JUSTSYSTEMS x Realforce 108UW HiPro

[002]

Barely newsworthy, but JUSTSYSTEMS (frequent collaborators with Topre) have released a new HiPro keyboard.
I think this is the first HiPro board with the delicious Topre red 'Esc' key, but other than that it looks similar to Korean 104UK HiPro model.

Source: https://www.justmyshop.com/camp/realforcehipro/

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[matt3o]

a TKL version PLEEEEEEEEEEEEASE!

[002]

Nothing gets me excited like a maid in Japan sticker:

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[matt3o]

There you go. it's all yours

[002]

Well plaid, sir.

[Muirium]

Oh boy, another for my costly wishlist. How well do these JIS boards (with all their extra mods) behave on Western systems? I hope all the keys show up in the USB report, so I could remap them to whatever I'd like.

JIS is what ISO would have been if we'd been smart enough over here to let Japan design it for us. Just one more key than ANSI (and an ugly Return key to boot) = no thanks. Significantly more keys than ANSI = well alrighty then! I'd rather have one of these than an ISO Realforce.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

What's silly about UK ISO is that we don't need the extra key. We only need Alt Gr so that we can bundle ¬ and ¦ onto `, and who on earth uses ¦? Then you have ¬ but no ∧ or ∃, making it pretty pointless. (AppleScript abuses ¬ as a line continuation character.) So that's two stupid characters removed and Alt Gr made redundant (I could have my right alt back!); move £ above ` and … still one symbol too many.

[Muirium]

I could forgive it if only it had the right character like so many of its (just as non-Greek) ISO brethren. So cruel!

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Except then it would need the whole Greek alphabet … Why do Macs have + and ÷ but not − or ×?

[pietergen]

* Does anybody know where to buy the red enter, tab, shift and japanese esc (?)
* crazy thougt: are there mechanical, electrical or other obstacles that would make chopping off the numbers block impossible ?

[002]

You won't find those red hi-pro caps anywhere else. They don't exist in a set, and I've never seen them on any other Topre keyboard.

Chopping off the numpad *might* be possible but it would be a whole lot easier to do a transplant of the sliders/housings and caps to a 91UW instead.

[Muirium]

Why not just a simple caps swap? Aren't HiPro caps entirely compatible with regular Topre switches?



Oh, right, you mean so you could use the regular Realforce's caps over on the HiPro! It's an expensive op in any case.


Man, how I wish JUST would just sell their damn caps… or a TKL ideally!

[002]

Actually what I meant was you would swap the Hi-pro housings/sliders over. You're right though, you can put Hi-pro caps on a standard Topre switch, but there must be some reason why the Hi-pro housing exists, and if I were doing the mod myself I'd be moving the housings over too. Either way, it's still two Topre keyboards

I think the Hi-pro housing probably reduces keycap twist and/or wobble, but have not actually investigated what benefits the taller design has.

[SL89]

I am totally uneducated on Topre, but how is it this board costs less (by quite a bit) then the 104UK with the Hangul?

[Muirium]

Because Leopold likes to mark up prices quite a bit? I'm just guessing. But the prices of Topre stuff is much better in Japan than in western countries. The same could be true in Korea.

Perhaps there's even a bit of a JIS discount going on, or rather ANSI and ISO layouts are marked up? I'm cool with JIS. Look at that space bar! Could it be PBT!?

[002]

Yes, JIS space bar is made of PBT
Leopold has always had high prices for their Realforces. I actually got my first Realforce from Leopold back in 2010 and it was the same 360,000 KRW back then too, so it's not like it's changing based on the value of the Yen or anything either.

[Muirium]

Typing on a little 2.75u PBT space bar just now (my wee Monterey K110 which is still kitted out with Granite and Mr. Interface's Alps adapters) that prospect has a great amount of appeal! I'm spoiled with all-round PBT caps from my IBMs. But those HiPro sphericals are even nicer.

Time to set aside a piggybank for next Christmas…

[noobie94]

Like matt3o said, a TKL version would be awesome! Not sure how much i'd like that small spacespar but it's so good looking!

[SL89]

now *if* i wanted to go about getting one, and having it shipped to the us... what would the easiest way to procure one be... i still have to think this is cheaper then the 104UK from korea somehow...

[Muirium]

I'm guessing Tenso, which is the route I took with my HHKB:

http://deskthority.net/keyboards-f2/put ... t9413.html

002 helped me out by using his account as my proxy. (You're supposed to send them a picture of your passport and other documentation to start up an account, and I only recently renewed mine. Guess I'd better set one up for myself now. But I'm lazy, and don't need encouragement to go chasing Realforces!)

I found them an ideal little service. Getting my HHKB + bag + caps order from Amazon Japan to the US cost about $40 total, including EMS shipping. I sent it to America because you guys have much better customs than we do, and that way it could join my Cindy haul…

So yeah, highly recommended if you're American especially. I think 002 warned me Yahoo Japan doesn't like Tenso, but Just should be alright. Especially if you can have a certain knowledgeable Topre specialist help you with the order process! I think he's just as curious as you are to see what this board is like!

[002]

I think 002 warned me Yahoo Japan doesn't like Tenso, but Just should be alright.

Yeah the problem is that Yahoo Auctions Japan has not made it easy for foreigners to use their website. You need to be an account/card holder with a Japanese bank and there's no PayPal. If you could get around that, you could probably use your Tenso address as your delivery address.

Buyee (which is run by the same people that run Tenso) basically just adds the option of paying by PayPal or your own Credit/Debit Card, which is handy.

[Muirium]

Ah, I imagined Yahoo owned Buyee and wanted to promote it over Tenso. Anyway, there are ways! What do you reckon about this particular keyboard? Just sells it on their site, and I've seen their regular Realforces for sale on Japanese Amazon. But this one?

The complexity (for everyone else but 002 who told me this) is that Just isn't just a reseller like Leopold or EK. They're a software company that sells matching keyboards for their (word processing?) wares. I think this board has two prices because Just's users get a discount. Hopefully we outsiders can indeed grab it too!

[002]

Ah, I imagined Yahoo owned Buyee and wanted to promote it over Tenso. Anyway, there are ways! What do you reckon about this particular keyboard? Just sells it on their site, and I've seen their regular Realforces for sale on Japanese Amazon. But this one?

The complexity (for everyone else but 002 who told me this) is that Just isn't just a reseller like Leopold or EK. They're a software company that sells matching keyboards for their (word processing?) wares. I think this board has two prices because Just's users get a discount. Hopefully we outsiders can indeed grab it too!

Yes Just users get the discount
I just went through the checkout process. It looks pretty simple and payment options include VISA, MasterCard, AMEX, Diners Club and a bunch of Japanese credit cards.

If anyone is seriously interested in getting one, you are welcome to use my Tenso address (if you trust me ) and I will help you through the form. It looks like there are not many left.

[Muirium]

How much is the red mods pack, do you think? Is it bundled with the keyboard? I could see them being interesting novelties if available separately!

[002]

Red caps come with the keyboard, which is pretty typical of Just:





They sometimes have other trinkets like the palm-rest/cover, key-puller, shortcut reference cards, 'Realforce' branded shopping bags and even replacement caps for oft-used caps (on lasered cap models):

[SL89]

002 I'm very keen on either this or the 104UK as my first Topre board.

As you seem to be a bit of a Topre enthusiast I was wondering which one you would reccomend, i know this is JIS layout, but if the requisite weight is the same then im sure i could get used to the layout.

Especially if this one is cheaper then the 104UK which seems to be aroung 400 USD with shipping.

[Muirium]

I'd go for this one. Even if they were similarly priced, I'd be 50/50 about it, but with the Leopold factor included you're so much better off going for the Round 5 Just version! I guess the only reason not to is if you think JIS layout is a dealbreaker. Your OS should be able to ignore the extra mods, or remap them to whatever you like with Karabiner or its equivalent. Personally, I'd rather have a JIS Realforce than an ISO one for that potential!

Also, I'm not well versed in Korean proxies. When Matteo picked up one of Europe's first Leopold FC660C's, he did so via a friend. Is there a Korean equivalent to Tenso?

[002]

What Mu said
JIS is tricky to use at first. If I can offer some advice I'd say, look on your current board where you hit the spacebar. If you are hitting it off to the left or right, then adjusting to JIS will not be fun. If that's the case, you will also probably want to re-bind the henkan or muhenkan keys either side of space, to space itself.

The other 'not fun' thing about JIS is the backspace. You may not think it but reaching that extra bit just to hit right in the corner is noticeable, although you do get used to it after a while. You could probably do the rebind trick here again on the yen key. Another thing I will say is that if you have not tried spherical caps before, Topre will be a very expensive way to find out that you don't like them.

In any case though, if you find yourself not liking the board, you will surely not have trouble selling it.

[SL89]

Thank you both for your input, i dont mind the extra keys and i might actually use the ones around the space for backspace and delete.

Luckily i know Spherical's are the caps for me. Someday ill get my Round 5, until then i was looking into the 104UG (ANSI Hi pro) 104UK (ANSI Hangul and Hi Pro) or the one in this thread.

I've never used a topre so it will be my first outing, but I've really been keen on my clear board (as opposed to my green one) i think the topre will be a nice compliment to that.

Last question: what is the approximate 'weight' of the Just board? 55g?

[Muirium]

45g most likely. Possibly "ergo" (variable) weighted. And bear in mind that tall caps make switches feel lighter. (And not because of their actual weight, counterintuitively…)