https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thevankeyboards/kumo-a-compact-mechanical-keyboard
@evangs just sent the email out, figured I’d beat him to the punch here. Already got in on that early bird!
Wish it was wireless.
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EDIT: aaand locked in an early bird reservation. \m/
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The $125-$150 price is excellent if you’re looking for a QMK 40%.
Their web firmware interface makes it simple to program without editing any actual files.
The web interface is hosted here is anyone wants to check it out: http://qmk.thevankeyboards.com/
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Especially considering it is a full kit with switches and caps and everything. Even the keebio stuff ends up more expensive than that once you include the pro micros, case, switches, caps, etc.
You can also use the normal qmk configurator (config.qmk.fm) as well if you want to, or even edit the qmk config directly if you want to.
Personally, I am really interested to find out more about the “Customizable RGB indicator LED lighting”. That sounds like underglow, but there are no pics of it and the video makes it look like it is just at the very top of the board. maybe @evangs has some more details on that. If it is WS2812Bs then you could extend the strip pretty easily into full underglow.
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Thats the weirdest thing about the board. It looks like its just one led on the leftside, so I wonder how that will look when you slap a plate on top of it.
You will definitely want a plate if you ever plan to use plate mounted switches like kailh box. I’ve tried my hotswap board plateless with plate mount switches (didn’t have the extra two plastic pins to go through PCB) and they moved sometimes when typing.
Unless I’m wildly misremembering, the KUMO comes with PCB-mount Kailh switches. They made them special just for this.
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He is talking about if you change switches later, since it is hot swap.
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Yup. A lot of people have been buying the Kailh box switches lately that don’t have the pins. Just a word of caution. Someone (maybe was donutcat?) was running an IC for box switch PCB housings. Would be an option if they happen.
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Yeh das me. IC got a lot of interest and when Mike last asked they are currently working on them, so PCB mount Box will be available in the future, just no set time yet.
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I’d really like to see some testing though. B/C in my experience (using some PCB mount switches plateless) once you put a switch in an out a few times, the pins wear down and fit losely into the PCB holes. This would not be a good situation with hotswap and plateless. My experience: I tried some box navy switches in a hotswap board without a plate and it didn’t exactly work out. Surely they’ve got it worked out, but I don’t see how. /shrug
I’m in. Is there any information about the available switches beyond the Clicky, Tactile, and Linear descriptions?
On the kickstarter page it says they are gold, burgundy and purple kailh switches respectively.
D’oh. That makes a lot more sense.
Neat to see this project rising from the ashes of the HUB keycaps. I think that will return eventually but I for one am glad at least that they’re sticking to their legend designs.
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Evan has said that it should be returning, but it will likely take a different form (probably not a massive high-budget kickstarter, hopefully working with popular keyset designers for colorways, etc.). Maybe that will mean slightly higher prices to help him pay off tooling quicker or something, it’s hard to know, but I would expect to see more happening there.
Yeah I think that was a huge part of the problem was how much they needed for funding. It just seemed insurmountable even though it could have been realistically hit. I think this project, if it goes well, will hopefully help spark the idea again.
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What do I do if I want to buy two?
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