That was a custom board someone made for themself at home, and I don’t think they made it to sell. They likely just 3D-printed a case, stuck some switches in, and hand-wired the connections since it’s not built in a shape where PCBs work very well.
If you’re interested in special and a bit crazy ergonomic designs, I’d recommend checking out the commercial offers from Quentin (https://bastardkb.com/), and the home-brew designs from German community member mabroum (his reddit where he posts some of them: https://www.reddit.com/user/AlSaMoMo/submitted/).
There’s ofc many more (japanese community is absolutely mind-blowing when it comes to crazy ergo keyboard designs), but those are the first two that came to my mind.
What is the key word that I left out of my response?
Check out Keychron. I have a couple of the full size K10 Pro’s. But I like having a ten keypad. Aluminum cases, leds lighting up the keys. Wireless or wired or both. They have tons of different types, and custom.
Update!
Thanks to @m03da for mentioning the K3, because that lead me to the K2 V2. There is a version with hot-swap and north-facing white LEDS. The only thing I would change about it is to offset the arrow keys a little to the right. The RGB version comes with an aluminum chassis though so I am thinking of compromising for that but we’ll see.
@jeff51 The Royal Kludge 84 (RK84) does actually look interesting due to the price and north-facing leds. According to a review of the smaller 60% version, it “needs” a little modding for sound and better keycaps and switches, but realistically I want to mess around with that stuff anyway. Another strong contender despite the lack of pure white leds.
My love of white LEDS is influenced by my current keyboard, a black magicforce68 with white backlighting. I just like the more neutral look, and it bothers me that RGB keyboards can’t attain a true white without colored reflections.
I’m also considering picking up a boujie Keychron Q1 Max and adding caps that shine through on the front side. That one’s a harder sell due to the higher base cost though, and the fact that only shell white is in stock. I’d prefer a black case
Based on the youtube videos I’ve been seeing, many are now obsessed with a deeper “thoc” sound which you get with thick keycaps, foam stuffed cases, and gasket mounted boards.
Alright, I think this is better than the elvish version. But I’d need it to be $100 max. $200 is way too much, especially for dye sub caps.
My interest in this is purely for the novelty btw, it would never fill the role of my daily driver. I think I’d literally pull it out when I have company over lol
So it turns out, the Keychron K2 v2 has no QMK/VIA support which makes the price tag a little silly. $90-$110
Royal Kludge RK87 is not eliminated yet. It’s software is not VIA either, but it is cheap, hot swappable, moddable, and did I mention cheap? I could see getting one to be a dedicated gaming board. $60-70
I wish north-facing leds were more common, I think south-facing is really overrated. Underglow and backlighting are not the same! Underglow seems useless to me.
Currently my top choice for switches is:
I’ve had good luck over the years with my ducky’s can’t comment as to anything from them within the last few years though. But if you know what mx switches you like it should just come down to whatever caps you like best
I was strongly considering Ducky until I settled on the 75% form factor. They only have one 75% and it has south-facing LEDs. It also costs $100 for the version without keycaps or switches which seems a bit steep for a plastic case keyboard.
Only K Pro, Q and V.
I know, I just got temporarily excited about the K2 v2 because it has north facing white LEDS as an option together with hotswap. Finding that combo is apparently really rare.
I just don’t understand the obsession with south-facing leds/switches. It interferes with ONE keycap profile out of dozens, and it makes it almost impossible to properly illuminate key legends.
Mechanical. Most people that have a mechanical keyboards prefer an audible click.
This is what you said “Yes, most people prefer an audible click, but not everyone, obviously”
Please check me in case I am making a mistake.
If you leave out words, the meaning changes.
I will not post on this issue again. I just wanted to bring to your attention an error that was made.
Exactly. And IMO that profile is overrated.
Unfortunately, that particular keycap profile is really popular, especially among people who pay $200 for a set of keycaps… and they get pretty loudly upset when their expensive caps don’t fit.
I’d rather have north-facing, so the LED is hidden behind the stem. In addition to working better for shine-through caps, it also prevents a direct line of sight from LEDs to the user’s eyes.
Based on the context, it is clear that Mandrake50 and I were referring to mechanical keyboards, so neither Mandrake50 or myself “left out a word” and no “error was made.”
Both Mandrake50 and myself quoted you, and when I quoted you, I even included the words “mechanical keyboard.”
As has already been established, I want a mechanical keyboard with every part (including the space bar) being extremely quiet, so “most people prefer an audible click, but not everyone, obviously.”
Now, you might still disagree with me about a word being left out and an error being made, and that’s fine.
We’ll just have to agree to disagree.
I thought it was perfectly clear what you were saying. Also, I like mechanical keyboards but want them to be quiet too.
Apparently though hardly anyone buys red or brown switches…
Right now, I’m happy with my membrane keyboards.
I might change my mind by the time they eventually fail.
At which point, I might be willing to spend more money on a really nice mechanical keyboard.
Which happens to be the most used and widespread in any non-gaming-brand keyboard. Also, the favorite profile of the majority of community members…
But, is it popular because it is good, or is it popular because there are simply a lot of cherry profile sets being made? I would argue that its popularity is a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Is there actually a recommended profile for gaming? My understanding is that it’s entirely personal preference, just like with typing. Never understood the push for or against cherry to having anything to do with games
Gaming brand boards are (almost) never Cherry profile. Pretty much all are OEM profile (the worst, imo. It is basically taller, more square cherry with less ergonomically designed typing curve and mostly sounds very hollow), or some strange other lower profile shapes.
Cherry is popular with the custom scene, because it has been derived from some pretty good studies on ergonomics, sounds the best according to most people (I am one from them - sound-wise cherry profile is my favorite), and has a pretty timeless classic look to it.
SA, KAM, KAT, MT3, MTNU etc go very well with some boards, but look out of place on others. Cherry profile you can put on pretty much every board. This is also a downside, as it tends to look boring and bland to some people.
In the end, it’s all preference, but cherry just happens to meet the preference of a large part of the community.