jmtd → log → franken keyboard

Since it's spooky season, let me present to you the FrankenKeyboard!

8bitdo retro keyboard

For some reason I can't fathom, I was persuaded into buying an 8bitdo retro mechanical keyboard. It was very reasonably priced, and has a few nice fun features: built-in bluetooth and 2.4GHz wireless (with the supplied dongle); colour scheme inspired by the Nintendo Famicom; fun to use knobs for volume control; some basic macro support; and funky oversized mashable macro keys (which work really well as "Copy" and "Paste")

The 8bitdo keyboards come with switch-types I had not previously experienced: Kailh Box White v2. I'm used to Cherry MX Reds, but I loved the feel of the Box White v2s. The 8bitdo keyboards all have hot-swappable key switches.

It's relatively compact (comes without a numpad), but still larger than my TEX Shura, which (at home) is my daily driver. I also miss the trackpoint mouse on the Shura. Finally, the 8bitdo model I bought has American ANSI key layout, which I can tolerate but is not as nice as ISO. I later learned that they have a limited range of ISO-layout keyboards too, but not (yet) in the Famicom colour scheme I'd bought.

DIY Shura

My existing Shura's key switches are soldered on and can't be swapped out. But I really preferred the Kailh white switches.

I decided to buy a second Shura, this time as a "DIY kit" which accepts hot-swappable switches. I then moved the Kailh Box White v2 switches over from the 8bitdo keyboard.

keycaps

Part of justifying buying the DIY kit was the possibility that I could sell on my older Shura with the Cherry MX Red switches. My existing Shura's key caps are for the ISO-GB layout and have their legends printed onto them. After three years the legends have faded in a few places.

The DIY kit comes with a set of ABS "double-shot" key caps (where the key legends are plastic rather than printed). They look a lot nicer, but I don't look at my keys. I'm considering applying the new, pristine key caps to the old Shura board, to make it more attractive to buyers. One problem is I'm not sure the new set of caps includes the ISO-UK specific ones. It might be that potential buyers might prefer to have used caps with the correct legends rather than pristine ones which are mislabelled.

franken keyboard

Given I wasn't going to use the new key cap set, I borrowed most of the caps from the 8bitdo keyboard. I had to retain the G, H and B keys from my older Shura as they are specially molded to leave space for the trackpoint, and a couple of the modifier keys which weren't the right size. Hence the odd look! (It needs some tweaking. That left-ALT looks out of place. It may be that the 8bitdo caps are temporary. Left "cmd" is really Fn, and "Caps lock" is really "Super". The right-hand red dot is a second "Super".)

Since taking the photo I've removed the "stabilisers" under the right-shift and backspace keys, in order to squeeze a couple more keys in their place. the new keycap set includes a regular-sized "BS" key, as the JIS keyboard layout has a regular-sized backspace. (Everyone should have a BS key in my opinion.)

I plan to map my new keys to "Copy" and "Paste" actions following the advice in this article.