Rampkins

A bit more 'Rampkins' blurb!

Christened the Buccaneer (Garr!), this was our take on the Steampunk-keyboard design that was popular on the fringes for a few years starting about 2010. The project was inspired by a keyboard created by Jake Von Slatt. I'm pretty sure the Rampkins name came from Lady Sybil Ramkin, a character from Guards, Guards, by Terry Pratchett (Knight of the Realm!), the P got added because www.ramkin.com had squatters!

Our keyboard began as a Das Model S Ultimate, chosen for its distinctive sound and suitability for our design. Later models used a CHERRY G80-3000 MX keyboard, it had similar internals, but it had a cheaper case, which was fine for us as it meant we we could get the internals we needed for half the price. We switched the punched out polycarbonate key covers for Envirotex Lite High Gloss Epoxy that looked much nicer. There were other alterations I can't recall, but I'll update as my memories return - less a flood than a trickle!

The wood we used was mainly salvaged from knackered old furniture,a busted old cabinet from my nans house was chesnut, that pretty much provided all the wood needed for multiple keyboards. I rememver buying some American chesnut dowel to make the keys on one keyboard as they had gone for a darker look, black leather, and I'd acquired a chunk of mahogany from my mums fella, which was used for the frame.

Unique Customers!

Over the years we had some unique customers, living in some rather unique places! A logging town in British Columbia, a random town in Australia, A US airforce base! We sold one to a Russian guy living in Moscow, and I had a hell of a time trying to get it to him! He'd ordered it just before the invasion of Crimea, so as soon as that happened Russia was obviously on the international shit-list - by the time we'd finished making it options to deliver it to him were very limited. It got as far as Finland the first time, then got returned. The second time, Sergey (not Vladimir!), convinced me to send it via some random, border-hopping courier set up "ad-hoc" to run goods from Helsinki to Moscow. I can't remember the exact details, but it got through in the end, and he covered all the delivery costs. Sometimes international shipping can be a bitch!

Website Goals

Relearn HTML

Adjust the site so it works properly (fancybox, css etc)

Create some arty stuff in reality, then post pics here

Create a Red Dwarf shrine

Create a REME Shrine

Create a Glastonbury Shrine

Create a Collins Boys Annual Shrine

Create an Atari 520ST Shrine

Create a Robin Williams Shrine (The world is a worse place without him)

Embellish!

Manifesto/mini-rant!

I like this place, this is how I prefer to interact with the internet - Neocities is what the web was always supposed to be like, and it kinda was until the demise of myspace (which I unfortunately missed out on, due to being caught up in America's "War on Terror" - Army green always had a certain allure to me... and the job security I needed at the time!).

Anyway, I digress... T'is a shame that the dreams of Tim Berners-Lee (Knight of the Realm!) should be distorted so, because although the fundamental capabilities of ye-oldy-web are still there (and enhanced by every metric) the Pandoras Box of Corpo-Horrornet has unfortunately been unleashed, and the web of my youth has Corpo-Cthulhu's tentacles shoved well and truly up its arse! ^(;,;)^

I grieve for the loss. 🏄 Surfing the web in the 90s was a buzz, seriously! I follow no scriptures, but I remember feeling a kind of religious elation, like walking on the moon of a new paradigm, the possibilities...

It blew my fucking mind!

But thankfully the ethos never died, so here I am, back where it all started, typing cyber-scribble into Notepad, wrapping it with html, then tossing it into the cyber-ocean like a message in a bottle!

Live long and prosper, Nanu Nanu, and smoke me a kipper; I'll be back for breakfast!