ErgoMechKeyboards

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Ergonomic, split and other weird keyboards

Rules

Keep it ergo

Posts must be of/about keyboards that have a clear delineation between the left and right halves of the keyboard, column stagger, or both. This includes one-handed (one half doesn't exist, what clearer delineation is that!?)

i.e. no regular non-split¹ row-stagger and no non-split¹ ortholinear²

¹ split meaning a separation of the halves, whether fixed in place or entirely separate, both are fine.
² ortholinear meaning keys layed out in a grid

No Spam

No excessive posting/"shilling" for commercial purposes. Vendors are permitted to promote their products/services but keep it to a minimum and use the [vendor] flair. Posts that appear to be marketing without being transparent about it will be removed.

No Buy/Sell/Trade

This subreddit is not a marketplace, please post on r/mechmarket or other relevant marketplace.

Some useful links

EMK wiki
Split keyboard compare tool
Compare keycap profiles Looking for another set of keycaps - check this site to compare the different keycap profiles https://www.keycaps.info/
Keymap database A database with all kinds of keymap layouts - some of them fits ergo keyboards - get inspired https://keymapdb.com/

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

Advice on how to start/test (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/ergomechkeyboards

20 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I am someone who has not used mechanical keyboards before, but I am curious about them since I read everywhere that they are great. The issue I have is that I obviously don't know which things I will like or not. For example the switches, there are a lot of brands, and they produce different switches. When I read about them, I see the familiar terms: "clicky", "tactile", but I have no idea what that actually means.

However, just starting to buy stuff to test it out will become very expensive, very quickly.

How do you start with this without spending hundreds and hundreds of Euro's at the start (and without knowing if you like it or not)

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (6 children)

For the switches, you can buy switch testers for 10 bucks, with one switch of each brand/type/etc, to give you an idea of how they feel and sound.

Since you are posting in c/emk you might also be interested in ergonomics for keyboards? If you scroll here you will see a lot of different keyboards, many which are split (2 parts, one for each hand). A good idea would be to print the layout of ones you are interested in, to see how they feel with hand placement and movement.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I thought I was posting in the "regular" mechanical keyboard-community. That is my mistake (still new here...).

In terms of ergonomical layout, I will probably stick to a regular one since that is what I have used for decades already.

Do you have any hints on where to buy a switch tester?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Amazon has a bunch of them. If you want to try specific switches, you can create your own 9 keys switcher tester on keygem, they ship really fast (based in Europe).