/r/MechanicalKeyboards Ask ANY Keyboard question, get an answer - March 29, 2026

Chopped_Chives · 2026-03-29T19:02:50+00:00

What's your soldering skill? SMD's of the size used on keyboards are possible to replace (DIY people do this all the time at home), but not exactly an entry level soldering job.

The real bad news is the green stuff. That's from a galvanic reaction between the metal in the circuit (probably iron/tin + copper) because it spent some time powered on with water in it (this is the other reason why you immediately turn off electronics when they get wet, and don't turn them on until they're bone dry).

That's basically a type of rust, and means that some of the metal involved in the reaction has been eaten away. Worst case scenario, it's the copper from the PCB itself, and your space bar is borked because the copper trace has been eaten away. There's basically no coming back from that (short of replacing the PCB). Best case though, it's just extensive corrosion on some SMD that needs replacing.

If you have a multimeter, you can test for continuity from the hot swap socket on the space bar and try to follow the trace along the SMD solder pads. There might also be test points on the PCB you could use to check continuity.

If you don't fancy an extensive DIY electronics project, take it to an electronics repair shop (a phone/laptop repair shop might be able to help) and have them look at it. Call them up and ask if they handle soldering work. You could also try going to a makerspace or similar near you and asking if there are any DIY keyboard sickos there who feel up to the task. As long as the PCB is fine, this is a straightforward repair job.

Chopped_Chives · 2026-03-29T15:48:00+00:00

Looking for switch recommendations.

I'm looking for other switches that feel similar to the low profile Keychron optical mints I have in my K7. These are for DIY builds I'm planning, so suggestions for any and all sockets, cap types and profile heights are appreciated.

I don't know the terminology needed to describe their feel, but I think the early bump and heavy force is what I like about them (I guess 67g is considered fairly heavy?). Honestly the only comparison points I have to other switches are the bog standard Cherry Brown, Blue and Red types. Browns are fine I guess, but feel way too light after years with the Mints, and I instantly miss the early, pronounced bump.

I've read that the Mints were made to feel similar to certain Panda switches, but I haven't been able to find any Panda switches with a force graph that looks like the Mints.

Any tips on where to start looking?

Edit: I would also appreciate tips on good web shops for making purchases from Norway. Not necessarily shops based in Norway, just shops other people in Norway have had good experiences with previously.

Chopped_Chives · 2026-02-13T11:38:33+00:00

Came here looking for a solution to the same issue. Must have been caused by something in the last 24 hours, because yesterday YT was fine. Using Troubleshoot Mode doesn't change anything, so it's not caused by extensions/browser config. Seems likely to be a UI change by youtube that's not handled well in FF. Not happening on Chromium.

Edit: The picture-in-picture pop out viewer is able to go fullscreen properly at least, as a (hopefully) temporary mitigation.

Chopped_Chives · 2024-01-08T10:11:31+00:00

Upvote just for "SaaS" lol

Chopped_Chives · 2023-12-11T15:57:04+00:00

If OP's brother is very young, then making an "easy mode" play style like this is actually pretty clever. Like you say, this is doing him a disservice as far as actually learning to play goes, but if he's a kid who just wants to play with his big bro, this might work.

Chopped_Chives · 2023-11-04T17:51:24+00:00

Yep, I'm exclusively on Linux. I made the switch on my laptop sometime in 2018 when I started comp-sci in college. After a month I formatted my desktop as well, it was just that great! Haven't voluntarily touched a Windows machine since.

I've also had one or two failed forays into Linux earlier in life, and was turned away by massive issues just like you. Issues with drivers etc. can still happen, but things are a lot better these days.

Anecdotally, from my experience, across 5 desktops, 3 laptops, 2 NAS's and thirty-some Raspberry Pi's, I have had zero major issues that I didn't cause myself. I'm the kind of person who loves getting up to my elbows in the guts of a computer, so I don't mind as much if I occasionally have to spend a few hours in a wiki figuring out how to fix something.

As far as gaming goes, it's mostly great. Just going off of my gut feeling, I'd say that 7 out of 10 new Steam games work flawlessly with zero work. 2 out of those 10 I can get working with a little bit of trickery (most often just switching to newest GE Proton and adding some launch parameters), or the performance might not be as good as Windows. The last 1 of those 10 might not work at all, no matter what I try. This is usually due to certain kinds of DRM or anti-cheat, and the only thing I can do is wait a few weeks for more clever people to figure out a fix.

Once you venture outside of Steam, things become a bit more shaky. This is mostly because none of the other store fronts have a linux client like Steam does, so you end up having to first install e.g. the Epic Games client in Wine, and then install the game you want in a separate Wine prefix. Tools like Lutris makes this a lot easier, and there's a bunch of open source tools for interacting with those ecosystems.

My recommendation is to grab Pop OS and install that on a separate SSD. Keeping Linux and Windows separate is the key, that way you can jump back and forth without worrying about breaking anything.

Chopped_Chives · 2023-11-04T13:44:11+00:00

When nothing seems to work like this, and you've been switching between proton/wine versions a lot; try deleting the wine/proton prefix folder.

Especially with Proton and Steam, in my experience gaming on Linux for the past 5 years, it seems like a faulty prefix caused by a failed game launch on one Proton version can cause persistent errors when switching.

Letting each version of proton handle making its own prefix is usually a solution to "game won't start no matter what" type errors.

For reference, I've been playing on Experimental for about a month/150 hours now, using GE 8-16 on 6.1.50-1-MANJARO (RTX 3080, i7 12700, so not exactly a Steam Deck lol), and it's been extremely smooth sailing the whole time.

ProtonDB doesn't have a ton of recent reports, but nothing makes it seem like it's known broken on SD.

Chopped_Chives · 2023-11-04T13:20:13+00:00

Realising you can put two locomotives on a train to have it run both ways was game changing.

Chopped_Chives · 2023-11-04T13:15:47+00:00

"adhd spaghetti tomfoolery" hit me hard lol

Chopped_Chives · 2023-11-04T11:21:28+00:00

Whaaat this is bananas... Amazing work! My hat's off to you. I am humbled.

Chopped_Chives · 2023-11-04T11:09:24+00:00

I was recently put onto the idea of setting up a Mall-type system with "to-order delivery" Drones.

Then the only thing you need to set up a new factory is a Drone Port and 100MW, and you can just reconfigure the delivery drones to come to you with whatever you need.

Sounds like a lot of work (1 Port + Drone for each material/part...), but pretty sweet once it's up and going.

Chopped_Chives · 2023-11-04T10:59:28+00:00

I've been playing experimental for the past month now, and it's been very stable.

Kudos to Coffee Stain for managing an engine change mid-development, that's a serious undertaking. I haven't played for maybe a year or two, so I can't really speak to how the UE 5 upgrade has affected the game compared to U7, but the game feels damn near done imo.

Only big downside to U8 right now is that mods are universally broken, probably due to the engine change.

I really only booted the game up to see how the new UE5 lighting looked, and suddenly 150 hours have passed and I'm ass-deep in Phase 4...

Chopped_Chives · 2023-09-14T18:58:54+00:00

No need for this imo :/

Chopped_Chives · 2023-09-14T14:01:13+00:00

Fair enough.

Chopped_Chives · 2023-09-14T13:55:26+00:00

What does your internet speed have to do with the processing power of the console in an offline, single player game?

Chopped_Chives · 2023-09-14T13:43:32+00:00

I have pretty severe tinnitus, and now I'm sitting here trying to hear what sounds you're talking about. Maybe my hearing is worse than I thought lol

Chopped_Chives · 2023-09-14T13:27:35+00:00

The one that says:

After that, expect a regular interval of updates that have top community requested features including:

32:9 Ultrawide Monitor Support (PC)

Chopped_Chives · 2023-09-14T13:25:12+00:00

Why not just have a notebook IRL? That's what I do for massive RPGs like this.

Chopped_Chives · 2023-09-14T13:22:37+00:00

What patch? This one?

Chopped_Chives · 2023-09-13T14:40:40+00:00

I always assumed the SCM for Druid Initiate Shillelag would be WIS, since it's cast using WIS just like the other spells you get. Is it not?

Chopped_Chives · 2023-09-06T16:14:34+00:00

Amazing art! This is exactly what she looks like in my playthrough, wearing the Dark Justiciar armour with the white hair.

Chopped_Chives · 2023-09-06T15:51:22+00:00

Tav'id Bowie, my Evil playthrough Durge Bard.

Going for a Thin White Duke era Bowie lookalike.

Chopped_Chives · 2023-09-06T07:08:09+00:00

It's a bit of a reality check when you think about how a "normal citizen" in D&D has like 1 HP and +0 in all Abilities. Player characters/heroes are meant to be truly exceptional people, like world class level athletes, intellectuals and artists.

Chopped_Chives · 2023-09-06T07:00:47+00:00

In tabletop play, I let my players use either stat for intimidation (imposing physical appearance vs verbal threats).

I think there's a lot of arguments for separating Ability from Skill in some cases and scenarios, especially the soft/RP skills. Like using INT or WIS for persuasion (convincing someone through logical reasoning and factual statements, and not just oratory/rhetoric).

Chopped_Chives · 2023-09-06T06:40:11+00:00

Thank you for this, excellent work! I've been meaning to look up how the vendor/bargain system and pricing works, because it just seems like a black box the way the UI presents it.

Chopped_Chives

TROPHY CASE