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/

founded 1 year ago

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Trying out a new chorded layout (feddit.uk)

submitted 1 year ago by obosob@feddit.uk to c/ergomechkeyboards@lemmy.world

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[–] Sims@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

AI: With those nine characters, some other English words that can be formed include:

Cup
Puck
Cusp
Cope
Cues
Cue
Suck
Sucks
Spue
Spec
Cusp
Sop
Foe
Foes
Soup

Seems usable enough for me..

[–] obosob@feddit.uk 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

you can actually type the full english alphabet with it (and more!). like this entire comment, for example!!!

[–] Sims@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ha, that's just great. I should've known some amazing keyfu nerd already worked it out ;) Thank you for the convincing demo!

I guess the lowest count is 2 (or 1 with a timer), but what is the practical character limit, where speed/ease is compromised? Or in other words, are there a 'sweetspot' for number of keys on a keyboard ?

[–] obosob@feddit.uk 1 points 1 year ago

that's a good question. if one is willing to completely relearn a different input method then the sweet spot is probably stenotype which is around 24 keys and professionals boast 200-300 wpm speeds. But that is impractically hard to learn if you really don't need to type that fast. I used to be able to get 20wpm typing on this keyboard, and i've seen someone hit 60 (by incorporating the supported whole word chords), so it's more usable than you might think. if you ask Ben Vallack, then 16 keys is pretty optimal. My sweetspot has been 34 with the Sweep personally.

[–] Sims@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

However, that could be improved !

AI: If we were to construct a language using only those nine characters and exclude offensive language, we might start by assigning each character a specific meaning or function, such as:

F: Denotes a statement or declaration.
U: Denotes a question or inquiry.
C: Denotes a command or instruction.
K: Denotes a response or acknowledgement.
S: Denotes a description or adjective.
P: Denotes a location or position.
E: Denotes a time or duration.
Z: Denotes a negation or opposite.

Using these definitions, we might be able to construct simple sentences such as:

FUS: "I declare a question."
CUP: "Move to the position."
SPE: "It is located there."
KUS: "I acknowledge the question."
CEF: "Stop for a duration."
SUZ: "It is not descriptive."

However, it's worth noting that this language would be difficult to use in practice and would not be able to express complex ideas or emotions.

Sounds reasonable to me...