Mauro Morales

software developer

Category: Reviews

  • Epomaker Tide75 Keyboard Review

    You know that feeling when you are trying not to buy new mechanical keyboards and still one manages to find its way to your desk? Well, that’s precisely how I felt last week when a package from Epomaker arrived! For about a fortnight, I’ve been putting the Tide75 to the test, let me tell you what I found!

    Disclaimer: Epomaker contacted me to write this review as an exchange for keeping the keyboard. They didn’t have a say on what I wrote, except for the two links to their web and Amazon shop.

    First Impressions

    The first thing I noticed is the weight of this keyboard, it is thick! Immediately then, I knew this was a solid product (pun intended 🥁). The sound is a delight. And overall, it is a very good-looking keyboard. On the other hand, the knob feels a bit loose, and I’m not a fan of the font type they used for the caps.

    But let’s not judge this book only by the cover! I spent almost two weeks with it as my daily driver to find out if this one is a keeper. My main interest in such a device is to write code and prose, so sorry gamers, I don’t have much for you. Here are the 4 areas which I assessed this keyboard on:

    1. Comfort with extended use
    2. Base functionality. I don’t want to be interrupted while I’m working because something is not connecting properly or other similar issues
    3. Extra customizations. Being able to adapt the keyboard to my needs is a great plus for me
    4. Aesthetics. I will be looking at this piece of equipment for at least 8 hours every day

    Comfort

    The distribution of the keys is superb. I have small hands, but it doesn’t feel like an effort to do any key combination. I’ve experienced RSI in the past, and I will invest in a good keyboard rather than experience pain. I spend hours at a time typing, and so far, I haven’t felt any discomfort with the Tide75.

    As a macOS user, the main issue I have with the layout is that it is missing the Cmd key on the right. Thankfully, this can be customized (more on this later)!

    I really enjoy how the keyboard will not move a millimeter while I’m typing. I compared this to my Reform keyboard, which is the closest one in size I have, and the Epomaker Tide75 is significantly better. This boy is so heavy that even my DasKeyboard 4 Professional, which is a full-sized keyboard, couldn’t compete. Now this, of course, is a double-sided sword because it means I would never consider carrying it around in a backpack.

    One thing I still have to get used to, is the minimum touch the keys require to react, but I like it, it just means I have to change some old bad habits, like resting my thumb on the space bar.

    As for the sound, I’m a big fan of loud keyboards (Cherry MX Blue Switches), but you cannot take such a keyboard to an office unless you want to become an outcast, this is why, on my daily drivers I have (Cherry MX Silent Red Switches) with dampers. The sound of the Epomaker Lemon Switch, sits somewhere in between these two, which I would recommend for a single person office, or one that is ok with this level of noise. I tried putting dampers on the keycaps, but it didn’t really have an effect.

    Functionality

    The keyboard can be connected using a cable, a dongle, or via Bluetooth. When connected via cable, the keyboard also charges the 4000mAh battery. I attest to the quality of the charge since I had to use the cable during the different times that I configured the keyboard, I’ll make sure to report that in a later update.

    Connecting with the dongle worked like a charm. The only complaint I have is that the little housing where it stays put feels a bit loose, maybe it’s not so bad but for me, it’s another reason not to put it inside a bag pack.

    Connecting via Bluetooth is super simple. You have 3 presets when pressing Fn + Q/W/R. Switching between them works just fine, and the right preset wakes up my computer as expected. This was very handy since I have multiple devices on my desk and I could switch between them without having to move around the desk as I used to.

    At some point when testing, I started experiencing disconnections, and it turned out to be caused by low battery. A battery indicator could be a great addition. It could even be done with the existing RGB LEDs, I think that would be pretty sick!

    Media keys for macOS can be accessed with the Fn + digit, they are even in the same position as the Apple keyboard, which is a great design choice so you don’t have to learn a new layout. The only minor issue I found was in the manual where it says that Fn + S is Mac mode and Fn + A is Win mode, but for me is the other way around (at least for mac, I don’t have a Windows machine to test).

    Customization

    If I have a keyboard that is comfortable and the basic functionality fits my needs, then I can be happy with it, but being able to customize it, is what can make it a joy to type with a certain keyboard.

    The manual says I can configure the layout by downloading an app from this repository, and there is a homebrew formula for it too. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make it work. The app loads, but it never finds the keyboard. Thankfully, the online version did work. In addition to this app, you also need to download the keyboard’s definition file. The link on the manual doesn’t work, but this one does.

    Ok, with everything ready, you can go to the “design” tab and, unlike me, make sure to turn OFF “Use V2 definitions (deprecated)” despite it being a step in the manual 🤦‍♂️. Hit the load button, and select the definition file. If things work correctly, you will see the keyboard’s layout on the page. I have the “Long Spaces” version, which is nice, but the “Split Spaces” must be better in my opinion. Now you can move to the “configure” tab, and you should see the layout with all key definitions.

    All changes you do to the keyboard, take effect in real time, which is pretty cool for playing with the RGB colors and such configurations. For configuring the layout, I’m still not sure if I like it because I like to make all my changes and change them at once. But it’s just a different way of working, and maybe I won’t even notice it after using it a couple of times.

    There are 5 customizable layouts, which means lots of room for making this keyboard your own. For now, I will customize the default layer to have the right Cmd key, and layer 2 for having easier access to the arrow keys on the hjkl keys (yes, Vim has messed up this bad with my head 🙈) and the numbers. This is what it looks like:

    If you like my setup, then feel free to grab it and play with it https://gist.github.com/mauromorales/30ca5270e2010f15ea4a5a6a22b6c2eb

    Aesthetics

    Overall, I think the keyboard looks great. The black pitch of the aluminum mixed with the copper borders and the RGB LEDs on look fantastic! Even the bottom of the keyboard looks pretty nice. This is a product that you enjoy touching, I get a similar vibe when interacting with my MNT Reform 2 Laptop.

    There is just one mistake Epomaker made here. The knob border is platinized, which in my opinion doesn’t mix well with the copper. I’m also not a fan of the type used, for most letters it is ok, but 4$ reads more like 45. Words like PGDN give the impression that the painting went wrong, but it’s just the font type they chose for it. Not a dealbreaker, but hopefully Epomaker will move away from this font in the future, check the difference with the font used in the MNT Keyboard, which is such a delight to read.

    Size Comparison

    Specs

    Number of Keys82 keys + 1 knob
    Anti-GhostingNKRO
    Case MaterialAluminum
    ConnectivityBluetooth, 2.4GHz Wireless, Type-C Wired
    RGBSouth-facing RGB LEDs
    Hot-swappableYes
    Battery4000mAh
    KeycapOEM profile double-shot PBT keycaps
    Summary of specs, check the full specs here.

    Inside the box

    • Keyboard
    • Manual
    • Keycap/Switch Puller
    • 2.4G Dongle
    • Type-C Cable

    Pricing

    The Epomaker Tide75 has a $139.99 price tag, plus taxes. Since I didn’t pay for it, I asked ChatGPT to calculate it for me, and it thinks it would be an extra 26.65 EUR for taxes, making it a total of approximately 153 EUR.

    Deciding whether a piece of equipment is worth buying is for you to decide, but compared to these other devices, the price seems just about right to me:

    • Magic keyboard is 149 EUR. It comes with the T chip, but it doesn’t have the mechanical keyboard experience, replaceable switches, and neither the extensible configuration.
    • DasKeyboard Pro is 179 EUR. It is a mechanical keyboard including the Numpad, but lacks RGB, replaceable switches and it’s not configurable.
    • Vortex Core is 99 EUR. It comes with the RGBs, and it is configurable, but it’s only a 40% which might be challenging to adapt for many people.

    Conclusion

    Overall, I think this is a great product and anyone looking for a mechanical keyboard will not be disappointed. It happens to be that my daily driver, the Ergodox EZ just broke a few months back, and the Tide75 will take its place as my number 1.

    The issues I have with the keyboard are minor, but in my opinion, could take the Epomaker from a good choice, to a great one. Having an up-to-date manual, including extra blank keycaps for customization and most important, choosing a more readable font and matching the knob color with the rest of the keyboard.

    Thanks Epomaker for this remarkable gift, I hope that they feel proud to see their little boy is helping build an OS for Edge devices.

    The following links were given to me by Epomaker. I don’t make any commission on them. If you’d rather not use them, type Epomaker Tide75 in your preferred search engine, and you should find them, but you might get a different product than the one I reviewed here.

    Interested in grabbing yours? Check out the Epomaker Online Store, or the Epomaker Amazon Store.

  • Introductory Course to Kubernetes on Edge with K3s

    There’s a lot I need to learn for the new project I’m working on. Finding information is not really the problem, there’s quite a lot out there, what is hard is to filter through all the information you might not need and connecting the dots to have a clear perspective on your mind. I found this introductory course to Kubernetes on Edge with K3s, very useful.

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  • MNT Reform 2 DIY Kit Review

    The MNT Reform 2 laptop was made available on Crowd Supply in June 2020. This review is for the DIY kit version, and I’ll focus on the experience of supporting this project and its vendor through crowdsourcing, the process of putting the machine together, and my first impressions. I plan to share a second post with my thoughts on the experience of using the device as my computer for personal use.

    WHAT IS THE MNT REFORM 2 DIY KIT?

    The MNT Reform 2 is an Open Hardware Laptop. It comes with the Open Source operating system Debian Linux pre-installed. The DIY kit is just a disassembled version with a set of instructions on how to put it together.

    Nowadays laptops, and most electronic devices, lose their warranty if you try to tinker or repair them yourself. This laptop is one of the few that invite you to open them and make them your own. If you don’t believe me, take a pick through the bottom, made of see-through acrylic.

    THE CROWDFUNDING EXPERIENCE

    As soon as I saw the project on Crowd Supply, I got hooked and decided to support it. If I remember correctly, the project got fully funded reasonably quickly, and by the time the campaign finished, the number of backers tripled.

    The original shipping date was in December 2020, but I only received mine in April 2021. Four months of wait time can sound like a lot, but you need to consider that many producers and shipping companies had delays because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It would have been silly to expect that MNT wouldn’t be affected by this. On top of that, there are always delays in February because of the Chinese New Year. In the end, I think these delays ended up being positive because the MNT team used the time to make improvements to the keyboard and battery life. Lukas, MNT’s CEO, constantly shared about progress and any delays. It was pretty entertaining to follow up.

    PACKAGING

    In my opinion, most open projects don’t have a very appealing branding. MNT is the complete contrary. I’m glad they put the same passion on the packaging as they did on the product.

    PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

    The kit comes with a big printout that has on one side the instructions and on the other side pictures to give you a good idea of what is what. All you need is a cross screwdriver.

    While most steps were clear, there was one that I couldn’t figure out about the right way to plug the monitor. Fortunately, all I had to do is open the device again and invert the connector. In total, it took me between 2.5 and 3 hours to get the machine to boot. I swear I hadn’t had this much fun with a device in a very long time.

    FIRST IMPRESSIONS

    HARDWARE

    The laptop is gorgeous. When the lid is closed, it has this old-school Thinkpad vibe. The aluminum enclosing is pleasant to the touch and hardly picks any fingerprints. The MNT Reform 2 is quite thick if you compare it to today’s standards, which has its benefits, as you’ll see.

    On one side, there’s an HDMI port and three USB type-A ports. On the other side, a port for SD cards, a headphone jack, a network port, and one for the charger. I’m pleased about this because there’s nothing more annoying (and ugly if you ask me) than all those dongles coming out of a beautiful laptop.

    If you flip the computer, you can pick into the electronics thanks to the acrylic bottom. At first, I wasn’t very excited about this feature. It’s not that I don’t like it, but I think that after a while, it will get scratched, and then it won’t look as good. If there had been an option to get it with an aluminum bottom, I would have probably gotten that one. But I’m glad it is this way because it feels like an invitation to open and tinker with the device.

    If you open the lid, the first thing you notice is the trackball. It’s also possible to buy it with a trackpad, but I thought this would be more fun. Plus, I can always replace it if I don’t like it. So far, it’s been quite fun to use, but it will take some time to get used to it.

    Next, you might notice the small display on top of the keyboard. It’s helpful to get additional feedback, like battery percentage or the system’s status. The best part is that I can turn it off whenever I don’t need to look into it and avoid wasting precious energy.

    And of course, here’s where we find the mechanical keyboard. The keycaps feel very natural to the touch. The switches have excellent travel and sound amazing. However, this could be problematic when working with others, just like with any other mechanical keyboard, and there doesn’t seem to be a way to put dampers on these switches. I’m now used to Cherry MX Silent Red switches, and these are louder. Typing is very comfortable, except for the keys I press with my thumbs. The keyboard sits only slightly above the level of the palms rest, and because of the long travel, I feel like I’m constantly pushing the palms rest with the side of my thumb. In my opinion, raising the keyboard a little bit or making the inclination between the palm rest and the keyboard a bit more prominent would help.

    The layout of the keys is quite good. I love having a dedicated row for the function keys and a split space bar with two alt keys in between, which makes it more natural to reach them. Instead of a caps lock key, you get a control key, which I already configure on every other laptop. Details like these make this laptop feel like if it is tailor-made. I don’t particularly appreciate having the up arrow where the shift key is typically, but that’s where the open-source part comes very handy. I plan to flash a new layout into the keyboard, hopefully, one with multiple layers.

    The last tiny issue I will mention is that the printout of the quotes key was inverted, but MNT is already aware of this, so they might have it fixed for future machines. None of the issues I just mentioned are deal-breakers. This keyboard is by far the best I’ve used on a laptop.

    On the top panel are the display and two speakers. I like the side and top bezels, but the bottom one is a bit prominent and could use, in my opinion, some design or an MNT logo. I decided to put the sticker with the serial number there. The sturdiness of the top panel feels solid. I can move, and it doesn’t wobble. The hinges feel pretty sturdy like they can last forever. The display quality is excellent, but the speakers are a bit too quiet.

    Last but not least, I must mention the parts that are not present with the machine. The MNT Reform 2 doesn’t have a webcam or a microphone (I remember reading somewhere that this was by design thinking about privacy first, but I couldn’t find this information on the Crowd Supply or MNT Reform websites). The DIY kit doesn’t come with an SSD or a WiFi card, but these can be bought online or at a local store. Lukas shared the exact models that come with the assembled version.

    SOFTWARE

    The MNT Reform 2 initially boots into text mode, where you first have to follow a few steps to create your user account. The Operator’s Handbook explains every step in detail. Once you have an account, you can start the graphical interface. The three options that come pre-installed are Sway, Gnome 3, and Window Maker. But you can install any other that’s available for Debian.

    Sway is a tiling window manager, and you make heavy use of shortcuts to control it. It takes a little getting used to, but it feels suitable for this machine. It’s also the only one described in detail in the Operators Handbook. The device runs smoothly while using Sway. So far, my test consisted of watching a video with MPV, browsing the web, and editing text with Neovim simultaneously. The only case when the machine started struggling was when I tried to improve this text using Grammarly. Their JavaScript app doesn’t crash Firefox or Chromium, but it is painful. While I could blame the machine for not having enough power, I think the problem is we’ve gotten used to web-based technologies built without performance in mind. I find it ridiculous that you need a high-end laptop to run a web application. I tried to use my iPad (A-12 chip) for comparison, but Grammarly doesn’t even let you use the web application on Safari iOS, which proves my point.

    The Gnome 3 version that comes with the MNT Reform 2 has fewer components than the vanilla version. I guess that it helps reduce the load since full DEs are very power-hungry. I tried to do the same experiment as with Sway, but unfortunately, none of the videos played well on MPV, and in general, I did feel a bit of lag when using Gnome for some tasks.

    If you cannot live with a tiling window manager, I recommend you go with Window Maker. It doesn’t look very up-to-date, but after trying it for a while, I must say it performed very well. Like with Sway, there was no issue at all having my three designated applications running simultaneously.

    FINAL THOUGHTS

    I’ve been using the MNT Reform 2 to write these notes down for the past few days. Hearing the sound of the mechanical keyboard is music to my ears. Not having a network connection allows me to concentrate on what I want to say instead of being annoyed by multiple notifications. From time to time, I plug an ethernet cable to search for something online and eventually publish these words on my blog. The whole experience reminded me about times when computing felt a lot more personal, and our lives didn’t need to be online 24/7.

    Not only has it been fun to build and use this machine, but I’m also very excited about the idea of being able to service and extend its life. I love the concept of having a device that evolves according to my needs. Above all, it feels good to own a device not because it’s the latest and greatest but because its ethos resonates with my own. Only time will tell if the MNT Reform 2 will live up to its promises, but I’m certainly rooting for it.

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  • Vortex Core Mechanical Keyboard Review

    I got myself a new keyboard for my birthday, the Vortex Core. I wanted a mechanical keyboard that I could take everywhere with me. Being a 40% keyboard, I expected it to over deliver on the portable side, what I didn’t expect, is that I’d enjoy using this tiny keyboard so much, even for extended periods of time.

    SPECS

    • Four layers, from which three of them are programmable without having to flash the devise
    • Cherry MX switches. I got mine with silent red ones
    • DSA Profile keycaps
    • RGB LEDs (also programmable)
    • ANSI layout (for the most part)
    • Aluminum case with 4 rubber feet
    • Micro USB connector

    The quality of the printing is great and I really appreciate having the side prints to be color coded depending on the function key. This is necessary to program the other layouts but even if it wasn’t, I wish more keyboard manufacturers would do it.

    COMPARISON SHOTS

    Vortex Core compared to Das Keyboard 4 Ultimate

    Vortex Core compared to Macbook Pro 13″

    Vortex Core compared to Magic Trackpad

    MY PERSONAL CUSTOMIZATIONS

    I really like how this keyboard looks and feels from but there were two changes I made to make it perfect for me:

    1. Programmed layer 2 so I could access all numbers and symbols plus arrow keys via the Fn key or a combination of Fn+Shift. Edit this layout If you want to know more about how to program the Vortex Core, check out this blog post
    2. Switched the left Space Bar, with a Vim keycap I bought fromVimcaps. The Vim green color, fits perfectly with the beige and gray from the other keys.

    GOTCHAS

    I configure my OS to switch Caps Lock for another Ctrl for easy access, but as you can notice from the layout, the physical Caps Lock is missing. At first I was considering to reprogram another key to be Ctrl because I find the position of Ctrl very inaccessible. However, I noticed that I can easily press the Ctrl key using my palms and I ended up liking this better. So much so, that I also adopted this while using my Ergodox EZ.

    ALTERNATIVES

    The Vortex wasn’t really my first option for a 40%. I had my eyes on a Planck EZ because I’m very pleased with the quality of the Ergodox EZ by the same company. I ended up picking the Vortex because (a) I liked the retro look better, (b) it was about 60 EUR cheaper and (c) I could get it from a local shop here in Belgium.

    FINAL THOUGHTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

    Overall, I’m very happy with this keyboard. I enjoy using it for my everyday writing, no matter if it’s code and prose. It’s a great addition to my keyboard fleet and I’ll keep using it on a daily basis. The only thing I’d change, is the cable that comes with it. Everything in this unit has been built with a very high standard and an average USB cable doesn’t do it justice but if you don’t mind this so much or you don’t mind spending extra on a nice cable then you won’t be disappointed. So, if you’re on the market for a well built, good looking, portable and programmable keyboard, you should consider the Vortex Core.

    Having said that, I wouldn’t recommend the Vortex Core to someone who’s looking to buy their first mechanical keyboard. Instead, try to go with something a bit bigger first so you can get an idea about what you like and don’t about mechanical keyboards before buying something as extreme as a 40%. A good option could be a Das Keyboard 4. It isn’t programmable but the quality is great and I really like the dedicated media keys.

    For those who already have experienced a mechanical keyboard and are considering the Vortex Core, remember that getting used to a new keyboard layout takes time. The great thing about this keyboard is that it’s programmable so you can make that process less annoying by changing the default layout to something you feel more comfortable with. I think it’s better to use something that feels natural so you find yourself coming back to your keyboard over and over again, than something which you might think is the ultimate layout. Little by little you can introduce minor modifications that you can adapt to easily. I’ve been re-programming my Ergodox EZ for the past 4 years and I’ll probably continue doing so in the years to come.

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