💾 Archived View for wireheadmechanist.com › buster › whm21476.gmi captured on 2024-02-05 at 09:44:09. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

the metal is liquid

I solder a keyboard

I got the thing.

I tried to build the thing. It's not all for naught just yet, but there is certainly a learning curve, just like there is with the whole touch typing thing I'm trying to learn. I am slow-moving, but I'm getting there. Can't seem to get the hang of soldering the LEDs just yet. I am thinking of having my guy send me a strip instead. That will solder more easily for me at this point.

I am already looking at the next keyboard, but honestly, I think it's more self-doubt than anything else. The Helix should be functional tomorrow when I get the rest of my diodes in. Won't have the pretty lights just yet, but I will have a functioning split keyboard.

So now I am actually using the keyboard, and it certainly takes a little getting used to. I have blanks on here, so I now am completely at the mercy of my own touch typing. It will probably pick up in speed the more I type, so I know I just have to get used to the keys.

The layout isn't that bad, but I'm missing a pipe symbol, which is a bit frustrating. I use the pipe a lot since I work mostly in the Linux world.

I also need to look at the keymap and make sure all is not lost in that regard. I was right, they were both there. I had this whole thing figured out where I remapped everything and now I think maybe I'll just leave it as is.

It survived a full night at work, and I learned that I wasn't missing nearly as many keys as I thought I was. They are right, I am adjusting to the blank keypad more swiftly than I figured I would. My only issue at the moment is an "l" key that I have to hit multiple times to get to work. I'll re-solder that connection in a bit.

I fixed the L key and then lost my comma. Then I got the comma back, and my M1qaz ( that is what my A key has now started doing). My Mac is jumbling the first line onto everything. I finally got that fixed by checking my soldering job.

The next thing I did was blow the left side up by badly soldering the LEDs and I thought I had destroyed everything. Thankfully that wasn't the case. I got it figured out after a good dose of fear and loathing. I also currently suck donkey balls at soldering OLEDs, too.

It's nice to be able to have the center of my desk back and be able to use my Huion tablet again. That takes a bit of getting used to as well. The touch typing is also picking up. That's something I can add to my cool "things I can now do" list.

We'll see where this goes from here.

Back