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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Advice on how to start/test (self.ergomechkeyboards)

submitted 1 year ago by The_one_and_only to c/[email protected]

19 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I am someone who has not used mechanical keyboards before, but I am curious about them since I read everywhere that they are great. The issue I have is that I obviously don't know which things I will like or not. For example the switches, there are a lot of brands, and they produce different switches. When I read about them, I see the familiar terms: "clicky", "tactile", but I have no idea what that actually means.

However, just starting to buy stuff to test it out will become very expensive, very quickly.

How do you start with this without spending hundreds and hundreds of Euro's at the start (and without knowing if you like it or not)

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I’d second this. Buy a switch tester, and have a play to see what you like. Some computer shops even have them in store to ‘try before you buy’. Next thing is the keyboard typo. Ortho? Split? 100% or 40%? FWIW I started out with an ErgoDox, and then played with layers and key layouts until I found something I was happy with. Then you can simply stay there, or if you’ve reduced your keys to something like 36-keys, there are a wide range of boards to choose from with slightly varying layouts and designs.