Another book that i used for typing practice over at TypeLit.
It’s rather an enjoyable way to read a book, while at the same time being incredibly useful in improving ones typing.
As to the typing experience, it’s a quagmire of punctuation and capitalisation due to most of the book being in dialogue, which are obviously very useful skills to practice. So i present it to you, totally recommended, as both a great read and also great typing practice: what’s not to like?
This is a book that i used for typing practice over at TypeLit.
It’s rather an enjoyable way to read a book, while at the same time being incredibly useful in improving ones typing.
This book is quite a good find. The mysterious Arsene Lupin is the ultimate rascal as he goes about relieving the rich and famous of France of their valuables: a joy to read about.
As to the typing experience, it’s a rather difficult book to type as it is full of French words and names, but a fun challenge and great typing practice. So i present it to you totally recommended, both as a great read and also great typing practice: what’s not to like?
17 days into my new keyboard and i’ve already surpassed my previous speed of 49.82 WPM . . .
Which is a pretty good speed increase, especially considering that i couldn’t type for the first 7 days of that due to me slicing the end of my thumb half off with a Stanley knife. It had a big chunky dressing covering it up making it impossible to hit any of the thumb buttons on the left side. Then once i got the dressing and Steri-Strips off, after the first week, the thumb took a few days longer before it felt under reasonable control again.
The other thing to consider in the speed difference between using
Ergo, my jump from just under 50 wpm to 53 wpm, while quite a good achievement, clearly demonstrates that this new 5t4n5-48 Rev 1 keyboard is way faster than the original 5t4n5-48, because, while my typing is slowly improving over time, it’s not improving at the rate that this shows.
The accuracy in the
So next time you see someone on
Anyway, i’ll update next when i improve a bit more.
Bye for now!!!
As the more perceptive of my (potential) 8 billion + readers will remember, a while ago i designed and built my very own fully custom bespoke keyboard, the
While i was more than happy at my first attempt at designing and making my own keyboard, there were a few things that i wasn’t quite happy with and felt needed improving upon. So i set about the first revision, the
My first task was to improve my CAD skills and design all the acrylic panels i would need cutting in .dxf format in 
And this is what i came up with . . .
The Perspex is 3mm thick “Lemon Bonbon” and “Raspberry Sherbet”, and the cutting was done by
The pcb’s were manufactured by
So with all my bits manufactured and delivered, i set about with the assembly.
First thing was to insert four M2 x 3mm brass heat-set inserts into the bottom plate. It was important to use 3mm long inserts in the 3mm Perspex so that they didn’t protrude on the upper side as the pcb’s will be directly above these four inserts with bolts going through holes in the pcb’s, and you don’t want brass inserts shorting out anything on the pcb’s.
The other holes have M2 x 5mm inserts put into them . . .
. . . but these are done with the centre plate in place so that the inserts stick the two plates together and align them perfectly to each other . . .
Then add some plastic washers to add a bit of support behind the pcb’s when it all gets bolted together . . .
Once that was done it was soldering the surface-mount diodes and the jumper leads onto the pcb’s . . .
And then solder the jumper leads onto the controller pcb . . .
Now some of you may be wondering why i didn’t just have one complete pcb made instead of using three seperate pieces: which is a totally valid wondering. Well, it’s because the minimum pcb’s you can order is 5 and i didn’t want to spend over £70 for one prototype keyboard, so i created a reversable pcb (that works on both sides) for the switches and had 5 of those made, plus 5 of the small controller pcb’s, which was much cheaper. I therefore have enough left to make one more keyboard at some point in the future (plus a spare if i need to replace one at some point), and maybe once i sort out the QMK thing i might get some full pcb’s made to offer them for sale if there’s any interest — so let me know if you are interested.
Next up was to countersink the 2mm holes in the upper plate which i did with a dremel using a
Then push all the
And solder them all into the pcb . . .
The controller is socketed in using mill-max pins and machine-pin sockets (also from Mechboards) — i forgot to take pics of that bit, sorry.
And then all that is left is to bolt it all together and put in the keycaps (which i bought from splitkb.com) . . .
And then figure out how to program it. Which will be the topic of another post because this one has gone on for far too long already.
Until then . . .
Bye for now!!!
On day 6 of my 5t4n5-48 adventure i managed to nearly hit 50 wpm . . .
. . . that’s well past my final Lily58 speed.
And 100% accuracy as well. 
This was after i O-ring modded it with two 2.5mm O-rings per keycap. This sounds like a little overkill, but these are Akko Crystal Silver switches which have a very short activation point, and XDA keycaps which are quite deep. Basically, if you want to get the speed out of these switches you need to O-ring each keycap well enough that they just activate reliably and then you want them to return as quick as possible. The other way you can think of it is that every split second that the switch is depressed past its reliable activation point adds up over all the years of typing you will do in your life, ergo, every moment past that reliable activation point is a total waste of your life.
I’ll update next when i improve a bit more.
Bye for now!!!
On day 2 of my 5t4n5-48 adventure i managed to surpass 40 wpm . . .
. . . that’s only 0.99 shy of my final Lily58 speed.
The Force is with this keyboard.
I’ll update next when i pass 45 wpm.
Bye for now!!!
Unveiling the 5t4n5-48 . . .
I had a few issues with the Lily58 that i didn’t quite get on with. I made the row stagger more pronounced to match my finger length, which really does allow my fingers to relax more. And i added the extra thumb buttons because i wanted dedicated Delete and Enter keys.
Sadly it lowered my speed a little, but that’s only temporary, and as i can relax more on this keyboard i’m sure that it will ultimately give better speed in the end.
There are a few niggles that i’m going to iron out in the Rev-2, but for now i’m really pleased with the improvement over the Lily58.
I’ll keep y’all up to date with my progress.
Bye for now!!!
Yesterday was my final day with the Lily58, and my final tally was 43.07 wpm . . .
. . . because i got a new keyboard. Which i’ll show you in my next post.
Bye for now!!!
On day 15 of my Lily58 adventure i managed to surpass 40 wpm . . .
So all going really well. Next stop 50 wpm — or will my new keyboard be ready before i reach 50? Now that is the question.
Bye for now!!!
On day 3 of my Lily58 adventure i managed to surpass 30 wpm . . .
Hopefully the rest of the bits i need to finish the keyboard will arrive tomorrow. I had to return one part from Amazon because it arrived in a used and broken state and the replacement is due to arrive tomorrow as well. Fingers crossed the remaining stuff will all arrive good and dandy.
Bye for now!!!