this post was submitted on 14 Jun 2023
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ErgoMechKeyboards

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Ergonomic, split and other weird keyboards

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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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Aurora Corne low profile split keyboard wireless (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago by orosus to c/ergomechkeyboards
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Hi! I am excited to share my new build in this new community in Lemmy.

It is an Aurora Corne Low Profile keyboard. I just wanted to do a wireless split keyboard as thin as possible.

I bought all the pieces in splitkb.com:

  • Aurora Corne PCB (comes with diodes and choc hotswap sockets to be soldered)
  • 2 Nice!nano v2 USB-C controllers
  • 2 batteries 301230 3.7V 110mAh
  • Kaihl Choc low profile Orange switches.
  • Choc keycaps
  • Carbon fiber plate
  • Case (I have not bought any, I've just made a wooden panel, cutting it ad hoc), but I may buy one in the future or 3D print one, let me know what you think about it.

About the building process, I can say that I was afraid of soldering, but it was fun and easier than expected. I struggled a little more with the firmware configuration, because I was used to QMK but the nice!nano controller uses ZMK so it was a little different.

After configuring my Colemak layout and my layers on the firmware, the flashing process is pretty strait forward. Also the bluetooth connection integrated in the nice!nano was connected easily to my PC.

However, after 1 month of use, I have started feeling some issues in the left part of the keyboard, mainly with modifiers, such as Ctrl, Shift, Alt, and some letters. When I keep them pressed they are not recognized and I have to repress them. I don't think it is a firmware issue, because I have tried different configurations in ZMK and now all of them fail with the same keys, independently of whatever character I map on those keys. I am thinking that it maybe due to some diode that may be missoldered or some pin in the controller, because the first days it worked fine. And I have tested the same configuration as those days, and now I am getting these issues.

Any suggestion?

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

Case (I have not bought any, I’ve just made a wooden panel, cutting it ad hoc), but I may buy one in the future or 3D print one, let me know what you think about it.

This looks great. You can also use adhesive-backed foam for a really low profile (while not scratching up your desk)

When I keep them pressed they are not recognized and I have to repress them. I don’t think it is a firmware issue, because I have tried different configurations in ZMK and now all of them fail with the same keys, independently of whatever character I map on those keys. I am thinking that it maybe due to some diode that may be missoldered or some pin in the controller, because the first days it worked fine.

Could be some cold joints, it's not unusual for them to work fine at first and then start to fail later on. Check the soldering on the affected keys and diodes and reflow anything that looks supect. You can also ask in the SplitKB discord to find out which controller pins should be checked based on the keys where you're seeing issues.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Seconded, that panel looks very clean. Nice job on it.

I had a couple solders on my corne leds that looked fairly good but didn't work reliably. Iirc, I removed and resoldered a couple connections, but reflowing may well be easier. Even fully removing was pretty quick and easy, so I think you won't have much trouble, especially knowing which keys are acting up.

[–] orosus 1 points 1 year ago

Great! thank you for the piece of advise. I will check that.

[–] coralof 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Hello fellow Colemak user! :D

[–] orosus 3 points 1 year ago

Hi! Nice to meet more people in that rabbithole :D

[–] Kutsuya 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I wonder, how would you input numbers or use function keys?

[–] overby 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Layers - have a look at this sample layout https://lemmy.world/post/32853

[–] Kutsuya 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Interesting! Do you have any special use cases for this keyboard? I think it's hard to use for gaming or programming

[–] orosus 3 points 1 year ago

I do not use it for gamming, so I cannot answer that, but maybe you can use only the left part and the mouse for shooter games. I would need to remap AWSD because I use Colemak layout or maybe use another layer to move to Qwerty.

However, I use it everyday for working as IT consultant, I don't do programming really often anymore, but I don't have problems typing numbers or special characters (;,[]/<>...). In fact, you just need to memorize where they are and the layer, but your fingers move much less than in a full size keyboard.

[–] overby 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I use it daily in my work (sysadmin). Not for gaming - but you could just create a gaming layer with the keys needed for that. I do some scripting in my work, and it works ok for that. But some coding languages might need a different layout.

[–] Kutsuya 2 points 1 year ago

I see, interesting! I think I'll get annoyed pretty fast if I have to code something in c# haha