keyboard
This note is part of my Zettelkasten.
I like mechanical keyboards. I’m thinking of getting a new one
- currently: Ducky One, standard German layout, Cherry MX Brown
- currently: ZSA
Moonlander
- very flexible
- comes with carrying case
- very customizable
- heard a lot of good things
- tried the one from a friend, seemed good
- if I’d want to buy new, I’d have to import it from the US
- looking for a used one instead
- or self-assemble one, e.g. based on an Ergodox variant
- FalbaTech have nice wooden cases
- ships from EU (Poland)
- https://splitkb.com (ships from Netherlands)
- might be a fun project
- but do I want more projects?
- less flexible than the Moonlander
Keycaps
Amount and Profile
- original: OEM profile
- all row 3 for printed caps
- row 0-4 for blank caps
- main keyboard has 64 keys
- 14 * row 4
- 14 * row 3
- 14 * row 2 (home row)
- 12 * row 1
- 10 * row 0 (also row 1 on most profiles)
- with a ANSI alpha set, we still miss: 10R0, 2R1, 3R2,
2R3, 2*R4
- an additional mod + numpad set or a normal full ANSI set will cover those except for the R0 keys
- if R0 = R1, then all R1 might be covered depending on the set, but there might still be a few missing
- I might kill/cover row 0 though
- 8 special keys
- 6 vertical 1.5u keys (horizontal should work too)
- 2 red wedge-shaped keys (2u keys should work too)
- maybe some fancy artisan keycaps for those
Switches
- I think I like tactile switches
- while clicky might feel nice, it’s just too noisy and fussy for my taste
- however, I’d like some more force than the browns
- and a more clear, crisp tactile bump
- especially when typing fast, there really isn’t much too feel with the browns
- I have 2 switch testers
- Kailh
- Gateron
- they have a Version 2 now with different / newer switches
- I have the previous version
- I liked a few of them
- Kailh Polia Tactile
- Kailh Canary Tactile
- Kailh Box V2 Brown (very crisp tactile bump, almost a click)
- Gateron Kangaroo
- Not sure any of them are perfect, but impossible to tell with only a single switch
- the friend’s moonlander I tried had Zealio V2
Tactile 65g switches
- I liked them a lot
- Zeal also have a switch tester
- very expensive though