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I spent a year designing a low profile, minimal mechanical keyboard

electronicmaterialsoffice.com

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Re: I spent a year designing a low profile, minimal mechanical keyboard

#671

Post by ThrowawayR2 »

Kind of late but I'll add my 2 cents:

- Kudos for including the function keys. As a person who really dislikes the chording required by keyboards without them, I applaud your decision to include them.

- I'm curious as to how or whether this keyboard can have maintenance done to it? Given that this is likely not inexpensive, I would want to be able to replace key switches that fail. The same goes for the battery, which is likely to wear out sooner than the keys.

- My own preference only but I generally have no need of Bluetooth keyboards, preferring a wired USB connection for reliability. I hope that they will consider a less expensive version that omits Bluetooth functionality.

Aside from that, it looks like quite a promising product and I'll be looking forward to hearing about the price.

Re: I spent a year designing a low profile, minimal mechanical keyboard

#672

Post by loulouxiv »

dcminter wrote: post #10

Very pretty. I'm tempted. Will it work properly on Linux via bluetooth? E.g. I have a very nice mechanical keyboard from Keychron but over bluetooth it does something weird so that a hack [1] to use it in Mac mode is necessary and some key combos still don't work right for me. On a similar note, if its firmware needs an update will I be able to do that from Linux? It's a hard life being a Windows/Mac hater :D [1] htt…

I had a similar problem with the Tecurs KB510 I got at work. The only way I found to type F1-F12 keys on Linux was to set up a hack with kbct [0] and the Super key... until I tried the configuration described in the gist you linked. Thanks a lot for that !

[0] https://github.com/samvel1024/kbct

Re: I spent a year designing a low profile, minimal mechanical keyboard

#673

Post by arendtio »

Recently, I bought Keychron K3 which seems to be a comparable devices. A key feature for me, are the F*-Keys, which are often not available in the small keyboard class.

One thing that bothers me: The Keychron K3 doesn't have a dongle. So unless your computer has booted, you need the cable (e.g. hard disk decryption)... As far as I can see it, the Altar I has a similar design.

To have a better cable experience I bought a magnetic usb-c cable [1] and wondered why they don't ship with such a cable, because I enjoy it so much.

[1] Not exactly the the same model, but something similar: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71dPOUWPPxL...

Re: I spent a year designing a low profile, minimal mechanical keyboard

#674

Post by smoldesu »

DoingIsLearning wrote: post #662
smoldesu wrote: post #622

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Tex Shinobi is an excellent upgrade if you've got the cash. I've been using one for a few months now and absolutely adore the typing/tracking experience.

Did not know about Tex, that is actually an amazing suggestion for my use-case. Considering the embarassing amount of money I spent on other mechanical keyboards this is definitely in the affordable category. What switches are you using? I am always afraid of the noise level with mech switches but I have used silent reds and they were ok for me noise wise.

I'm using silent reds on my board, but they're a little rattly. If you like linear switches, I'd probably suggest the regular reds for a uniform, smooth feel. The Bluetooth module is also a nice investment, but certainly not necessary.

Again, stupidly expensive keyboard for what it is. However, I can totally see myself picking up another one as backup in a few years. It really is a layout that feels right.

Re: I spent a year designing a low profile, minimal mechanical keyboard

#675

Post by freedomben »

agentwiggles wrote: post #633
TylerE wrote: post #621

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Guitar is much easier since it's just notes... whereas on piano a given interval can need a different stretch depending on the notes.

Absolutely! In fact a pretty common entry point to gaining fretboard knowledge is to learn various interval shapes across string groups, usually starting with octave shapes. Then you move on to major and minor thirds, and fifths.(Although I'm sure for many self taught guitarists, like me, you learn a 5th shape before anything else, since this forms the common and remarkably useful "power chord"). It's complicated a b…

Self taught guitarist here as well, and it's fascinating to see another person having such a similar experience as me! Usually people look at me in confusion when I say this stuff.

Re: I spent a year designing a low profile, minimal mechanical keyboard

#676

Post by antioppressor »

Nice, but why ruin the overall looks with those oversized numbers? And why the overcrowded, too small control keys on the bottom left side? That in itself would make it a nightmare to be used for an extended time. Maybe leave the ones out from the right side and make the left ones the proper size.

- maybe you can move the fn key to the left side since it's a rarely used modifier. For programmers Shift is most important, then Ctrl and Alt comes. They must be wider to be easily found by touch.

- does it come with backlight? that's a must have!

Re: I spent a year designing a low profile, minimal mechanical keyboard

#677

Post by antioppressor »

interleave wrote: post #423

This looks fantastic! A thought-experiment that may interest you coming from someone (me) who already has happily spent several hundreds of dollars on mechanical keyboards and uses them every single day: Let's imagine the keyboard could be bought today as-is with a simple "Buy Now" button and price was no concern. The two main reasons I would _still_ hesitate to hit that button are: 1. I absolutely and undoubtedly ne…

1. Does that matter? Most mechanical keyboards slowly nuke your fingers' cartilages and will make your fingers ache, since they don't have proper attenuation, hence they are rubbish. Yet people use them like it's some kind of miracle, when a cheapo 15 dollar keyboard provides better feel while typing and longevity for your fingers.

Re: I spent a year designing a low profile, minimal mechanical keyboard

#678

Post by Fetiorin »

joveian wrote: post #634
Fetiorin wrote: post #481

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Note that on normal keyboard all alpha keys are staggered to the left. For both hands. So, this stagger is not helping you to keep your left hand at correct angle. "Grid" ortholinear is not an ultimate solution either, but it is more comfy (from personal experience). There is a short video about ortho vs stagger https://youtu.be/Ho_CFfdsmc8

That is strange now that you mention it, I have a split keyboard and it really should be staggered the other way on the left side but isn't. Also, I think the top row stagger is a bit too large but the bottom row stagger is way too much. I haven't tried the linear but my impression is that a slight stagger in the correct direction for each hand would be best, although linear seems likely to be close enough in about t…

> slight stagger in the correct direction for each hand would be best

Thing is, if you have split keyboard with no stagger (grid) or vertical stagger, you can adjust halves of keyboard to suit your needs. This way you can make virtually any angle. Something like this https://www.zsa.io/moonlander/

> page up, page down, and end are on the left so that it is symmetrical

This is actually nice layout. I also see how can this be useful in gaming (few additional keys for pinkie).

Re: I spent a year designing a low profile, minimal mechanical keyboard

#679

Post by omnimus »

cantSpellSober wrote: post #614
omnimus wrote: post #608

Earlier quoted context omitted.

4. the logo is great! 13. website is just fine! nice renders

The logo looks like a designer from today was sent back in time to do the logo for the Apple II. I can recreate it in about 12 seconds going to https://displaay.net/typeface/tobias/ and setting "Altar I" in Tobias Light; it's not even kerned. KERNED! Website has...character but at some point I just want big pics of the thing

That's not the logo it's just a name of the product. Logo is Electronic Materials Office® which i think is rather nice. The fact you can recreate a logo in 12 seconds after you saw it doesn't lower it's qualities - That's the case for majority of logos. The aesthetics of the product clearly references 70s & 80s electronic product design so i yeah it's on purpose. I am not sure what you mean by it not being kerned. It clearly is kerned both in the type tester and on the product - it's function of the typeface and it does it pretty well.

Re: I spent a year designing a low profile, minimal mechanical keyboard

#680

Post by antiterra »

harel wrote: post #588
antiterra wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s nothing discernibly mac like about the squiggle button, it’s a section sign: §. I think tilde is used more often for sure, but § is particularly common in legal applications.

There is everything mac about it. It's on every mac keyboard, and only on hybrid external keyboards catering for pc and mac users. Never understood why they add THIS button but not page up/down.

> It’s on every mac keyboard

I have owned or been issued well over 8 macs and none of their keyboards had a section symbol.

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