Round 5 and Round 6 kits for sale!

[chuckdee]

7bit doesn't have a "business model" per se. He just has his own archaic system for running group buys.

He takes a year deciding what should be in the kits, then opens pre-orders for a year, and then tries to get a production slot at SP. And with the backup they have for double-shot keycaps, that means another year before they are manufactured (in USA), sent (to DE), sorted, packed, and shipped to buyers (worldwide). Everything about this hobby takes forever, not just 7bit's group buys.

SA sets from SP are the same, in terms of materials and quality, no matter who performs the group buy. MassDrop is just another group buy agent in that respect.

This is both extremely critical and supportive of 7bit at the same time

To add my 2 cents, i don't necessarily care that it takes a long time, but some additional professionalism on 7bit's part would be nice. He's dealing with way too much money from way too many people here for this to be such a fly by night operation.

On the other side of that, there are a lot of considerations that aren't necessarily obvious that he's had to work around. I might not agree with a lot of the decisions that he's made (which is why I pulled out) but it's very easy to armchair quarterback the process. It says something that people are willing to wait on his product, and I think that's a telling point personally.

[zslane]

I don't mean to be critical per se; but in all honesty, the only way to accurately describe 7bit's group buy system is with words like archaic and primitive. I don't think there is anyone here, except 7bit, who would disagree with that.

My willingness to wait tells you just how badly I want the Honeywell colors.

[Halvar]

For someone who lives in the US and mostly needs ANSI kits with a few modifications it's probably hard to even grasp what 7bit is doing and why it's organized that way. I haven't seen any alternatives.

[Griffy]

Im fine as long as I get the product. I already got sorta 1 keyboard (R5) so I have nothing to doubt I will get my other 2 (R6). My only complain is that it would have been so incredibly nice to be able to order more of the sold out kits. I am sorely needing a black numpad to complete the kit and there is no way to add it. I understand the "wierd" kits would not have been sold unles they were all thats left (Im deducing this theory from my own way of going about puzzling together sets) but they should have been able to be swapped out, f.eks SP knows they have to produce 1000 kits and I understand you cant go back and forth on this, but they shouldnt care if its 15 wingbats or 15 caps to form a numpad? There is also no real way to tune the number of kits for the next groupbuy (and the problem repeats itself) since I doubt there is a record of all requests for sold out kits, and also there is the darknumber (ppl browsing and just accepting) so if the kits or number of caps have to be locked they should be swappble.

[Myoth]

Yeah, for american is understand to see that your country is left out of the scene, when I began to get into mechs I got an ISO-UK keyboard, it was good, but damn I was missing some keys, and not because I'm being patriotic, some things on there were just too useful to be left out. Sure AZERTY is really not the best layout, but even then, it's always nice to use it, for me. Now I see some keycaps set popping up, Varmillo, Round5 was a nice way to get AZERTY in SA profile, which is usually a profile sought after...

[bluesclera]

Are the Honeywell colors IP? If not cant MAXKEY run them as well? I think 7bit and SP have too much on their plate.
3yr wait is ridiculous. Shorter wait times for the Tesla model 3.

[caligo]

Are the Honeywell colors IP? If not cant MAXKEY run them as well? I think 7bit and SP have too much on their plate.
3yr wait is ridiculous. Shorter wait times for the Tesla model 3.

Keycap colorways are not something one can copyright, as far as I know. I think Maxkey has already done something Honeywell-like, and the Oblivion set is in part doing something fairly similar right now on MD. Besides, if the colorway was anyone's IP it would probably belong to Honeywell – not some guy from Germany.

But I doubt a Maxkey run would offer the same selection of sets. Options would most likely be way less diverse.

[zslane]

So far I have not yet seen anyone attempt to do a proper Honeywell colorway other than 7bit. All the others are (very) rough approximations that aren't good enough, in my view. Maybe sets like Ashen are okay for other folks who don't know any better (or don't care), but only Round 6 HONEYB comes sufficiently close to getting it right to be worth the money, IMO.

[Myoth]

I mean ... Oblivion has, I think, the same colours though ... right ?

[Myoth]

I mean ... Oblivion has, I think, the same colours though ... right ?

Colours (of Round 5) :
WFK/RAS white on red
WFK/NN white on black
WFK/GPA white on grey
NN/WFK black on white

Colours (of Oblivion) :
GAD/RAS (White on Red)
GD/WFK (Black on Grey)
GAL/GD (White on Grey)

Nevermind

[zslane]

Moreover, the way those other sets are typically designed, you can't put together a keyboard like this:

honeywell_keyboard_athome_02.jpg (468.06 KiB) Viewed 6482 times

Good luck getting that black numpad with Ashen or GMK Honeywell. And without a black numpad, it doesn't look like the Honeywell terminal that is the basis for the set in the first place.

[bluesclera]

Thanks for answering all my questions guys....not much more to add. See you guys in 3yrs for Round8?

[chuckdee]

Thanks for answering all my questions guys....not much more to add. See you guys in 3yrs for Round8?

Actually, it appears that round 6 might be the end of the train. Also, a consideration- though the colors are not IP, the font is, as 7bit worked with SP in order to get them absolutely right.

[zslane]

Not sure what is meant by that, but a font's glyphs can't be copyrighted (i.e., owned as IP), only its name, at least not in the US.

However, if 7bit paid for a bunch of custom legend plates, then he "owns" them and SP won't allow anyone else to use them without 7bit's permission. However, there is nothing to stop someone else from sending vector files describing the same exact glyphs and paying for another custom set of legend plates that look identical to 7bit's. SP will gladly take your money and make you the plates.

[chuckdee]

Not sure what is meant by that, but a font's glyphs can't be copyrighted (i.e., owned as IP), only its name, at least not in the US.

However, if 7bit paid for a bunch of custom legend plates, then he "owns" them and SP won't allow anyone else to use them without 7bit's permission. However, there is nothing to stop someone else from sending vector files describing the same exact glyphs and paying for another custom set of legend plates that look identical to 7bit's. SP will gladly take your money and make you the plates.

I couldn't say for sure. But I did read somewhere (perhaps earlier in this thread) that he did do custom work with SP on these keys.

[zslane]

Oh he definitely did; most if not all of the Space Cadet legend plates are completely new, and belong to 7bit. I guess I should have used the word "since" instead of "if" in my earlier post.

[lukenukum]

I don't mean to be critical per se; but in all honesty, the only way to accurately describe 7bit's group buy system is with words like archaic and primitive. I don't think there is anyone here, except 7bit, who would disagree with that.

My willingness to wait tells you just how badly I want the Honeywell colors.

agree... and sometimes 'archaic' and 'primitive' are a breath of fresh air. i for one take for granted how easy it is now to order just what you want and have it delivered within a day or two. perhaps the uncertain quirky nature of the whole process adds to the magic.

that's what i'm telling myself any way

[rominronin]

Hi All, just came to ask for a quick update, any help with the following will be great:

Confirmation of payment to SP for Round 6, part 2?
Confirmation of Delivery date?

PS. speaking of archaic, exactly how old are you 7bit?

I honestly have grown out of SA profile, which is why I'm frequenting the thread less often...

[zslane]

Round 6 phase 2 is currently in production, which means it has been fully paid for.
Tentative completion date is mid-October. Add two weeks for shipment to Berlin.

However, we still don't know if 7bit has the funds to get those keycaps out of German customs (approx $10k), and to pay for postage to ship to customers.

[Griffy]

Could anyone sell me a future white r4 shift 175 ? and a 200 white backspace.

Its for a really good cause.

[rominronin]

Round 6 phase 2 is currently in production, which means it has been fully paid for.
Tentative completion date is mid-October. Add two weeks for shipment to Berlin.

However, we still don't know if 7bit has the funds to get those keycaps out of German customs (approx $10k), and to pay for postage to ship to customers.

Thanks zslane, I appreciate the concise update.

[consolation]

How quickly are R5 leftovers shipped? They are the kits 7bit has on hand, correct?

[zslane]

Correct. But 7bit may still be on vacation, so nothing will get sent out for at least another week.

[Griffy]

I ordered some more yesterday and it hasnt been recognized so yeah I would say its on hold.

[7bit]

I'm back!


I've updated the wiki, so you can now order more!


Key caps are in production and if everything goes well, they should be here by the end of October.

[bluesclera]

Am i suppose to get a confirmation email after sending order to [7bot] ?

[vinnycordeiro]

Am i suppose to get a confirmation email after sending order to [7bot] ?

Send a WASSUP to 7bot, you'll receive shortly an email with all information you need there.

[eatanygoodbooks]

I'm back!


I've updated the wiki, so you can now order more!


Key caps are in production and if everything goes well, they should be here by the end of October.

That sounds exciting! I sent you a PM bout some key caps I'm trying to get. I am thinking it's a long shot this late in the game, but never hurts to ask.

[bluesclera]

Is it normal that messages i compose remain in the outbox even after 3hrs? Even PMs?

[nosage]

Is it normal that messages i compose remain in the outbox even after 3hrs? Even PMs?

yes, all messages to 7bot will remain in your outbox