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Recommentations about every aspect of keyboards?
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this post was submitted on 13 Nov 2023
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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
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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/
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This is all good advice but I would say if you're willing (and interested) to try a "40s" like board, the corne (at least in 6 column version) is fairly accessible and is very popular so looking for ideas about how to make your keymap won't be difficult. And also boardsource now has a fully assembled version of the corne (no soldering).
That is to say, cerement described a very reasonable progression, but if you don't mind feeling like you don't know how to type for a bit you can jump into anything that is interesting to you, and many folks agree that smaller boards are more comfortable to type on.
I must say It's daunting to reduce the amount of keys that much, since I'm used to full-size. Then again, I use the numpad mostly to control foobar2000 (music), which should be easily balanced with a thumb-activated additional layer in a board such as the corne. I can't seem to find the fully assembled version of the corne, but the unicorne is assemblable without soldering. Would you recommend low-profile switches? I have absolutely no experience typing on those so I'd be interested to know what the difference feels like.
The unicorne is what I was thinking of, fully assembled in terms of the PCB (other than switches) which is less common for these boards. I've personally started to like low profile switches a lot, the reduced travel works really well for ergonomic layouts reducing finger movement. I will say they are not as refined as some of the recent mx style switches in terms of feel and sound, but ones like the sunset tactile switches are very good. Keycaps being the other limiting factor, chocs use different keycaps and there are not a lot of excellent options at the moment, but there are enough decent options that they're usable.