The Hummingbird is a Unibody keyboard with a layout like you described
ErgoMechKeyboards
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/
Mabroum has made a few boards with this sorta layout. They've opened sourced them and can be found at https://github.com/AlaaSaadAbdo/battoota
Oh sick that's like exactly what I want lol. Now I just got to find a shop that sells these PCBs. Not really interested in spending the time to order them myself.
I'd thoroughly encourage making it yourself, it's a fun process, plus you could use ErgoGen to make it even simpler. Ben also has good video tutorials on that.
Even without that though, small keyboards like this are really easy yet satisfying to design from scratch in kicad, you'd be able to get away with direct pin which means you don't even have to place diodes, just place a controller, trrs and switches and route it up. Optionally also a power switch and battery terminals; and a reset button.
My layout is designed for 30 keys, but two of them are completely replicated by combos, and the 4 alphas in the center columns are also replicated in the secondary alpha layer. What it means is that I can type with my layout using only 24 physical keys: 2 per thumb, 1 per pinkie and 3 for each of the other fingers. For the other layers, I still need the center columns, but it is a great releaf to be able to type any word without any finger stretch.