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Comment by chao- | Hacker News Reader

After a decade of exploring various mechanical keyboards (a few form factors, but mostly exploring the switches), I settled on a Topre Realforce around 2016 and fell in love. I later learned of the Topre silent switches (often branded as "Type-S"), and have used those ever since over many few boards: a HHKB, a Leopold FC660C with a PCB swap for programmable layers, various revisions of the Realforce.

I used a friend's ErgoDox a few years ago, and quite liked it, but what holds me back is the Topre switches. If only it was feasible to acquire individual Topre switches and put them onto a custom PCB...

Here's hoping someone on HN will swoop in and tell me "It's totally possible! Just _____!"

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I was using a standard/non-silent HHKB but found it a little too noisy for a quiet office. Plus I like using arrow keys and found I'd get a sore pinky with the HHKB layout.

I'm back to a cherry style board with silent tactile switches now but have half a mind to try and find a 75%ish layout with exploded arrow keys and with silent Topre switches.

Some enthusiasts have made custom PCBs for Topre and Niz switches, even columnar ergo. I've not seen the ErgoDox layout specifically, and I dunno how to source individual switches though.

There is also the XVX Whisper switch, with has a Topre-like mechanism for Hall Effect keyboards: with a magnet under the dome. You could buy pack of switches but reviews say it is mushier than Topre.

Same. I used to be on keyboard forums, looking for the holy grail. Eventually I tried Topre switches a bit more than 10 years ago and haven't ever looked back.

I'm using a HHKB Pro JP (although I've got japanese family I don't speak japanese): because the japanese version has got a narrower space bar and more modifiers. So I configured to have, for example, an "Hyper" key. Also for the space bar is narrower, the modifiers are easier to reach with the thumbs.

I decided to camp on this because my thinking went like this: the country of Japan and the language of japanese is unlikely to disappear, so it's very probable that I'll be able to buy Topre keyboards with that exact layout for a very long time.

Same thing: I cannot get into the MX switches (I own a few nice Cherry keyboard, like the elusive split Cherry MX-5000).

It's Topre and nothing else.

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