Check out the blogpost here: https://tarneo.fr/posts/split_keyboard/
this post was submitted on 21 Aug 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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My first ergo split was a Kimiko (roughly the same as a Sofle v2) which also had this num row I quickly stopped using (I ended up affecting it to F keys, still useless anyway; even for switching VTs I tended to use F keys from one of the layers).
My current daily driver is a 3x6 dactyl with a 4th key under middle and ring finger columns and... a 6 keys (2 rows) thumb clusters. All 6 keys can easily be reached because of the 3D shape. I would say only a couple of keys among the 50 are not really useful, hence it is the sweet spot for me now (for a sculpted keyboard anyway; for a flat one, I have to make it work with smaller thumb clusters).
Anyway the similar layout of the thumb clusters and similar goals (Linux user; typing in French) made me want to comment :).
Ha, kinda the same story for me.
For my first ergo split, I wanted to build a Corne, but ended up building a Lily due to not being able to order the Corne and being somewhat uncertain of "just 3 rows". Now my mapping has gravitated to something that'd fit on a Corne, I don't use the outermost thumbs and am weaning myself off of the num row. Still considering whether I should try and work with 5 columns instead of 6, but there's some useful keys there — for now.
I can see myself building another split in the future (something that's slightly more travel-friendly than the Lily), and it's probably going to be a Corne. The Lily's thumb cluster is slightly to far to the outer edge for my comfort.
Yeah, a dactyl kinda defeats the point of having a small keyboard. Soon I'll try to make a 36-key split with some way to link the two parts to make it usable on laptops for example (rn it's comically large when using a laptop: I need to put the two halves on the side plus a mouse if I don't want to use the touchpad). I'll also use sockets for everything (switches & XIAO controllers) so that the next one I make doesn't cost as much.