Month: August 2021

Bank Holiday Projects

This weekend I finally got round to finishing off building my new keyboard (GMMK 60% with Gateron yellows and some generic black Glorious keycaps that are better than £18 keycaps have any right to be). This will almost certainly be my main keyboard eventually, because it’s so great to type on. I’m not sure it will be with these keycaps though. They look pretty when they are backlit, but they are very different to what I’m used to, so let’s see how long they last.

What will I do with the old keyboard? I think it will still be useful in certain situations (especially when travelling, as it’s much lighter), and whilst I want to try and get to the point where I’m using mainly ISO keyboards I don’t think the occasional ANSI will hurt.

I really recommend the GMMK keyboards. I’ve built two of them now (this 60% and a 100% for Steph), and I will probably get a third one at some point to use up some more switches and keycaps that I have lying around at home and to further explore what’s possible with macros. These boards are probably the easiest way to get a high quality keyboard at an affordable price; this one was £65, and I’m using sub-£20 switches and keycaps right now, so it comes out at about £100 for a really great keyboard.

I also bought a switch tester, because there are so many switches I’ve not tried yet, and also because I’m on a quest to find an even clickier set of switches for Steph. What I’ve currently got in it is:

Clicky

  • Kailh Speed Bronze
  • Kailh Box White
  • Kailh Box Jade
  • Cherry MX White
  • Cherry MX Green
  • Gateron Green

Linear

  • Cherry MX Silent Black
  • Cherry MX Silent Red
  • Cherry MX Speed Silver
  • Gateron Clear

Tactile

  • Kailh Pro Purple
  • Kailh Speed Copper

Of the clicky switches I think I’d go with the Box Jades if I wanted a really satisfying clicky sound, or the Kailh Bronzes if I wanted pure speed. I really liked the Silent Reds – the were totally silent and may be the future of using a mechanical keyboard at work if I ever have to work in an open plan office again, although I also like the Gateron Clears (but maybe they are a little too similar to the yellows I’m using right now). Both of the tactile ones I tried are great; and I would happily type with either on a day to day basis (and might at some point soon, as I’m slightly missing the tactile bump since I moved from browns).

Of course now I’m getting links to this in my email. That is more switches than the keyboard I’m typing this on and may be a little overkill (even for me).

Debconf21

I’ve managed to attend a lot of the talks at Debconf21. This was also true of Debconf20, but I very much feel like I’ve understood a lot more of what is being talked about this time, and I’m also very happy that I was sent a conference T-shirt and badge so I can participate fully in the experience.

Talks I’ve attended (with hyperlinks to the video of the talk if they currently exist) are:

Videos of all the talks I missed are also available so there is plenty for me to watch during my long holiday-at-home that starts in less than a week.

It’s interesting to see the different presentation styles as well as the content they are delivering, and I hope I’ve also learned a bit more about what works and what doesn’t when presenting content to a virtual audience.

I’m not sure I would attend a physical Debconf unless I was a little more involved with the project, but I’ve certainly enjoyed doing it virtually this year.