/mkg/ - Mechanical Keyboard General

>Topre
I'd like to try Topre some day, it's shame that everything that uses them is so ridiculously expensive.

I don't know but a guy at work uses one and he swears it's great for him.

The problem with ordinary rubber domes is mainly that you have to bottom out to get them to register, and also that they're very inconsistent in activating even when you do so, forcing you to pound the keys to get any consistency when typing fast. Topre switches have neither of those problems.

I got to try Topre out at a meetup, it's honestly pretty damned nice and I'm planning on picking one up at some point in the next month, but the whole "Oneness of Cup Rubber" thing is definitely overblown.

You need to go back in time before all the meme switches showed up. Topres were the most tactile and smoothest switches around and there was no other option beside scavenging for old keyboards. Adding to that Topres were only slightly expensive when compared to the competition while also being more durable and lasting longer so people happily paid the premium for them. Of course since then Cherry has retooled all their switches to make them as smooth as Topres while dropping prices by over 60%, plus Gateron and Kailh have come out with switches that are more tactile and just as smooth for a fraction of the price. Now days Topre is just subsisting of their reputation of being a premium brand. It's better to just buy a topre clone and swap out the domes with BKE ones

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It's a meme
get a malt instead

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>before all the meme switches showed up
Pretty much all the meme switches (unless you include modern Cherry clones) are pretty much exactly as old as Topre. All of them hail from the early-to-mid 80s, since that's when all keyboards were being redesigned for smaller form factors.

The thing is that I'm already using a (Unicomp) Model M, so they have a pretty high bar to beat.

I was mostly talking about the 2012-2015 era since most of the switches you're referring to have long been discontinued

Topres have a very different feeling when compared to a model M. Imagine a clickbar switch, but without the noise and even smoother

2012 was already well into the /mkg/ era, though. I got my first Unicomp in 2009 or something (don't remember exactly) and there were Cherry boards all around.

pckeyboard.com/page/product/SK720C
so i just bought these, how would these compare to topre?

I spilled soup on my ducky shine 3 a few days ago
Disassemble the entire thing so I can clean everything. When everything was dry I tested the keyboard to make sure it still works and it did. Yesterday the 5 pin usb connector got loose so I connected it back and I got a "USB is not recognized" message. Hours of research and trying to find the problem turns out I put the connector the wrong way. It isn't keyed so it got fucked due to reverse polarity. Don't buy ducky keyboards.

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When did Cherry stop making their own keyboards?

Then you should know how expensive cherry keyboards were if you wanted something decent and that there were no other options until just the past couple years. Gaterons had massive issues up until late 2016 that Varmilo still doesn't offer warranties for their Gateron keyboards. Box switches only came out recently and already the first run had issues with keycaps stretching and splitting. Kailh clones are so shit that razer ended up ditching them and partnering with Greetech to make something serviceable. Cherry was selling a piece of shit G80s for almost a hundred bucks three years ago and the cheapest mech keyboard around was a lolita for 80-90 bucks. If you wanted a smooth and tactile switch you either got a topre or paid even more money for wobblios. You seem to have already forgotten how much the industry has improved in such a rapid time thanks to the chinese.

It's kinda crazy how bad things were not that long ago. If you wanted a good mech keyboard you either got a filco for 150 bucks with pad printed ABS, or a Ducky for 120 that would die after 6 months because they used the chinkiest components. I can see how people thought that paying 180-200 for a topre board was a good idea since those came with PBT caps. Thank God the Chinese got their act together.

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A long time ago. Cherry got rid of most of their tooling since they were struggling financially

t. aspie who needs his keyboard to make clicking noises to please him

I just bought this thing

now what?

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Sell it and buy a membrane keyboard

Just got pic related

It's really comfy

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Get some new keycaps for it, I'm enjoying my Maxkey SA set, but for something cheaper look at Tai-Hao stuff. If you want a taste of different profiles while spending a bit less money check the DSA sets on KBDFans or KPRepublic.
Enjoy your new keyboard!

Wait, does that use the Romer switches or whatever? Disregard what I said about new keycaps, you're stuck with what you've got in that case.

You could have at least bought the right one with Topre switches.

not really a fan of topre

Then you should have bought alps/matias/Romer g. Anything is better than that plastic garbage.

no

>recommending mechanicals
you're a fucking moron

If you had to pick between Red or Brown switches what would you go for?

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Browns are terrible tactiles. Reds are way too light for my taste, but they're a decent linear if you like the weighting.

Tactiles in general are garbage. If you want really good tactility, you pretty much need something that clicks unless you get some royals or something with a similar heavy bump. Browns are terrible even among the other tactile failures.

You'll be much happier in life if you just go for click and linear. If you need tactile without the click, then that's when you should start looking at stuff like nicely tactile rubber domes like BTC and Topre.

Honestly, I want to get blue ones but I'm worried about the noise it'll make. But it sounds like between red and brown that red are superior?

I'm used to membrane keyboards, that is what I'm using now, there's no click on these but I guess there is a light bump as you push them down.

Get matias quiet click if you want tactility and low noise.

were I live I don't have all that many options. I pretty much have to choose between the MX switches and that's it.

Unless I wanna put 300 dollars on a keyboard, which I do not.

Try MX Black or Clear. They're more in line with what you're already used to.

Everything I've read about Black make them sound pretty terrible though. The keyboard I'm using now is very light to press down on, and pretty noisy too desu. It's an old ibm keyboard I got for 3 dollars.

I kind of love how it feels.

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I have that exact keyboard IBM KB-7953. It came with my Pentium II IBM back in 1995. It's a good rubber dome with good tactility and absolutely silent compared to what you're looking at. Take it apart. Wash the caps, dome sheet and top plate. Regrease the stabalizers and be happy with what you got. It's a hundred times more smooth and tactile than MX Browns. It's better than the rubber dome versions of the F and M.

It's also roughly the same weight as MX Blacks. You have no idea how light reds are. It's criminal.

Hmm, interesting. Well you've definitely ruled out browns for me.
Are rubber domes generally heavy as fuck to press down on then? Because every rubber dome I've owned (which are the only keyboards I've owned) have been heavier on the press than these. That's why I loved this keyboard so much when I got it.
You can't be serious about these being silent though? It is the noisiest keyboard I've ever had by a mile. Watching videos of reds/browns being used they sound much quieter. I honeslty wouldn't be surprised if these are on the same level as blues.

>generally heavy as fuck to press down on then?
Yes. They're like 75g+ while that IBM is around 50g

>can't be serious about these being silent though?

Not as quiet as modern chiclet crap but miles more quiet than any undamped mechanical switches.

youtube.com/watch?v=QC-D1aRzZJw

50g sounds about right, but the reds arent much lighter at 45.
A thorough cleaning by taking it apart might make it better, but right now it can be a little inconsistent at times with keys not registering.

I''m not against trying something new. I don't think this keyboard is perfect, although I do like it. It's just, feels like it is time for something new. The Ducky One 2 Skyline looks good but you've made me even more uncertain when it comes to switches, I still feel like blues would fit me best, I'm just slightly concerned about the noise.

Which switches do you like best?

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which cheap keyboard should I get for programming only? It needs to be comfortable and for the love of god, quiet.

Are there any Hall effect/optical switches out there being sold separately? I want to DIY a keyboard having one of these.

My happy spot is 55-65g. But I'm probably not the best guy to ask. I like really old stuff, especially cleaning and fixing it up, and I don't care about sound. I'm typing on an old Model F right now and that's like the complete opposite of quiet.

Blues are not super loud but they have a high plastic pitch that can be heard a whole room away. That's what drives people in offices crazy. Shouldn't bother you typing though if you're alone.

I have open-back headphones so sound leak through on them, which might get a little annoying if I'm listening to music or something.
Also I live at home, and might annoy others here. But, honestly, I'm leaning more blue than anything else right now.

>I have open-back headphones

Same. I have an SR-007 Mk I. Doesn't bug me though. Hearing the audible feedback actually makes me type faster. But I don't live with people it would bother either.

Fucking hell, those are expensive cans.

*Woosh

i have that keyboard. im not really sure why but its been useful in the past at least

>Romer G
AYYYYYYY LMAOOOOO

I only paid about $900 used before they jumped up in price and built my own amp. Worth it though. Haven't wanted to chase upgrades in over 3 years and cleared out the rest of my headphones except a pair of iem's for travel.

Never got to that point with keyboards though. I haven't gone crazy like some people with hundreds, but I still have like eight and I need to trim that down.

someone stop me from making a custom HHKB with hako royal true.

Also why does massdrop exsist when all they do is middle man kbdfan shit?

You can buy HP optical switches separately, but they don't have the same pin out as cherry MX so you either have to hand wire or print a custom PCB

My Unicomp's Esc key gets stuck sometimes. I suspect it's related to the fact that the mold isn't quite centered around it. Taking the keycap and putting it back on resolves.

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>Also why does massdrop exsist when all they do is middle man kbdfan shit?
Because people have got to save that $5, even if it means a 6 month wait time. And it does at least give a decent way to offer custom colorways in niche profiles.
Fucking Unicomp, garbage people who don't give a fuck about you once you've bought their janky shit.

>tfw typing on cherry mx switches

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The worst part is that Unicomp made SSKs up until 2008 and when they couldn't afford to make them they just threw away the tooling. I'm glad that the model F reproduction project went so smoothly cause it shows how incompetent and lazy Unicomp is.

Like clockwork.
Holy shit they fucking WHAT?! Why would they just throw it away? I'm sure SOMEONE would have taken it off their hands for some dosh. And yeah I met the model F repro guy, he seemed alright and genuinely wants to get those boards out. Don't personally see the need for them to be literally 7 pounds, but I wouldn't mind getting my hands on one of those compact versions though.

gosh those are painful to use, you're better off with the virtual keyboard and a fucking mouse
whoever invented this should be gassed

you can get the smol version of the model F. It weighs about as much as a model M despite being made of metal. He said he had issues with the metal sheets being thin so he doubled the the screw count in order for everything to be held together. He made them as light as he possibly could since he knew not everyone wanted a monstrously heavy keyboard

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Actually Unicomp never had the tooling, just leftovers. If you wanted a SSK they'd make you one out of old parts that were sitting in a warehouse. The last ones were sold off in 2008 for like 70 bucks

HP as in Hewlett-Packard? Or something else?

Yes that HP. They make optical switches for gaming keyboards

I have that keyboard in my art room for typing on my hands are covered in wet clay.

Ok, so all I could find from a quick search is that they make a keyboard with some sort of hybrid between optical and mechanical switches, claiming 70 million keypresses. Shouldn't these switches have a longer lifespan, given that they have no contact?

>that's not even my final form

honestly hako royals are absolutely worth the price, if you want actually tactile switches with mx mount. got the clears myself though, no regrets

idk why anyone would want one of these cucksavers desu

It's probably because of the way the plastic moves inside the switch. Anyway I circled the switch that I'm talking about. You can get them from HP's spare parts, but I doubt they'll give you enough to build a full size keyboard

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So you can bully the other 60% keyboards at the next hipster bar meet. The zinc case is far too heavy for the average redditor to carry around.

i think you might be able to get flaretech optical switches from aliexpress or something, but you would need to have an ir led and a sensor for every switch idk how the hp ones work but they look interesting

wait what? a good answer in /mkg/? I think you had the wrong thread

would a shock collar improve my typing speed?

So should i get a fc660c or fc980c (i like the extra keys on the 980 but the offset arrow keys trigger me so I haven't decided yet) or should i not bother with topre?
Also, what 60% bluetooth mech with decent build quality would you recommend? Want something relatively cheap (max 100€) and durable to use with box switches.

no but a chastity cage will

>woosh
I knew /mkg/ was a reddit general but this is too much

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I think I'd rather go the Flaretech route, because I think the Wooting One keyboard, which uses these, has interchangeable switches, no soldering required. It's probably easier to get these, judging by this fact.

I suppose I'll have to get dirty with PCBs if I want to get the IR LED and the sensor working there.

are Matias Quiet Clicks any good?

Waiting for Dygma Raise. Its a split ergo keyboard with a ton of hardware feature and open firmware and software. It's not ortholinear so even normies can use it without fucking around . 4x split space bar and 3x under row low profile modifier/ macro keys mean you can actually use the goddamn things instead of being halfway off some gaming board or whatnot pushed off the left side.

Should be comfy.

They're pretty decent. The loudest part of the board would be the keycap rattle (still pretty quiet nonetheless). That's just something you have to take with the alps design though.

>It's not ortholinear
why would you buy this over the iris or a dox

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Dox needs an update. No solderless switch swapping or backlighting including rgb potential, the difference between Dox kit, Infinity, and EZ tweak a few things

Iris is neat but pretty much build your own for something similar but not quite like the Dox or Raise. Lacks some features.

Other one I considered was Keyboardio but it's non standard layout means limited keycap and switch support as well as something big to get used to

Some don't like ortholinear or share their peripherals. Dygma has best feature set overall and can pretty much be used as a one hand pad, or regular board or split ergo. I may still look into an updated Ergodox type to compare but the Dygma Raise seems to be uniquely position in the market

>Lacks some features.
like what

>tfw typing on gateron reds

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Wasn't really happy with the side print being white ontop of light grey keys so I changed them out. Might leave it like this what do ya fellas think

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Hi im posting from mobile i hate mobile i wish i had a very small usb keeb w me i already ady have an otg cable whats a good choice i have ducky tkl one browb at home

If you like Ducky then why not stick with them

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I need something almost odt as small as my phone
I mean ofc it should be bigger
Ducky doesnt manafacture these
I need one if these retarded suprr small meme layouts but i know nothing about them please respond

Sorry didnt see your pic
Im not sure ill find these in Europe byt ill look at em thanks

>next run of reproduction model F keyboards will have a trackpoint
good thing I waited

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How small are we talking about?
Just so you know that pic was taken by a 23 foot man so his hands are a bit bigger then yours. That's just a standard 60% keyboard, and yes you can get them in Europe

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