Around 2 years ago now, I took the plunge and bought myself an Ergodox EZ split island keyboard. Quite franky, it is the biggest quantum leap in the ergonomic experience of interacting with a computer I have seen since learning Vim. It is comfortable, effortless and fast. If you spend any significant time interacting with computers it is a complete no brainer to invest in optimising the IO channel between your brain and the machine.<p>Here is a link to my keyboard layout which you can freely use. It is optimised for Vim and Ubuntu use.<p><a href="https://github.com/Ganon-M/ergodox-vim-ubuntu" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/Ganon-M/ergodox-vim-ubuntu</a>
I'm simply a mechanical keyboard user, I have a few trusty Filcos that I use and I will sometimes buy a keycap set and wait 1 year for it[1]; I don't have the courage to build custom keyboards.<p>However I do derive a vicarious pleasure looking at the build logs and end results shared by others, this post included. The two best places I've found to follow are the /r/mechanicalkeyboards[2] subreddit and the geekhack.org[3] forms which goes even more in-depth into specific subtopics.<p>It's a lovely world of enthusiasts that I am happy to place on a pedestal and admire.<p>[1]: <a href="https://drop.com/buy/massdrop-x-matt3o-mt3-susuwatari-custom-keycap-set?mode=guest_open" rel="nofollow">https://drop.com/buy/massdrop-x-matt3o-mt3-susuwatari-custom...</a><p>[2]: <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/mechanicalkeyboards" rel="nofollow">https://www.reddit.com/r/mechanicalkeyboards</a><p>[3]: <a href="https://geekhack.org/" rel="nofollow">https://geekhack.org/</a>
My problem with such keyboard is that it assumes:<p>- you will mostly work on the same place (or you accept the burden of traveling with your keyboard and be "that guy" when you set it up. Personally for the same hurdle, I prefer a secondary screen on the go)<p>- you will mostly work on the same machine (or you have multiple keyboards, one for each machine, and if you are in a data center or tech support, you move with your keyboard).<p>- you will not be exposed to many different keyboards, or layouts (e.g: you don't need to go help users and customers on their machine that don't allow plugging in, you don't teach, you don't use your phone a lot, etc). Switching layouts all the time is a nightmare.<p>- you can afford the initial lower productivity (e.g: you are not a freelancer that needs a regular output).<p>- cables and taking space are ok. Taste is taste, after all.<p>- you have the money, and find it is better invested in this than say, a better screen, mouse, graphic card, battery, etc. And renewal. Or you have enough to have it all.<p>- you are certain of this model is what you need or you can afford trying many. There are many ergonomic keyboards. They are all special and expensive in their own way.<p>- your layout is available. I'm french, I use AZERTY. Or you are fine learning to type with the wrong letters, or using stickers. I often buy/user computers in/from the US, and just type from memory after setting the QWERTY to an AZERTY layout. One of my friend like Dvorak (actually Bepo, the fr version)...<p>- nobody else than you will use your computer. Or you have several setup and are ok to switch every time.<p>Now I understand that as it's my job, optimizing this key element of it makes sense.<p>But hell, that's a lot of per-requisites.
If you're at all into custom keyboard making, and you haven't already, check out the QMK firmware: <a href="https://qmk.fm/" rel="nofollow">https://qmk.fm/</a> It makes it a lot easier to deal with the non-standard layouts that you'll probably want to use.
10 months in with my Ultimate Hacker Keyboard, and I can confidently say that it brings me more joy than any other electronic device I have, with maybe the exception of my MBP. Before I had mild RSI here and there, but with the UHK I have zero pain, ever. But it did take a lot of learning. I spent about 3 months feeling like an idiot ( hitting keys that weren't there, forgetting which macro I'd mapped, typing an arrow in vim mode instead of hjkl, etc ), so maybe it's not for everyone.
Check out the "Dactyl-ManuForm": <a href="https://github.com/tshort/dactyl-keyboard" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/tshort/dactyl-keyboard</a><p>> a parameterized, split-hand, concave, columnar, ergonomic keyboard.
I don't really understand why people want such tiny keyboards.<p>The most comfortable (and healthy!) way to type is to have your hands a shoulderwidth apart so you don't have to compress your arms.
I used an ergodox infinity for a while which was fantastic in terms of back pain but terrible in terms of everything else.<p>I currently use a Kinesis Advantage 1 which I'm tempted to dremel in half so I can get proper separation. It's that or learn how the Dactyl is configured so I can add enough keys to it to be useful :/
Building keyboards is such a rewarding activity. Once you go down that rabbit hole, you can go as deep as you want.<p>Here's one I did a couple of years ago, including a custom PCB: <a href="https://medium.com/@friggeri/the-new-blanck-keyboard-c7563c4f9fa" rel="nofollow">https://medium.com/@friggeri/the-new-blanck-keyboard-c7563c4...</a>
"New keys. What do you think." <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHt01D6rOLI" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHt01D6rOLI</a> (If American Psycho were about Programmers)
I've wanted a left-side number pad for a long time. I've contended that (for right-handed people) having a number pad on the right is poor ergonomics. If I centered such a keyboard in front of me, then the number pad would be in the way of my mouse. So I end up offsetting the keyboard several inches to the left, which causes me to have to position my arms awkwardly in order to reach the letters. I ended up using keyboards with no number pads at all (in my case a Leopold FC660C).
I’m on the verge of doing this. I have an Ergodox EZ but I want thumb clusters that are more useful, plus I’d like an encoder knob or two. The Kyria is close but it doesn’t do RGB per key or have a thumb cluster that exactly matches what I want. To the drawing board I go!
I switched to Kinesis Advantage[1] ten years ago and never looked back. The price tag is high, but worth it.<p>[1] <a href="https://kinesis-ergo.com/products/#keyboards" rel="nofollow">https://kinesis-ergo.com/products/#keyboards</a>
I just realised that having the keypad on the left is actually a great idea, solves the problem of wanting to keep the mouse closer to the main section of the keyboard, while keeping the keypad. Also, the keypad placed on the left can double as a cheaper alternative to those expensive gaming keypads. Anyone who is not into DIY could achieve the same by combining a TKL (tenkeyless) keyboard and a stand-alone USB numeric keypad.
Title should be modified to "build it instead (as long as you want a mechanical keyboard).<p>I love Apple's Magic Keyboard 2 very much. I've looked around a lot, but there's nothing out there with its super low profile that's also customizable.<p>My ideal keyboard would be a Magic Keyboard with a variety of key colors, RGB lights, and the ability to split it in half so I can put my arms in a better position.
IMO the most reasonable upgrade for 99.999% of "normal" people is just a plain $90 mechanical keyboard with Cherry switches. Any advantages of all this other stuff are pretty incremental unless you are really spending your days typing non-stop, which I'd wager is rare among software engineers.
The keyboard I want is one where the surfaces can be separated from the electronics so I can wash the damn thing.<p>I believe there was one gaming keyboard that worked this way (custom overlays) and Logitech has one keyboard they claim is washable, but IIRC the keys are mushy. No thanks.
I love the idea of a mechanical keyboard (and I would love to build one), but I hate the thick keys and travel distance of each key press (I'm used to the thing keys on my MacBook Pro). Are there any mechanical switches that are low-travel?
<i>This unusual layout arrived from a convoluted train of thought - switching from a full-size to help with mouse-related RSI issues; missing the keypad; and being left-handed.</i><p>Honestly as a righty putting the numpad on the left makes much more sense to me now that everyone expects to have a mouse in easy reach of their dominant hand.<p>Not that I've put this in practice myself; the only time I ever really need a numpad in my life is on the very rare occasions I'm playing a roguelike.
One day I'll likely be faced with making my own keyboard layout or losing the wonderful Home/End/PgUp/PgDn/Delete layout I've been used to for years now on a long discontinued keyboard model (I seriously have a box of spares under the bed that I bought when they stopped being made).<p>I've found myself adaptable to the action of many keyboards, but there's some layout features I'm very particular about.
I want a keyboard with an extra row of keys (I could use for additional characters in a custom layout) between the letters and the numbers. Is this possible?
Ehh<p>I have a kinesis advantage. There are some things I don't like about it, but I doubt it would be practical for me to make my own keyboard with a bowl shape like kinesis or maltron keyboards. And even if I could figure it out, they've probably done research into exactly what kind of curvature works well for the average hand, so whatever I made would be marginally less ergonomic.
I find building keyboards very relaxing (here is my work so far: <a href="https://ereign.is/objects/" rel="nofollow">https://ereign.is/objects/</a>).<p>The split orthos are very usable and comfortable after a few hours of acclimatization (I mostly use a commercial Topre board for now, I should finish designing QMK layouts that better serve my needs).
A number of commenters seem to be confused. This link is about computer keyboards, not musical keyboards, as is immediately evident when viewing the link. Please at least click the link before you comment on a Hacker News post.
As usual, madereth comes to mind:<p><a href="http://adereth.github.io/blog/2014/04/09/3d-printing-with-clojure/" rel="nofollow">http://adereth.github.io/blog/2014/04/09/3d-printing-with-cl...</a><p><a href="http://adereth.github.io/blog/2015/11/19/clojure-slash-conj-talk-on-3d-printing-keyboards/" rel="nofollow">http://adereth.github.io/blog/2015/11/19/clojure-slash-conj-...</a><p>clojure wrapped openscad to live design your keyboard from emacs/cider.<p>'(have fun)
I've always wanted a mechanical keyboard with the layout of the Apple magic keyboard, couldn't get use to the windows key position and missed the fn key. Always thought about building my own
Are mechanical keyboards that much "better" (I know this is subjective) than normal laptop keyboards (I have a macbook pro). I'm considering buying one but they are quite expensive...
I just bought a Leopold FC980M mechanical keyboard with brown switches. I was hesitant to buy into the hype for a long time. The keyboard cost $130 after shipping, which is expensive for a keyboard in my opinion. But, I can confidently say it was well worth the money. If you do a lot of typing I would seriously recommend giving a mechanical keyboard, specifically a Leopold, a shot.
For many years, bordering on a decade, I have entertained the idea of purchasing a keyboard from a particular Maker who partakes [now partook?] in creating gothic, retro, and similar-style keyboards to the tune of several thousand USD.<p>I have since not dipped in, but the marbles roll around in my mind.<p>To me, such purchase opportunities inspire both money-spending as well as creative inspirations.
I've been fascinated with mechanical keyboards for a while. Have been thinking of setting up a Slack channel to build a little community of enthusiast to share their builds / questions / stuff that's for sale etc. Anyone interested in joining such channel? Would love to set it up and connect with MK builders. Send me an email if interested.
I'm currently held back from going into the mechanical keyboard world because I'm hooked on the thinkpad trackpoint stick and mouse buttons below the spacebar - I've got a thinkpad and two usb keyboards with the dot and mouse buttons, and I use them on every computer I touch. Are there mechanical keyboards with built in mouse functionality?
<a href="https://m.intl.taobao.com/detail/detail.html?id=535590071686&spm=a2141.7631565.1.2_1" rel="nofollow">https://m.intl.taobao.com/detail/detail.html?id=535590071686...</a><p>This(pro) is what I am using now. Cheaper than ergodox ez but more beautiful.<p>You may need compile QMK yourself because it is flipped as compare to EZ
Am I the only one who doesn't quite fancy mechanical keys?<p>For me, Mechanical keyboards cause fatigue as the key travel, regardless of which flavor of the key type, is too much. I prefer using Apple's new magic keyboar with numpad. It has a 1mm or so travel and feels fantastic.
Having the mouse in the right side of the keyboard puts it too far away.<p>My solution is to just mouse left-handed. As a right handed person, this does take some training, but it had been worth it in the long run.<p>That, plus an ergonomic keyboard solved most of my problems.
> If You Can't Buy the Keyboard You Want, Build It Instead<p>Lucky me. I can just go into most stores and pick up a Cherry Board MX 3.0 with MX Black. :)
Interesting. I'd like to build my own keyboard, but my crafting skills are not good enough for it. It's a pity how few tenkeyless mechanical keyboards with a ctrl<->capslock dip switch there are, and most of them don't allow you to install matching custom key caps. I'm currently using a Pok3r, which is okay, but I really wish there were more custom keyboard options on the market.
I did just that. I hired Darrell Fandrich to build it. He started with a 5'10" case and soundboard built in Guangzhou, China but discarded the soundboard. We chose a scale design by Lothar Schell and a Holy Grail stringing scale by Fandrich with strings custom wound for the scale by Mapes in Kentucky. The stringing scale included special Mapes aluminum strings that cover the first six notes above the point where the overstring section begins—these are designed to better blend the the overstring transition which can otherwise be notchy. A custom soundboard was crafted in Boston from hand-picked straight-grain Siberian spruce and milled to a diaphragmatic shape that mimics Steinway soundboards where the center is about half an inch thick but, to enhance liveness and sustain power, tapers down to about 1/4 inch at the edges where it meets the case. A custom Renner action was added and outfitted with Abel Royal Blue grand hammers. Key weighting and fine voicing conducted in stages over the course of several months finished it off. That was in 1998-99 and it is still the best keyboard I have ever used.