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1 Unit keyboard
Posted: 13 Feb 2013, 21:02
by dirge
Price of the DSA set and pretty much most boards custom cap sets are.. not high but the difference between cap sizes puzzle me. Seems 1unit caps are cheap as hell.
Now a 60% board is more than 60% 1 unit caps, I tend to hit the same place each time on a board. The wears normally in the same spot.
If we make a 1unit only board, would it work? But focus on the landing spot.
I love my ISO return, but I tend to always hit it around on the same row as my #~, or ;: if your ansi.
Posted: 13 Feb 2013, 21:22
by regack
This sounds like an interesting experiment. I do know that I have had trouble adjusting to the Race with the 1.25 Right Shift, but I'm getting more used to it. It will probably end up with some blank areas anyway, so this sounds like something that might go well with a symmetric stagger layout?
Posted: 13 Feb 2013, 21:58
by IvanIvanovich
I had board with all 1 units except for the spacebar, but it wasn't usable on PC so I did'nt spend a long time typing on it. I think it would be fine in theory though.
Posted: 13 Feb 2013, 23:53
by CeeSA
yeah good idea. In the meantime I don't like ISO anymore. So 1 unit is a good alternative for me.
Re: 1 Unit keyboard
Posted: 14 Feb 2013, 00:03
by hoggy
If you could put up with a matrix layout, decent pos keyboards can be sourced quite cheaply.
Posted: 14 Feb 2013, 00:14
by IvanIvanovich
That's true, I had an Access-Is matrix model once as well. came up with a pretty decent layout for it with some compromise since it was a 6x12. I liked it fine for gaming but couldn't get used to typing on it. I need my evil archaic stagger.
Posted: 14 Feb 2013, 04:18
by sordna
You could emulate large return keys, backspaces, etc by putting 2 (or more) 1-unit keys side by side, doing the same function. So you could kind of emulate large ANSI or ISO enters
Example
Posted: 14 Feb 2013, 08:11
by Kurk
I've experimented with some matrix POS boards. IMO, splitting large keys into several 1U keys doesn't work well. It's OK for testing layouts but not for a daily driver. I always hit in between keys in such cases.
Posted: 14 Feb 2013, 09:08
by matt3o
well, a 90% 1-units + some 1.25 or 1.50 might work. The bottom line is not to land in the 1.75 and up sized keys.
For the space bar you could even try a 2 units which at high tiers goes for $0.61
Also have them all of the same color. I believe that a kit of 10 1.50 of the same color costs less than 10 mixed colors 1.50 (have to confirm that but it was my impression with the dsa retro kit).
A kit like that for a 60% keyboard might end up in the $30-35 at medium/high tiers. A 75% maybe $40-45.
Posted: 14 Feb 2013, 09:34
by dirge
sordna your link looks crazy and gets blocked mate
matt3o what application did you use to lay those keys out? Or should I just use paint or something?
I think spacebars sell at such high volumes it doesn't really matter about having that as a 1unit key.
Posted: 14 Feb 2013, 09:42
by matt3o
dirge wrote:matt3o what application did you use to lay those keys out? Or should I just use paint or something?
inkscape, it's very simple and you can do very fast prototyping.
Posted: 14 Feb 2013, 10:08
by matt3o
this would be something

(mods up to 1.50)

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