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

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Cable reduction help (self.ergomechkeyboards)

submitted 1 year ago by nydas to c/ergomechkeyboards

7 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Hi all,

I have an idea in my head, but I’m a cable short, and looking for suggestions.

24-key split-ortho (2 keys per finger, where you press both top and bottom keys simultaneously to get the home row key), with per-key RGB and OLED display on the left side. But…

I’d like to run this off a single BlackPill controller on the left hand side, and use a CAT6 cable to bridge the two sides.

CAT6 has 4 twisted pairs, so 8 cables. If I run a 4x3 matrix then that’s 7 cables. Plus another for the VCC for the RGB. But then no more for the DIN/DOUT for RGB. GND should be fine as I can earth the right hand side separately, but I’m missing a cable if I want RGB.

Are there any suggestions on how I might be able to get around my challenge?

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[–] corvett 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I'd drop the RGB man.

Or with diodes, could you logically arrange your 24 keys into 4 rows / 6 columns (or even 5x5) and save any pins that way?

Edit: you're already doing a 4x3 per side. Nvm