The wiki thread

[JBert]

Right now those few keyboards which got a disassembly explanation had it on the keyboard's info page, e.g. http://deskthority.net/wiki/Cherry_Nump ... isassemble

Mods should likely go on their own page once you want to make them really detailed, but then we'd need to find new page names each time a mod gets added.

[Findecanor]

Just a quick thought: Some members have uploaded pictures to the Wiki with their own watermarks. Personally, I think that is perfectly fine. But not every users has made their own watermark, nor do they want to show off their name in the wiki. How about a default watermark that just says "Deskthority"?

[002]

While I don't have any objections with watermarking in general, I don't feel as though it's a good idea for the wiki because:

- We'd have to go back and re-tag and re-upload all the pictures that are already on the wiki.
- I can't remember ever browsing wikipedia and seeing a picture there that has a wikipedia watermark?
- I'm lazy

If someone wants to take on this task themselves though I'm happy for all pictures uploaded by me to have a Deskthority watermark.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Created a couple of categories for pages where I've identified images that need replacing with better ones (Photos in need of replacement) and pages that need illustrating by someone who is in possession of the necessary hardware (Pages requiring illustration). In the latter case, I've added DIP switch, as I can do macro photography but I don't have a keyboard with a DIP switch in it :) (There's a page with one illustrated, but it's just not zoomed in close enough to make it out clearly, and it's already a crop of a larger photo.)

In the same vein as the wanted pages category intended for authors (really useful!), this will help people who aren't confident with writing but are good with a camera to know what needs photos.

Anyone who's good with MediaWiki could probably figure out how to make {{...}} templates out of these for clearer wiki code. Looking at the definition of {{stub}} and infobox templates, the rabbit hole of confusion goes very deep!

[bhtooefr]

I'd personally prefer no watermarks whatsoever, FWIW.

(And that means if a watermarked photo is on there, tag it as needing replacement with a non-watermarked photo.)

Don't crop watermarks out, though, that's just being a dick.

As for the whole DT/GH divide... I wouldn't give GH the credit of DT spinning off of it, but at the same time, I wouldn't say that the only thing GH contributed was how not to run a forum. (It sure as hell did contribute that, though.)

What GH did was build the English-speaking keyboard community, really.

Before GH, it was all isolated pockets on tiny forums and blogs and comment sections, and low traffic threads buried in off-topic and general hardware sections of other computer forums. Myths about various keyswitches ran rampant (hell, it wasn't that long ago that I remember not knowing the difference between Alps and Cherry.) And, with a few exceptions, the English-speaking premium keyboard market was ignored. Sure, we had Unicomp, Matias, and Cherry, but Cherry wasn't actually that well known in the US market (but more prominent in Europe - but that's mostly Germany, so not English speaking), CVT was dying, and PFU ended up pulling everything but the rubber dome over membrane boards out of the US market due to lack of demand.

After GH, terminology became consistent, we started tapping into the Asian resources, and then the Asian keyboard makers. Several businesses exist today that wouldn't have existed if it weren't for Geekhack bringing attention to the market. I've even gone into a Micro Center and touched a Ducky with Cherry MX browns. A brick and mortar store in OHIO carrying such a board! That's something that I'm sure wouldn't have happened if it weren't for Geekhack consolidating the keyboard enthusiasts.

So, I can't say that Geekhack was only good for demonstrating how a forum shouldn't be run. Geekhack is why the English-speaking parts of the world have such strong keyboard resources, thanks to it tying everything together. In my opinion, it had some critical flaws that resulted in its community being poisoned, but it still served a hugely important purpose to the keyboard community in its first three years or so of operation. (Sure, even before that point, it showed itself as an example of what not to do, and became a dump. Which is why I'm making this post on Deskthority, and not on Geekhack, and I haven't even logged into Geekhack since the r00tw0rm debacle. But, up until that point, it was still a very useful place.)

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Personally, I would avoid watermarks on a wiki. I don't see sufficient justification for their obtrusiveness.

[002]

I can sort out the dip switch picture this afternoon.
Edit: done...after many mistakes

[webwit]

I updated to the latest version of mediawiki. Please let me know if you find anything wrong.

[bhtooefr]

Created a category for watermarked images, please put any you find in this category:

http://deskthority.net/wiki/Category:Watermarked_images

[Daniel Beardsmore]

I updated to the latest version of mediawiki. Please let me know if you find anything wrong.

It doesn't do the Wikipedia thing where you can request an SVG image of any of a number of custom sizes; maybe that relates to the choice of SVG renderer used. Not a biggie :)

I can sort out the dip switch picture this afternoon.
Edit: done...after many mistakes

Yay. (No sign of any mistakes though.)

[webwit]

You can already do that, but wikipedia also has a mod where it inserts links to some standard sizes (200px, 500px, 1000px, 2000px) on the image page. You can do the same here, it just hasn't the links (yet). The image page provides a link to the original svg file and uses a png renderer for custom sizes, because IE doesn't support svg until version 9 and because of memory issues (according to mediawiki). I think that means if you have a page with a number of inline svg (instead of svg rendered to png), your computer will blow up.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Sorry, the standard sizes links feature is what I meant. It's just a useful zoom in/out tool as Firefox at least has no SVG zoom facility. Good for maps and diagrams where the nominal size makes writing hard to read etc.

I don't seriously expect inline SVG to be usable right now :)

Hell, we're still crawling out of the no-32-bit-PNG-yet hole. There's a very subtle gotcha where SVG images displayed inside a <gallery> tag are generated as 24-bit PNG with a white background instead of 32-bit PNG: the white rectangle is subtly visible on the default gallery item background.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

BTW, has everyone seen this page? http://deskthority.net/w/index.php?titl ... antedPages

It's a really useful way to spot what hasn't been written yet :) You might spot a link to a missing page about a keyboard or switch that you own, or a key specific to an OS you use. Stuff like that.

The one that intrigues me is the entry for "Cherry MX Super Grey", because I've never heard of that, and Google suggests that it doesn't exist … (outside of DT, no-one seems to have ever mentioned it anywhere)

[JBert]

The pages for Grey and Dark Grey point out that those are used for spacebars in MX clear and MX black keyboards. However, when testing the Windows keys on the left of a Cherry G80-5000, some other, far stiffer MX grey was found. This has gotten the nick name "super grey" for its 105cn spring (see also the colour list on the Cherry MX page). It's in some thread somewhere, you'll have to look it up.

[webwit]

Super grey? I called it the super black.



I balanced these fishing line weights on the key... it didn't even bottom out.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Why would there be a grey switch for the Windows key ...?

I'm not even sure that this was a real switch and not just a broken one. At the moment there's a redlink pointing to a page for a switch that may not even exist, regardless of whether it's black or grey.

[webwit]

No fault, real key. Both Windows keys use it, on all Cherry 5000 keyboards with Windows keys as far as I know. I've tried two of this variant myself, both the same thing. The design reasoning behind it was probably to prevent accidental key presses. The older Cherry 5000 with function keys on the left does not use the super blacks, but browns like the other keys.
Some more pics here.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

So, we're saying 150 cN (rounded estimate) then? OK I'll add that to the wiki in a minute.

[Vierax]

The wiki talks about MX Orange but there is nothing on the page : What is this kind of beast ?

[Daniel Beardsmore]

I'm curious about the code for the Super Black — it's claimed on the wiki to be MX1A-B1xx, except nothing in that family of codes appears to exist. That code family is down in the MX switch group buy as "MXSUPERGREY", but 7bit wrote "I've decided it will not available, unless you order 1000 switches and it is available from the supplier", so goodness only knows what people would have got if they'd successfully ordered it.

"MX Orange" is the suggested name by some for the Ergo Clear, which means that it doesn't exist. Wishful thinking?

[Vierax]

"MX Orange" is the suggested name by some for the Ergo Clear, which means that it doesn't exist. Wishful thinking?

Clears + Red/Blue/Brown string should be called Pink,Cyan or Beige to me (some name I certainly saw in the wiki) not Purple or Orange even if it could make confusion with MX white.
But I'm out of topic right now.

[Daemon Raccoon]

MX Oranges from what I remember are a rare switch with a smaller stem than regular MX switches and have only been found on one keyboard.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

By "smaller", do you mean shorter, or incompatible with U mount? If they're not U mount compatible, do you know that they're even MX-series switches?

[Daemon Raccoon]

Incompatible with U mount as the mounting point is physically smaller, but they have the same housing as other MX switches from what I recall.

[webwit]

My guess is the super black and the super gray are two different switches, one vintage and the other what Cherry currently has for offer as a super heavy switch.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Does anyone have any hard evidence of either super switch from Cherry? A 2011 topic exists from someone looking for MX1A-B1NN and finding its existence denied by Cherry's catalogue; 7bit could have got the code directly from the wiki thinking it was correct. We don't know that Cherry didn't simply have someone in the factory laboriously swapping the springs in the Windows key switches ;-P

As for these non-U mount orange switches, I wouldn't accept that they're genuinely MX series without seeing proof from a Cherry datasheet. For all I know they're a Far East clone – plenty of fake MX switches do exist and I wouldn't be surprised if some factory got the mount spec wrong :)

[Daemon Raccoon]

Finally took forever to find 'em: http://www7.ocn.ne.jp/~hisao/image/ncrf020.htm

[webwit]

I created a new subforum for wiki talk.

[Acanthophis]

Nice move.
I start to appreciate the wiki more and more. Some nice stuff in there.
I want to contribute as well.
As mentioned in the Poker Pics thread, I can/will do the Poker.
webwit, are you okay with me taking (stealing) some stuff from your Poker review?

[webwit]

Yes, all my keyboard pictures are in the public domain.