this post was submitted on 16 Sep 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
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/
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I don’t think most people here are doing a good job of explaining how you work with a small split. In general, you program them to do exactly what you want them to do. So if you want a numpad, then you add a numpad. If you want it on its own layer then you can do that, or you can make it based on other keys.
For a long time I had mine set up so that I literally just hold my thumb down and then everything under that hand turned into a numpad. You didn’t need to move your hand at all and you got a full numpad. Nowadays I don’t use a numpad, so I just have to hold to get a number layer. And my symbols layer (I’m a programmer) is directly under my home row, all the way across. So I literally don’t need to lift my fingers from the home row to type all of my most used non letter characters.
The whole point is that it’s customizable and you can do pretty much anything you want. Some people even have 12 key keyboards (that’s not a joke). And they’re fully functional.