I whipped up this layout based on my deep yearning for an Alice but my lack of willingness to give up the numpad and F row, as a left handed spacebar user, I decided to forgoe the right space and locate the NAV cluster down there instead to reduce horizontal footprint. I understand this may be a controversial decision, but thats why I bring it to you all, Please comment your thoughts and If you would be interested! if people don’t hate it I’ll try to form a proper interest check for it and get a prototype on my desk.
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damn that looks like version 2.0 love the TGR logo lol.
Permission to prototype/tweak your layout?
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Sure thing man. I’ll attach my json file. As I’m sure you noticed, this layout is not perfect and I would not use this as a manufacturing template in its current form. In order to make it look right, I had to do some unorthodox less than .25u spacing. I’m not sure if that’s what they did on the original Alice. There’s some funky things going on around the P, not sure if the caps would quite fit together there, the right space is supposed to be in line with the right B and the gap between the Alt and X is smaller than the gap between the Alt and the comma. The best thing to do would be to get the original layout from someone who worked on an Alice and build it out from there.
Ok, actually I’m not sure how to attach the json here. I can send it to you another way if you like.
thanks for the link! yeah I believe the Alice 2 is slightly higher than other keys like in your KLE, I might shrink those 1.5u mods near the space bars to 1.25u and see if that fits better, but overall its much more aesthetically refined than my crude attempt
Only issue is you would have a hard time finding key sets where the F4 and F9 caps are the same color as the center F keys. Also, I matched the SB length to the SBs that come with ergo kits.
ah, I was trying to keep it in base kit as you can generally outfit an 1800 with a good base kit, good point of the F keys though, I think your way looks better anyway
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I think the extra win key makes sense. Good second option. If you really want custom caps you can always go to WASD.
So do you think you’ll put together a proper IC?
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yeah I want to get a prototype on my desk first so I have something to show in the IC and make sure this layout is actually as nice as it looks, now I just need to learn KiCad and make a .hex
Currently working on PCB, will update as process continues
You confident that all the keys are in the right spot? May want to get someone to double my work. That p makes me nervous
No numlock key?
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I’m working with an outside PCB designer to verify the validity of the design, but the plan is to manufacture the layout as is, they look nice in their current locations and it doesn’t need to be a dead ringer of the alice, I just enjoy the split.
Good question, I’m gonna get my hands on a proto and see how it feels before running an IC hopefully, but I may proffer a full-fat numpad as one of the design options if people want that.
Those spacebars give me anxiety
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Agreed. You’re gonna wanna make sure any layout you go with is compatable with typical key caps sets.
I’m saying the P might catch on the 0
I’ve made a little IC to address some of these concerns, please take a moment to fill it out!
https://forms.gle/4JY5Fk74jzLypmdd6
Also a link to a discord server I made for discussion of the board for those with additional questions