deskthority

Hi All!

Just launched a group buy over at PMK called 'DSA Gorton.' I hope you like!



http://www.pimpmykeyboard.com/deals/dsa-gorton-core/

Enjoy,

MaNiFeX

I added PMK to the title so Webwit doesn't have to flap his wings so much yet again!

Interesting redefinition of the concept of group buys they have going on there. I get why they're doing it, but reusing sacred terms gets them some mean flak here…

I used to move PMK "group buys" to Vendors, but I gave up.

Don't give up your dreams~~

Looks like you are ripping WYSE pretty hard.

All a coincidence, I'm sure.






(Goes to check for authentic Wyse pale ISO Return. Comes back disappointed.)

Apologies. I'm a colonist...

I was interested in launching a design and am a single dad who works and parents. I don't have a lot of time to organize, though, I'd be interested in teaming up with someone to do a true group buy.

It would be nice to have a term that designated a vendor-organized buy, but everyone on GH and MK seem to think PMK is organizing "group buys."

Thanks for looking and the feedback. I'm fairly new (1 year) to the mechanical keyboard community and have been organizing a local meetup in Portland, OR. I really enjoy the scene, but I've found the old hats will pop up and inform me of a 'standard' that I had no idea about.

Please be patient with me as I navigate this new community.

Take Care,

MaNiFeX

Ascaii wrote: Looks like you are ripping WYSE pretty hard.

If you read the description of the set:

"Gorton is based off of the 1970s-era IBM-like standard key font. The Gorton Engraver was used to create the first double-shot keycaps. To offer a unique look, Signature Plastic’s original company, Comptec, modified the font slightly. Thus the font became known as ‘Gorton Modified’ and has been used to produce millions of keycaps for years.

Similar to Arial and Helvetica, using a clear font and strong colors, this keyset looks both professional and legible. The key and legend colors are inspired by the vintage Wyse terminal keyboard color scheme."

Yes, Vintage Wyse was my inspiration for this set. I wanted an updated version that could be expanded for different purposes, hence the gaming/typing-centric design for the add-ons.

Hey Manifex. We just say it like it is, here at DT. Anyone who gets annoyed is free to grumble about it. Helps us all reach something reasonable in the end. Which is ironic, to those who'd rather stifle debate with moderating rules. (Hi GH!)

Like Webwit, I wish SP didn't use the term "group buy" to describe their sales through PMK. (I also wished they didn't call the effing thing Pimp My Keyboard, for goodness sake!) But I realise SP's interest is perfectly aligned with owning the whole GB concept. It's slimy and power grabbing, from our perspective as old customers. But business loves that shit.

PMK isn't an evil concept, but the way they prioritise it over Round 5 and traditional GBs sure smells that way.

Muirium wrote: Hey Manifex. We just say it like it is, here at DT.

That's how I like to work, so I get that and appreciate your candor. I want to do 'what's right' by the community, but being a noob, it's hard to navigate. For example, I bought from K3 not knowing about CC's designs. Just a noob mistake, but I got a bunch of shit for it.

DT has, by far, my favorite interface to a forum in the community and is more accessible than others. I was introduced to mech decks from reddit, so I hang there a lot. Trying to branch out to the rest of the mech communities...

I really wanted to get into Round 5, but I'm new at entering group buys and the bot for that was so daunting, I just decided to pass this time. PMK (god, I hate that name, too) seems to have a good thing going, but with hearing about 'their' group buys taking precedent over a customer's makes me wonder what their strategy is, as well.

I'm just trying to make my first keyset based off of a classic I like. Despite my requests for feedback on reddit, I didn't receive much, so I'm sorta flying blind here.

Thanks for your response,

Matthew/MaNiFeX

MaNiFeX wrote: I'm just trying to make my first keyset based off of a classic I like. Despite my requests for feedback on reddit, I didn't receive much, so I'm sorta flying blind here.

As a fellow Redditor I havent even seen your requests, which isn't your fault, but it is typical of /r/MK where things come and go very quickly and with all the 'ZOMG RAZER AMI ONE OF YOU NOW' posts, the quality ones and IC's tend to get lost.

That being said, I quite like this colorway even if it is an homage to the Wyse. Question: Why are the mockups looking like regular DCS mockups and not DSA ones? Will the legends be offset as in the image, or centered as in most other DSA sets?

Yeah, each community has its strengths. I'm 100% DT, but lots of people are members of 2 or 3. DT's too slow for those who just want to buy something every time they show up. And we're a fiesty bunch when we do bite…

I hear you on Round 5. Now is a good time to hold off. 7bit is sorting the caps (at last) and will be shipping them for the next several months! That GB's been running soooooo long that plenty of people have since sold the keyboards they were buying caps for, and have mentioned it on the forum. Expect sales!

I've got a monstrous order I certainly can't use all at once. But I'll have lots of pictures to shoot first, as is my way.

IMO the concept of PMK that low-volume keycap sets can be realized by letting people commit to the purchase and go into production only if a minimum number of commitments have been made is fine, and we can't blame them for calling that "group buy", because there is no big functional difference to our "community" group buys except that SP acts as the organizer. SP has always been the party making the profit off our plastic fetish anyway ...

Moreover, Geekhack and DT "group buys" have diversified quite a bit as well. Which isn't a bad thing mostly. On GH, there are GBs that turn out quite a profit for their organizers, and they're pretty open about it, too. Here on DT we had GBs that were done though Massdrop, and 7bit now keeps an extensive permanent stock of switches, diodes, crap caps and other stuff, which is a blessing if you need something like that. Also, I have seen only very few group buys recently where all the costs and prices were transparent to the GB participants, and these were all very small mini-group buys here on DT. In almost all larger GBs nowadays, the organizer keeps it secret how much he or she pays the manufacturer, what other costs he has, and what profit is made. Most people don't really care, too, as long as the prices that are asked seem reasonable.

Maybe a new, narrower term would be in order for non-profit, community driven group buys ... The term "group buy" wasn't invented here anyway.

I remember you from reddit as well. Just for starters, you have managed to be polite and not offer us car insurance, so you are already off to a good start.

This is also the first I am hearing about this set as well, granted I don't browse reddit nearly as much as I used to. I like it though. Definitely WYSE inspired. Will I buy it? No probably not, too many Cherry sets as it is, but I certainly wish you luck!

@Halvar

Aye, it's true. Forget PMK, MassDrop is the antithesis of what we mean by "group buy". But who are we kidding? The name is broken.

pyrelink wrote: ...you have managed to be polite and not offer us car insurance, so you are already off to a good start.

lol, did this happen before?

wlhlm wrote:

pyrelink wrote: ...you have managed to be polite and not offer us car insurance, so you are already off to a good start.

lol, did this happen before?

Yes!

http://deskthority.net/off-topic-f10/th ... 10341.html

Haha, thanks!

I just personally don't like the yellow but I'm perfectly aware it's a wyse decision. Just not my cup of tea. Hope you succeed with it mate!

Offtopic: Reddit is pretty cool to browse because people post a lot of their custom builds or new keycaps, it can be pretty inspiring at times. I usually browse DT and scroll Reddit images

Muirium wrote: 7bit is sorting the caps (at last) and will be shipping them for the next several months! That GB's been running soooooo long that plenty of people have since sold the keyboards they were buying caps for, and have mentioned it on the forum. Expect sales!

Thanks for the info! I really like DT so far and really like the look of Round 5. Most people here are based in the UK, right?

Not really. A lot of Germans, French, Dutch, etc

pyrelink wrote: I certainly wish you luck!

Thank you! I really wanted to make a professional, yet unique, look.

Ascaii wrote: Not really. A lot of Germans, French, Dutch, etc

But European-centric, right? Or at least that's the feeling I got!

In case you missed it:

>Question: Why are the mockups looking like regular DCS mockups and not DSA ones? Will the legends be offset as in the image, or centered as in most other DSA sets?

MaNiFeX wrote:

Ascaii wrote: Not really. A lot of Germans, French, Dutch, etc

But European-centric, right? Or at least that's the feeling I got!

yes, we are all about taking off our clothes, drinking with 16 and all the other perks of living on this side of the pond

SL89 wrote: That being said, I quite like this colorway even if it is an homage to the Wyse. Question: Why are the mockups looking like regular DCS mockups and not DSA ones? Will the legends be offset as in the image, or centered as in most other DSA sets?

You caught me!

This was originally going to be DCS, but due to the thickness of the keys and inability to rearrange for other keyboard layouts, I decided to go DSA. When I asked Melissa at SP whether or not they can do top/left justified with their in-house font, Gorton Modified, she said they could.

I thought, "Damn, I haven't seen any DSA layouts with the legend in the top/left. I'm gonna try it out! It might look pretty good!"

We'll see!

Ascaii wrote:

MaNiFeX wrote:

Ascaii wrote: Not really. A lot of Germans, French, Dutch, etc

But European-centric, right? Or at least that's the feeling I got!

yes, we are all about taking off our closes, drinking with 16 and all the other perks of living on this side of the pond

Sounds like our West Coast. I'm in Portland, OR, so we've got a very similar culture, but with lots and lots of fresh marijuana . No spliffs for me.

MaNiFeX wrote:

SL89 wrote: That being said, I quite like this colorway even if it is an homage to the Wyse. Question: Why are the mockups looking like regular DCS mockups and not DSA ones? Will the legends be offset as in the image, or centered as in most other DSA sets?

You caught me!

This was originally going to be DCS, but due to the thickness of the keys and inability to rearrange for other keyboard layouts, I decided to go DSA. When I asked Melissa at SP whether or not they can do top/left justified with their in-house font, Gorton Modified, she said they could.

I thought, "Damn, I haven't seen any DSA layouts with the legend in the top/left. I'm gonna try it out! It might look pretty good!"

We'll see!

Sounds good, I'm interested to see what they look like now.

Always DSA these days... Its a shame

Ascaii wrote:

MaNiFeX wrote:

Ascaii wrote: Not really. A lot of Germans, French, Dutch, etc

But European-centric, right? Or at least that's the feeling I got!

yes, we are all about taking off our clothes, drinking with 16 and all the other perks of living on this side of the pond