Hey! rumlyne here

So I’ve been a long time lurker in the community and have only recently been actively engaging in it.

Let’s start at the beginning (don’t worry I’ll keep it short):

I bought my first keyboard probably somewhere around 2008.
It was a Logitech G11 that I remember vividly pulling out from the back of the lowest shelf in the shop I bought it from. I remember holding the then already old model in my hands and looking at the beat up box and the heavily reduced pricetag and then over to the newest model which cost 4x as much. “It’s just a keyboard. It has nkro and macrokeys, same as the newer model but is dirt cheap… I’ll take it”. So from this day on that was my gaming setup together with my Logitech MX Revolution MULTIMEDIA WIRELESS mouse and a widescreen sub 1080p flat screen. I was happy with it! It was much better than the used HP-keyboard I’d been using until then and it glowed blue. 14 y.o. rumlyne was happy.

It wasn’t until many years later, 2016, that I had a single thought again about my input devices. The G11 had become quite dirty and although I had struggled so hard to gently pull apart the weird plastic construction without breaking a tab and washing it, I had still managed to kill it. A few keys wouldn’t recognize anymore and I had to look into buying a new one.

I quickly found myself going down the rabbit hole on reddit/deskthority however I had to stop myself because I was a poor student at the time and simply could not afford a Planck or sth. like that at the time. I aquired a Klictro Chameleon RGB with Cherry MX Browns via massdrop and it was an interesting experience! It was also a very depressing purchase since I had totally forgotten that keyboards from the US would obviously come with the US-Querty layout - I’m Austrian - ISO ftw! I took it as an opportunity to look into custom layouts (programmer dvorak, workman, neo, custom) and the switches grew on me! However for everyday use I still had to get an ISO kb so I bought an as new speedlink Velator with blue Outemu switches. It’s a decent keyboard! Sturdy case, nice cable and decent keycaps however the switches are really not for me, although I like the click!

A few months ago I started to once more go down the rabbit hole because I have been working full time for a while now and I was having issues with my shoulder from placing the mouse so much to the side and I was thinking of finally getting one of those ortho boards with the numberblock and arrow keys on the left side.

Oh boy!So much has changed! USB-C, STM32, Kailh Chocs, the Cherry patent expired, MX Low Profiles incoming, Box switches, even more ortholinear kbs, fricking rotary encoders, silent switches, zeal, novelkeys, sooo many doxes/irises, adnw (ausderneowelt: keyboard layouts balanceed for both the german and english language) and probably best of all: hotswap sockets! Since I can now afford it (although maybe I shouldn’t), I ordered an XD75 wich Box whites and a datamancer hardwood case and today I backed the Boardwalk PCB & plate groupbuy. As for keycaps I hope the DSA Scientific GB goes live soon for I’d like to get one set of each georgeous colour and I’ve been praying for months for another canvas XDA groupbuy because it’s so f**ing beautiful.

Apart from keyboards I’m into martial arts, DnD, LARP and 3D printing. By profession I’m 1st, 2nd, little bit of 3rd level IT supporter in a nice medium business.

TL;DR: Hi!

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Hi, welcome :slight_smile:

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Welcome back to the community! I hope you find it just as welcoming as when you took a little hiatus!

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I do!

I’m happy I learned something new today :smiley:

Favorite edition?

Welcome to KeebTalk! :slight_smile: So you listed a BIG list new new and exciting things, but what’s the most exciting thing for you now aside from the hot swap sockets? Is in the varied landscape in switches? The different and unique designer keyboards? Artisans? Different aspects of customization and personalization?

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Pathfinder I guess… Haven’t tried any other rulebooks tbh :grinning: At the end of the day it isn’t that important imo since it really depends on the game master and of course the other players. Fortunately I am blessed in that regard. If I want to get off on gameplay, balancing and loot I start up a video game :wink: I do also participate in an online chat RPG where there are no rules and we just develop the story together. (If I just could get my hands on Galaxy Class DSA with a norde kit…) Same with the group I larp with. Works just fine with the right people!

Thank you for the warm welcome!

The varied landscape in switches as you so vividly put it is definitely a huge pillar of this community/hobby however since I’m not even sure what I’m really into it actually makes things a lot more difficult for me personally…

I don’t bother with the designer keyboards, at least not for now. I may be willing to invest in one in the future since I do enjoy heavily and well built pieces of engineering but not before I know exactly what I want in a keyboard. So far the only things I know to like for certain is ortho (although the katana60 looks veeery interesting) and a smaller form factor - and mechanical switches of course!

Artisans are OK and can be really awesome as long as they aren’t sculpted. Those I dislike pretty strongly…

Of course the customization options are tempting on every level! It’s one of the reasons why I’m starting my journey in the 60% class. All those cases, pcbs and the stunning examples out there! It’s amazing!

The most exciting thing for me has to be the unexpected variety in keycaps and the themes they are inspired by! From NASA to outrun to the space cadet to camping to calculators to counterstrike and weeb culture… So cool!