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'm a full time software developer. I built and laid out my own Sofle V2 and it's been great. Everything for programming is on the top layer except for the brackets, which are on a second layer. I only have one problem with it, and it's that I couldn't fit all the dedicated arrow keys on it, and I'm missing the up arrow which is on a tiptap format with the right shift key. I'm currently waiting for the Elkhorn keyboard to happen, or if I get tired of waiting I'll probably order a dactyl or something that has one extra key on the right hand.
I'm guessing that you have
-_key in top-right,=+where[{would normally be, and three of the arrows on the thumb row? I toyed with having 4 arrows on the thumb row for a bit and currently checking on having a navigation toggle layer that only swaps the letter keys on the right half.If you are comfortable with building your own, there's a good number of keyboards in this form factor - I made a list recently. There are similar-shaped keyboards with a slightly different key distribution like Egg58 or Cantaloupe, keyboards with slightly more keys like Redox and other ErgoDox derivatives, keyboards with asymmetrical clusters on the right like Breeze or ErgoNICE, 4x7 keyboards like Ergoinu, Interphase, or Kapl, and even a 4x8 Drift...
I have as much of ansi international as I can fit on the keyboard, and then I have a separate layer where
-=_+[]{}are 'under'90opl;./respectively. I have left, down, and right arrows south ofm,.and the up arrow on a tapdance thing, merged with right shift.I'm perfectly happy with building my own keyboard, and I'll check out your list too. I'm basically looking for a sofle with one or two extra keys on each thumb row. I want the numbers at the top.