Hi All,

I’m looking for a new mechanical keyboard. Hoping for some advice. I used to have a Corsair K70 Pro, but unfortunately that no longer functions. I’ve been using a crappy dell keyboard from work and have finally been annoyed enough by it to buy a new keyboard.

I’ve considered going with another K70, but corsair doesn’t give a shit about linux and I’m kicking windows outta my house. While I could emulate or build a vm, I’d rather just get a keyboard that doesn’t make linux an afterthought if thought of at all. What I like about the K70 is that the keys aren’t shrouded making it super easy to

Wants are:

  • 100% full keyboard
  • Ideally no shrouding around the switches, minor shrouding would be okay.
  • A passthrough USB port on the keyboard for a mouse, to minimize wires and simpliy cable management.
  • Hotswap switches
  • Full Linux support
  • Backlit (ideally RGB, but I"m not doing any fancy profiles, just a solid color)
  • Media keys nice, but I can live without them.
  • Ideally not much more than $200

I’d prefer prebuilt, but at most minimal soldering would be acceptable, as long as it’s nothing too small, my soldering skills are an embarrassment.

I’ve looked at the following already.

Ducky All models I saw shrouded the switches. seem shrouded.

System76 Cost seems excessive and I don’t really want a 96% keyboard.

DasKeyboard & Keychron The models pretty much all shroud the switches too much, or they’re low form factor.

The DasKeyboard 5QS comes close, and I might just go with it if I don’t have a better option, but it’s got more shrouding around the switches than I like. It also doesn’t seem to have a secondary USB port.

I just saw this as well. I really like the bigger one on the left, would just need to be a full keyboard, maybe an additional USB port on the back as well. https://lemmy.ml/post/10016605

  • HidingCat@kbin.social
    2·
    10 months ago

    Points 1, 2 and 3 are practically non-existent in the hobbyist mechanical keyboard space. You might get a few 100% boards but open floating design is not favoured, and passthrough is considered unnecessary.

    • rentar42@kbin.social
      1·
      10 months ago

      Das Keyboard have a few keyboards that provide 1, 2 and 3 (thought #3 sometimes with a hub instead of passthrough).

      But they are not hot-swappable and possibly not considered “custom keyboards”, as they are close to the “main stream” and don’t focus on customizability.

      • HidingCat@kbin.social
        1·
        10 months ago

        Yea, the moment hotswap and a degree of customisability is called for, a lot of the mainstream “niceties” tend to be dropped.