[Production]Debian Novelty Key

DanielT · 20 May 2014, 03:53

It's over ! Now production time

: DEBIAN_GB.jpg (55.17 KiB) Viewed 15543 times

Spoiler:

Iacoizumi · 20 May 2014, 05:12

DanielT wrote:Personally I would like also a red on black Debian, but if there is not enough interest to include it and not reach the MOQ.

I'd be up for a red on black key!

Although I'd also like to see a grey on black variant, like what they use for their current logo.

(Obviously with a less detailed background. Plain grey label on a black key.)

DanielT · 20 May 2014, 05:23

Grey on Black is cool, and in DSA profile could be a very nice extra for Dolch DSA owners.
We wanted to do also the genie bottle logo for the Ergo Dox users but that one is not for open use, we are limited only to the swirl

SP won't infringe any copyrights, I know I have tried to convince them for another cool key cap

scottc · 20 May 2014, 11:45

Great idea and thanks for organising this! I'm in for sure.

My only issue is this: why just DSA and SA? Why not some "normal" profile like DCS?

Vierax · 20 May 2014, 11:53

oh great idea ! I wish 2 SA and 2 DSA minimum.

edit : all keys in 1u and SA in row 2 or at worst in row 3 (absolutely not interested in row 4 or row 1)
black or white, I don't care.

Muirium · 20 May 2014, 12:01

Have you asked Melissa if the logo needs simplified to work in doubleshot? There are limits to curve sizes etc. that come from moulding plastic.

DanielT · 20 May 2014, 13:18

This is why we are making the IC. With the Vim cap was a sure thing, it was done before it was just a "reboot"

For us is new territory, so we are taking it one step at a time. We are checking with Melissa for the technical part and see what can and what can not be done.
Maybe we can go in the dyesub direction in order to get a logo with more details.
Also the profile is not fixed, we could make the key in all profiles for everybody to enjoy it.
We also need to see which is the best option to build the kit so that the MOQ is reached, and people are not forced to buy a key they don't like (profile wise) in order to get the one they want.
So it's a work in progress, and we are open to any suggestions.
For example the grey on black is really cool, much better than red on black, and in my opinion a good option for people who don't like "fluff" on the keyboard but still enjoy the coolness factor of a novelty cap, especially witch Debian

Laser · 20 May 2014, 13:30

This is cool (both debian and vip caps lock) - the only thing Mellisa could do better would be to lower the shipping prices for small quantities; buying e.g. 3 keys from Signature Plastics to Europe is far from efficient, price-wise.

BTW - How about an Arch Linux key cap as child project?

DanielT · 20 May 2014, 13:42

Laser wrote:This is cool (both debian and vip caps lock) - the only thing Mellisa could do better would be to lower the shipping prices for small quantities; buying e.g. 3 keys from Signature Plastics to Europe is far from efficient, price-wise.

I know, that's why we bought 20 in the Vim Key GB

Laser wrote:BTW - How about an Arch Linux key cap as child project?

It is possible, it could become a Linux Distro key GB.

I would have loved a SUN Microsystems Logo but there is a big copyright issue here.
This logo white on purple double shot ....

Spoiler:

Laser · 20 May 2014, 14:06

A Linux groupbuy? Cool!

Perhaps a SysRq key, the size of the "Enter" key would do it justice

matt3o · 20 May 2014, 14:15

PBT indeed. No way you can double-shot that thing

edit: may I suggest to make a "full linux kit"?

distros: mint, ubuntu, debian, mageia, fedora, opensuse, arch
misc: tux, X, wayland, gnome, kde, xfce

in 1u, 1.25u, 1.5u (1.75u if needed)

alinh · 20 May 2014, 14:37

matt3o wrote:PBT indeed. No way you can double-shot that thing

edit: may I suggest to make a "full linux kit"?

distros: mint, ubuntu, debian, mageia, fedora, opensuse, arch
misc: tux, X, wayland, gnome, kde, xfce

in 1u, 1.25u, 1.5u (1.75u if needed)

We could, but it should come after the "vim cheatsheet" keyboard

Spoiler:

Laser · 20 May 2014, 15:33

The "secondary" legend (from the spoiler) could be printed on the front of the keycap, perhaps ? ...
(and of course not those colors)

Iacoizumi · 20 May 2014, 16:12

DanielT wrote:Grey on Black is cool, and in DSA profile could be a very nice extra for Dolch DSA owners.

Read my mind!

DanielT wrote:It is possible, it could become a Linux Distro key GB.

matt3o wrote:may I suggest to make a "full linux kit"?

distros: mint, ubuntu, debian, mageia, fedora, opensuse, arch, slackware
misc: tux, X, wayland, gnome, kde, xfce, lxde

I'm in! Can we get a crunchbang key?

Spoiler:

matt3o · 20 May 2014, 16:17

how's crunchbang? is it based on debian stable?

Iacoizumi · 20 May 2014, 16:26

matt3o wrote:how's crunchbang? is it based on debian stable?

Yep, based on debian stable. It's a fun little distro that aims to be lightweight and does so beautifully.

I run it on my four year old work laptop -- only modification I make is to install guake and add a slightly modified conky script.

Hypersphere · 20 May 2014, 16:34

matt3o wrote:how's crunchbang? is it based on debian stable?

Yes (currently Wheezy), with the Openbox window manager.

One problem trying for a full linux kit that tries to capture many distros is that there are hundreds of them. I suppose they might try for the major ones, such as the top ten featured on DistroWatch.

My own favorites are Mint with Xfce (on my desktops) and Ubuntu Server with Xfce (on my server). Started with RHEL on the server but got frustrated with it; Ubuntu works much better.

matt3o · 20 May 2014, 17:19

debian stable is great on server but I'd like something more bleeding edge on desktop. currently on Arch/gnome (but willing to install some lighter WM/DM).

back on topic. I'd definitely go for dye-sub PBT. I'd probably take any DSA key

GhostofHarry · 20 May 2014, 19:13

I like this, especially the DSA one

Red one Black / White will be nice

or on the dark dolch colour as i think meets the demand of the dsa dolch owners
it matches the colour scheme and still looks good

but i think this will only be possible if we are going for doubleshot rite

alinh · 20 May 2014, 21:28

As others have pointed out earlier, double shot might not be possible because of the "complexity" of the swirl.
I've sent an email to Melissa asking if they could do it, and I'm still waiting for her reply.

About the caps lock key... I assume everyone wants it non stepped?

Now to the Vim keyboard, It will probably be dye subbed as :

"Keys would be sublimated with both colors - if you wanted doubleshot, the secondary color would need to be pad printed"

We can choose the font we want :
"Font doesn't matter for sublimated keycaps as we print the paper from a windows based program, so any true type font would work."

Will ask her if they can print the secondary legends on the front of the keycap.

Hypersphere · 20 May 2014, 23:11

alinh wrote:As others have pointed out earlier, double shot might not be possible because of the "complexity" of the swirl.
I've sent an email to Melissa asking if they could do it, and I'm still waiting for her reply.

About the caps lock key... I assume everyone wants it non stepped?

Now to the Vim keyboard, It will probably be dye subbed as :

"Keys would be sublimated with both colors - if you wanted doubleshot, the secondary color would need to be pad printed"

We can choose the font we want :
"Font doesn't matter for sublimated keycaps as we print the paper from a windows based program, so any true type font would work."

Will ask her if they can print the secondary legends on the front of the keycap.

It would be nice if the font could be extended to Adobe PostScript so that you could have, for example, true Helvetica instead of Arial.

alinh · 21 May 2014, 06:19

"This image will only be able to be done as a sublimated image..."

dye sub it is...

DanielT · 21 May 2014, 10:57

Ok, I had a "meeting" with Alin and we have brewed a proposal

The main poit is that we want we want to keep it simple and not force people to buy the whole pig for one sausage

. The GB will have multiple single key kits, this way if you want only DSA profile you buy only DSA as many as you want and you don't have to buy also a SA or DCS profile key. We will have to plan this in detail with SP and Melissa but I don't think it will be an issue.
The GB will be focused on Debian Swirl and riding shotgun the Vim Caps Lock

.
For Debian we will use PBT with the dyesub symbol in order to have nice details for the swirl, double shot would mean just a simple spiral and we think this is not the point.

A.The proposed Debian kits are (all keys are 1u):
1. SA Row 3 profile red on white
2. DSA profile red on white
3. DCS profile (row ? ) red on white
4. SA Row 3 profile grey on black
5. DSA profile grey on black
6. DCS profile (row ? ) grey on black
B.The Vim kits are (all keys are double shot white on green ABS):
1.SA Row 3 1.75u (center stem)
2.DSA 1.75u (center stem)
3. DCS 1.75u (center stem)
4. DSA 1u (this is a reboot of the previous GB, we have SA profile, DCS profile is available to buy at techkeys
but maybe someone wants also in DSA profile )
For the Vim caps lock we were thinking placing the legend on the left side.

We still have to decide on the exact colors for the Debian key and to make a mockup, but first we want to see if there is interest in this proposal. I'm not a big fan of DCS profile so please let us know which is the best choice of Row for this one, if you want it.
Also if you want also an other size, like 1.25/1.5 shoot

Regarding other distro's we were thinking first to run this GB, learn more, gain experience and come with a new proposal for an other GB *NIX oriented and well planned

zhasha · 21 May 2014, 12:12

If we can have Alps stemmed SA 1.75u Vim caps then I'll take 5 or 10 (probably 10, depending on price)

scottc · 21 May 2014, 12:40

ALPS stemmed keycap? I think these will just be Cherry MX mount.

Muirium · 21 May 2014, 12:41

Everyone's got a pony…

DanielT · 21 May 2014, 13:41

Only MX mount.
Well I suck at graphic design, big time

I'm just a bloody sysadmin

After some struggle with Gimp I managed to make the grey on black, just for a proof of concept:

: Single_Black_Grey_DEB.png (12.47 KiB) Viewed 15989 times

and Red on White :

: Single_White_Red_DEB.png (23.39 KiB) Viewed 15982 times

Laser · 21 May 2014, 13:55

matt3o wrote:debian stable is great on server but I'd like something more bleeding edge on desktop. currently on Arch/gnome (but willing to install some lighter WM/DM).

Xfce is certainly nice; lighter than gnome/kde, but without going to the masochistic side of making your own menu config files, learning a zillion shortcuts for basic tasks and so on (if you like _that_ stuff - try spectrwm

)

@on topic:

how about black on black?

DanielT · 21 May 2014, 14:02

Something ninja style you mean ?

Tried Arch, not my cup of tea.. I have Debian Stable for the multimedia thin client, Slackware for my hacking 8 years old laptop and Solaris 11 for my servers (NAS, virtual stuff etc )

Laser · 21 May 2014, 14:11

almost ninja

e.g.

(but of course only if there is interest)

Spoiler: