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/
view the rest of the comments
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/
Same here. Had the Ultimate Hacking Keyboard prior, but really appreciated when I switched to the Moonlander. Is portable without much work - just isn’t small. Oryx is really easy to use (including color mgmt per layer and per key). I thought it has a really nice feel. Only downside I have is that it isn’t wireless.
Just built my first Corne, which has been a good learning process, but don’t think it will be my final keyboard.
For me it was really up in the air between ergodox and moonlander. But as a novice to mechanical and ergo, the Oryx software was a huge selling point, and I wouldn't discount that benefit when considering a ergo keyboard where you will be needing to tweak and edit layers to experiment with fit. Just built a budget GMK67 keeb for my partner, and that software is sketch and weird... Really made me appreciate Oryx.
In the end, I think I preferred the moonlander thumbcluster layout of 3 columns of thumb keys. That red key is really a modifier for not typing. The column and row ergodox thing seemed not as great for me. I was surprised that the modifier keys on the moonlander being narrow width wasn't a hard thing to get used to.