Handcrafted artisan keycaps
Sculpted Keys
Artisan keycaps elevate the mechanical to the magnificent.
The keyboard has a long history. Though the first typewriter was made in 1867, the concept dates back to a 1714 patent for a "Machine For Transcribing Letters." And it was more than 100 years after the first typewriter that the modern keyboard appeared, 1986's IBM Model M. A mere 21 years after the Model M, the mechanical keyboard community took flight with the birth of the geekhack forum. This was by all accounts the beginning of the keyboard renaissance that ushered in today's highly customized keyboards: those with patterned colors, hot swappable switches, and so many variations of the keyboard's classic click clack.
By 2009 keyboards had become more than a tool; for some, customizing them became a hobby. And within the beating hearts of this hobby's diehards, two art forms were born: case modding and the artisan keycap. (Based on the number of followers on their respective subreddits, artisan keycap fans are only a minute portion of the mechanical keyboard community as a whole. The mechanical keyboard subreddit has more than 1.2 million followers [1], while the keycap subreddit has over 33,000 [2].) Though remaking and replacing keyboard cases has died down from the height of its popularity due to the extreme availability of keyboards of any style imaginable, the number of keycap artisans has continued to grow.
What Is an Artisan Keycap?
An artisan keycap is an Esc key, a spacebar, a backspace, or any other keyboard key that has been designed and sculpted by hand. Most often these are cast in resin, but metalwork and whittled keycaps exist too.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
![Learn More](https://www.linux-magazine.com/var/linux_magazin/storage/images/media/linux-magazine-eng-us/images/misc/learn-more/834592-1-eng-US/Learn-More_medium.png)
News
-
NVIDIA Released Driver for Upcoming NVIDIA 560 GPU for Linux
Not only has NVIDIA released the driver for its upcoming CPU series, it's the first release that defaults to using open-source GPU kernel modules.
-
OpenMandriva Lx 24.07 Released
If you’re into rolling release Linux distributions, OpenMandriva ROME has a new snapshot with a new kernel.
-
Kernel 6.10 Available for General Usage
Linus Torvalds has released the 6.10 kernel and it includes significant performance increases for Intel Core hybrid systems and more.
-
TUXEDO Computers Releases InfinityBook Pro 14 Gen9 Laptop
Sporting either AMD or Intel CPUs, the TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 14 is an extremely compact, lightweight, sturdy powerhouse.
-
Google Extends Support for Linux Kernels Used for Android
Because the LTS Linux kernel releases are so important to Android, Google has decided to extend the support period beyond that offered by the kernel development team.
-
Linux Mint 22 Stable Delayed
If you're anxious about getting your hands on the stable release of Linux Mint 22, it looks as if you're going to have to wait a bit longer.
-
Nitrux 3.5.1 Available for Install
The latest version of the immutable, systemd-free distribution includes an updated kernel and NVIDIA driver.
-
Debian 12.6 Released with Plenty of Bug Fixes and Updates
The sixth update to Debian "Bookworm" is all about security mitigations and making adjustments for some "serious problems."
-
Canonical Offers 12-Year LTS for Open Source Docker Images
Canonical is expanding its LTS offering to reach beyond the DEB packages with a new distro-less Docker image.
-
Plasma Desktop 6.1 Released with Several Enhancements
If you're a fan of Plasma Desktop, you should be excited about this new point release.