Archive — thock

August 2026

16

Trends
Cherry's tracker slide continues. Keychron's Kickstarter delivered.
7m
Ideas
Parts pairing for a split build: two independent halves, two independent decisions
9m
Guides
Keyboard layout sizes, compared: 60% to full-size, which fits your desk
8m
Deep Dives
Gateron Magnetic Jade: the Hall-effect linear built to be argued about like a mechanical one
11m
Deep Dives
What a silent switch actually silences — and what it can't
10m
Deep Dives
Why stabilizers rattle: the engineering behind a smooth stab
10m
Guides
ANSI, ISO, or JIS: a practical layout buying guide
9m
News
GMK CYL Orange Alert opens at Divinikey, the second Alert-series set to reach group buy this year
5m
Trends
Hall-effect stopped climbing. That's not the same as cooling off.
6m
Ideas
Hot-swap sockets: what you actually give up for the convenience
8m
News
Wuque Studio's summer update, and the Ikki68 Aurora holdover
7m
Deep Dives
How keycaps are actually made: double-shot, dye-sub, and the processes in between
10m
News
GMK Just Beachy's group buy opens August 18 across five vendors on five regions
6m
Deep Dives
Leaf-spring mounts, explained: what a bending metal tab does that a foam strip cannot
10m
Trends
GMK CYL TA Neo's group buy is closed — here's what a November 2026 ship estimate actually means
7m
Deep Dives
What a split keyboard actually changes: the mechanics
10m

July 2026

14

June 2026

15

May 2026

28

April 2026

20

August 2026

Cherry's tracker slide continues. Keychron's Kickstarter delivered.

Parts pairing for a split build: two independent halves, two independent decisions

Keyboard layout sizes, compared: 60% to full-size, which fits your desk

Gateron Magnetic Jade: the Hall-effect linear built to be argued about like a mechanical one

What a silent switch actually silences — and what it can't

Why stabilizers rattle: the engineering behind a smooth stab

ANSI, ISO, or JIS: a practical layout buying guide

GMK CYL Orange Alert opens at Divinikey, the second Alert-series set to reach group buy this year

Hall-effect stopped climbing. That's not the same as cooling off.

Hot-swap sockets: what you actually give up for the convenience

Wuque Studio's summer update, and the Ikki68 Aurora holdover

How keycaps are actually made: double-shot, dye-sub, and the processes in between

GMK Just Beachy's group buy opens August 18 across five vendors on five regions

Leaf-spring mounts, explained: what a bending metal tab does that a foam strip cannot

GMK CYL TA Neo's group buy is closed — here's what a November 2026 ship estimate actually means

What a split keyboard actually changes: the mechanics

July 2026

The Holee mod: what foam inside the switch actually buys you

How the 60% became the default custom-keyboard layout

The Boba Family: One Housing Blend, Five Switches, and the Sound thock Is Named For

How buckling-spring switches actually work

ZMK for wireless and split builds: a practical guide

Mixing keycap profiles on one board: what actually works

Prototypist and the multi-project vendor model

Keyboard cables, compared: coiled, straight, and the connector that actually matters

OpenAI's first hardware is a Work Louder macro pad

Cherry bets on magnetic: the XTRFY pivot

The Blaine V2: SE puts three mount systems in one kit and asks the buyer to pick

Nova Socket: Keychron's bet on not choosing a switch technology

The brass weight mod: what added mass actually buys you

Why the Durock T1's Bump Feels the Way It Does

June 2026

Why the Gazzew Boba U4T Rings Where the Boba U4 Stays Quiet

Choosing your first custom keyboard kit: a buyer's guide

GMK CYL OG Extensions climbed eight interest-check weeks, then opened a group buy of its own

Retrobrighting: what UV and peroxide actually reverse in yellowed ABS

GMK CYL Masterpiece R2 closed at KBDfans, finishing the Katakana argument R1 started

GMK CYL Pandemonium: the eclipse-themed keycap set that closed on a plateau

Split and ergonomic keyboards: a buyer's guide

Gateron Lanes: The Alps-Inspired Tactile Taking Over the Mid-Range

Keychron's Quiet Takeover: How One Brand Became the Mechanical Keyboard Default

Gaming Boards Are Winning the Spec War, and Enthusiasts Are Paying Attention

The o-ring mod: soft landings for tray-mount and top-mount boards

How optical switches actually sense a keypress

Lubing switches: what to use, how much, and what to skip

The physics of thock: how every layer shapes your keyboard's sound

DCS Dolch closed at Divinikey — a computing-history colorway's first DCS-profile run

May 2026

Hall-effect keyboards: a practical buyer's guide

Keyboard case materials, compared: aluminium, polycarbonate, and ABS

Computex 2026: hall-effect keyboards enter the enthusiast conversation

Stabilizers explained: from stock rattle to silent smoothness

DCS Grass Valley closes: what the profile's 2026 run tells us

GMK CYL Ramune is the pastel pivot the CYL catalog needed

GMK CYL Selene closed at KBDfans with the sub-line's first material-first colorway

DCS Olivetti and the quiet rebellion against Cherry orthodoxy

Why the Drop Holy Panda X feels the way it does

Spring swaps: what swapping the spring actually changes

Keychron's Q Ultra ZMK series brings 660h battery to the prebuilt-premium tier

What Cherry's MX2A revision actually changed

GMK CYL Prussian Alert closed at KBDfans, capping the loudest GeekHack IC in the CYL sub-line's recent run

GMK CYL Ishtar R2 closed at KBDfans with a second-and-likely-last shot at the lapis Mesopotamia palette

How HMX took over the mid-tier linear slot

Why typing tests lie

Plate materials, explained: what brass, FR4, POM, and aluminium actually change

GSK Sweet Nightmare ran a four-day window at KBDfans with an eight-variant matrix

Reading the Trends Tracker

Pairing Oil Kings with the Mode Sonnet

Mode Sonnet R2 opened at CannonKeys

The slow fade of Alice layouts

When customs became vendor-first

Why the Gateron Oil King sounds the way it does

Keycap profiles, compared: Cherry, OEM, SA, and MT3

The split/ergo cohort grew up

The tape mod: what one strip of Kapton actually does

GMK CYL GREG returns for round 2 at KBDfans

April 2026

Lubing 101: what matters, what doesn't, and where to stop

A beginner's guide to picking your first switch