this post was submitted on 22 Jun 2023
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ErgoMechKeyboards

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Ergonomic, split and other weird keyboards

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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!?)

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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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submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by andy556 to c/ergomechkeyboards
 

I have a wrist pain. At first, I thought it was because of my weight training, but I found out it only happens when I'm using the computer. After searching for an ergonomic keyboard, I wanted to give it a try. And now, the wrist pain is gone. I'm so happy with it.

This is my first keyboard. I have a smol brain and want to start with the easy mode, so I bought a fully built keyboard. I chose the K:02 because it uses USB-C, has an OLED, a number row, Vial, and it's WHITE (I like white).

This is a great start, and since I'm in this rabbit hole, I thought I would build another keyboard for the office. Which one should I buy or build?

P.S: At first, I couldn't type properly. It was weird, but now I'm happy with my typing speed of 40 WPM (yeah, it's still too slow)

FYI: I'm using a tactile switch for the homerow and a linear switch for anything else.

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

I had wrist pain typing only once. It was when I played a typing game for hours one time.

You might want to try one now that you have an ergonomic keyboard. It can help your typing speed. Just limit to an hour or two at a time 😅

[–] andy556 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thank you, I'll give it a try. Is it typeracer.com?

[–] marswarrior 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

not a game, but this is better: https://monkeytype.com/

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

Nice! Which keyboard is that?

[–] andy556 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Looks great, that first step to split and columnar stagger is the most important for reducing wrist pain in my experience. My first split columnar was the redox, but these days I mostly use corne and humla, although the thumb key positions on these do not suit everyone.

[–] luqasn 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Bit of a too open question. I’d recommend sticking with this board for a couple of months (looks portable enough to take to the office) and see if you maybe wanna try less keys or maybe sculpted (dactyl-style), different stagger, tenting, etc, for your next build. Also, you probably have hotswap on this one, so you could experiment with switches for that next build already.

[–] andy556 2 points 1 year ago

Thank you. I will take your advice. It's compact and lightweight, making it easy to carry. I'm using this method, but the only problem for me is that I sometimes forget to bring it back home or...to work, haha.

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

High quality post. Looks nice. I have a Ergodox EZ since a year or so, and I'm still getting used to it

What did you bind to your blank keys?

[–] andy556 2 points 1 year ago

From left to right: LGUI - Del - OSM LCtrl


Del - Enter - Space

[–] SwallowsNest 2 points 1 year ago

I love that case!, i would like a .stl file like that for my Sofle v2 choc. Maybe i'll get brave and try something on fusion 360!

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

Using an ergo keyboard (ultimately my own design, but starting with a Kinesis) has really helped my wrist pain. I ended up making sure portability was part of my design, because I found that using my laptop, even for a fairly short period of time, makes the wrist pain start to come back.

[–] yes 1 points 1 year ago

i hope when i finnaly be able to build my lily and fancyallive66 i will also finnally not have alot/no wrist pain

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

I like the tactile home row idea. What are the keycaps?

[–] andy556 1 points 1 year ago

The keycap is Akko 9009 in ASA profile. Blanks are random keycaps I can find, turned upside down so they cannot hurt my thumbs.

[–] adorablepeanut 1 points 1 year ago

Repetitive strain injury veteran of 25 years here, personally I love my cleave keyboard from truly economic (https://www.trulyergonomic.com) but still have to do most of my typing through speech recognition (dragon).