ErgoMechKeyboards

5829 readers

2 users here now

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

Looking for a portable ortholinear (lemmy.sdf.org)

submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by [email protected] to c/ergomechkeyboards

17 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Hey,

I'm looking for a portable ortholinear for taking to co-working in my backpack.

For context, I'm a coder. I use neovim all day. At home I use a maltron 3d. It's a fantastic comfortable keyboard (I think kinesis nicked the design?), although it did take getting used to.

It's the only keyboard I've ever been able to touch type on.

So yeah. I'd like to find something similar that is portable. It has to have quiet switches, as it's a shared office. Any suggestions?

So far I've looked at:

Those all look nice, but are too expensive.

How does the ergodox ez hold up these days?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I think kinesis nicked the design?

Idk which is older but didn't they both blatantly copy the Ergodox layout?

I have commuted with an Ergodox and I honestly just find it a bit too large. If you are set on that many keys I'd suggest you check out SliceMK since they made a low profile Ergodox. I'm not a fan of ZSA since they are overpriced (cheap plastic) and haven't really ever done anything innovative IMO. Although I don't use it often my SliceMK wireless Ergodox is really solid.

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

Thanks for the slice mk suggestion.

I dont know when the M3D was first manufactured, but I assumed maltron were the first with that design since they've been in the game since the 70s.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

Ah, it says on their website that the first revision was developed in 1976:

The first keyboard, (top image), was shown at the News Tec exhibition, Brighton, in December 1976

The thumb cluster was different back then, but the ortholinear scoop was there.