The wiki thread
- webwit
- Wild Duck
- Location: The Netherlands
- Main keyboard: Model F62
- Favorite switch: IBM beam spring
- DT Pro Member: 0000
- Contact:
Sounds good. Unless someone objects I'd go ahead with it.
- off
- Location: the crapper, NL, EU
- DT Pro Member: -
Hey guys,
I started on a page a couple days ago, on keyboard matrix traces, and was kinda wondering:
*Is huha still alive/around; I think it was him who'd been looking for/collecting/tracing matrices on GH quite a while back?
*Anyone else have any keyboards traced and cares to put 'em on there? I know it's not a pleasant thing to input that sorta stuff in the wiki table style, but it's the lightest on connections/storage and easy to put on a page, so went that route instead of for instance a google doc, xls or just plain membrane/pcb pics.
*Is it even a smart idea to post traces of copyrighted products on (y)our wiki? I believe in the right to fully own every product you bought, including modification (improvement, repurposing) and that implies reverse engineering etc, but I'm fairly sure that's not universal. So what's your takes on that?
I also 'stub'bed it just now, after accidentaly reading that tip a few pages back.
Also I'm aware that the relevancy of the page itself is not great, seeing how teensy's are becoming available even in NL and a diy Aikon is even cheaper/more available; but still, I feel it's nice to (1) learn from ideas that have been implemented, and (2) it's very nice to reuse otherwise useless electronics.
Thanks for reading!
I started on a page a couple days ago, on keyboard matrix traces, and was kinda wondering:
*Is huha still alive/around; I think it was him who'd been looking for/collecting/tracing matrices on GH quite a while back?
*Anyone else have any keyboards traced and cares to put 'em on there? I know it's not a pleasant thing to input that sorta stuff in the wiki table style, but it's the lightest on connections/storage and easy to put on a page, so went that route instead of for instance a google doc, xls or just plain membrane/pcb pics.
*Is it even a smart idea to post traces of copyrighted products on (y)our wiki? I believe in the right to fully own every product you bought, including modification (improvement, repurposing) and that implies reverse engineering etc, but I'm fairly sure that's not universal. So what's your takes on that?
I also 'stub'bed it just now, after accidentaly reading that tip a few pages back.
Also I'm aware that the relevancy of the page itself is not great, seeing how teensy's are becoming available even in NL and a diy Aikon is even cheaper/more available; but still, I feel it's nice to (1) learn from ideas that have been implemented, and (2) it's very nice to reuse otherwise useless electronics.
Thanks for reading!
Last edited by off on 06 Apr 2012, 23:41, edited 1 time in total.
- bhtooefr
- Location: Newark, OH, USA
- Main keyboard: TEX Shinobi
- Main mouse: TrackPoint IV
- Favorite switch: IBM Selectric (not a switch, I know)
- DT Pro Member: 0056
- Contact:
Mechanical switch PCBs that don't have diodes are also important to trace out for those reasons, and even mechanical boards with diodes and capacitive boards can use documenting their matrix for alternative controller reasons.
- webwit
- Wild Duck
- Location: The Netherlands
- Main keyboard: Model F62
- Favorite switch: IBM beam spring
- DT Pro Member: 0000
- Contact:
I'm not a lawyer, but the traces seem ok to me. Documents of observed behavior. Perhaps it would be troublesome once you start producing keyboards with the same matrix, and sell these keyboards for profit. I'm still not a lawyer though.
- kbdfr
- The Tiproman
- Location: Berlin, Germany
- Main keyboard: Tipro MID-QM-128A + two Tipro matrix modules
- Main mouse: Contour Rollermouse Pro
- Favorite switch: Cherry black
- DT Pro Member: 0010
Had a look at the modified and updated wiki.
You guys made a fantastic job, it's now much clearer and much easier to use.
You guys made a fantastic job, it's now much clearer and much easier to use.
- 002
- Topre Enthusiast
- Location: Australia
- Main keyboard: Realforce & Libertouch
- Main mouse: Logitech G Pro Wireless
- Favorite switch: Topre
- DT Pro Member: 0002
Created the following Topre pages:
Sony NEWS NWP-411A
Sony NEWS NWP-5461
Topre Short-throw Keyboards
Fujitsu Axess MCR
Japan Digital Laboratory Keyboards
I hope they're not too bad but we can always clean it up later if necessary. I am open to constructive criticisms and suggestions as I am just learning this whole wiki gig
Sony NEWS NWP-411A
Sony NEWS NWP-5461
Topre Short-throw Keyboards
Fujitsu Axess MCR
Japan Digital Laboratory Keyboards
I hope they're not too bad but we can always clean it up later if necessary. I am open to constructive criticisms and suggestions as I am just learning this whole wiki gig

- bhtooefr
- Location: Newark, OH, USA
- Main keyboard: TEX Shinobi
- Main mouse: TrackPoint IV
- Favorite switch: IBM Selectric (not a switch, I know)
- DT Pro Member: 0056
- Contact:
Diffusing or non-diffusing subcategories?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia: ... gorization
Basically, Category:IBM Model M keyboards is a subcategory of Category:IBM Keyboards.
Should keyboards that are in IBM Model M keyboards also be in IBM Keyboards?
Looks like Wikipedia's general rule is to diffuse - that is, to only go for the subcategory - but they allow non-diffusion.
There's benefits to both approaches, and I'm honestly not sure how to handle it.
Edit: That said, I think Keyboards should DEFINITELY be diffusing, because of the scale. Think I'll work on that today, by removing the keyboards category from anything that's already in a subcategory of Keyboards.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia: ... gorization
Basically, Category:IBM Model M keyboards is a subcategory of Category:IBM Keyboards.
Should keyboards that are in IBM Model M keyboards also be in IBM Keyboards?
Looks like Wikipedia's general rule is to diffuse - that is, to only go for the subcategory - but they allow non-diffusion.
There's benefits to both approaches, and I'm honestly not sure how to handle it.
Edit: That said, I think Keyboards should DEFINITELY be diffusing, because of the scale. Think I'll work on that today, by removing the keyboards category from anything that's already in a subcategory of Keyboards.
- off
- Location: the crapper, NL, EU
- DT Pro Member: -
Hmm.. tricky. If there is a way to get a non-diffused but still differentiated category page, that'd be the way to go imho; i.e. having the category page 'ibm keyboards' show it's subcategories in a different frame than the items contained in there, but still showing all at the same time; big fan of CTRL+F myself.bhtooefr wrote:Should keyboards that are in IBM Model M keyboards also be in IBM Keyboards?
Looks like Wikipedia's general rule is to diffuse - that is, to only go for the subcategory - but they allow non-diffusion.
There's benefits to both approaches, and I'm honestly not sure how to handle it.
Edit: That said, I think Keyboards should DEFINITELY be diffusing, because of the scale. Think I'll work on that today, by removing the keyboards category from anything that's already in a subcategory of Keyboards.
- webwit
- Wild Duck
- Location: The Netherlands
- Main keyboard: Model F62
- Favorite switch: IBM beam spring
- DT Pro Member: 0000
- Contact:
I experimented a while back with some extensions that shows stuff inside in a subcategory. Then you still see all.
- webwit
- Wild Duck
- Location: The Netherlands
- Main keyboard: Model F62
- Favorite switch: IBM beam spring
- DT Pro Member: 0000
- Contact:
Although then, if you're talking about scale, there are even more keyboards on screen as many are in multiple subcategories.
- Icarium
- Location: Germany
- Main keyboard: These fields just
- Main mouse: opened my eyes
- Favorite switch: I need to bring stuff to work
- DT Pro Member: -
This would probably be too big an adjustment but I'm a big fan of semantic mediawiki. It's a pretty cool extension that allows all sorts of queries.
- webwit
- Wild Duck
- Location: The Netherlands
- Main keyboard: Model F62
- Favorite switch: IBM beam spring
- DT Pro Member: 0000
- Contact:
We just need a category "All keyboards" ?
- webwit
- Wild Duck
- Location: The Netherlands
- Main keyboard: Model F62
- Favorite switch: IBM beam spring
- DT Pro Member: 0000
- Contact:
Upgraded the wiki to the latest version of mediawiki. Also using some new extensions. There's a new editor, if you don't like it you can switch to the old one in your preferences. Let me know if you find anything wrong.
- 002
- Topre Enthusiast
- Location: Australia
- Main keyboard: Realforce & Libertouch
- Main mouse: Logitech G Pro Wireless
- Favorite switch: Topre
- DT Pro Member: 0002
Has this upgrade changed that way that gallery captions align?
They seem to be sitting in the middle of the page now - is there a way to left-justify them or something?
They seem to be sitting in the middle of the page now - is there a way to left-justify them or something?
- webwit
- Wild Duck
- Location: The Netherlands
- Main keyboard: Model F62
- Favorite switch: IBM beam spring
- DT Pro Member: 0000
- Contact:
Yeah I noticed that. If you look for example at the Model M15 page, it seems to be a design consequence. If you make your window smaller, the gallery now wraps. It used to scroll of the screen. I'll see if I can left align it.
EDIT: Changed it now.
EDIT: Changed it now.
- webwit
- Wild Duck
- Location: The Netherlands
- Main keyboard: Model F62
- Favorite switch: IBM beam spring
- DT Pro Member: 0000
- Contact:
It's some privacy/security protecting phpBB mechanism. Normally the sid is only used when you have cookies disabled. If you have them enabled, it appends it to a few urls such as logout, and then compares the given sid to the value passed in the cookie, apparently as a measure to prevent others logging you out or to prevent caching. Or something like that.
- webwit
- Wild Duck
- Location: The Netherlands
- Main keyboard: Model F62
- Favorite switch: IBM beam spring
- DT Pro Member: 0000
- Contact:
About the keyboard categorizing, I'd like to suggest three main categories, which should each have its own box on the wiki front page (it's two boxes now with a mix of these three categories). These are: keyboards by switch (Alps, Cherry, etc.), keyboard by type (gaming, tenkeyless, etc.) and keyboard by brand. Then if we use bhtooefr's suggestion we get a much cleaner navigation (i.e. only put a keyboard in the deepest categories). And maybe my suggestion for "list of all ... keyboards" categories can provide for those who just want a big list.
-
- Location: Belgium, land of Liberty Wafles and Freedom Fries
- Main keyboard: G80-3K with Clears
- Favorite switch: Capacitative BS
- DT Pro Member: 0049
While we are on the topic of categories, I just noticed something peculiar: some category pages are (ab)used as content pages, for an example see http://deskthority.net/wiki/Category:Ch ... _Keyboards.
It becomes more fun when pages try to link to sections in this category page: http://deskthority.net/wiki/Cherry_G80-2510 for example uses the following syntax to point to such a content section:
I just fixed it to use the proper internal-linking code so that broken links can actually be detected by Mediawiki, but somehow this fix still seems wrong to me...
If you look at the updated source, notice the initial collon in :Category:name. If you forget the collon your link won't work (instead, it will add the given page to that particular category). This problem would be less likely if there was an actual page "Cherry Terminal Keyboards" which has the content.
Oh, and BTW: I love the new gallery tag and the new editor.
It becomes more fun when pages try to link to sections in this category page: http://deskthority.net/wiki/Cherry_G80-2510 for example uses the following syntax to point to such a content section:
Code: Select all
==How to Disassemble==
For disassembling, see: [[http://deskthority.net/wiki/Category:Cherry_Terminal_Keyboards#How_to_open How to Disassemble]]
If you look at the updated source, notice the initial collon in :Category:name. If you forget the collon your link won't work (instead, it will add the given page to that particular category). This problem would be less likely if there was an actual page "Cherry Terminal Keyboards" which has the content.
Oh, and BTW: I love the new gallery tag and the new editor.
-
- Location: Ugly American
- Main keyboard: As Long As It is Helvetica
- Main mouse: Mickey
- Favorite switch: Wanna Switch? Well, I Certainly Did!
- DT Pro Member: -
It's gotta be better than the freeware or whatever addon that iMav bought for Geekhack. That Wiki SW is a steaming pile of shit. I just finished backing up all my wikis/mods/reviews to my hard drive and ran across all kinds of problems testing the original.
http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?1384 ... post570982
However I'm a bit scared of bhtooefr's Wiki awesomeness so will try and just take Webwit's advice copy/pasta other templates for my little test Keyboard Font wiki out in the stubs.
http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?1384 ... post570982
However I'm a bit scared of bhtooefr's Wiki awesomeness so will try and just take Webwit's advice copy/pasta other templates for my little test Keyboard Font wiki out in the stubs.
- webwit
- Wild Duck
- Location: The Netherlands
- Main keyboard: Model F62
- Favorite switch: IBM beam spring
- DT Pro Member: 0000
- Contact:
Well MediaWiki is what runs Wikipedia. I'm pretty sure that if it can handle that, it can handle the deskthority wiki. 

- bhtooefr
- Location: Newark, OH, USA
- Main keyboard: TEX Shinobi
- Main mouse: TrackPoint IV
- Favorite switch: IBM Selectric (not a switch, I know)
- DT Pro Member: 0056
- Contact:
The fix for that would be to create the page "Cherry terminal keyboards" (note capitalization) and redirect it to the category (again with a colon before).JBert wrote:This problem would be less likely if there was an actual page "Cherry Terminal Keyboards" which has the content.
- off
- Location: the crapper, NL, EU
- DT Pro Member: -
Seems very privacy sensitive to me to send plaintext unique identifiers around- could be my paranoia kickin' in, but not so sure.webwit wrote:It's some privacy/security protecting phpBB mechanism. Normally the sid is only used when you have cookies disabled. If you have them enabled, it appends it to a few urls such as logout, and then compares the given sid to the value passed in the cookie, apparently as a measure to prevent others logging you out or to prevent caching. Or something like that.
And to clarify, cookies are enabled, and it only happens when I'm not loggged in.
While we are on that subject again; why is gaming a category? It's a marketing gimmick 90% of the time..webwit wrote:About the keyboard categorizing.. keyboard by type (gaming, tenkeyless, etc.)
Tenkeyless is what is mostly ideal for gaming, and ofcourse NKRO for keyboard bashers.
So imho keyboards in category gaming should be in category tenkeyless, at least those that fit that criterium.
Still think that multiple categories per board seems a necessity.
- bhtooefr
- Location: Newark, OH, USA
- Main keyboard: TEX Shinobi
- Main mouse: TrackPoint IV
- Favorite switch: IBM Selectric (not a switch, I know)
- DT Pro Member: 0056
- Contact:
Which might work for Ripsterhack, but not so much for Deskthority.
- webwit
- Wild Duck
- Location: The Netherlands
- Main keyboard: Model F62
- Favorite switch: IBM beam spring
- DT Pro Member: 0000
- Contact:
According to the latest events, it doesn't work for either.
-
- Location: Ugly American
- Main keyboard: As Long As It is Helvetica
- Main mouse: Mickey
- Favorite switch: Wanna Switch? Well, I Certainly Did!
- DT Pro Member: -
Krazy Koreans still bug me about those damn springs. Conspiracy theory if you ask me. Why bother stocking three different springs within a 2g of each other?