this post was submitted on 13 Nov 2023
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ErgoMechKeyboards

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Ergonomic, split and other weird keyboards

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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

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Recommentations about every aspect of keyboards? (discuss.tchncs.de)
submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/ergomechkeyboards
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Hi all,

I've been typing on the first keyboard I ever bought for about 7 years now (Sharkoon Skiller Pro +) and, after trying out some of the shiny mechanical keyboards my friends bought over the years (Roccat Vulkan Pro, Steelseries Apex Pro, etc), decided I wanted a new keyboard as well.

I've done a little research on keyboards as a whole and have a few favorites, but recently I came across ergonomic keyboards, such as shown in this community. Now, I'm unsure wether I want to go with a traditional board (my top candidate is the Meletix Zoom98 with Morandi Switches) or try something completely different.

I'm looking for stories and advice right now, to get the most out of the money i'm willing to spend on a keyboard (buying multiple is not an option at the price point of for example the Zoom98).

Looking forward to this :)

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (3 children)
  • additional considerations
    • low profile switches versus regular switches
      • people like the ergonomics better for low profile but (as @pixls mentioned) selection for switches and (especially) keycaps is still very limited
    • keywells – shaped boards instead of flat – Glove80, Dactyl Manuform family – ie. keeping key position right at the arc of travel of your fingertips
  • another option I just remembered (one that’s really popular with the ZSA Moonlander)
    • pick up one of the larger boards with hotswap sockets (Iris, Lily58, Sofle, Moonlander, Voyager) and start with a full layout
    • over time start removing keycaps and switches, remap your keybindings to fit the remaining keys
    • can try out the smaller layouts without having to invest in more boards until you find your comfort spot
[–] glitches_brew 1 points 11 months ago

Oh man, you just reminded me I have a glove80 in a box untouched somewhere. Does Lemmy have the equivalent of a mech marketplace? I should sell it lmao.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Another thing: I use Blender. Is it possible / feasible to reduce key count that much when blender has this huge amount of keyboard shortcuts? I think if I were to buy an ergo keyboard, I'd gravitate towards the moonlander for this reason.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago
  • similar to using a phone keyboard, everything goes in layers – once you get into the 30% or “small” range, more effort is put into “optimizing” your layout than even into designing the ideal physical layout – you have Ben Vallack doing production work on an 18-key split and people coding on steno keyboards
  • but since everything is on layers, you can dedicate an additional layer to something like just Blender shortcuts (and one to just Photoshop shortcuts and one to just Python coding and so on)
  • this is not a fast journey and I would not recommend jumping into the deep immediately with a Hummingbird – start with something like a Moonlander and slowly acclimate yourself to removing keys and offloading things onto layers, customizing those layers to your needs
    • as an aside, a lot of people who go down the rabbit hole also use the chance to move away from QWERTY as well, with Colemak-DH being a popular alternative – the context switching between learning Colemak on columnar and keeping QWERTY on row-stagger often is enough to not mess up muscle memory
[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Also, the Moonlander has people saying the tenting is uncomfortable, and to go with the ergodox ez instead... I'm just unsure because there is so many to choose from, but most of them are so expensive that I'd have to buy one and stick with it for years to come.

[–] glitches_brew 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Every single one of my coworkers who had an ergodox ez now has a moonlander and they are unanimously happy with the upgrade. Tenting is at least an option with the moonlander.

I have the falba redox which is very similar to both layouts and is by far the best tenting on any keyboard I own. Might be a third option if you're seriously considering the other two.

Link since formatting isn't working: https://falba.tech/product/redox-full-assembly-services-of-keyboard-pcb-arduino-electronics-and-cable-etc/

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)
  • tenting is a very subjective choice – and once you start worrying about optimizing tenting, then you start looking at keywell keyboards and figuring out how to optimize the generation parameters for your own Dactyl …
  • Keebio might be a better starting point over ZSA – most of their boards are sold as kits but with the SMD soldering taken care of so you just have to worry about assembly
    • Iris is their specialty and they have pre-built options available
    • they’ve also recently started offering a pre-soldered kit for the Breeze keyboard if you need a few extra keys
  • it’s perfectly okay to plan to stick to one keyboard for a few years – switching from a regular keyboard to a columnar stagger keyboard is going to take time, learning layers is going to take time, learning a new layout will take time – this is a personal journey to find your comfort spot