiki even when don't know what they are:

http://deskthority.net/wiki/Category:Unknown_switches

I've tried to find a nomenclature with a balance between ease of recognition and expressiveness, i.e. it would make the codes far too long if we wanted to cover every characteristic.

However, there are many ways to do this, and now is a good opportunity to revise the nomenclature before it gets considered final.

[HaaTa]

This is a great idea. Sometimes I have a hard time naming switches, often due to lack of research.

[Muirium]

Your system is so logical I'd like to apply it to all known switches too. It's like the Dewey Decimal of switch characteristics. Certainly, a multi axis namespace like that speaks decisively and compactly. It makes us think of every defined character.

Dimensions I'd ponder for an extended cataloging version are:

• Key feel. Linear, Clicky, Tactile, Soft clicky, Damped tactile
• Travel. Short, Medium, Long. (Ranges to be defined.)
• Audio volume. Silent, Quiet, Loud, Extra loud. (Ditto. Comparisons with e.g. MX blue easiest to make.)
• Audio character. A matrix? For things like ping, clack and upstroke clicks.

The year of introduction, when known, would make the icing on the cake. But clearly I'm overthinking this…

[Daniel Beardsmore]

If you want to do that, it might be best to exclude colour from the known-switch classification, because numerous switches changed colour for no reason (including Xiang Min KSB, Acer, Cherry MX Lock etc). Other switches changed colour for no known reason, but we don't know that they aren't different in some way (e.g. kps's vintage Cherry MX "black" switches in weird pastel shades).

Travel could be something like:

Z, zero: touch screen
S, short: t < 2.5 mm (mostly scissor)
R, reduced: 2.5 < t < 3.5 mm
M, medium: 3.5 ≤ t ≤ 4.5 mm (Alps to BS)
E, extended: t > 4.5 mm

[wiki]Cherry ML[/wiki] is 3 mm, [wiki]Futaba low-profile linear[/wiki] is ~2.7, and [wiki]RAFI RS74M[/wiki] is 2.5. According to the wiki, "Because of the size of the scissor mechanism itself, scissor switches with key travel higher than 2 mm are uncommon."

Year of introduction is too hard to guess correctly and too subject to error, especially with Cherry MX (where our years are all messed up and missing), or simply impossible to discover; even getting the decade right could be tricky, but it would be an idea: 6-9 (1960s to 1990s), 0-5 (2000s to 2050s), after which we'd need something new (by which time, keyboards will probably be obsolete anyway, and probably human society along with it at the rate that the planet is self-destructing).

The objective characteristics that I would include would yield the following schema:

1. "DSC": Deskthority Switch Catalogue
2. " "
3. Contact mechanism (L, M, C, H, E etc per unknown switches, but not U)
4. Key weight (S (w ≤ 35 cn), M (35 < w ≤ 65 cn), F (65 < w ≤ 80 cn), H (80 < w ≤ 100 cn), U (100 cn ≤ w))
5. Key feel (L linear, T tactile, P parabolic, F flat panel (touchscreen))
6. Audible indication (C full-volume click, S soft click, U undamped (loud clacks expected but not guaranteed), Q quiet switch (touchscreen, scissor switch, damped mechanical etc — anything that makes low noise by design))
7. Travel (Z, S, R, M, E per above)
8. Decade (0–9)
9. Disambiguation code (nn)

e.g.

Cherry MX Blue: DSC LMTCM801: metal leaf, medium weight tactile click switch with medium travel, first one to be catalogued from the 1980s

Matias quiet: DSC LMTQM101: metal leaf, medium weight tactile quiet switch with medium travel, first one to be catalogued from the 2010s

Typical scissor switches: DSC MFTQS9__: membrane, firm, quiet switch with short travel, guessing they're a 1990s invention (you can't actually apply this schema to a switch type, so 01 would be whichever specific product line we write about first, and I doubt anyone would).

Sound level is subjective, both perceptually and due to keyboard construction: my [wiki]Datacomp DFK-192[/wiki] has a gentle damped sound solely due to its construction, and is far quieter than typical Alps keyboards. Cherry MX Blue switches are almost inaudible without keycaps, so the keycap construction is largely responsible for the sound level. I would class Topre and most rubber domes as U (undamped) as you get a fair rattle off them: my boss jokingly accused my Topre Realforce as being a really loud keyboard, because compared to his scissor switch, the slider rattle makes a lot of noise. Scissor rubber domes however are inherently quiet, as there is no keycap shaft to induce rattle and the parts are too small for the hard stops to be heard, so they're Q, as with Alps cream damped and Matias quiet, and touchscreens.

Other considerations include:

• Alternate action/latching: these can be linear or tactile
• LEDs, jumpers, diodes — relevant?
• Keycap mount — relevant? Maybe add this at the end as an optional letter after the decade and disambiguation digits, as it's not a fundamental switch characteristic (though in most cases it corresponds with or even requires a shell redesign, e.g. the shell change required for the Himake AK-CN2 to accommodate Cherry keycaps)
• Company code? Maybe for ease of recognition, disambiguation would have a company code, e.g. CH Cherry, AL Alps, FJ Fujitsu, IB IBM, FA Futaba ...

Cherry MX blue could be as long as: DSC LMTCMNLDJMCH801 after adding N (normal switch), LDJ (LED, jumper and diodes available), M (Cherry MX mount), and CH (Cherry) to the code — this shows the down sides of adding too much detail.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Another idea I just had, based somewhat on UK TOPS and Dewey:

L = metal leaf
A = Alps mount
M = Cherry MX mount

LA0001–0999: Alps Electric
LA0001–0099: SKCL/SKCM
LA0101–0199: SKBL/SKBM
LA0201–0299: SKFL
LA0901–0999: Alps other (low-profile common mount etc)
LA1001–1999: Alps clones
LA1101–1199: Taiwan Tai-Hao APC
LA1202–1299: Himake and Hua-Jie
LA1301–1399: Xiang Min
LA1901–1999: Other Alps clones
LA2001–2999: Omron
LA9001–9999: Other misc, e.g. Mitsumi, SMK, Cherry MX Alps mount
LM0000–0999: Cherry
LM0001–0099: Cherry MX
LM0901–0999: Cherry other (chiefly MY)
…

Pros:

Lots of numbers = easy on the eyes, doesn't look like a screaming Klingon

Cons:

Not a taxonomy, e.g. Cherry MX Alps mount is not grouped with normal Cherry MX and Hirose Cherry MX.

Just writing this down somewhere so that I can forget about it.