[IC] KAT Specimen LIVE

So you’ve already probably seen this, but the GB is finally live after about a year or so… A lot
of KAT GBs came and went, and now it’s Specimen’s turn. You can join the GB on:

Kono (US)
MyKeyboard (EU)
DailyClack (AU)
zFrontier (ASIA)
zF CN (CN)
FunKeys (RU, BLR, UA)

Why specimen?
The name came to me out of pretty much nowhere, and it just stuck. This set feels pretty hard to name anyhow, so I’m happy I have one.

For all other info, please check the Geekhack post as I haven’t yet had the time to copy all info over to here (sorry):

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Dig these colors, even if the set isn’t exactly to my taste! Happy to see reverse dye-sub gain more traction.

This looks like a cool set. Is there any word on pricing?

I haven’t spoken with zFrontier about the pricing and MOQ just yet, as the sets themselves are still likely to change. I will update the post once I have more information.

Thanks for your interest! :smile:

Got it, thanks for the quick response.

On an unrelated note, is the alien novelty inspired by any particular property (e.g. a show, a novel, etc)?

No, not consciously anyway. I just had this image of a stereotypical, kinda simple alien in my head. I call him Mr. Spook. I also already experimented with a UFU novelty, but it’s not at the standard I want to set just yet.

What is the 1.75u R3 Backspace for (I am referring to zFrontiers rows of 5-4-3-2-1-1 here)?

To be totally honest with you, I don’t know. I used a bunch of different sets to reference kits, it must have slipped through my sanity filter. I can’t think of a use for it. A definitely needed keycap is a 1.5u delete in the same position, maybe I originally wanted it to be that…

Colemak uses Backspace on Caps Lock, which is 1.75u. But then it should be R2 (and purple). But without any other compatibility for Colemak it seems pointless.

I removed the 1.75u backspace from the base kit and made a 40s kit for minivan, which indeed uses it.

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well color me interested! thanks for the support, I can’t wait to try this profile.

Chiming in late — just discovered this posting. I like the design: A bit of SA 1976 and SA Vilebloom, but with a different offset (at least for the ortholinear kit where the other sets have a different offset than the normal base set).

And I like the KAT profile. :slight_smile:

Colorwise it reminds me a bit of (a more saturated) Rainbow Dash from “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” despite it’s not really rainbow colors.

Would probably join with a base kit, an ortholinear kit, a 40s kit and probably also a spacebar kit.

And as with SA Vilebloom, I’m curious how this set looks on a Zlant. :slight_smile:

I know that most KAT designs are currently in a queue waiting. What’s the current state of this project?

Another question: Is it on purpose or just an error that the color kit’s and the ISO kit’s purple key caps have black instead of pink legends?

Thanks for the reply and interest :slight_smile: . I pretty much have up on updating this Keebtalk post, as it never really got off to a start, maybe it was a mistake

The project has developed a lot - you can check out the Geekhack site for more details.

Right now, I’m waiting for the MOQs to be announced and then we should be good to go, they’ve already printed some samples which should be shipped to me sometime soon. It’s just that their progress on this project is really inconsistent - sometimes everything happens really fast, but then there’s nothing for weeks.

I should hope I’m near front of the queue (perhaps behind KAT Oasis), because this was a rather early KAT set.

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