The next Granite Special Set

[obfuscated]

Alps for a custom board, please. Mostly interested in alphas and fn keys. But I'll buy one or two tenkeyless sets if needed.

Btw my dsa pbt alps blanks from SP are pretty good, I don't know why everybody is complaining. They are the same as the dsa pbt blanks cherries. The fit is also similar to TaiBao's double shots and m0118's pbt keycaps.

[Norman_]

This was easier than i expected. SP really needs to address the too tight alps stems before i even consider buying alps keycaps from them. DSA lightcycle is basically impossible to remove without damaging the caps, unless you shave them down beforehand. It's particularly bad on Matias switches.

For example, http://imgur.com/a/Z2NN2

It might be different with PBT, but i doubt it.

An update to my above request for Alps-mount DSA: after reading the drama and chaos in the Round 6/etc thread, I don't think I really want to buy from SP anymore (just too much drama for my liking), so feel free to ignore my requests...

SP just doesn't want to deal with 7bit's ridiculously complex groupbuys with 8 million options. Not to mention the questionable payment speed and general inconsistency. They're having to compete with cheaper stuff from China, and other manufacturers in general. They can't afford to waste their time on such niche stuff unless it's nice and simple. 7bit is an antonym for smooth and simple.

[n__dles]

This was easier than i expected. SP really needs to address the too tight alps stems before i even consider buying alps keycaps from them. DSA lightcycle is basically impossible to remove without damaging the caps, unless you shave them down beforehand. It's particularly bad on Matias switches.

For example, http://imgur.com/a/Z2NN2

That guy filed down way more than necessary. Simply putting the cap in and out of a well worn slider a handful of times is probably enough. Running a blade up and down a couple of the corners a few times is definitely enough.

I've removed new SP caps from new Matias switches without breaking stems. I think most of the disasters are from neophyte Alps enthusiasts rock the caps side to side when pulling them.

[matt3o]

An update to my above request for Alps-mount DSA: after reading the drama and chaos in the Round 6/etc thread, I don't think I really want to buy from SP anymore (just too much drama for my liking), so feel free to ignore my requests...

what drama again? I tend to avoid drama when I see it

[Zombimuncha]

alps stem with cherry like stabs?

It works with Alps plate-mounted stabs and custom bent wires. It's a pain in the arse to bend the wires just right but not especially difficult.

Okay then, in a couple of months we might have Alps Granite. Stay tuned.

You, sir, just made my day!

Alps for a custom board, please. Mostly interested in alphas and fn keys.

Yeah, this.

[nissarup]

Braille. Perfect for when we all start to wear VR goggles.

[chuckdee]

Braille. Perfect for when we all start to wear VR goggles.

Actually, is something based on braille possible? I think it would be cool! Or symbols based on ASL.

[zslane]

Seems to me that if you're going to be typing in a VR environment, you want a virtual keyboard that you can type on with haptic feedback in a set of VR gloves.

[scottc]

An update to my above request for Alps-mount DSA: after reading the drama and chaos in the Round 6/etc thread, I don't think I really want to buy from SP anymore (just too much drama for my liking), so feel free to ignore my requests...

what drama again? I tend to avoid drama when I see it

I noticed that they have a public post saying that they will no longer do any further Round GBs with 7bit, which has caused a lot of unrest in the Round 7 GB: http://pimpmykeyboard.com/whats-new/
Regardless of reason (it may well be perfectly justified, who knows), it's a bit off-putting to know that SP can and will just pull the plug like this, plus the drama is something I'd like to avoid. I realise that posting about it is a bit counter-intuitive since it's a bit dramatic itself, but that's definitely not the intention.

I've seen a couple of granite clones being mentioned, mostly on Chinese sites. Have you considered starting conversations with the manufacturers of those, or is it just simpler to deal with SP? Perhaps it could even help QC and wait times or otherwise open up a new range of possibilities for the next iteration of Granite!

[matt3o]

I've seen a couple of granite clones being mentioned, mostly on Chinese sites. Have you considered starting conversations with the manufacturers of those, or is it just simpler to deal with SP? Perhaps it could even help QC and wait times or otherwise open up a new range of possibilities for the next iteration of Granite!

oh that would be fun:

— hey, I'm the designer of Granite, yes exactly, the set you are ripping off, why not make business together?

Spoiler:

just kidding

[scottc]

You have a very good point... Maybe not SPECIFICALLY the exact people that are ripping you off, but another far-east manufacturer who's got the equipment. I suppose that's what the "Hi-Profile PBT Dyesub" thread is for though. Just thinking out loud here.

[webwit]

SP just doesn't want to deal with 7bit's ridiculously complex groupbuys with 8 million options. Not to mention the questionable payment speed and general inconsistency. They're having to compete with cheaper stuff from China, and other manufacturers in general. They can't afford to waste their time on such niche stuff unless it's nice and simple. 7bit is an antonym for smooth and simple.

That's all very nice, but he's also their earliest modern mass consumer group buy customer, one of the people who was a main factor at the basis of creating their modern demand, mostly from derivatives, despite the amateurism of SP themselves (hello kerning). So first they copy/steal the "group buy" notion from the communities where these originated (Korea and later DT and GH), while these SP "group buys" are just sales, then they dump the early guys. They thank him for the business, then give the middle finger and move on?

[zslane]

An M3 version of Granite? Could be interesting, but extremely challenging to offer the same flexibility as Granite (DSA) since I don't think M3 has the equivalent to a flat R3 profile. Or does it?

[ullr]

One of the CJKV languages would be lovely. If you did Elder Futhark, I’d request that you think of something for the two extra keys instead of doubling up; bind runes, glyph variants, and punctuation are all options. Glagolitic would be interesting, since everyone likes Cyrillic.

My all time favorite script is Thaana, but I doubt you’d get enough interest for it. Syriac, Avestan, and Arabic are all beautiful. Shavian would be incredible, but again, I doubt you’d get much interest.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

I never was keen on pIqaD — it always seemed that someone had drawn a few glyphs for a control panel early on (you'd see panels, logos etc inscribed with a small number of elegant letters, meaning absolutely nothing), and subsequently they realised that they had to invent the rest of the letters, and came unstuck (trying to come up with extra letter shapes is not easy). Even the glottal stop is a bodge, being an apostrophe in the Latin alphabet and largely the same symbol in pIqaD.

The language is an awesome piece of work, but the alphabet needs a lot of work. Also, there seems to be no such thing as typefaces to Klingons, which is disappointing. I would expect any artificial language to be demonstrated in at least two typefaces, as well as a cursive variant (it's all very well having something that looks good on a computer console, but before the space age, how was it written with a pen or pencil?) The filled-in shapes would be awful to write out by hand; whether you could achieve them with a calligraphy pen is another matter. (I assume Klingon biros don't blot, as any that did would be inserted into the eye socket of whoever designed it. I hate ballpoint pens! Wretched contraptions.)

[pdc]

I'm building up to building a custom keyboard and I am ordering MX switches to match the keycaps I have on order.

I would love for there to be ALPS-format key-cap sets with spherical profile & centred legends, in a colourway that does not clash too badly with my curtains—having arrived too late for Alpine Winter, an ALPS DSA Granite would be very attractive to me. Especially as the Keyboard Company sells a lifetime supply of Matias switches for £42.

[infodroid]

FYI you can order smaller quantity switches from 7bit for a very good price: group-buys-f50/cherry-mx-taking-pre-orders-t2760.html

[Menuhin]

Just to throw in some more idea: there is a PBT dye-sub caps probably from EnjoyPBT some time ago with a theme of ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs. They look quite good to me but I'm not a linguist / Egyptian expert, so I can't tell how accurate they are or if they're half-assed like some of their effort in the Elvish script.

Spoiler:

[matt3o]

a theme of ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs

ah that is funny

[Wilkie]

U.S. International

[stuplarosa]

U.S. International

+1