Deskthority ALPS keyboard Project

[phetto]

w00t, what is this socery? whats that layout? Nice work anyways =)

[matt3o]

Would it be wise to order some ALPS from 7bit in advance, or is there going to be a GB for everything when the time comes?

don't want to take business out of 7bit. Take them from him if you need them.

[Trev]

Would it be wise to order some ALPS from 7bit in advance, or is there going to be a GB for everything when the time comes?

don't want to take business out of 7bit. Take them from him if you need them.

Matias sells switches directly to the public, anyhow. Minimum order is 200.

[phetto]

Viz is going to start a new thread. He is going to organize stuff! Wooohoo

[Trev]

Viz is going to start a new thread. He is going to organize stuff! Wooohoo

As a separate project to matt3o? His will already support ALPS.

[phetto]

Not sure

[Trev]

Not sure

It might not be as productive or cost-effective to fragment such similar projects on a small forum

[matt3o]

well if Viz's is a standard TKL, there's no collision I believe, but we might gather forces to reduce cost of keycaps and switches

[Okeg]

Hello.
Sorry for not writing up here sooner, i've been busy at school.

As we all know phetto started this project and sparked the idea, I asked him if I could try to take charge of organizing this ALPS project.

I'm trying to find someone that can make a case for the board, if we can find someone then it'll be wise to use matt3o's layout. But if we can't find anyone, then it seems like we must go for the standard 60% or TKL layout.

[matt3o]

From a preliminary discussion with SP it seems that they don't have all the keys to make a full keyboard. Anyway they will get back to me in the coming days with a detailed list of what they can do with alps.

[Okeg]

From a preliminary discussion with SP it seems that they don't have all the keys to make a full keyboard. Anyway they will get back to me in the coming days with a detailed list of what they can do with alps.

Hmm.. Maybe we can ask matias?
And; i'm sorry for not writing up in the dt68a project yet, but i'm having some sort of infection in my wrist :/

[matt3o]

SP replied to my email. They miss tooling for all ALPS keys 2u and above, spacebars included.

Update:

Some more info after a couple more emails with SP.

They already have tooling for all keys up to 1.75u. We would need to buy the stem-tooling for all stabilized keys, spacebars included. This is true for both DSA and DCS families and both ABS and PBT.

Mounting points for the stabilizers could have standard MX stems, so you would end up with 1 centered ALPS stem for the switch and 2 side MX stems for the stabilizers. This solution should be cheaper than a full alps stemmed version.

[tipo33]

KBDmania seems to have acomplished the task we wanted to.
http://www.kbdmania.net/xe/photo/6638651

[SmallFry]

The King Saver. Ask boost about his, though he typically doesn't reprogram his. Sham really.

[phetto]

have seen the that keyboard, I want it. Even though it doesnt use the best layout

[webwit]

The Korean communities, most notably OTD, have been making custom keyboards for ages. I've seen Alps pcb variants of some OTD designs years back. They have inspired the western communities with their custom designs. This particular run doesn't change much for us, as for those runs you need to be part of those Korean communities, which is not for everyone. Although kbdmania is a bit more commericial and might offer it to the rest of the world.

[7bit]

Wait for Hyper and you will get an Alps keyboard.

Just asked for SA-family key caps with Alps mount: They only have them in row 3, but she did not tell me what else they have ...

DSA would also be nice ...

[matt3o]

DSA + ALPS availability is as follow

Available:
1x
1.25x
1.5x
1.75x (NOT the stepped)

Keys that requires some tooling (just the mounts):
2x
2.25x
2.75x
6.2 Unit Spacebar
7 Unit Spacebar

[7bit]

A self-designed keyboard requires not all key cap sizes:



Let's split up the following keys to make sure we need no extra tools:
Return: 1.25 and 1 unit.
Shift (left) 1 unit and 1.25 units (and for the ISO folks there should be a variant the other way round).
Back Space: Let's make it 2 units, just because we will need 2 units keys anyway (POS keys).
Space: can be split into 1.5 unit keys. Please notice that we moight need a bit more space between those 2 keys depending on the scroll wheel.

[dondy]

sounds like a GB for alps caps that i'd definitely be interrested in
(though i would prefer a more immediate solution D: )

[jpatters]

I am potentially in for a GB for caps, however is there any source for a 3u spacebar that would at least not look stupid with DSA keys?

[matt3o]

please note that the missing keys are not $3500 a pop because the tooling needed is just for the stems (not the whole key).

[dondy]

dunnoh, i would need 41 1u to cover all the chinese legends +5 1u so it doesn't look as dorky and 1 ... what size is that thing (ANSI |\, smaller than backspace but bigger than ctrl... maybe 1.75 or smth... ) so i would've covered all printable keys.

also i don't mind blank keys much, but it should have a color that goes well with black/green, i might get a set of WASD keys that are green (afaik 7bit wants white stuff, i'd rather have something not as bright as pure white...).

hrrmm, cutting off the cherry stems to put alps stems (from where?) on it sounds like a expensive process

[luckynet]

Is this related to the one on geekhack?

[fkeidjn]

Nice idea, thought this a couple of times. The problem with using second hand alps switches is they don't last very long and are hard to replace if you need to. I've used only a handful of alps switches but had the fortune of using new and used ones. New alps keyswitches feel 100x better than used ones. I wouldn't be happy putting a lot of money into any alps project because of this.

Also alps caps won't be cheap, I guess there won't be a huge uptake on this (people stick with mx because that is what there expensive keycaps are made for) meaning higher prices from SP because of lower quantity orders.

I would hope that I am wrong, I don't like cherry switches being everything when they are not very good (sorry cherry fans). It's kind of like windows. Everyone uses it even though it's sub par, this is because no one uses anything else, insert continued loop.

Are the internal switch components interchangeable? For example, would I be able to replace the switch contacts in an old orange alps switch with a contacts from a black alps or matias?

[Muirium]

[KRKS]

Meanwhile, Matias has made pretty much all of the keys you may need(Row_width):

R4_1
R4_1_LED
R4_2

R3_1
R3_1.5

R2-3_LEnter_2x1.5 (ISO Enter I guess)
R2-3_2x1

R2_1
R2_1.75_LED
R2_2.25

R1_1
R1_1.25
R1_1.5
R1_1.75
R1_2
R1_2.25
R1_2.75
R1_2x1

Spacebar_7
Spacebar_6.25
Spacebar_5.5

Also, rsbseb's SCM profile caps may come in Alps too. So really this project has a bigger chance of success now.

[Muirium]

If any of the participants actually remember it ever happened. This is deep necro. I wouldn't hold your breath.