I’ll just bring a few keyboards, he said

I organized a keyboard meetup event at the CSH 50th anniversary (more on that later). I did not, in fact, bring just a few keyboards.

A man walking away from the camera, pulling luggage behind him and carrying a keyboard box and a toolkit.
Look! Somebody stole my keyboards! That definitely can’t be me because his bald spot is WAY too big.

Here’a a selfie of Kenna with the big clicky switch. And a picture of Kenna taking a selfie of herself with the big clicky switch. And a picture of me taking a picture of Kenna taking a selfie of herself with the big clicky switch. And a picture of Nate taking a picture of me taking a picture of Kenna taking a selfie of herself with the big clicky switch. PHOTO CHAIN AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!

A woman taking a selfie of herself holding a NovelKeys big blue clicky switch
A picture of a woman taking a selfie of herself holding a NovelKeys big blue clicky switch
A picture of a man taking a picture of a woman taking a selfie of herself holding a NovelKeys big blue clicky switch
A picture of a person taking a picture of a man taking a picture of a woman taking a selfie of herself holding a NovelKeys big blue clicky switch

Here are everyone’s boards lined up on the tables, and the meetup attendees checking out our featured guest and speaker Joe Scotto’s handiwork. After the informal meet and greet and gawk and clack part of the meetup, Joe gave a presentation on handwiring, answered questions, and then we gave away items from our sponsors.

The giveaway items included two 3×3 Scotto9 macropads generously assembled by Joe for this very meetup, a PimpMyKeyboard branded hat and SA keyset courtesy of Melissa from SP/PMK/Signature Plastics, and many gorgeous advertising prints for the OGR2 keyboard from James at AKB/Alchemist Keyboards. Thanks to all the sponsors for pitching in on such short notice!

A view of the entire meetup space, showing three flanking tables with keyboards, keyboard accessories and tools, a typewriter, and a book about the history of keyboards. At the end of the room, people gather to see Joe Scotto's handiwork.

New friend trying out my new daily driver, a KPRepublic XD75RE with a 65XT layout in a 60% form factor. Some said it couldn’t be done, but I was too dumb to listen to them.

Trevor looks on as I wax poetic about the early-1980s-era Apple “Cassie” prototype keyboard. Apple was building 60% boards before they were cool (and before the market was ready for bezel-less keyboards).

Many attendees brought their own boards (and one her own typewriter — why should computers get to have all the limelight?)

Jordan and Joe of ScottoKeebs at a table featuring a large sign reading "ScottoKeebs" and a sampling of his handwired boards.
An attendee's keeb.io Viterbi and Adafruit macropad.
An attendee's keyboard.
An attendee's Womier keyboard.
An attendee's Royal typewriter.
An attendee's large collection of smol keyboards.
An attendee's keyboards.
An attendee's keyboards. This user likes knobs. The keycaps on one are blue, green, and red. On the other the keycaps are a uniform black-on-white. Between them is a three-key macropad with the keys Command (or Control), C, and V.
Smiling happy people
Smiling happy people
Kim standing in front of his collection of boards. Trevor examines the Slimer artisan's thicc proportions.
Kim standing in front of his collection of boards. Trevor examines the Slimer artisan’s thicc proportions.
The excellent and exhaustive "Shift Happens" by Marcin Wichary, a history of keyboards.
The excellent and exhaustive “Shift Happens” by Marcin Wichary, a history of keyboards.
A Preonic dressed up like a synth, and capable of outputting not only MIDI notes but also music through a tiny, tinny piezo speaker.
A Preonic dressed up like a synth, and capable of outputting not only MIDI notes but also music through a tiny, tinny piezo speaker.
Jordan and Joe of ScottoKeebs. Thanks for coming!
Jordan and Joe of ScottoKeebs

Joe’s many hand-wired and 3d-printed boards:

The man of the hour! Thanks, Joe (and Jordan), for coming all the way from Chittenango on a Friday to visit with us. And check out that kee-bling 💍

Joe, doing his soldering thing
Joe, doing his soldering thing
Keyboard jewelry!
Keyboard jewelry!

Joe Scotto of ScottoKeebs, hand-wiring legend, gave a great introduction to getting started making your own mechanical keyboard.

Joe has many informative videos about handwiring and keyboard building on YouTube. Go check out his work and, if you’re not already, get involved with handwiring and keyboard building! It’s a very rewarding hobby.

I really enjoyed seeing and trying other people’s favorite boards. I was lucky that I was able to make it happen in under a month. Thanks to all the attendees, volunteers who helped with setup and teardown, event sponsors Signature Plastics and Alchemist Keyboards, and to Joe Scotto and Jordan of ScottoKeebs. Thanks also to CSH and RIT for allowing me the space and time to host this meetup.

I made a short unboxing of the giveaway items sent in from James and Melissa:

A friend of one of the attendees saw a picture of the event and described it as “peak nerd energy”. I’ll take that as a compliment.

Uncategorized Posted on By Kim

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