I absolutely love the color scheme!
These are Chicago Steno caps that I had printed in MJF from JLCPCB.
crystal are 3pin, pro are 5pin
I use purpz on pinkies and thumbs, then silvers everywhere else. I can see how the 10gf differences between Reds and Silvers might not seem like a lot, but it was noticeable for me. There's also the Pro Reds which are slightly lighter at 35gf. After that you're into pink/purpz range which might be too light.
ditto. I read the BTS top to bottom.
Boards with surface mount diodes are most likely using 1N4148W SOD-123. I think there might be variations of the corne that don't use surface mount diodes, so make sure the one you're getting supports them.
Sadek, from fingerpunch, designs a unibody case for their Ximi board.
Corne is probably the top of my list for anyone that wants to get into ergo. They can be picked up from a lot of places and I think it has more users than any other ergo board, so finding support should be easy.
The Sofle is another popular board that would probably work well due to having more keys.
The Helix is a popular ortho split option.
If you're lookin' for something that is packed full of features, the Ximi from fingerpunch basically has it all.
Want to start off by saying that I really appreciate all the research you did (and relayed to us) while on your search. This helps us not just recommend a bunch of shit you've already looked at. A lot of the things you've listed as requirements somewhat disqualify a lot of the keyboards we usually see/use around these parts.
While reading through your post, the Cepstrum is what stood out to me. As far as I know, the kit only requires soldering the hotswap sockets if the full price is a lil too rich for you. It uses Kailh choc v1 switches but I don't recommend the ones that you can get bundled with it. Silvers are my go-to choc, and a lot of people in the ergo space like the purpz/pinks because they're really light.
