this post was submitted on 26 Jul 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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This subreddit is not a marketplace, please post on r/mechmarket or other relevant marketplace.

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How do you choose a right ergo keyboard for you? (lemmy.blahaj.zone)
submitted 1 year ago by CatLikeLemming@lemmy.blahaj.zone to c/ergomechkeyboards@lemmy.world
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I've slowly been going down the rabbit hole of ergo keyboards and want to replace my current "normal" full-size keyboard, but the sheer amount of variation there is, even disregarding the usual differences like rgb or some extra macro keys or whatever, is kind of giving me decision paralysis, so I'd like some help.

I know what I definitely want:

  • Split
  • Tentable
  • Ortholinear
  • Supports QMK

But that still leaves a lot of questions open.

I like the look and portability of heavily vertically staggered 42-key keyboards (three rows and three keys per thumb cluster), and while for programming that's definitely enough, especially for certain games that seems like a questionable choice, since you'd need a lot of layers for a good experience.

Then I looked further into keyboards with four rows, which definitely seem more appealing, but at that point I'm wondering if for convenience's sake, it might be better to just get something like the Moonlander which has more than enough keys, but is also just really big and leads to a lot of finger movement which isn't necessarily a problem, but also just isn't really... well, neat.

What kind of keyboards do you all have and what do you use them for? Are there any you'd recommend? Should I just go with something akin to the Moonlander or are there any tangible advantages to something like the Piantor apart from portability?

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[–] Copernican@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

I have a moonlander and love it, but that's technically columnar and not ortholinear since it's staggered rows. One thing I like is the Oryx software that I found very intuitive and easy to use to update layouts and layers. Although some question build quality, it was cheap to find someone on printmything to 3d print extra feet for the thumb cluster to add stability to the cluster. Swapping switches was easy as well and installed U4Ts to get more tactile feel.

But I found it helpful to print shit out and play with it on a desk to get a feel for size and layout difference in lieu of seeing a real keeb. You can get creative with folding stuff or angled binders to simulate tenting options as well. This tool lets you do size comparison and print out different keyboard layouts on paper. https://jhelvy.shinyapps.io/splitkbcompare/