[Meetup Venue Confirmed!] Bay Area CA Brand New Model F Meetup 7/7

Ellipse · 26 Jun 2018, 00:00

Bay Area Brand New Model F Keyboards Meetup Venue Confirmed! TOMORROW (Saturday 7/7) 12-4pm

Everyone please thank discord user and founding member of Sudo Room (part of Omni Commons) @barakus for volunteering a spot for the meetup tomorrow (Saturday)!

I was thinking this will be a casual low key meetup where you can try out the Brand New Model F Keyboards and see some production / prototype photos on slideshow, and maybe meet up with some other Model F fans.

Of course original Model F's (including Kishsavers!) are welcome too if anyone wants to bring some.

If anyone has any ideas/suggestions for the meetup tomorrow please let me know!

Date: Saturday 7/7

Time: 12-4pm

Location: Sudo Room at OmniCommons, 4799 Shattuck Ave, Oakland
10 minute walk from MacArthur train station
https://sudoroom.org/
Building photos and directions: https://localwiki.org/oakland/sudo_room
Map: https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/2060 ... -122.26430

So far just the East Coasters have tried out the Brand New Model F Keyboards at the NYC and NJ meetups this year and last year but I am bringing the new F62 and F77 prototypes to California next month!

I am completely open to the details, locations, and what everyone would like the itinerary/structure to be. I think the main mechanical keyboards Bay Area meetup is likely going to be a separate big event another day.

I will be in the Bay Area (CA) and would appreciate any help setting up a meet up Saturday July 7th where people can try out the Brand New Model F prototypes and maybe bring their own keyboards (buckling spring only, IBM buckling and beam springs, or any keyboard?). It would also be great to meet some of the west coast Model F fans/collectors, match the forum names to faces, and see some parts of everyone's collections!

What else would people like to see? Would there be interest in some kind of presentation related to Model F's or is that too much? Maybe just an office hours type gathering would be better?

Please let me know your ideas and suggestions below and what you can do to help!

Please join the Discord here: https://discord.gg/UVJnYNJ

Ellipse · 02 Jul 2018, 14:38

Bump! This is happening on Saturday! Still need help with reserving a venue if anyone can help.

Ellipse · 07 Jul 2018, 01:35

Bay Area Brand New Model F Keyboards Meetup Venue Confirmed! TOMORROW (Saturday 7/7) 12-4pm

Everyone please thank discord user and founding member of Sudo Room (part of Omni Commons) @barakus for volunteering a spot for the meetup tomorrow (Saturday)!

I was thinking this will be a casual low key meetup where you can try out the Brand New Model F Keyboards and see some production / prototype photos on slideshow, and maybe meet up with some other Model F fans.

Of course original Model F's (including Kishsavers!) are welcome too if anyone wants to bring some.

If anyone has any ideas/suggestions for the meetup tomorrow please let me know!

Date: Saturday 7/7

Time: 12-4pm

Location: Sudo Room at OmniCommons, 4799 Shattuck Ave, Oakland
10 minute walk from MacArthur train station
https://sudoroom.org/
Building photos and directions: https://localwiki.org/oakland/sudo_room
Map: https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/2060 ... -122.26430

darkcruix · 07 Jul 2018, 10:04

Hopefully: Photos, Videos, descriptions for those of us far, far away

Compgeke · 08 Jul 2018, 03:46

Pretty small turnout but that's expected for such short notice. The boards are working and working well. The fit and finish is great and the cast zinc housings weigh an absolute ton. The reproduction keycap colours are spot on with the original IBM caps on my F122 and some sample XT keycaps he had.

Here''s a quick pic of the F77 next to an old beat up F122. Over to the left is the "Ultra Compact Modern Case" F62 in Black. Some others might have some pics too.

One of the nicest things though is decent black keycaps for IBM boards. The board is populated with Unicomp black caps which as we all know are kinda shit with their shiny center. Did they scrub old legends off? Who knows. Ellipse's black caps are perfectly textured with no random shiny spots!

darkcruix · 08 Jul 2018, 09:39

Thanks a mil - can't wait to hold one in my own hands

scottc · 08 Jul 2018, 12:46

So Compgeke, can you give us a review of the typing feel etc? I have been waiting years for an unbiased third-party review from someone that I know.

A side-by-side comparison maybe? Typing video?

Compgeke · 09 Jul 2018, 03:51

How's the feel? It's a Model F but new. The springs aren't any heavier or lighter, the colour isn't any different (even on the keycaps). Sound is pretty much the same as the real boards. The main difference is Ellipse's are heavier due to the cases being made out of a different metal. No issues keeping up with the faster end of typing, we had 127 and 129 WPM hit no problem without any missed presses or phantom presses.

The only real issue was the board initially wasn't supper happy with the warm, humid room but a quick voltage threshold change fixed that. Setting the autocalibrate mode rather than using the hand set threshold it had probably would've avoided the problem. Either way, it was just a software thing and not hardware.

I don't have any video but another attendee might. We'll see if he uploads anything in the next few days.

Ellipse · 10 Jul 2018, 05:28

Yes a YouTube keyboard reviewer attended and took some 4K video - will share the link once it is up!

Confirmed the voltage threshold went from 118 (what I set in NY) to 130. I have not tested the autocalibrate mode extensively and prefer a manual setting - if anyone has used autocalibrate while using the xwhatsit in varying environments please do share your experience.

Thanks for attending everyone! It was nice meeting all of you!

mog_genius88 · 10 Jul 2018, 06:27

Is there any difference between the all black keycaps and the standard keycaps you will be selling (other than the color of course). Compgeke's comment made it sound like the all black keycaps were not as good as the standards.

duface · 10 Jul 2018, 06:38

mog_genius88 wrote: ↑Is there any difference between the all black keycaps and the standard keycaps you will be selling (other than the color of course). Compgeke's comment made it sound like the all black keycaps were not as good as the standards.

He meant the ones produced by Unicomp, not Ellipse. If you check out the picture again, all the keys in the keyboard are Unicomp (and shiny and horrible), but there is a single Ellipse produced black blank key sitting on top of the keyboard.

mog_genius88 · 10 Jul 2018, 06:42

duface wrote: ↑
mog_genius88 wrote: ↑Is there any difference between the all black keycaps and the standard keycaps you will be selling (other than the color of course). Compgeke's comment made it sound like the all black keycaps were not as good as the standards.

He meant the ones produced by Unicomp, not Ellipse. If you check out the picture again, all the keys in the keyboard are Unicomp (and shiny and horrible), but there is a single Ellipse produced black blank key sitting on top of the keyboard.

ahh got it thank you for the clarification!

lled0 · 12 Jul 2018, 05:34

I attended as well, and both sample boards felt great. The compact F62 was hefty in aluminum, but the zinc F77 was the heaviest board I've ever met - comparable to a beamspring. Apparently the metal is thicker than the original.

You can see in the top left background of Compgeke's photo that Ellipse also brought an empty F77 case in industrial gray, which I found particularly handsome.

Nathan Kim's brief video of the event is posted here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGgOyxI1Eu8

lled0 · 18 Jul 2018, 05:14

Huge thanks, by the way, to Ellipse for making this happen. It was awesome to get a chance to try these out in person!