Hi, Keebtalk! I’m Kim Slawson, which is also my username because I am apparently lacking in imagination XD
I’m from Maine, USA, and I’m trying to build a local Maine mechanical keyboard community. I’m hoping to host a meetup in the coming year.
I had a gradual introduction to the mechanical keyboard community over the years, first dipping my toes in as a youngster in the 80s and 90s cutting my 8-bit teeth on Ataris and Macs (I really wish I’d kept the old AEK II), then later on in college using IBM, Sun, SGI, and DEC keyboards (some mech, some not), then sometime in 2012 I think I received as a birthday gift from an old college roomie a Model M in decent condition.
Since then I’ve gradually become addicted to the hobby, getting a Drevo Calibur, then getting MT3 /dev/tty0 for it (caps cost 3x more than the board!), then getting an XD75 kit and MDA Big Bang, a RoMac with Novelkeys creams and TEX ADA built by /u/The_Royal, and most recently /u/mythosmann’s TG4x kit, which I am looking forward to building (albeit a bit trepidatiously as my soldering skills are way below par and this will be my first keyboard build).
My first love was buckling springs. I’ve since tried blues, and now linears are growing on me, but I do want to try many types of switches.
My vintage wishlist includes Model F terminal keyboards, a NeXT non-adb board, and a 50-key Model M.
My modern wishlist is a bit smaller: I want a big switch from Mike at Novelkeys, a keeblade for reasons I can’t explain, and I’d love a Rack MiniVan from @evangs with Paperwork, but I fear I’ve arrived only just a bit too late to be able to board that train, and it saddens me.
I have layout ideas that I’d like to explore and artisan caps I’m excited to make (my kids want to help me and make it a family business, and I figure who am I to discourage the hobby in them!)
I do have interests outside keyboards, but I’ll be damned if I can remember them right now.