Published 2025-08-11
tag(s): #overblown-minor-annoyances
Today my boss and I booked desks in a different area of the office than our usual spot. And he
said he didn't like the keyboard on this particular desk, but felt it was silly to complain
about it.
Then he glanced at my desk, and said "of course, if anyone would understand this, it has to
be you". Cue laughs.
That is because every single day, I pack my Dygma Raise (v1) and carry it with me.[1]
For a few weeks now I've been toying with the idea of changing either the keycaps, or the switches. I have a combo that I like, but you know...it's been stable for too long. Who wants that, right?
I am rocking a set of Cherry profile POM keycaps. I really like them, this is my first Cherry profile set and despite being so close to the OEM one, typing on the feels so much nicer. Can't explain why, honestly.
I've been thinking of getting some lower profile ones (XVX I think? Or alternatively, something like these ones). The problem is this keyboard has a number of keys with non-entirely-standard sizes, with the set I have now, I made it work by using some keys from other rows but setting them upside down. So my thumbs don't hurt from hitting the edge, see:
(If the keys look disgusting up close...I have no excuse. I do clean them from time to time >_> I promise)
The keyboard is hot-swappable, but somewhat recently I broke a socket changing the switches.
And then faced the option of waiting for 4 days to get a new PCB from Dygma, or to solder it
myself using a guide I found online.
I did order replacement PCBs (one for each half of the board), but I also soldered to keep it
working until then. Right now I am typing on a badly soldered board, and have those spares
ready to go if needed.
Still, since I have a bunch of switch sets at home, I figured I would try one that I used too
little instead of buying keycaps[2].
Yesterday afternoon, I disassembled the board, and replaced the switches while holding onto
the sockets to avoid any breakage, so it took even longer than usual.
Except that the keyboard still worked, so if you look at it that way, it took less time. =P
I went from the quite heavy and tactile "Kailh Hako Royal True" to a set of light and linear
"Kailh Speed Silver". And of course I hated it, but I told myself that I had to give it an
honest try.
For example, initially I thought I disliked all linear switches, but turns out it only
disliked these ones. I tried (and used for over a year) a set of really heavy linear switches,
and found out I looooooved them.
So, you know, maybe I just needed more time with these and they would grow on me...
I wrote two posts last night, and I was still unconvinced. But it was quite late and I figured to really try them, I had to force myself to use them a bit more...so here I am now, at work. And getting a lot of keys activated by mistake and this time it bothers me while working. It bothers me a lot. It is driving me crazy.
