4 ms·

Urgh, I now feel sad that I haven't ordered v1 earlier :-( I definitely prefer the absence of backlighting and completely blank keycaps.

slezyr 6y ago
> For the UHK 60 v2, you can select English US (ANSI), English UK (ISO), Blank ANSI, or Blank ISO. Being a backlit keyboard, we implemented the blank option by placing small translucent dots on every keycap. All these keycap options are made of double-shot PBT. And you can disable the backlight on any keyboard.
- dotancohen 6y ago
  > And you can disable the backlight on any keyboard. That's not the same as no backlighting. Just this week, I had to open the Cherry switch on a Race keyboard [1] to modify the spring a bit. On a normal cherry, four small flathead screwdrivers can be used to pry the top off to access the switch internals after just popping off the keycap. With backlighting, though, the keyboard case needs to be opened and the LED needs to be desoldered before the top of the key comes off. The actually soldering it back in place is a pain as the leads just barely make it out of the hole, and that hole had better be clear of solder. Most modern boards are also ROHS compliant, so they're using high-temp leadless solder, which is more of a pain to solder, requires a high-temp soldering iron, and has a higher chance of causing thermal damage if you don't get the parts together quickly. [1] https://mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=759 https://mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/index.php?l=product_det...
  - lemper 6y ago
    chief, it uses hotswap sockets. you don't have to desolder the switches in case of trouble.
    - dotancohen 6y ago
      Nice to know, thank you!
- 1996 6y ago
  > And you can disable the backlight on any keyboard. I don't want to have to disable an useless backlight. I want the backlight to bring in functionality that makes it worth keeping. Per key RGB led? Great! Have a daemon learn my typing to make suggestions by lighting up the keys I'm the most likely to use in a context dependent operation. ex: if using Firefox, after I type the L-I-N-U key, I want X to be shining. if using Excel, after typing (-[A-Z]-[0-9], I want : to be shining.
  - wlesieutre 6y ago
    For all those hunt-and-peck typists who buy keyboards with per-key RGB backlighting? I wouldn’t think those two markets have a lot of overlap.
    - 1996 6y ago
      No, for when coding at night tired, when replying to email and uncertain about the spelling, etc. You like color for looks? I like color for function.
      - wlesieutre 6y ago
        Still, if one must have pre-typing spelling assistance instead of just spelling it wrong and correcting it afterward, seems like something you'd be better off putting on-screen where you're actually looking, rather than displaying it on the keyboard where you typically not looking. Even if you do look down you'd need to move your hands out of the way to see which key is glowing. For me, backlit keys are useful to set my hands in the right place, and then I stop looking at them. When I have them change color, it's a reminder of which keys in my fn-layer are bound to other functions like volume up/down and previous/play+pause/next.
        1996 6y ago
        > rather than displaying it on the keyboard where you typically not looking I use a laptop and both the screen and keyboard are in my field of vision. If the most probably key was highlighted, I believe I could consciously (or subconsciously?) take advantage of that information > When I have them change color, it's a reminder of which keys in my fn-layer are bound to other functions so you are using the backlight as a whole, instead of the invidual key backlights - to match what you were saying, nothing that a popup couldn't display on the screen ("CONTROL_DOWN"...)

slezyr 6y ago

> For the UHK 60 v2, you can select English US (ANSI), English UK (ISO), Blank ANSI, or Blank ISO. Being a backlit keyboard, we implemented the blank option by placing small translucent dots on every keycap. All these keycap options are made of double-shot PBT. And you can disable the backlight on any keyboard.

dotancohen 6y ago
> And you can disable the backlight on any keyboard. That's not the same as no backlighting. Just this week, I had to open the Cherry switch on a Race keyboard [1] to modify the spring a bit. On a normal cherry, four small flathead screwdrivers can be used to pry the top off to access the switch internals after just popping off the keycap. With backlighting, though, the keyboard case needs to be opened and the LED needs to be desoldered before the top of the key comes off. The actually soldering it back in place is a pain as the leads just barely make it out of the hole, and that hole had better be clear of solder. Most modern boards are also ROHS compliant, so they're using high-temp leadless solder, which is more of a pain to solder, requires a high-temp soldering iron, and has a higher chance of causing thermal damage if you don't get the parts together quickly. [1] https://mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=759 https://mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/index.php?l=product_det...
- lemper 6y ago
  chief, it uses hotswap sockets. you don't have to desolder the switches in case of trouble.
  - dotancohen 6y ago
    Nice to know, thank you!
1996 6y ago
> And you can disable the backlight on any keyboard. I don't want to have to disable an useless backlight. I want the backlight to bring in functionality that makes it worth keeping. Per key RGB led? Great! Have a daemon learn my typing to make suggestions by lighting up the keys I'm the most likely to use in a context dependent operation. ex: if using Firefox, after I type the L-I-N-U key, I want X to be shining. if using Excel, after typing (-[A-Z]-[0-9], I want : to be shining.
- wlesieutre 6y ago
  For all those hunt-and-peck typists who buy keyboards with per-key RGB backlighting? I wouldn’t think those two markets have a lot of overlap.
  - 1996 6y ago
    No, for when coding at night tired, when replying to email and uncertain about the spelling, etc. You like color for looks? I like color for function.
    - wlesieutre 6y ago
      Still, if one must have pre-typing spelling assistance instead of just spelling it wrong and correcting it afterward, seems like something you'd be better off putting on-screen where you're actually looking, rather than displaying it on the keyboard where you typically not looking. Even if you do look down you'd need to move your hands out of the way to see which key is glowing. For me, backlit keys are useful to set my hands in the right place, and then I stop looking at them. When I have them change color, it's a reminder of which keys in my fn-layer are bound to other functions like volume up/down and previous/play+pause/next.
      - 1996 6y ago
        > rather than displaying it on the keyboard where you typically not looking I use a laptop and both the screen and keyboard are in my field of vision. If the most probably key was highlighted, I believe I could consciously (or subconsciously?) take advantage of that information > When I have them change color, it's a reminder of which keys in my fn-layer are bound to other functions so you are using the backlight as a whole, instead of the invidual key backlights - to match what you were saying, nothing that a popup couldn't display on the screen ("CONTROL_DOWN"...)