The Oracle Answers

[Higsby]

I don't mean to be annoying, and while I really do appreciate the suggestion of the Matias board, I would appreciate anything with that accepts Cherry Keycaps, is relatively quiet, and has an embedded numpad.

[the1onewolf]

Should I buy a KUL + topcover with MX blacks.
HRM

[Mal-2]

<snip>
Like this one?
http://dsi-keyboards.com/product-catego ... keyboards/

I've actually looked at that one. I'm incredibly certain that I don't want to deal with Red switches.

I'm pretty sure I've seen variants of that for sale with Blue (probably not interesting for you) and Brown switches as well, if those would be more to your liking. You'll just have to do more digging.

If it's just a matter of spring force and you like the linear feel, you could change the springs.

[zts]

I don't mean to be annoying, and while I really do appreciate the suggestion of the Matias board, I would appreciate anything with that accepts Cherry Keycaps, is relatively quiet, and has an embedded numpad.

you can get Noppoo Choc Mini 84 on Amazon for around USD $100. It has embedded numpad. Same format as Keycool Mini 84, but it uses genuine Cherry MX switches (red and black switches are pretty popular in this model) instead of Kailh in Keycool.

I can't recommend either of them because I've never tried anything from Noppoo (so they may actually be as good as Amazon customer positive reviews say) and I've had some significant spacebar problems on Keycool Mini 84 and Keycool TKL. Personally, I'd go with Matias Mini Quiet Pro, but I understand it's not your cup of tea.

[the1onewolf]

I don't mean to be annoying, and while I really do appreciate the suggestion of the Matias board, I would appreciate anything with that accepts Cherry Keycaps, is relatively quiet, and has an embedded numpad.

I'll be selling my new, noppoo wireless if you are interested

[Higsby]

I ended up ordering a CM Storm TK with Brown Switches. It will be shipping from pretty close to my house and should arrive next week. Thank you for the suggestions/recommendations.

[zts]

I ended up ordering a CM Storm TK with Brown Switches. It will be shipping from pretty close to my house and should arrive next week. Thank you for the suggestions/recommendations.

if you got the more recent version that's backlit - test it and make sure all keys are lit. That was the only problem I've noticed (and many others) with that particular keyboard is that some LEDs just freaking die on you within a few weeks of purchase ... but then again some people have not had any problems with LEDs.

[Halvar]

I concur entirely, getting the right keyshapes in group buys for anything but standard keyboards is frequently impossible, but I love that the first example on the page is the APL legended madness. Common layout indeed!

These are not APL caps by the way but LISP caps. APL was an IBM thing.

[hammelgammler]

I want to mod my upcoming Novatouch and also maybe some Cherry MX keyboards to get it very silent.
The user spiceBar over at Geekhack posted a nice guide how he silenced his Novatouch, and so i want to buy these Soft Pads from EK.
I also need some kind of lube, and EK has two sorts of lube. Has anyone experience with the lube from EK? Or maybe better solutions?
I want to lube some Cherry keyboards as well.

Thank you.

[Muirium]

I'm hearing a lot about this "ironed soft landing pads" technique for quietening NovaTouches lately. I doubt it's as good as installing dampers, Type-S style, inside the switches though. I find these make my NovaTouch quieter than any MX, and quite a lot like my Type-S HHKB:



Hypersphere's trying to get them manufactured and Cookie is working on his own technique to make them. The one in the photo is made my Cookie, as I've done some testing for him. They completely silence the NovaTouch's rattle.

[hammelgammler]

I cant really say anything about other methods, but the soft landing pads will be installed inside the switch as well.

Unbenannt.PNG (267.06 KiB) Viewed 6309 times

Before and after the mod.

Sounds kind of good to me, but you could be right that other methods could work better.

[Muirium]

Oh right, it's doing the same thing then. Should be good! The key is to be thin and strong, so to keep the travel and to last a good time before needing replaced. Just for experiment, I tried installing some of the o-rings CM bundles with the board right around the sliders like that! Didn't work so great, of course. The travel was all wrong. Thin is good, here.

[spartan7]

Looking to get a 60% and was thinking of the poker2, but the pok3r is said to come out soon. Should I get the poker 2 at a lower price point or wait and get the new pok3r ? I don't do much program-ability with my keyboards so wonder if I would even use the pok3r to its fullest.

If you say poker 2, where would be the best place to get one? I heard they are discontinued

what should I do?

[Muirium]

I'm still convinced the original Poker was the best of the lot. They've been plate mounted ever since, and that's a shame as it puts a lid on the keyboard's moddability. 60% is a sweet size for a PCB mount board. The original Poker was a great wee compact MX hacker's kit disguised in a thoroughly useable keyboard.

Must admit I've never bought any of the Pokers, though. Got myself an HHKB after a lot of saving up instead!

If you don't mind second hand, go for a Poker 2 I suppose. Or the original if you want to get into those switches.

[scottc]

I'm still convinced the original Poker was the best of the lot. They've been plate mounted ever since, and that's a shame as it puts a lid on the keyboard's moddability. 60% is a sweet size for a PCB mount board. The original Poker was a great wee compact MX hacker's kit disguised in a thoroughly useable keyboard.

Yeah, I'd tend to agree. Much like Cherry's G80 line, but in a smaller form factor ==> less PCB wiggle. I think I'll be after one myself fairly soon.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

The Pok3r's shrunk-in-the-wash case looks stupid :P

Apparently "Vortex says the Poker III will have three programmable layers with the Fn and Pn keys being programmable themselves–in other words, full programmability similar to keyboards with custom controllers."

Being cynical, it sounds like whoever wrote that thinks that the advantage of a custom controller is that you can reprogram Pn and Fn. There's no reference for the claims, so I don't know whether it is truly programmable, in particular: can you program bindings for keys that are not on the keyboard? That's the real issue with the Poker II. For example, in Windows, to fully expand a tree node, you press numeric keypad *. I can't add that key to my Poker II as I can only bind keys to existing keys, i.e. I can only reshuffle the keys it already has.

To get a correct assessment of value, you'd need a thorough breakdown of its features — I'll leave that as a reader exercise.

[andrewjoy]

I'm still convinced the original Poker was the best of the lot. They've been plate mounted ever since, and that's a shame as it puts a lid on the keyboard's moddability.

Not for me

[Muirium]

Speaking of which: I should probably kick open a (de)soldering station suggestions thread. My brother's got nothing, and I've plenty things to do when I'm over.

[andrewjoy]

this one is ...... ok . There are better , the HAKKO 808 is the classic and if you are in the US go for that one it is all built into the pump tho on that so its heavy. IF you really want to splurge go for something like a metcal.

[combataran]

I'm getting multiple hhh's withh a single stroke on my 1000hhhad. What could be the problem?

[Mal-2]

For example, in Windows, to fully expand a tree node, you press numeric keypad *. I can't add that key to my Poker II as I can only bind keys to existing keys, i.e. I can only reshuffle the keys it already has.

I know that in the case of Cherry's programmable keyboards, the answer is "yes". You can assign any key a standard keyboard has (including multimedia keys), regardless of how many and what keys the actual keyboard has. You can also assign macros, but the shortcoming is that it only allows one per key -- not one for the base, one for SHIFT, etc. So in some ways, macro keys are less useful than basic keys. If you're willing to do your macros on the client side, you can extract considerably more useful states by having the keyboard send a multimedia scancode which can carry modifiers, and convert that to a macro in something like AutoHotKey.

[Khers]

I'm getting multiple hhh's withh a single stroke on my 1000hhhad. What could be the problem?

Most probably there is dirt in the switch so that the vibration properties of the leaf spring are altered. When the switch actuates the leaf will vibrate for a while, making the switch go on and off multiple times. Normally this is handled by the controller, it ignores input for a short while after the first actuation. If you have dirt in the switch however, the vibration frequency is lower and the transient lives for longer, meaning that multiple keypresses will be registered.

If you want to test whether this is true or not, you can desolder the switch and mount in another position. If you have now switched the problem to another key, then the switch is to blame.

The only solution I'm aware of is to desolder the switch and either clean it or just get a new switch (either a brand new switch in its position or just move the faulty switch to a non-used key and use that key for H).

[Rotti]

Was there a buckling spring keyboard with a single unit number pad 0/INS key? Or is the closest the F XT with the stepped version?

[combataran]

I mixed up my Cherry pbt and doubleshot sets while cleaning. Which one is the pbt spacebar?

[shreebles]

I mixed up my Cherry pbt and doubleshot sets while cleaning. Which one is the pbt spacebar?

Try this

[Nuum]

Both spacebars should be ABS, even the one from the PBT set. It might say 'PBT' on the bottom of the spacebar, but there are only very few Cherry PBT spacebars, e.g. on the Compaq MX 11800.

[combataran]

Both spacebars should be ABS, even the one from the PBT set. It might say 'PBT' on the bottom of the spacebar, but there are only very few Cherry PBT spacebars, e.g. on the Compaq MX 11800.

One has a really shiny underside, the other a dull grainy texture.

[DGMurdockIII]

I am looking for a for a keyboard and the Das Keyboard 4 Professional is allmost the perfect one im looking for but it is not backlit. i would like a suggestion of one like that one that is backlit media control keys would be nice but not a must



http://www.daskeyboard.com/daskeyboard-4-professional/

[urbancamo]

Quick question: early thinkpad keyboards - what is the mechanism? I take it they are still rubber dome? I'm talking Windows 95 era - such as the 365. The feel is definitely different to more modern keyboards on Thinkpads that I've owned such as the X60 or X220. The keyboard is also physically deeper.

Thank you, Mark.

[scottc]

Are you thinking of buckling rubber sleeve? http://deskthority.net/wiki/Buckling_rubber_sleeve I don't remember model numbers, but I think that older ThinkPads used them. They were also used with some of the external ThinkPad keyboards.