61–70 of 75 posts
Have been using a Sculpt keyboard since around 2015. One thing that seems to alleviate the problems of missed keys and the keyboard going to sleep (at least on Windows): in the Device Manager, look for the connection dongle (it should be connected via the USB Root Hub) and edit its Power Management settings to disable "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power." I haven't had any issues with the laptop…
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Yeah, I was disappointed by the lifted trace. It was only on the assembled one. The others all look fine to my untrained eyes. Because I had low confidence in my circuit, I ordered the cheapest possible assembly. I assume hand-assembled or a mix, given one of each part. I’m hoping to attempt hand assembly myself soon. Picked up a hot air station and a new set of parts from Digi-Key. :)
If you're using stencils (and as long as your boards are relatively small, there's almost no reason not to with how cheap they are from jlcpcb/oshstencils), I highly recommend buying a jar of Loctite GC-10: it's the best solder paste I've ever used, and it lasts forever. I have a jar that expired 2 years ago and is still great. Also, the T-962 reflow oven is pretty good for its price, with a bit of modding (flashing…
I'm quite happy with my current SAC-305 solder paste from ChipQuik, but curious if I could find an ever better one.
Great work. Something I'd definitely want would I still be using the Sculpt. Like others have mentioned here, the Sculpt suffers from other issues apart from being wireless: My biggest issue is the small, poorly constructed F-keys. Switching to regular sized keys on the Microsoft Surface Ergonomic shows how bad they actually are. Anyway, is there a way we could get Microsoft to build a Sculpt v2 which fixes the short…
They have another firmware bug that has been going on for years and years and was never fixed. If you type quickly, it can lose the case of the characters in combination with the shift key. Hold down the left shift and type CSMSDC. One of them will be lowercase (from memory it's the S). If it doesn't happen for you, either it's not a Sculpt, or you don't type fast enough. Once you can do it it'll happen every time.
Interestingly, I tried it on my modded keyboard and it works properly. :) QMK must correctly handle the lack of NKRO diodes on the matrix.
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If you're using stencils (and as long as your boards are relatively small, there's almost no reason not to with how cheap they are from jlcpcb/oshstencils), I highly recommend buying a jar of Loctite GC-10: it's the best solder paste I've ever used, and it lasts forever. I have a jar that expired 2 years ago and is still great. Also, the T-962 reflow oven is pretty good for its price, with a bit of modding (flashing…
Did you try SAC-305 solder pastes from different brands? I'm quite happy with my current SAC-305 solder paste from ChipQuik, but curious if I could find an ever better one.
They're all significantly worse for stenciling than GC-10. If you're manually applying paste with a syringe, you might be better off with other paste, because it's significantly thicker than the usual pastes I've tried, but I usually just hand solder instead of waiting an hour for refrigerated paste to be better.
When this tub of GC-10 actually has any symptoms of being expired, I'm definitely going to buy another (or maybe GC-18, which seems to be the new shiny version? I don't see any ebay listings for cheap almost-expired GC-18, sadly.)
It is a pretty nice keyboard. The layout is pretty good aside from the small clicky F keys and physical Fn switch (don’t use them much so not too worried), and I like how the key travel feels like Macbook keys. Also totally cured the RSI I was starting to feel years ago. Mine broke recently (a key cap fell off and I thought I could just shove it back on which ended up breaking some plastic bit) and I looked into alte…
Wireless is the worst thing about my Sculpt. The crummy Fn row (coupled with the Fn-to-proprietary switch) is the second worst thing. I'd love to see a mk2 which fixes those issues. If a wired one were to exist, it would be pretty snazzy if it had a built-in USB hub like the Das Keyboard so you could stick 2FA dongles in it. Or if someone made a mousing accessory to snap in to the central gap; maybe a wiggle stick or…
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For me I get the best result when the receiver is on a USB extension hanging down from the table behind the monitor. Currently it's about 30cm from the floor. Every single on-desk position caused interference and delays. (This is from a Macbook with USB 3 hub, so that might be the actual culprit.)
I can chip in here - I've tried using the sculpt with the receiver plugged into a USB hub on a MacBook and it was completely unusable - every other keystroke was dropped. It works fine when plugged directly into the MacBook though, even with a USB A -> C converter. Worth giving it a shot, as it's the best keyboard I've used to date, though I'm currently eyeing up the successor (Microsoft surface ergonomic keyboard) e…
Anecdotal word of warning -- this was the worst keyboard I've used, and I promptly switched back to Sculpt. My issues: less ergonomic, worse keys with worse typing experience, fixed numpad, major connection issues with dropped and stuck keys (this was obviously the breaking point), and Bluetooth didn't work during Linux bootup (LUKS password input).
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I can chip in here - I've tried using the sculpt with the receiver plugged into a USB hub on a MacBook and it was completely unusable - every other keystroke was dropped. It works fine when plugged directly into the MacBook though, even with a USB A -> C converter. Worth giving it a shot, as it's the best keyboard I've used to date, though I'm currently eyeing up the successor (Microsoft surface ergonomic keyboard) e…
> I'm currently eyeing up the successor (Microsoft surface ergonomic keyboard) even with the unnecessary numpad - it looks to be of a higher build quality, and the bluetooth freeing up a port is a bonus. Anecdotal word of warning -- this was the worst keyboard I've used, and I promptly switched back to Sculpt. My issues: less ergonomic, worse keys with worse typing experience, fixed numpad, major connection issues wi…
> less ergonomic ... fixed numpad I was aware of these and was willing to reach further for the mouse in exchange for aesthetics, build quality, and one less dongle on a 2-port (!) MacBook Air.
> major connection issues with dropped and stuck keys ... Bluetooth didn't work during Linux bootup Are these two related? I've had dodgy experiences with Bluetooth on Linux in the past, but no issues on Mac.
> worse keys with worse typing Can you expand on this a bit? From what I've heard and from the look of it, it looks to be an improved typing experience, especially coming from the awful F-keys of the sculpt.
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> I'm currently eyeing up the successor (Microsoft surface ergonomic keyboard) even with the unnecessary numpad - it looks to be of a higher build quality, and the bluetooth freeing up a port is a bonus. Anecdotal word of warning -- this was the worst keyboard I've used, and I promptly switched back to Sculpt. My issues: less ergonomic, worse keys with worse typing experience, fixed numpad, major connection issues wi…
Thanks for the warning, doesn't sound too promising! May go back to drawing board on this one. > less ergonomic ... fixed numpad I was aware of these and was willing to reach further for the mouse in exchange for aesthetics, build quality, and one less dongle on a 2-port (!) MacBook Air. > major connection issues with dropped and stuck keys ... Bluetooth didn't work during Linux bootup Are these two related? I've had…
Both may be Linux only, but not related. If I understood correctly, the bootup issue was because bluetooth drivers are loaded only after LUKS unlock. Missed/stuck key connection issues could have been Linux specific.
> Can you expand on this a bit? From what I've heard and from the look of it, it looks to be an improved typing experience, especially coming from the awful F-keys of the sculpt.
I don't have the keyboard any more and it was a couple of years ago, so I frankly don't remember that well. I didn't like the sharp key corners vs. rounded keys on Sculpt. Could be that otherwise the typing experience was similar and my memory is just colored by the connection issues which obviously destroyed the typing experience, I'd check what other sources say about this.
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Thanks for the warning, doesn't sound too promising! May go back to drawing board on this one. > less ergonomic ... fixed numpad I was aware of these and was willing to reach further for the mouse in exchange for aesthetics, build quality, and one less dongle on a 2-port (!) MacBook Air. > major connection issues with dropped and stuck keys ... Bluetooth didn't work during Linux bootup Are these two related? I've had…
> Are these two related? I've had dodgy experiences with Bluetooth on Linux in the past, but no issues on Mac. Both may be Linux only, but not related. If I understood correctly, the bootup issue was because bluetooth drivers are loaded only after LUKS unlock. Missed/stuck key connection issues could have been Linux specific. > Can you expand on this a bit? From what I've heard and from the look of it, it looks to be…
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> Are these two related? I've had dodgy experiences with Bluetooth on Linux in the past, but no issues on Mac. Both may be Linux only, but not related. If I understood correctly, the bootup issue was because bluetooth drivers are loaded only after LUKS unlock. Missed/stuck key connection issues could have been Linux specific. > Can you expand on this a bit? From what I've heard and from the look of it, it looks to be…
Thanks for the info, I'll probably continue to deliberate and delay choosing a keyboard for about 3-5 years until my sculpt gives up the ghost and forces my hand. What are you using now, out of curiosity?
I would next try some wired model, using wireless has only downsides in my setup. I've been checking some split mechanical models like the Kinesis Freestyle but not sure if I can go back to the long key travel of the mechanical models.
Someone in this comment section posted a link to a list of more esoteric keyboards, I'll have to go through that list at some point.