Noppoo tease a very familiar capacitive switch design

[002]

Some of you might have seen this posted on geekhack already.
It seems that some cheeky buggers (I think affiliated with Noppoo, or Noppoo themselves) have had a "breakthrough" with a new capacitive switch keyboard.

I've lifted the interesting pictures and put them on imgur because the website is really slow (for me at least). Hopefully they won't get too angry about me stealing their pictures.

The great news is that if you were one of the 12 people who bought the Noppoo Choc Pro you can get an early sample! If the board is crap, you could always use the sliders to open up a world of MX keycaps for your HHKB at the very least. The price is going to be the most interesting thing, of course; and likely the driving force behind numerous shit-fights on the keyboard enthusiast forums for months to come...can't wait!

[Game Theory]

Looks like they might have tried to design around any patents the Topre uses. Does that look like LED locations too?

[002]

Didn't notice that actually. If you're talking about the 12 holes in the last pic I'm guessing they're the through-holes for screws.
Here they are on Topre boards:

Spoiler:

If you're talking about the cut-out in the switch housing in the second pic, then yes I would say you're right

[Muirium]

The + signs on picture 3 are a big tell. No diodes needed on a capacitative board, besides light emitting ones!

This could be pretty huge. Depends on whether Noppoo's implementation is any good, of course. Is there a feeling of oneness with their rubber? But the design looks about right. And they've made the right choice by going straight for MX mount. 

Now, will they survive Topre's lawsuit? Who else will license / clone these? And how much will it cost? Could be a great source for custom insides if it's priced like Noppoo's other stuff. 

Cheeky buggers!

[matt3o]

Oh my! I want those sliders!

[mintberryminuscrunch]

topre should have converted to MX compatible sliders ages ago.
it will be interesting to see how this progresses, (in comparison) those yellow MX clones never had any success...

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Yeah, I couldn't figure out the whole prototype deal — not enough information on that page to go on. If this is Noppoo, and they actually know what capacitive means, then what does that tell us about the Noppoo capacitive switch (litster confirmed that the Chinese writing on the box does say "capacitive") that we saw a while back, that appeared to be conductive dome with diodes over PCB? Some sort of stopgap — this prototype they mention? It's a pity that we don't get to see what's under those domes, and on their inside …

All very odd.

[vivalarevolución]

Wonder why I did not see this earlier. An interesting development.

[Jmneuv]

Wondering the same thing, that's pretty exciting. I can't really bring myself to pity topre for being cloned.. wonder why that is.
I have a feeling though that they will screw up the rubber sheet and thus it won't be an as smooth experience.

[matt3o]

those modded sliders are so easy to replicate... I'll work on it this evening, problem would be production. There's a company near here that could make them but we would need to produce a hell lot of them.

[Jmneuv]

Could be you'd need to take the different silent slider into account.

[002]

There was some action recently on the original forum. Something about full size boards being out of stock (machine translation). I am not sure if this is just the internal sale for people who had the original Noppoo.

Personally I think it's a pretty shithead thing to do to copy the switch, especially in the way they seem to have done it by claiming of a breakthrough etc, but the brutal truth is that I'd buy one in an instant if I could get my hands on one. How it might feel...who knows, but I agree that the shonkiest *looking* thing on the few images we've seen is the rubber dome sheet.

[matt3o]

here it is: http://deskthority.net/workshop-f7/cher ... ml#p134718

[cookie]

Man I am so curios how much those will cost!!! They look great!
Now after Topre started to produce the type heaven in china we are going to see a lot topre replicas on the market.... Rumours about CM joining the capacitive switch fields, could be the truth!

[002]

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNjQyNDQ3NjM2.html

03:10 - Removes keycap
05:25 - Bag of spares showing sliders and housings of various colour etc
11:06 - Closeup from under the housing
11:21 - Closeup of slider and looks like silencing washer/band at the base of the slider
12:30 - Closeup of housing with slider
14:30 - Under the board

[cookie]

I wan't those slider so bad

[damorgue]

Cooler Master are doing the exact same things as well. The one who first releases a product will probably cash in quite a bit, especially if they also release the sliders to convert existing HHKBs and the like.

[Game Theory]

002 Thank You for the video post.

[cookie]

I actually have no hope that they will sell only the sliders, sounds to me that you have to salvage a new Noppoo or CM for those

Ohh yes, Game Theory is right, Thanks for the video 002!

[002]

Looks like another trial session is kicking off soon.
I have reached out to the organiser to see if I can get a sample


Translation (courtesy of Tinnie): "POM is the smoothest material" or "There is something smoother than POM"

[matt3o]

wow... look at the bottom of those sliders... holy bad molding, batman... but I guess they are just prototypes

[002]

Bunch of new pics and a review? (in Chinese) from here: http://www.pcwaishe.cn/thread-545858-1-1.html

[Muirium]

Trying to read it in Google Translate is even more painful than the usual nightmare. Adblock can't seem to target that epileptic avatar!

[matt3o]

it seems all keys have an LED slot

[002]

Yeah I was thinking about that too...I am guessing they are going with that design so they can just drill out the section for the LED keys instead of having to make a different housing/slider design like Topre did?

[cookie]

I still believe that topre has superior build quality!
The rubber looks cheap to me, but those sliders are amazing! I really need to try this thing out befor I can say something about.

If the price is okay I think we will see custom topre keyboards comming 2014!
I'd love to salvage such a thing for the parts

[Daniel Beardsmore]

The rust on the Topre plate is a bit worrying, too!

[dustinhxc]

HOly crap I need those Sliders!!!!!

[cookie]

Does anyone know the price of such a board?

[002]

It looks like this thing is available or soon to be available as the 'Noppoo 108EC Pro'. A bunch of pics appeared on pcwaishe and hkepc recently. Even the packaging is a copy of Topre!