My first mechanical keyboard

When I’m typing a lot of text (and admittedly that’s not very often these days) the extra key travel feature of most mechanical keyboards is welcome. I’m not sure why it ends up being more comfortable, but for me it is – the lower the key travel distance, the less pleasurable it is to type (culminating in the pretty nasty for me feeling of typing on an iPhone or iPad.)

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Sure thing! I’ve shown this before. My 1989 Northgate Computer Systems OmniKey/102. Need I say I wouldn’t consider anything else!


On a whim I just checked for used ones. $275 on Ebay. It cost $100 when new in 1989, which would be $210 in 2020 dollars.

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I’m kind of the opposite of you. I’ve been using mechanical keyboards for about 15 years a and now I find out they are a huge thing. Definitely DO NOT check out the r/MechanicalKeyboards subreddit or you’ll be spending your weekends soldering :smiley: :keyboard:.

My Keychron K6 will be arriving tomorrow. This will be my first non-traditional keyboard layout that I’m going to try using full time. Hopefully it won’t take me two months to adjust.

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For me it’s a matter of accuracy and efficiency performing my job (macOS/iOS software engineer). My company supplied a 2019 MacBook Pro and I absolutely cannot type on that keyboard with any accuracy. I get a lot of stray characters since the action is so light. I have never had that problem with any other physical keyboard. I probably don’t type as much as people who write in English all day, but accuracy is paramount in programming languages.

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I too recently got one and I am a big fan. I bought the Matias Laptop Pro and I am very happy with mine!

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Thanks a lot for the video: will definitely check that out. I type all day (fiction writer) and I’ve never seen religion with mechanical keyboards, and that makes a part of me sad as I’d love to geek out over keyboards :grin:
And thanks @Timo for the feedback!

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@anon85228692, honestly, if you’re happy with your set up avoid threads like this. I think a lot of it is self-fulfilling, expensive hype… but it is easy to get sucked in.

This is my low profile Drop (née Massdrop) Alt. The Alt has hot-swappable keyswitches, so under the modifier keys are clicky Kailh Bronzes and under every other key is a tactile Kailh Copper switch. The space key is a Hako Royal True, just for fun. I installed MK Ultra foam inside, too. Oh, and those novelty keys in the corner are Deep Fields from PrimeCaps—Canadian made! :canada:

A quick review: for the price the build quality isn’t what it should be. I can hear an infinitesimally faint buzz from the LEDs when they’re on full blast, and the keyboard suffered a bit of ping before I installed the foam.

But now that it’s all set up, I love it. It takes up such a small amount of real estate and it’s a joy to use. Someday I might switch up the keycaps but it’s hard to find a set that isn’t too tacky.

I previously had a Blademaster Pro, which was incredibly functional but too gamer-y and took up too much space. I also had a Varmilo VB87M, which was nice but I still wanted something smaller. The Planck EZ I briefly owned was wonderfully small, but I couldn’t get used to the ortholinear layout:

I don’t usually have this kaleidoscopic lighting on, but I might as well make it a party:

Motion-Still-2020-07-31 3

All of this is actually Logitech’s fault. I was so excited to get the Logitech Craft a few years ago, and it really was a much better experience than the Magic Keyboard I had been using before—but the damned spacebar chirped. I returned three before I gave up, but it was too late. I wanted something different from the Magic Keyboard. Thus began this woeful journey.

Edit: before anyone asks, the leather+walnut wrist wrest is from Grovemade.

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Wow! This is great! Thanks for showing us.

This is so very beautiful and awesome! Thanks for showing us.

(I think I’m safe. Just went through a few videos on YouTube and I haven’t heard any switch that didn’t instantly turn me insane! :smile:)

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Look for something with the Cherry MX Silent Red switches. I think the normal reds are extremely quiet, but I’m used to my Code keyboard with Cherry MX Green switches.

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This was just posted to one of the keyboard blogs I read. Quite apropos for this thread.

https://www.gomechanicalkeyboard.com/lists/best-mechanical-keyboards-under-30/

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Like @NiranS, I recently switched over from my long-used Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic keyboard, to an Ultimate Hacking keyboard. Brett Terpstra wrote about it here.

It took some getting used to, but I am very glad I made the switch. Mine is unfortunately the Windows version, as I bought it second-hand, but I plan on buying a second one for the office, whenever we actually return! Still deciding between a Mac specific version, or blank keycaps.

The add-on thumb clusters are hopefully going to be ready soon – will go for the extra keycluster on the left (which includes a mini-trackball) – and the trackpoint on the right.

I run mine in tented mode, and the palmrests – whilst not cheap – are really nice!

That all being said, this is the MPU forum afterall – I have had endless fun playing around with the Agent software, to add plenty of functionality through the different layers. I am not there yet, but can eventually see me adding entire Keymaps for specific applications. As it stands, I am already triggering a host of KM and BTT macros using the keyboard’s “function” and “mod” layers.

Lastly, the “mouse” layer works surprisingly well for when I don’t want to take my fingers off the keyboard.

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Wow. You have made me so happy that I only spent $25 on the Keychron wrist rest!

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Hah. At least I have managed to avoid buying their mouse pad (thus far…)

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And I thought $25 for a piece of wood was a bit of a rip off from Keychron but grove made has taken it to a new level :joy:

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Thanks Brad, enjoyed the video, and it was beautifully produced. I feel vindicated in my rash purchase :slight_smile:

I think some of the ‘arguments’ apply elsewhere, for example in photography, where I always hated using tripods until I finally caved and bought a beautiful carbon Gitzo…

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You’re welcome! I agree!

I’m almost too embarrassed to point out that this still comes in under that of the UHK palm rests… Apparently, beech is a really nice kind of wood… :man_shrugging:

Does this have Alps switches?

My goal was not a mechanical keyboard, I “just” wanted an ergonomic keyboard where the rows are not staggered but the columns.
Turns out, this is quite specific, and you immediately are in mechanical keyboard land.
Now I have a Kyria.
And as i was already quite far down the rabbit hole (though as usual it still goes waaaay deeper), I am now also using a crazy custom layout.

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