
Tokyo mechanical keyboard meetup photos - fanf2
http://romly.com/archives/2019/05/tokyomk6_en.html
======
Romly
Hello I'm Romly. Sorry for the down. I used boost function on my hosting
service so I think the server holds for a while... I hope.

By the way I'm making a keyboard by SLA printer which named as #Thumbxy!
(Typing with it right now)
[https://twitter.com/search?q=%23thumbxy&src=typed_query&f=li...](https://twitter.com/search?q=%23thumbxy&src=typed_query&f=live)

And also making "Keycappie"s, fairies of keyboards!
[https://drop.com/buy/romly-keycappie-novelty-
keycaps](https://drop.com/buy/romly-keycappie-novelty-keycaps)

Anyway enjoy the photos of unique keyboards!

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ddeokbokki
Thank you for sharing your work and the pictures, I love what you do
(especially the Keycappies, if you know where I can get a huge switch for a
Keycappie God, please let me know :))

~~~
Romly
Thank you! You can buy them at Romly Shop in Shapeways!
[https://www.shapeways.com/shops/romly](https://www.shapeways.com/shops/romly)

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snazz
I wonder why the small spacebar never caught on in the mainstream. I know that
the goal of a large spacebar is to be able to hit it no matter where your hand
is on the main part of the keyboard, but it seems like you could cram in a
couple more easily-accessible modifier keys if spacebars where just a little
shorter.

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CarVac
The best thing to do with a split spacebar is to put things like shift there
so you never have to reach again.

That's why a lot of ergonomic designs have thumb clusters to better make use
of an underutilized finger.

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Aromasin
I didn't really think about it until now, but a shift key in the middle of the
keyboard would be fantastic idea. It doesn't really make sense to have two
separate keys when one could fulfil the same purpose. I only hit the space key
on the right side of the bar with my right thumb anyway, so having something
for my left thumb to do would be ideal, while also freeing up 2 keys for other
common functions.

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SuperPaintMan
Honestly just having access to a few extra layers and modifiers on the thumbs
can greatly reduce the size of a board and improve ergonomics. I can't use
boards without thumb clusters anymore! Once you have access to those
layers/mods the amount of finger-extension and wrist shifting while typing is
extremely reduced. I took this to a logical extreme with Georgi [1], which is
surprisingly usable for programming work despite it's size!

I would love to see more boards adopt a chorded [2] approach. I spent a bit
too much time with the steno crowd and some of their ideas rubbed off. Even
applied to a traditional keyboard simple chords can reduce motion and improve
speed. On average I don't have to move more then half a key on Georgi and my
wrists thank me for it :)

[1] [https://www.gboards.ca/](https://www.gboards.ca/)

[2] [http://docs.gboards.ca/](http://docs.gboards.ca/)

~~~
CarVac
I use a Mitosis which has even fewer alpha keys and even more thumb keys: 3x5
alphas and 2x4 thumb.

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equalunique
A Mitosis is on my "to build" list. It's wireless design has been influential
for a microcosm of wireless split designs, so my collection definitley needs
it.

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CarVac
Just as a warning: my wireless Mitosis dropped keystrokes, and I never
actually preferred the split, but I liked the layout so much that I eventually
made a hand-wired, hard-wired, non-split version.

[https://i.imgur.com/q4umLuL.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/q4umLuL.jpg)

~~~
equalunique
I remember upvoting that when it was posted... did it go on
r/mechanicalkeyboards or r/olkb? I don't recall which one.

Looks like a great board to type on. The Atreus I made in 2016 had clicky
Gateron Green switches, and it was great to type on. That was before Box
Navies even existed. If they were around back then, I probably would have
chosen them. :)

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dontbenebby
Looks like the site got Slashdotted, here's a cached version from the Wayback
machine:

[https://web.archive.org/web/20190606134704/romly.com/archive...](https://web.archive.org/web/20190606134704/romly.com/archives/2019/05/tokyomk6_en.html)

(Protip: you can append !wayback to a url if you use DuckDuckGo as your search
engine to pull up a cache automatically)

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ihuman
Here are links to the videos:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhwa9xxTm-Q](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhwa9xxTm-Q)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BrbWjevbao](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BrbWjevbao)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4p_oa3z1UHs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4p_oa3z1UHs)

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syntaxing
That Thinkpad keyboard is awesome and a great idea! Does anyone know a site
that shows you how to do it? Or is that flat ribbon cable to USB board in the
picture custom?

E: Found this Hackaday article [1] and one of the comments linked to the
keyboard shown in the picture [2]!

[1] [https://hackaday.com/2018/12/04/teensy-liberates-the-
thinkpa...](https://hackaday.com/2018/12/04/teensy-liberates-the-thinkpad-
keyboard/)

[2]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nqvHDSDzKk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nqvHDSDzKk)

~~~
PascLeRasc
Lenovo sells them as regular USB keyboards: [https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-
ThinkPad-Compact-Keyboard-Trac...](https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-ThinkPad-
Compact-Keyboard-TrackPoint/dp/B00F3U4TQS)

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mncharity
While Lenovo still sells the _wired_ version[1] (ThinkPad Wired USB Keyboard
with TrackPoint), they regrettably stopped selling the bluetooth version a
while back. Hopefully it's clearing stock for a refresh, but...

[1] [https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/accessories-and-
monitors/keyboa...](https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/accessories-and-
monitors/keyboards-and-mice/keyboards/KEYBOARD-US-English/p/0B47190)

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kevinherron
I'm glad I've become dependent on the ergonomics of my Kinesis Advantage
keyboards because I fear I'd own way too many mechanical keyboards
otherwise...

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127
You can print your own Kinesis Advantage style mechanical keyboard that's
smaller and adjusted to your personal hand parameters. It uses Clojure to
generate OpenSCAD file. There are also many variations.

[https://github.com/tshort/dactyl-keyboard](https://github.com/tshort/dactyl-
keyboard)

~~~
kevinherron
This is pretty cool.

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I_am_tiberius
Service Unavailable

The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance
downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later.

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MrGilbert
[https://web.archive.org/web/20190606104623/http://romly.com/...](https://web.archive.org/web/20190606104623/http://romly.com/archives/2019/05/tokyomk6_en.html)

Glad I could help. Archive.org doesn't cache the YT-videos, but it should be
possible to look them up by their ids.

~~~
ihuman
Here the the videos:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhwa9xxTm-Q](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhwa9xxTm-Q)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BrbWjevbao](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BrbWjevbao)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4p_oa3z1UHs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4p_oa3z1UHs)

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Tepix
Wow, cool stuff.

Seeing the DIY small keyboards reminds me of the Textblade, a super enticing
tiny mobile keyboard that has been stuck in preproduction for several years
now. I cancelled my preorder after waiting for a year or so and they still
haven't released their product.

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enneff
What are the best resources for building a keyboard like this?

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ekianjo
This long talk goes at length on how to make your own keyboards and provides
several resources too:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWNgy1pldtM&t=15s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWNgy1pldtM&t=15s)

~~~
Tepix
Here's another great video about a procedurally generated keyboard frame

clojure.core/typing - Matt Adereth

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk3A41U0iO4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk3A41U0iO4)

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LeonM
Site is down, but judging by the photos on Flickr, there were some really
weird and unusable (?) keyboards on display.

Are these considered art or experiments? Or do people have actual use for
things like 20-key layouts?

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ujuj
Some people just like tiny keyboards. Moreover, keyboards are quite fun to
build and typing on a keyboard you built yourself is satisfying : you have so
much choice regarding components.

I think that very tiny boards are not really used by their owners (see the
Gherkin board for example), but they still are a lot of fun to build. Just
don't take it too seriously.

The OLKB Planck seems to be a nice tradeoff between usability and space
efficiency.

~~~
cjbprime
I think you're right about English tiny keyboards, but Japanese ones seem more
potentially useful to input kana.

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donatj
Appears to have gotten the hug of death.

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mjlee
[https://web.archive.org/web/20190606104623/http://romly.com/...](https://web.archive.org/web/20190606104623/http://romly.com/archives/2019/05/tokyomk6_en.html)

The photos aren't archived, but there are at least links to a flickr account
and some YouTube videos for the curious.

[https://www.flickr.com/photos/164140344@N07/sets/72157708768...](https://www.flickr.com/photos/164140344@N07/sets/72157708768047012/)

~~~
galaxymaven
Thanks for that, all of those boards are awesome. The split ortholinear boards
have my HHKB feeling woefully inadequate.

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RickJWagner
I'd like to propose a new phrase. A gathering of mechanical keyboard
enthusiasts should be called a 'clack'.

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jcadam
I've used mechanical keyboards at home for years and love them. Unfortunately,
I'm stuck with a mushy OEM keyboard at work (not allowed to bring in your own
stuff here). Same deal with mice (I prefer trackballs).

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gdhbcc
I have to admit I'm curious as to why you prefer trackball, from my experience
there is no actual benefit to it over laser, expect perhaps if you prefer
heavier mouses

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protomyth
I use a trackball so I don’t have to move my arm or stress my wrist. I use a
Logitech trackball that only requires moving my thumb.

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cbm-vic-20
I love my old-school TrackMan Marble Wheel. It's even better than the modern
Logitech trackball.

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protomyth
That's the one I use. I even bought some extra since I hear the wireless isn't
quite as crisp.

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scandox
These are beautiful. Rather more boring is the Topre I bought last year. I
think I've finally found the keyboard that I will never need to change. I
tried both Das Keyboard and WASD and was quite disappointed.

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favorited
I had a similar path. My first mech was a Das Keyboard with MX Browns, and it
wasn't bad. But I switched (no pun intended) to Topre as my daily driver on
advice of a friend, and I haven't looked back.

I do have a WASD with MX Reds for gaming, because my fingers were getting
tired gaming on Topre.

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yoodenvranx
I am looking for a DIY kit for a split ergonomic keyboard _with_ an attached
num block.

Does anyone know if such a kit exists? There are a few kits for split
ergonomic layouts but none of them seem to include the num block.

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slezyr
Because there is regularly no need for these. You can add num block to any
part of the keyboard and switch to it with one key press(Hold or Tap) You can
also get separate and programmable num block in addition if you really want
it.

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CarVac
On my ergo I use the home row for the numbers. It's way faster because you can
use 8 fingers for 10 numbers instead of 3 fingers for 10.

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0xDEFC0DE
>hex-shaped keys

Alright, I definitely need one

