Category: Keyboard

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Keyboard

Keyboards: SA Profile Key Caps

As I slowly sink into the rabbit hole of the world of mechanical keyboards, I finally got my hands on my first set of SA Profile Key Caps from Domikeys [AliExpress].

left: kailh switch testers; right: Domikey ABS Doubleshot keycap set

For those that are not familiar with key cap profiles, here’s a quick primer on them. Key caps comes in various shapes and heights, most common of them are OEM and Cherry Profile which are on most of the pre-built mechanical keyboards.

SA profile as you can see is much higher and has a retro feel/look to it. I have been curious about it cause I think it has a type writer look which tickles my fancy.

I bought black and white because I realize that I didn’t have any basic sets like these. Coincidentally, this goes really well with my Black Drop CTRL keyboard that I’m currently using.

It feels distinctively different

I have tried OEM, Cherry, DSA, XDA keycaps before, but SA is a whole different beast altogether. The main difference for me is that the gaps between the keys are much wider than I’m used to and it feels like my fingers will always fall into the crevices when I’m not too careful with the way that I type.

The other difference is its weight. Because it’s so much taller than the other keys, there is obviously much more material to it, which makes it heavier. But because the keys is heavier, it makes typing feel lighter. It also feels sturdier because these are some thiccc bois.

I like it. The keyboard definitely has a nicer thock sound with SA key caps.

What’s next?

I have two GMK key caps set shipping in Oct and Dec. And I am extremely excited for them.

  • GMK Blue Samurai
  • GMK Mito Laser

My main motivation for getting this set is because I didn’t like how cheap the PBT key caps that came with the CTRL keyboard feels. I’ve swapped them out with another cheap set that I have but it only improved the feel ever so slightly.

Have also placed an order for the Keychron K6 (hot-swap version) which should be arriving this week as well. This would be purely for experimenting different switches and possibly be my portable keyboard when I feel like working outside.

Down and down the rabbit hole I go.

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Keyboard Weekly

Weekly: Drop CTRL Keyboard

drop ctrl mechanical keyboard

I think I missed out two weeks of entry because well… more discipline is needed when writing. However, it has been a really good two weeks because a lot of my purchases has come. One of the most notable one is the Drop CTRL Keyboard. a TKL keyboard that I’ve had my eyes on ever since it launched but couldn’t justify the purchase back then.

The version I got had a black aluminium case, with Halo True switches. This is my first experience with a more “premium” switch that isn’t Cherry MX or Gateron. It is also much heavier than I’m used to at 60g actuation force.

It felt way heavier than I’d liked at the start, but I’ve gotten used to it over the couple of weeks using it, and I’ve really gotten to liking how it feels. The tactile bump is much more pronounced than anything that I’ve tried before, and the very high force required for me to bottom out means that I rarely bottom out they keys which results in a quieter typing experience overall.

I’ve disassembled the keyboard, and lubed every single one of the switches with Krytox 205g0, also clipped, lubed and bandaid moded the stabilizers. All in all, it feels amazing and I never want to go back to using a keyboard that isn’t lubed like this anymore. The unfortunate part was that when I was lubing the stabilizers, I couldn’t get my hands on some thicker grease which would help with the dampening a little more. That has been rectified since.

I’m starting to build up my mechanical keyboard collection as I dive more into this hobby.

  • Krytox 205g0
  • Krytox 105
  • Superlube dielectric grease (PTFE)
  • 20 x Durock T1 switches
  • 10 x Durock Koala switches
  • Switch opener
  • Stem picker (4 prong)

Also bought two custom keycaps sets waiting for them to ship in a couple of months.

I’m extremely excited for GMK Mito Laster keycaps but I think it would only arrive next year, gotta keep my expectations in check.

All of these has made me realize that I really enjoy this hobby and I think I will consider getting more premium cases and boards next year. I am extremely curious about how it feels to use a keyboard with brass plate or carbon fiber plate.

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DevOps Keyboard Learning Weekly

Weekly: AWS and Keyboards

laptops on table

As I am helping another team part time to setup some infra on AWS, I felt my fundamental AWS knowledge being tested all over again. I’ve gotten so used to doing the more “tricky/complex” things that when starting from fresh, got tripped up by some basic setup.

  • Internet facing ELB must have public subnet associated
  • As long as the each AZ has a public subnet associated, the ELB will be able to route to the AZ
  • Public subnets must have IGW, NAT not counted
  • NAT instance must be created in a subnet which has IGW
  • ELB does not need to be in the same subnet as Target Group to route to it
  • ELB needs at least a /27 subnet
  • ELB reserves 8 IP in the subnet for autoscaling
  • NLB does not load balance cross-zone by default
  • ALB load balance cross-zone by default
  • Smallest subnet in AWS is /28
  • OpenVPN Access Server needs EIP
  • OpenVPN Access Server needs to setup through SSH first

While I wasn’t the one who setup the bulk on the networking, I wasn’t able to quickly pinpoint the exact reason why I was unable to get connectivity for the VPN that I was setting up. Just proves that there are some fundamental concepts that I need brushing up on.

On happier news, I finally bought/receive the lube for my future keyboard. Over the weekends I decided to try lubing my current Filco TKL keyboard without disassembly to see how it works/feels.

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Keyboard Learning Weekly

Weekly: diving deeper into keyboards

mechanical keyboard

This week I finally made the plunge into the slightly deeper end of the mechanical keyboard community. I made the pre-order for Drop’s Ctrl Keyboard (Halo True switches). Total damage after shipping: 201.05 USD.

It’s my first step into the custom keyboard modding community. I was contemplating for the longest time if I should build a totally custom keyboard from scratch from sites like kbdfans for example. But the high cost of entry and the fear of screwing up made me decide to go for a semi-custom route instead.

However, while waiting for the keyboard to come, I decided to do some slight modifications to my Filco keyboard to see if I could improve the feel and sound of it.

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