Had this aluminum plate laser cut a few months back and hand-wired it with Box Navies and a RPi Pico, and oiled oak for the sides. I missed my numpad, though, so I used my own laser cutter and made an external one from Masonite and textured spraypaint.
I’m not sure where it will live long term, but “southpaw” numpads are definitely a thing. They allow for mousing while doing data entry, and they mitigate one of the reasons some people do without numpads by allowing the shoulders to stay more neutral when the mouse is close to the right edge of the keyboard.
I am in the US, so Xometry was pretty economical for my needs. I had three top and three bottom plates cut from 1.5mm 5052 aluminum for $67 total, tax and (free) shipping included. I added in a laser kerf on the swillkb plate generator that probably wasn't needed, as the switches are in there VERY snug. If you were doing a plate for hand-wiring, that's not a bad thing, actually. If you need one to mate with a PCB, I'd consider leaving it off, but it could have been the specific shop or really anything. There is a bit of luck involved in this process, which is basically a crude form of prototyping.
However, it's much more likely to be due to the common experience of solo devs whose projects blow up than it is about bad actors on kbin.
If you're so inclined, you can always check the profiles of those who were pushing for it and particularly those who were volunteering; the boehs.org link should supply some helpful red flags to look for. Ernest would be wise to check IP activity and even ask for IRL credentials of those he would consider giving any real level of access to. Beyond that, it's firmly in the realm of "mildly interesting."
Well, those are standard MX compatible switches. No big deal to find keycaps, but selection of numpad-only sets is more limited. Any idea what you want, style wise? Do you only want GMK or Signature Plastics or Drop, or are random sets and clones from Amazon/AliExpress okay?
Some of the higher end stuff will sell numpad only, generally for way less than the base kit (to wit...), but a really cheap set will cost the same for the full set, or even potentially a good bit less if you go bargain hunting and aren't picky.
Just finished up this one. No-stabilizers, handwired custom 98% layout. 3D printed case and feet, plate laser cut from 3.2mm Masonite, blank XDA laser dye-subbed in a Josefin Sans Medium font. Not exactly professional fit and finish, but it types nice with Box Jades, and ZERO STAB RATTLE! ZERO!!!
Thanks. I am overall very pleased with how it came out, especially on a budget. In particular, the layout is quite usable and versatile. Visually though, I've had to convince my brain that my hands are in the right spot. The left hand modifiers aren't actually too small or anything, but your hands are set up much closer to the left edge, even compared to a typical 1800 layout, so it's a mental adjustment.
I may or may not extend the keymapping out to include four spacebars and move some other bottom row stuff around, but that could just be that I got used to that layout on this one's immediate ancestor. I don't hit the wrong spot so much as forget that the spot I'm aiming for is now an Alt key.
Trying out this Mastodon/Microblog thing. Had a customized TKL keyboard plate laser cut, 3D printed and painted a case, hand wired the switches, and added keycaps. Geekhack link. #mechanicalkeyboards#DIY#3dprinting
@Deceptichum Among others, though my initial thought to put the Win key where the C64 has its "Commodore" key couldn't survive my pinkie's preferences.
There are also little notes of BBC Micro (I actually had three plates made, and #1 was partially BBC Micro themed) and Atari 8-bit, as well as a faintest whisps of MSX and Amiga. The idea was a liveable TKL with a vaguely retro feel.
@Deceptichum I had three identical plates made, though one I modified very slightly. After accepting that I'd need to simply live with a split Left-Shift, it's been extremely usable.
Build 1 was BBC Micro inspired and is a simple flat sandwich with oak sides, DSA on the FRow, a Dolch-like "VSA" elsewhere, and Box Navies. This may still be the one I like typing on the most.
Build 2 was pre-lubed brown TTC, sloped 3d prints for the left and right, and stiff springs in the middle. In effect the entire board is a leaf spring. CSA keycaps from Amazon. This one has the double shift adjusted (courtesy of a dremel and a metal file) to be in line with what the ISO layouts do.
Entire writeup with pictures of all three are on my geekhack thread. They're all a little too rough around the edges to make sense as anything other than personal projects, but they are usable and do have their charms, and I love building these things from scratch.
If an extraterrestrial civilization has a SETI project similar to our own, could they detect signals from Earth?
In general, no. Most earthly transmissions are too weak to be found by equipment similar to ours at the distance of even the nearest star. But there are some important exceptions. High-powered radars and the Arecibo broadcast of 1974 (which lasted for only three minutes) could be detected at distances of tens to hundreds of light-years with a setup similar to our best SETI experiments.
Every moment adds to our data of course, but the idea that we're at some sort of tipping point in how we should perceive the odds of extraterrestrial civilization is silly. Some of this feels like sour grapes from aging nerds who come to believe that it won't happen in their lifetimes, so it is obviously never gonna happen.
True, and I suppose that's a certain filter of its own. I suppose the main thing that makes me roll my eyes is that having done SETI by half measures for a handful of decades, the article is asking if it's time to assume that the rather presumptuous (though not absurd) zoo hypothesis is "the answer".
This all is what it is. The results so far imply virtually nothing about anything, except I suppose that there is not a very close civilization intentionally listening for our types of signals and eager to communicate back.
Do the "Ernest needs to add more maintainers to KBin!" comments remind anyone else of the xz social engineering malarkey? (kbin.social) angielski
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Keycap sets for numpad (kbin.social) angielski
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After all of This Time Searching for Aliens, is it The Zoo Hypothesis or Nothing? (www.universetoday.com) angielski