It also has Ctrl and caps lock in the correct places lol as it’s old enough be be AT/XT 
though ~ is in a strange place as is |\
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holy crap
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So I have new caps on the way. They need a new board. I still have a lot of linear switches left over. Zeal’s Tactile and silent switch (Zilent) is released. I am getting my mobile PC up and running for use and I would like a wireless board for that.
I am seriously thinking of getting an Anna Pro board, small 60%, wireless, looks good, RGB? eh okay. And my Filco is due a major overhaul. I was thinking of new tactile switches for it, and was looking at those Zilents, but I think I will test them in a smaller and mobile board, the silent will help more there.
Either way i have some time to make up my mind.
our buy for the Zilents is now live til Jan 15, 2018
Looks like it uses a spring rather than a switch, either way I can’t find a ton about it.
http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/30931/TRS-80-Microcomputer-System-Model-II/
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I kinda want, but at 90¢ per switch that’s a no.
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Those are Keytronic foam and foil
Some are… Cherry foam and foil? But most are Keytronic
I’m not sure I would trust an MX clone to be better than cherry at tactility unless its significantly different like for example the box switches are with the double click.
That being said I havent tried Zealios but at .90 a switch that’s a definite no from me as well unless I could just get one for a test lol.
Oh the hype is real.
They are Gateron switches made for Zeal under an agreement they they will not be sold by Gateron outside of Zeal PCs store. So that’s the clone part out of the way, Gaterons are considered as good or better than Cherry by some.
The tactility is taken care of too. It is a copy of the MX Clear but with a better defined bump, sharper. The mechanics are not anything new in comparison, it is just a standard MX style leaf spring internals. Nothing new or inventive like the BOX switches.
The .90¢ come in for the housing and springs. It may be standard now, or at least more common, to have completely clear housings on switches but Zealios were the first mass market to make it standard. They have the clear hard plastic, not the frosted, softer, slightly bendy of the cherry switches. And the range of springs available along with them being gold plated make up the price when you consider these will be small batch runs of only a few tens of thousands made for hobbiests.
Does not make it any easier knowing that to spend it, but there are reasons. Dollar to Euro is okay right now too so not too completely crazy insanely expensive. Not cheap either though when others are 35-50¢. Buying them in smaller numbers helps too because I don’t need loads only 61 but getting 65 for reasons.
Yes you can get really small numbers like 5 if you to try them.
So story time: My Gat Clears in my CPSQ are Tactile Clears. Note; gateron clears are 35g linear switches. Mine arrived as 67g steel spring tactile clears. I knew they would of course I had ordered them. As per the above, gateron were not supposed to make these switches. The stems should always be purple and sent to Zeal with gold springs. They had made a small batch of their own. They were only available for order from korea. I got some. They had turned up on WinKeyLess.kr for sale at .50¢ and immediately sold out followed by the made in error story and stating they would never be made again after Zeal found out about them. Well they turned up a second time and immediately sold out. Then a third time and crucially I was bored browsing the internet for keyboard part at this time. So I got 110 or something. Been using them for about a year, they are super smooth and really nice definitely as nice or better than cherry clears.
I have heard good things about the silencing rubber built into the stems from the cherry silent reds mostly. But they are soft linears and I have enough linear for now along with them being about a dollar each. So the Zilence switches showing up is a nice timing line up.
For real, this time. This is my dream keyboard.
I love the mushy sound.
Or maybe this one:
But what is a 80g Zealioristotle? Does he mean a 80 gram Zeal switch? If so, their is no 80g switch… Unless he did some modding of the switch.
Zealistotle is a mix of Zealios and Aristotle switches. I dont remember the actual bits that were switched around but I’m sure @Zibob does
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@caveman is right I do know which is what here but only the basics.
There are switches called aristotles with some form of clicky mechanism for the stem inside them, not like how the blues click, but I do not know what it is, I have not seen it or looked into it as clicky is not for me.
Either way you take the click mechanism out of the aristotle and put it into the Zealios housing and you get a Zealiostotle. The 80g Part is a spring swap, I do those myself, 80 is right now my main preferred spring.
I know someone in this thread has Zealiostotles and knows more about them, just can’t remember who.
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Aaaannnnnddddd The Zilents are ordered, 65 of them in 65g, to go into the also now ordered Anne Pro with 61 keys. New caps are on the way all ready.
In the ongoing part of this project, I still need order green and yellow dye to mix for lime and maybe a carrying case.
I am thinking of trying to do some reverse dyesub on those new caps. Whereby I get vinyl letters/symbols and put them on the keys to mark the functions on the original caps for the Anne Pro. So the main letters would be black and the second function would be white on lime green and grey caps.
Another thing that may be an option, I will have to send some messages and see if people still do certain things, would be to dyesub in my own black or other coloured secondary legends on the caps that need them. You can print the legends mirrored on special transfer paper and then heat transfer them permanently to the caps. I would probably go with black legends for these if this option is available. But I do have the option of other colours for this method too, just not sure many will work under grey and lime dye. I might whip up a mock up.
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not bad.
also rebump of this, the Pingmaster is still in stock here BNIB for super cheap.
Just needs a converter
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Unicomp keyboards are pretty nice. I’ve been using this one for about six months now and it types like a dream. Can’t go wrong with buckling springs. This keyboard is essentially the new Model M. It even says Model M on the back of the molding. I like how they included a custom keyboard layout for Linux. The escape and tilda keys are swapped as well as the caps and ctrl keys. The Tux keys are a nice touch as well.
I fell in love with the white/black keycaps you linked here and got them as a Christmas present. Surprisingly shipping was very fast (much faster than the 32-56 days estimated) and got them today.
The sides aren’t as thick as I had hoped, but it isn’t that big of a deal.
Yes I flipped the whole bottom row. My desk doesn’t have room for a wrist rest and it does actually help.
Edit:
The E and I have both done this now, superglue fixes it but still…
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When you type your hand is supposed to be straight and parallel with the rest of your forearm, with straight wrists. High “wrist” rests are actually for your palm, putting weight on your wrist or bending them is not good for you when you’re typing
The best way to type without a wrist rest is to simply keep your hand parallel with your arm and to hover them
https://www.rsiguard.com/help/ErgoAnswers/wrist_hand.html
On a related note, to anyone using those risers on the back of the keyboard, you shouldn’t, since it would make you tilt your wrist when you type; they’re there to make it easier to see the keys, but ergonomically, it’s better to have them folded down if you know where all the keys are without looking at them
Both Awesome and Bummer.
I did the same thing, still waiting on them on my end and it usually takes a while. I love the way they look and I have dyed white PBT caps before so I wanted to get these and dye up a new set. I am really looking forward to them, but can i ask what keyboard you have? And what switches? A little sad to see the broken stem on two keys.
I flip my Spacebar for gaming, I have seen other who have varying amounts. I tried the whole left side and it just was not for me so I leave it at the flipped spacebar. I can still type correctly and have a comfortable gaming time when I am only using WASD
So I’m currently in the process of building a cheap knockoff GH60 board with a lightweight plastic case for my travel keyboard. I decided to get fancy since the PCB supports LEDs and install some 3mm LEDs. Unfortunately ONE led header on the left shift has flipped polarity for no apparent reason and now that LED isn’t working.
Took me a couple of hours of futzing and even going out to the store to get a proper solder sucker to remove it. Those tiny 3mm through holes on the PCB are so tiny its hard to get every last drop away from the pins enough to remove the LED.
Anyone have any tips on dealing with desoldering 3mm LEDs? I’ve desoldered and entire old keyboard’s worth of switches before without this much trouble…
Anyway, mostly just venting.
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Just got my leopold fc660m about a week ago. First quality keyboard compared to what I’ve owned in the past (Quickfire TK MX Reds). I never realized how much MX Blues and good keycaps can chance the experience of typing and feedback.