Mechanical Keyboards

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Noob question about Keychron Qn Pros (self.mechanicalkeyboards)

submitted 1 year ago by hannadryad to c/[email protected]

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I'm in the UK so I would like to have a keyboard that has the at-symbol and inverted-commas in the correct places for my fingers. The Keychron Qn Pros all come with keycaps that have the ats and inverted-commas the "wrong way round" for me so I was wondering if I buy a Q2 Pro and a set of keycaps, will I be able to put on the keycaps that I want and remap the two keys using Via so that they send the correct characters?

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[–] osbo9991 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

QMK and VIA can remap any key on any layer. Assuming the keycap set you go with has the @ and ' keys on the right rows to match the keycap profile, it will work out fine.

https://www.keychron.com/collections/keychron-iso-jis-keyboard-collection/products/keychron-q2-pro-qmk-via-wireless-custom-mechanical-keyboard-iso-layout-collection?variant=40510858887257

Also, assuming you mean this board, one thing to note is that the stock keycaps the UK prebuilt version ships with includes the swapped @ and ' keys in the box with the intention that you could change those keycaps and remap with QMK or VIA like you describe. Unless you don't like the stock keycaps, this could be more desirable.

[–] hannadryad 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yes I am swithering between getting one of the UK ISO ones, which would have everything in the "right" place, or one of the ANSI ones which will be more flexible for fun keycap upgrades and such.

[–] osbo9991 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Oh, so was the original post you wanting to try swapping the @ and ' keys on ANSI keycaps to mimic UK ISO? If so, this probably won't work. Keycaps typically (with exceptions) have different profiles for different rows, and besides, it would be nearly impossible to find an ANSI set with the 2 and " grouped on one keycap along with ' and @ on another like ISO.

For the ISO vs ANSI discussion, I say go with ISO unless there is an ANSI keycap set that you must have that happens to lack an ISO version. Dealing with a keyboard format I'm not used to using seems like a massive headache to me.

[–] hannadryad 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It would be a massive headache but there seems to be a dearth of UK ISO keycap options. I think my best option would be to go ANSI and keep the keycap symbols as they are, but map the output I want with Via if it becomes a pain.

[–] osbo9991 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You could certainly do that if you are ok with the legends being off when they are remapped (non-issue if you touch type). I have heard many people from the UK and other countries that use ISO end up doing this specifically for keycap selection. I believe the selection has gotten better over time, but it still doesn't compare to ANSI keycap selection.

[–] hannadryad 2 points 1 year ago

I've been surprised at how little is available for UK ISO. ANSI it is then!