Wowza
I’m sittin’ on stacks!
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Suddenly scheming ways to repurpose cheap controllers from prebuilts
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Starting to look like it would be cheaper to desolder chips from Pro Micros. The chips on these pro micros are atmega32u4-MU though, not sure if that make a difference for your uses.
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Help!!?!?! : MechanicalKeyboards (reddit.com)
This is beyond hmm. Is there a spit take thread?
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Well, that’s one way to find out that you have an ant problem. Going after food is bad enough but that’s personal.
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Knowing reddit I really doubt this post is real
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Ahh, the classic hardware bug.
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Yuck. Can’t you see the ants crawling toward your board? Do you eat at your desk – do you not wash your hands? Why would ants be eating a petroleum based rubber gasket? I’m speechless, I’m without speech.
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Man, I think ants will try anything once. I found they’d gotten into a box of scented wax cubes and gotten through powdering a quarter of one before realizing it wasn’t food.
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I was thinking back on builds I’ve done over the past couple of years, and it occurred to me that despite the endless browns bad memes, my clients have selected browns in one form or another more than any other - with Gazzew silents not far behind. I can think of four off-hand:
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My lawyer friend selected Box Browns from an eclectic tester with a little bit of everything
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Another friend in the software dev world also selected Box Browns, from a pair of testers
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My dad picked TTC Gold Brown V3s from a mostly tactile tester; once lubed they were really nice
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A therapist friend picked a Gat Silent Brown / Bobagum franken from a tester of quiet switches
Besides that, one of my own favorite workhorse switches is the Silent Box Brown.
As is often the case with memes, I’m sure the origin was organic and emerged from many places naturally - but I’m also pretty sure Thomas / Chyrosran22 is patient zero for the hyperbolic ones. I think Glarses continued said hyperbolic joke from there, spreading it to every corner of keebspace.
I think I just realized something…
Browns might be the Pineapple Pizza of keebs.
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I’ve read somewhere (maybe it was in one of Chyrosran22’s videos) that the Browns were developed after community feedback deemed the clears too heavy.
Pretty funny if you think about it.
Although it’s a pretty significant difference, I assume people prefer to type comfortably rather than smashing every keystroke to overcome the bump.
I personally prefer lighter switches, Akko Lavenders, Tecsee purple pandas, BOX Whites, Gateron Yellows.
Switches like U4Ts and BOX Jades are tiring and a lot of times I found myself missing keys.
Also, basically in the keyboard community “stronger bump = better = should be more expensive”, so there’s also that.
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Close! They were a request from a computer peripherals company that thought blues were too loud, but liked the tactility.
From Deskthority:
The switch type was created as response to a request from Kinesis who wanted a tactile, low-force switch without the clicky sound of the Cherry MX Blue. Their contoured keyboard, introduced in 1992, was the first keyboard with the switch.[1] Cherry used them first in 1994, as the default switch in Cherry’s first own ergonomic keyboard, the G80-5000. Then officially named “ergo soft” it was not found in the default Cherry product catalog and was only available as a special order item. After the G80-5000, Cherry did not officially release a keyboard with the MX Brown switch under their own brand until the G80-3800 in 2011. However, POS boards containing the switch, such as the G80-1950 and the G80-8113, were available earlier.
MX Brown switches continued to be used in OEM orders, especially for Compaq server hardware. The more common Compaq G80-11800 is considered to be a good donor board for MX Brown switches, while the much less common Compaq G80-1838 remains a relatively rare collectors item.
MX Brown …not… bad:
Nowadays, the Cherry MX Brown is a popular switch and available from Cherry directly. Many mechanical keyboards continue to be available with Cherry MX Brown switches. It was voted Best keyboard switch at the Deskthority Awards 2011.[2]
As for more recent switches -
KTT makes Akko’s, so you might enjoy their light / medium tactile offerings as well.
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Great read thank you, I’ve given up on tactile switches for the time being.
After using lubed linears for a while and returning to tactile switches, I cannot ignore the constant leaf ping and rattle anymore.
I can hear it even with the U4Ts.
I hope Zeal will release lite Clickiez or something new will come up from manufacturers because I can’t stand it now.
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I jumped into this hobby with Browns, then went the whole “big tactility” bump gamut, and now have come back to Browns. Or light to medium tactiles that is.
It is nice to be able to type all day and not get tired. Plus like the “flow” I get with typing on Browns. I feel like I can hit a nice wpm cadence with them. I find that a little bit funny, coming full circle that is.
In my personal opinion, I think a lot of the meme comes from the marketing of Browns. I think a first time interested buyer expects a Cherry Clear like bump based on the description, when you go in expecting that and you don’t get it… you just get disappointed. It sounds like with your clients, that don’t have any really preconceived expectations. I bet that helps.
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Italian Keyboard Community:
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I mean, it would easily hit front page reddit if you ordered a pineapple pizza and put some browns on it. Just sayin…
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Hearing your circle of starting with a light tactile to end back up with a light/medium tactile is surprisingly common in the hobby and I think it definitely has to do with the marketing and expectations.
I don’t necessarily agree that it’s the pineapple pizza of switches (I’d give that honor to topre in terms of its divisiveness), but it’s definitely an interesting switch to talk; moreso interesting to talk about in terms of perspectives than the actual switch itself haha.
In a way, light tactiles are like an “acquired taste” that many peoples’ fingers have to learn before enjoying. It’s like being a kid and hating broccoli because you were forced to eat steamed unseasoned broccoli at the table, but then as an adult, suddenly liking broccoli because you realized there’s beef and broccoli, herbed broccoli mashed potatoes, cheesy mushroom and broccoli casserole, broccoli with cheddar, Potato, Sausage and Broccoli Frittata, etc… Now I’m hungry, great.
I think that’s how a lot of people start with mx browns, then suddenly try to go for something extremely bold like holy pandas and other huge tactile switches, before realizing what they want is something with nuance, like an ergo clear.
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