Mechanical Keyboards

I've had a Womier RD75 Pro for a couple of months now, and for the most part it's been a great keyboard, but the space bar has started to rattle slightly, and the switches are a bit scratchier than I would like. is it worth buying a whole new keyboard or should i upgrade the one I have?

Many years ago I got the KBD75v2 and I love that keyboard, it's still my main keyboard for my home office. I now need another keyboard and was shocked to find that KBDFans doesn't sell it or anything like it anymore. I also cannot seem to find a keyboard that is 75% and has the possibility of split-space and QMK/VIA. Is there one available out there? Closest I can find is some Keychron Alice boards but I would like a non-split board and just have the space split into multiple keys. I've seen on some sites that the Wobkey Rainy 75 has an add-on for split-space but I cannot find that add-on anywhere and from youtube videos it doesn't seem to be included in the box(?). I'm also totally fine with soldering and piecing together parts. I just can't seem to find anywhere to start with that. I feel like the custom scene has reduced and the prebuilts have gotten better but with less customizations like split-space.

Has anyone ported, or recreated, urob's timeless homerow configuration for ZMK to Vial, or to vial-qmk?

I have a Piantor Pro, built by BeeKeeb; it is a QMK keyboard, and specifically uses vial-qmk. Vial, or flashing directly from the vial-qmk repo, is the only way I've ever successfully flashed or configured it.

I've never been able to use the homerow for anything other than layer switches because they're the only things I can put a long enough delay on that I don't get unintended modifier hits. urob's Timeless Homerow mods for ZMK looks like just the thing, but given my failure to flash the board with anything other than vial-qmk (including vanilla qmk), I'm assuming ZMK is going to be a no-go.

Is anyone who's a fast touch-typer using homerow keys for MACS with Vial, or vial-qmk, and if so, what's your magic sauce for avoiding mis-keying?

Edit 2025-05-19

I was looking at Paul Getreuer's very nice page mechanical keyboards, where he discusses homerow mods on a variety of firmwares, and it mentions using the *_T Quantum keys for homerow mods as being better than tapdance. Maybe it is, but it doesn't completele solve the mis-strikes; they're what I used when I hacked together my version of Miryoku for Vial. They were better, but not foolproof, and from reading urob's description, the ZMK mods go a lot further than Vial's *_T mods. So I'm still looking.

Quick followup

I went back and reviewed Paul's notes, and I'd had Permissive Hold disabled, because it'd brought me nothing but grief in other configs. After enabling it, my 5th run of typioca came away slower than normal, but not unacceptable:

Having only to focus on the new shift location helps; I slow way down when I need layer shifts or in environments like Helix, with heavy ACS and arrow key use. That'll improve with practice. I'm also still getting a lot of accidental layer shifts with those thumb keys, but I think I can fix that with a layer shift delay. I also do not like the repeat delay on some thumb keys that having the layers introduces; backspace, in particular, is a PITA. Again, I hope that this is fixable by tweaking the layer switch mechanism -- I may have to resort back to tap-dance for layers. The key win is that the home row modifiers seem to be working well, and that was my main blocker.

The upshot is that I believe, for now, that my question is answered. Hopefully this post will help someone else on the same journey.

Here's my Vial config. It's basic (not "programmer") Dvorak for the Piantor Pro, with home row mods and heavy right-hand dominant. It attempts to preserve inverse-T movements (arrows) and layer shifts on the right hand; I use a track ball, and use keyboard mouse movement only rarely, so that's a layer relegated to the left hand. There's a layer dedicated to switching to QWERTY, for games, that's not currently bound to anything; I used to have it bound to LShift+RShift, but I'll need to find a new home for it since that's no longer possible. I'm attaching it mainly as an example that's working for me.

I have an Alice Keyboard (space split in two). I remap left space to the Super key (windows key for nerds) but when I want to play some games I have to remap again with the VIA gui.

I want to automate this process with a bash script (I use arch btw) but I can't find any info related.

Someone with the same problem? Any solution?

Ty :)

“Behold, this is a design offered exclusively at DROP, to be delivered unto thee after three months of diligent craftsmanship. The chessboard itself is hewn from noble ash and steadfast walnut. This marks the very first of my chess series – a creation I await with great anticipation as the forthcoming DROP unveiling draws near.”

Join the Group Buy on Drop: https://drop.com/buy/jelly-key-crusaders-gambit-artisan-keycap-and-chessboard

Qwerty Keys QK101 full sized.

• Anodized sandgold chassis
• NicePBT Morse key caps
• Gateron root beer float tactile switches, 58g bottom out, 62g tactile peak, 3.5 mm travel
• Inbuilt LCD display and LED matrix
• Per key RGB
• Aluminum top plate
• 3 way PCB, 1.2 mm with masking tape mod on the flex cuts/around screw holes
• Top mounted, back foam, anti-static sheet

EDIT: Link broken for some reason - can see it here - https://files.catbox.moe/jd6mv1.jpg

Hi,

I've been searching for the right switches for a while now. And I have a box full of keyboards I don't like to prove it.

I found a keyboard I like but it's got the wrong switches on it.

I got a mathew yg108, that seems alright, though I have firmware trouble with it so far.

The keyboard came with switches as follows

Brown switch:Operating force:45g Pressure Force:55g
Operating Travel: 2.0mm Tactile Travel:1.2mm Total Travel:3.40±4.00mm

The tactile feels like almost nothing, almost like linear switches and while it's great for gaming, I like having way more resistance than that.

I know a keyboard that has the switches I like. It was a victsing pc315a

No idea what switches this uses but they have a lot more resistance at the activation point

Anyway, I tried my luck buying switches that looks like they might be like that

I got a set of outemu branded "orange" switches

here are the specs

I received them and installed one of them

original switch

new switch

new switch behind

switch hole

And after all this was said and done... I cannot tell the new switch apart from the other ones ! Feels exactly the same ?

Do I just need a stronger spring value ? I had a 45 or 55 gram switch Now it's almost 60 gram switch

How high to these values go ?

What is the next tactile standard switch force I can search for after 60g ?

What does the victsing keyboard use ?

So far I love it, it's the nicest keyboard I've ever had but how do I flash my new firmware ?

This page has the original firmware

https://www.mathewkb.com/china/yg108-firmware/

But I want to put QMK/ZMK/VIA/VIAL I don't know which one I want and I don't know how.

But I'm hoping I can do so without using the manufacturer's software ?

When I plug it in while usblogview is enable I get the following logs

Event Type	Event Time	Device Name	Description	Device Type	Drive Letter	Serial Number	Vendor ID	Product ID	Vendor Name	Product Name	Firmware Revision	USB Class	USB SubClass	USB Protocol
Plug	2025-05-13 00:05:38	Port_#0003.Hub_#0005	USB Composite Device	Unknown			05ac	024f	Apple, Inc.		3.00	00	00	00
Plug	2025-05-13 00:05:38	0006.0000.0001.003.003.000.000.000.000	USB Input Device	HID (Human Interface Device)			05ac	024f	Apple, Inc.		3.00	03	01	01
Plug	2025-05-13 00:05:38	0006.0000.0001.003.003.000.000.000.000	USB Input Device	HID (Human Interface Device)			05ac	024f	Apple, Inc.		3.00	03	00	00

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/29330696

Progress towards universal Copy/Paste shortcuts on Linux

got a foldkb prebuilt with durock sunflower switches, printed a nice purple case for it, and customized a set of KAM keys from yuzu

there's a little gap near the | key. i guess i ordered the wrong size for it, so the switch is in the wrong position for a 1.5u... i dont mind too much :)

What brands or products work on Linux, particular with the steam deck as it's immutable so Logitech doesn't really work for it, does anybody have any suggestions? My few requirements is a wireless keyboard and full keyboard, as I use my steam deck as a console on my big screen. I can't seem to find a keyboard brand that works nativity with steam deck with software to change macro keys and what not.

I currently use the g915, but switching to Linux means no Logitech software so im looking for some alternatives.

I really like the 5 programable keys on the left, but I can't seem to find any other keyboards that have that feature. I also like that its Bluetooth and has music control, but I mainly want the programmable keys

I bought the Womier RD75 Pro a couple of months ago, and although It's been great as a first "real" mechanical keyboard for me, the switches are very slightly scratchy, and even though I almost never notice it, I would like a slightly more premium typing experience. I'm trying not to go over 50 dollars for a set of switches for it, any recommendations?

And while I'm at it, have any of you bought this keyboard as well?

Just built my first ortholinear keyboard!

Keyboard/case: Ortho60v2 from #cannonkeys (https://cannonkeys.com/products/ortho60)
Switches: #akko Rose Red (https://en.akkogear.com/product/akko-cs-rose-red-switch/)
Keycaps: Custom order from #kromekeycaps (https://www.kromekeycaps.com/)

@mechanicalkeyboards

#mechanicalkeyboard #ortholinear