Royal Kludge RK71 with Tactile Switches, Karabiner Customized Key Mapping for Macintosh
A full keyboard with the tactile switches should be interesting, the form factor is good for this application (and it has a Mac layout built in as a layer, with Command/Option legends on the meta keys).
This board is soldered, not hot swap, so the soldering station gets a chance to continue to pay for itself. At least now I have experience and confidence!
Other peoples’ videos:
Update: It arrived a day early (and meanwhile, the switches still haven’t shipped). I’m not really digging the browns, as I expected, but that hasn’t stopped me from learning my way around.
Using this thing is about as cumbersome as I thought it would be.
Bluetooth Pairing: This keyboard can pair with 5 distinct devices, selected by hitting Fn and Q W E R or T. To pair with your first device (using the Q key), you first hit Fn+Q quickly, to change to that Bluetooth profile. All keys will flash a few times. Then, long-press Fn+Q for a few seconds until the Q key starts blinking. Now you’re ready to pair.
Key Combos: To get ` you have to hit Fn+Esc, and to get ~ it’s Fn+Shift+Esc. Oh, and, annoyingly, on an iPad at least, that combo will only work if you’ve toggled the keyboard to Win mode (Fn+A). In Mac mode (Fn+S), the Fn key brings up the emoji keyboard selector. Sigh.
Likewise, although the manual says the Fn+ one of the number key row will activate media keys in Mac mode, I found (using Inspect) that that activates the function (F1-F12) keys. To use media keys you have to switch it to Win mode.
Some manuals online say you can use Fn+left Alt to swap left alt and the OS key (essentially the Mac mode key binding), which would let Win mode use the Command/Option keys as they should be in a Mac layout, but mine doesn’t do that. (The manual that came in the box is wrong in some ways, too; it lists Fn+P as setting Bluetooth mode, but that’s not true on this board; it also says it only supports three Bluetooth pairings, using QWE, but this one supports five, at QWERT.)
All in all, for $41, with replacement switches on the way, it’s tolerable. It will never be my primary keyboard, but I can see using it with an iPad or with a laptop in many situations, especially, e.g., when a non-clicky keyboard is required. But it will always be a somewhat awkward compromise keyboard, with spotty documentation. Even at $57.99 (regular price), it’s maybe not that bad. But there’s a version up now for $69.99, and at that price point, honestly, I’d go with the Keychron K2, which is much higher quality and works a lot more consistently (with better documentation). It’s not as pretty, though. (I do kinda like the white board with solid color RGB back lights.)
Now I’m wondering if I can setup modifiers in software (Karabiner, probably) on a Mac; won’t help much for iOS/iPadOS devices, but would make this a bit easier to use with a laptop. Ideally, Fn+Shift+8 would activate Play/Pause, Fn+8 would activate F8, 8 would send 8, and Shift+8 would send *.
Key Mapping Update: Playing with Karabiner (v12.10.0 on an old MacBook Air that maxes out at High Sierra), using EventViewer to see what’s going on and building a custom ruleset to install with Elements under the “Complex modifications” tab.
1 F1 display_brightness_decrement 2 F2 display_brightness_increment 3 F3 mission_control 4 F4 launchpad 5 F5 illumination_decrement 6 F6 illumination_increment 7 F7 rewind 8 F8 play_or_pause 9 F9 fast_forward 0 F10 mute - F11 volume_decrement = F12 volume_increment
Using the JSON documentation provided on the Karabiner website (file locations | JSON data structures), I built MediaKeys.json (https://pastebin.com/DgV4w6TC) and installed it under ~/.config/karabiner/assets/complex_modifications and voila, under Karabiner-Elements’ Complex modifications tab, they’re listed in the list of rules available to be imported displayed when you click Add rule. (Note the fast_forward key code has to be specified as a consumer_key_code where the other events are specified simply with a key_code - I have no idea why that is, but I confirmed it with Karabiner-EventViewer.)
Key Fn+Key Fn+Right Shift+Key 1 display_brightness_decrement F1 2 display_brightness_increment F2 3 mission_control F3 4 launchpad F4 5 illumination_decrement F5 6 illumination_increment F6 7 rewind F7 8 play_or_pause F8 9 fast_forward F9 0 mute F10 - volume_decrement F11 = volume_increment F12
And ... It did. Here’s the updated file, mac_layout.json (https://pastebin.com/CYzaYzLn). With a couple of peculiarities, this works with the KB71. I tested:
- [⇧][⌘][F11] in Eclipse (which ends up being [Fn][Right ⇧][⌘][Left ⇧][-]): Works.
- [⌃][F2] in macOS (which ends up being [Fn][Right ⌃][Right ⇧][2]): Works (activates keyboard control of the menu bar). (Note you have to use the right control key, as [Fn][Left ⌃] toggles the number bar between [1][2]... and [F1][F2]...)
Okay, I’m done playing with this thing for now. This morning I got the email from NovelKeys with the tracking number; can’t wait to swap in the Kailh Box Hako Royal Clear switches. (Say that 10 times fast.)
Well, almost done playing. The Insert key (right next to backspace) was bothering me. I kept hitting it and, in Word, popping up the help window. (Hopefully inadvertent keypresses will go away with switches more to my preference, but for now ...) So I disabled it, with this rule:
{
"description": "Disable Insert Key",
"manipulators": [
{
"type": "basic",
"from": {
"key_code": "insert",
"modifiers": {
"optional": "any"
}
}
}
]
}
That’s actually it for now. Stay tuned.
Saturday Update: The Kailh Box Hako Royal Clear switches arrived. I swapped them in. My soldering game was off, and I borked a couple of pads, but nothing I couldn’t fix with a couple of patch wires. Everything works perfectly and the keyboard feels so much better - crisp, precise, deliberate, higher quality. No keycap wobble. Huzzah. I also discovered the device_if directive for Karabiner, allowing me to build the JSON file so that the key mappings only impact the RK71, and leave any other keyboards (e.g., the built-in keyboard on a MacBook Air) untouched. The new version of the JSON.
A quick before and after typing comparison:
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