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Ultimate Hacking Keyboard
- _virtu 8y agoKinda bummed to see that they don't support qmk. Why write your own firmware when a sweet oss firmware with tons of backing already exists?
- mondalaci 8y agoBecause it's a tad easier to configure the UHK via Agent than QMK keyboards. http://ultimatehackingkeyboard.github.io/agent/ http://ultimatehackingkeyboard.github.io/agent/
- Karliss 8y agoNote that each half of keyboard and module has a separate microcontroller. Somewhere in the blog they even showed a monstrosity consisting of one right half and 3 left halves connected together. In theory you could run qmk on the primary controller (someone will probably do that) but you would still need secondary firmware for all other parts. It might be more productive to add common import/export format for some of the keyboard layout creation tools than trying to share firmware. Many sane assumptions made by qmk wouldn't apply to UHK which is possibly more complicated than a keyboard should be. Keyboard layouts in qmk are hard-coded in firmware and replaced by building a new firmware. That is a reasonable approach for 8-bit AVR MCU supported by qmk, not so much for UHK which has an order of magnitude more resources. Maintaining all of that in single codebase might be more difficult to maintain for both UHK and qmk developers than doing it separately. Ifdefs all over the code would be a mess (there is not much room for abstractions using 2K of RAM). Testing if the functionality added by UHK developers doesn't break anything on 10-50 keyboards supported by qmk would also be a significant burden.
- coaxial 8y agoQmk can handle multiple controllers though. My helix is a split keyboard with an Arduino and OLED display in each half and it runs qmk.
- tashoecraft 8y agoGood on them for shipping. Followed them for awhile, but eventually went with a keyboard.io. I'm rarely traveling whilst needing a dedicated keyboard, and all the extra add ons weren't necessary for me.
- ake1 8y agogot a keyboard.io as well but gave up on trying to learn typing on ortho.
- kabdib 8y agoYeah, I had high hopes for the keyboard.io, but it turned out to be an ergonomic disaster. After a couple of weeks trying to transition, I just gave up. It's a shame. I'd buy a keyboard from keyboard.io with a less radically different layout. I don't think I could reprogram the existing one to the point where I could retain my current typing speed.
- jimmy1 8y agoI was curious so I looked at their marketing vid. "I found a bunch of research about keyboard design [...] and every keyboard design in the last 20 years has flat out ignored it" It also seems they flat out ignored the single most beneficial feature for a keyboard on hand ergonomics: having your hands rest at a negative slope. The UHK seems to have this feature.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- opencl 8y agoIt does support negative tilt, though only with the palm rest attached.
- tashoecraft 8y agoYou can just spin the base and have whatever slope you want
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- tomjakubowski 8y agoCongrats on shipping, Laci!
- mondalaci 8y agoThanks Tom!
- redwards510 8y agoThis. I've been following this product since it was first announced and I know it's been a looooooong road to travel for the team. If anyone is pondering doing a similar hardware product, you should check out the UHK blog because Laci goes into a lot of technical detail about development, procurement, and certification issues the UHK team ran into over two years. I was mad when the projected date was missed, but as time went on, I strangely got less mad until I just threw up my hands and said "It'll be here when it's ready." I'm glad they didn't cut any obvious corners trying to get this out to meet angry customers mad about the ship date.
- mondalaci 8y agoThanks for the nice words! Our backers have been super nice about the announced delays, and cherished that we insist to quality so much. We're so glad to finally ship!
- anotheryou 8y agoAre there any chiclet style split keyboards?
- sli 8y agoCan't think of any off the top of my head, but you could build a Let's Split (or Chimera, or... actually there are a lot) with Kalih low profile switches and keycaps.
- CarVac 8y agoThere is a Let's Split kit with Kailh Choc low profile keys. It's not chiclet, but it's short travel.
- anotheryou 8y agosold out :/
- ReneFroger 8y agoYes, Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic is your friend.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- roel_v 8y agoI've had mine for about 2 months now. I like it better than my Ergodox, but it's not perfect (yet). Maybe I need to train muscle memory more still, but I'm looking forward to the extra modules shipping for having extra thumb keys. Furthermore I'm still annoyed at the arrow keys needing a modifier, where the Ergodox has an extra row of keys for that. Hardware build quality is impeccable, software/firmware is only just getting there though. Programmability is better (well, easier) than w Ergodox, although I imagine that by now there are graphical tools for that; back when I configured mine, I had to hack the C firmware to get it to do what I wanted.
- kingnothing 8y agoWhy do you like it over the Ergodox?
- roel_v 8y agoBecause all keys are printed, build quality (I have an Ergodox EZ and it's ok but not like the UHK), the palm rests are attached, the tenting works better, I like having a proper graphical config tool. I think those are the main ones but I'm not sitting at my desk looking at it, so I might forget something :)
- mkozlows 8y agoErgodox EZ has a graphical config tool.
- mondalaci 8y agoThere's quite a difference between the configurator of the ErgoDox EZ and Agent. Agent is a tad more polished, allows multiple keymaps, editing macros, directly saves configuration to the keyboard, restores configuration based on keyboard memory, and allows customizing mouse speeds.
- 13415 8y agoI'm using a Pok3r and the programming is great for remapping keys - I definitely need Ctrl on Capslock. I bought it because my Unicomp was taking up too much desktop space. To get to the point: Even as an Emacs user I am missing the arrow keys and Insert and Home. Tenkeyless is better. So for me the above keyboard wouldn't be the ultimate hacking keyboard.
- snide 8y agoI use caps as my modifier. Then I can CAPS+HJKL for arrow keys. I'm a vim user though so this already feels pretty natural to me.
- fenwick67 8y agoI use CAPS+IJKL on my pok3r (the defaults) and I love it.
- btschaegg 8y agoSame here (just with a different keyboard). Plus you can establish a few mappings more and get a minimalistic "Vim layer" going that works everywhere (say mapping caps+w to ctrl-right). That's great if you're stranded in Windows and have no options to opt for Vim-like input on almost all text widgets.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- diffeomorphism 8y agoMaybe a naive question, but why should one reprogram keys in hardware instead of software (xmodmap, xkb, xcape etc.)?
- mondalaci 8y agoHardware level configuration is beneficial if you switch between computers, (especially which you don't have control over) on a regular basis.
- benjiweber 8y agoLooks neat, but doesn't look like they have a UK layout? Not sure I could cope with the tiny enter key on the US/ISO layout
- ommunist 8y agoUK layouts are so rare on ergo keyboards these days
- tuxlifan 8y agoI thought that would be a big problem for me, too, being used to inverted-L shaped enter keys basically my whole computer life. After a few days I stopped worrying because the UHK enter key is actually easier to reach for my right pinky finger than the one on my previous MS Natural keyboard was. OTOH the "\|" key above the enter key I'm still mistyping occasionally.
- sand500 8y agoAnother split keyboard alternative to this and the UHK is the freestyle edge: https://gaming.kinesis-ergo.com/edge/ https://gaming.kinesis-ergo.com/edge/ Had way less of a learning curve than my ergodox.
- jasonlotito 8y agoI use the Freestyle2 Blue, and absolutely love it. Enough that I have one for home and work. I don't have the gaming one yet for my gaming PC, but I'm seriously considering picking it up. The difference is I don't use my gaming PC for typing much, so it's less of an issue. Still, It's a wonderful keyboard.
- briatx 8y agoI have a Freestyle Edge and I love it. Although I'm intrigued by the integrated pointer options, I don't think I'll make the switch due to the pricetag and 60% form factor.
- suprfnk 8y ago> Had way less of a learning curve than my ergodox. The big difference to the keyboard you linked, the Ergodox is an ortholinear keyboard. It is to be expected that that comes with a learning curve if you've only typed on a staggered keyboard. I personally think ortholinear is worth the learning curve.
- JdeBP 8y agoIt's a shame that the Ergodox marketing blurb implies that they invented it. > archaic design, which we fixed It was fixed a long time ago, by other people. Maltron keyboard designs have had this since the 1980s. Lillian Malt criticized "[t]he uneven stretches caused by the diagonal slope of the rows of keys on qwerty" in 1977. PCD Maltron's first demo keyboard from 1976 eliminated that slope. * https://www.maltron.com/maltron-history.html https://www.maltron.com/maltron-history.html That wasn't a novel criticism even then.
- kabdib 8y agoI bought one of these when they came out, and my first weekend with it I just couldn't stop typing, it was so much fun. The only misdesign I can think of is that the DEL key should be bigger. (The ESC key is huge and hard to miss, which is fantastic).
- frostburg 8y agoInteresting. I'm going to build a Nyquist (60%, split, ortho, I picked Zealios 67g switches) in a few days, I'm currently waiting for a few parts to arrive, maybe I should consider designing some kind of wrist-rest that allows for a negative slope.
- jamesfmilne 8y agoJamie Zawinski wrote a fairly critical review of it https://www.jwz.org/blog/2018/08/ultimate-hacking-keyboard/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2018/08/ultimate-hacking-keyboard/ Warning: jwz doesn’t care much for HN, so you will be referred to a NSFW image if you follow the above link. I recommend copying & pasting the URL :-)
- mtrpcic 8y agoProbably worth mentioning that it's a NSFW image since it's the middle of the workday.
- mondalaci 8y agoJamie wasn't looking for a 60% keyboard, yet he purchased the UHK which is a 60% keyboard. That directly resulted in his review. Imagine you want a sedan but buy a truck.
- roel_v 8y agoYeah I pretty much agree with that whole review. The microswitch buttons are stupid.
- asymmetric 8y ago> Warning: jwz doesn’t care much for HN, so you will be referred to a NSFW image if you follow the above link. I recommend copying & pasting the URL :-) Or use the opportunity to disable the referer header. In Firefox, it's network.http.sendRefererHeader in about:config.
- duxup 8y agoIt looks like a cool product, but ... I'm not a mechanical keyboard guy. I much prefer something like the Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic ... but it always made me sad that that style of keyboard didn't have more competition. The enthusiast keyboard scene seems to be mostly mechanical and I kinda want something that feels more "in-between" what I think of as a heavy mechanical and lighter laptop thing...
- frostburg 8y agoYou might like Topre switches (I do, my daily keyboard is a Novatouch), but I'm not aware of "ergonomic" Topre boards.
- ianai 8y agoAn ergo topre would be nice, but I don’t think they exist. I very much need my kinesis.
- lallysingh 8y agoThere is one made in Japan, but it's hard to get. Called the uTron.
- bschwarz 8y agoUnfortunately the μTRON was discontinued in early 2017 and finding one online now is incredibly rare - I know because I've been looking ever since! Some TRON heritage lives on in the Esrille NISSE and the Keyboardio Model 01, although they don't feature Topre switches.
- chris11 8y agoI picked up a mechanical keyboard, because it looked cool. I liked the idea of a higher quality keyboard, programmable functionality looked potentially useful, and I liked the looks of some custom key cap sets. Unfortunately I was not happy with it at all. For some reason I ended up getting hand fatigue. It's probably a combination of usually typing with my wrists on my desk and a habit of bottoming out, and switch type. But I ended up boxing the keyboard back up.
- miguelrochefort 8y agoStaggered keys. Seriously? I'll never stop being amazed by how conservative these designs are.
- gnulinux 8y agoSame, it's like "hey let's completely redesign this product but leave critical elements as remnants of the 19th century type writers".
- IronBacon 8y agoI have an Ergodox and a TECK (I prefer the latter to the Ergodox) and I cringe every time I need to use a "standard" (horizontally) staggered keyboard. It boggles my mind on how this industry continue to adopt a layout that was the result of technical limitations of the 1800, fuck ergonomics, we don't want to confuse our customers... Bah!
- brodsky 8y agoCould also be due to the product being aimed at touch typist audience with lots of muscle memory of traditional keyboards?
- IronBacon 8y agoNot in my opinion. I think I've learned to touch type on a mechanical Olivetti typewriter, the hand stance was different and it required a lot, and I mean it a lot of force applied to the keys to print a character, anyway I probably used to touch type on staggered keyboards for more than 10 years, the transition to columnar keyboards was painless and I'm not going back. The only two problematic keys are probably Y and B where you can learn to reach both with the same hand (I think my instructor left us freedom and I probably used the right index for both). I switched 2~3 years ago to Colemak, I thought Dvorak moved too much keys around, and I have the impression that I'm slower than when I was on Qwerty and I still confuse the R with the S (I need to think to press the key instead of simply thinking the word, that is more than a decade of muscle memory) so you have a sample of one that is a weak argument. ^__^;
- Blinks- 8y ago?
- cordite 8y agoVery neat, totally want, just with ortholinear keys and with a low profile.
- btschaegg 8y ago> [...] totally want, just with ortholinear keys [...] This. I was actually pretty hyped about the UHK, but seeing the delivery schedule, opted for an ergodox. After a week or two I really started noticing how annoying that shift between the key rows is on a normal keyboard.
- cordite 8y agoI used an ergodox for a while, but I was chafing my thumbs on it. I seem to do better with low profile keys. Currently I use the TypeMatrix for 6 years now (and have 3 of them). The key tactility isn't where I want with the TypeMatrix, but the low profile (as well as good labeling for non a-z keys) design seems to be most comfortable.
- petepete 8y agoI've tried so many styles of keyboard over the years and nothing has ever made me feel as 'at one with the computer' as the HHKB Pro 2. It's so close to perfect. Typing feels amazing, it has a really pleasing 'thunk' if you bottom out, the CTRL key is in the correct position, it's almost symmetrical and everything's within reach. When used with a suitable wrist rest I can type for hours on end without complaint. Worth every penny. Additionally, I've seen "pimped" versions of the HHKB and it's honestly ridiculous. Why take something beautiful and minimalist and have weird-shaped keys?
- gnulinux 8y agoIs it programmable? I don't suppose programmability is absolutely necessary since I use emacs and so "everything is programmable" but still, while I'm updating my keyboard from shitty MacBook Pro keyboard, I might as well get something programmable.
- petepete 8y agoNot programmable. Programmability isn't something I care for in a keyboard. I understand it's a must for some people though, it's a good thing that there's plenty of choice these days.
- jaxtellerSoA 8y agoLookup up your beloved HHKB Pro 2. The placement of the backslash key alone is enough for me to say "No fucking way" to ever even trying that thing.
- zorkw4rg 8y ago> Increase your productivity by never leaving the home row. I can't possibly be the only one who read "Increase your productivity by never leaving home.", But awww I'm so much more productive in the office though =)
- patleeman 8y agoI'm typing on one right now. I'm a fan of split keyboards and like it more than my ergodox.
- fwip 8y agoAre there any info/specs on the touchpad module? I love having the touchpad next to my thumbs on my macbook, but I'm admittedly spoiled by how nice this one is.
- shmerl 8y agoI'm really uncomfortable with keyboards without a proper function keys row. Numpad also is good to have but less critical.
- _virtu 8y agoI've found a function layer easier to use than having a dedicated row for it. Having f1,f2,f3,f4,f5 map to a,s,d,f,g is a dream when debugging, you don't have to move your hand at all.
- shmerl 8y agoYou have to press an extra modification key for that? It's a trade-off that doesn't sound comfortable to me.
- ne01 8y agoThe website is down. I was wondering if it looks anything like Typematrix 2030. Typematrix 2030 + Dvorak layout == high accuracy stealth flying experience. My fingers fly on a Typematrix 2030. Give it a try, you are going to love it!
- mondalaci 8y agoJust enabled the cache, so hopefully you should be able to open the UHK site now.
- joeymink 8y agoI type in Dvorak and used a typematrix 2030 for about 2 years. I never got as fast on their board as I could on a standard, staggered layout. Don’t know why... I’ve a UHK arriving soon, stoked to try it out. It’s been a lot of years and a lot of keyboards (goldtouch split was probably my fav), will the uhk win me over? Time will tell :)
- exitcode00 8y agoA "hacking" keyboard without a numpad and f-keys? Lame..
- melling 8y agoDoesn’t having a numeric keypad hurt ergonomics? Healthier wrist positions should take precedence?
- Someone1234 8y agoDifferent keys for different tasks. If you're doing numerical data entry the keypad is a star. If you're doing programming/writing, stick to the number row. But even if we ignore that omission the lack of F keys is a complete deal breaker. There's a reason I won't touch the new Macbook Pros with Touchbar, this is worse than that.
- jessaustin 8y agoThis really depends on OS. I never need an F-key.
- Hashbrown777 8y agoThat's the whole point of this keyboard though, the only thing it's missing is the physical keys. You want F-keys? Add it in as a modifier on the number-row. You do a lot of spreadsheeting? Make a layer with a numpad and maybe some macros and wasd->arrowkeys on the left to make life easy. Its purpose is to give everyone what they need, but without needing them to have a bajillion different physical interfaces on their desk/s. You want F-keys, someone else wants a numpad, another wants Logitech's G-keys, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. The UHK says enough. You can do it all on one set of buttons. It may not be your style, but saying it's lacking F-keys is disingenuous.
- redwards510 8y ago> Doesn’t having a numeric keypad hurt ergonomics? Absolutely. I will never buy a keyboard with an attached numpad because it splays my mousing hand way out to the right in an very awkward manner. That is one of the reasons I bought the UHK. One of the really cool features of the UHK I was surprised to discover after I received it is that it can control your mouse cursor and right/left/middle buttons by using the Mod keys and h/j/k/l keys. Yes, I'm sure you can download some utility that enables this on any keyboard but it's nice to have it built into the firmware.
- leshow 8y agoI've found the ergodox to be the 'ultimate hacking' keyboard. Although, pretty much anything that flashes QMK will be sufficient.
- asymmetric 8y agoI like it from the description, but I'm not sure about the fact that it's not ortholinear (i.e. keys are not in a grid). How do people feel about the effect of ortholinearity on ergonomics?
- andrewla 8y agoI personally use a regular keyboard rather than a split ergonomic keyboard; I've never really had any discomfort even typing for long periods, so have never really felt the need, and I have a tenkeyless keyboard that I'm very happy with. The main thing that I notice when I try out split keyboards is that the middle keys on the keyboard are forced to "choose a side". My typing style admits some degree of alternation; I may use my left hand to hit the 'h', especially when my right hand is doing punctuation work on the side of the keyboard. So my question is why aren't these keys simply replicated. Just have t/y,g/h,v/b/n on both sides of the divide so that you don't have to make a choice; just like the spacebar is replicated.
- mondalaci 8y agoSplit keyboards are primarily designed for touch typist who consistently hit keys with their fingers. Replicating middle keys would result in extra bulk.
- redwards510 8y ago> I've never really had any discomfort even typing for long periods, so have never really felt the need See, the thing about Repetitive Stress Injury, at least in my experience, is it just starts hurting one day out of the blue, and at that point you are screwed because you can't just "take a break" from using a keyboard/mouse. Every day you just worsen it and freak out wondering if your career is going to be over because it hurts so much to do your job. In my case throwing away corny rainbow-led gaming keyboards/mice and getting a split keyboard & vertical mouse saved my life. But I wish I had never got to that point!
- lghh 8y agoThere are plenty of keyboards that do this exact same schtick with better firmware, better layouts, and/or at less cost. The only thing this adds are the add-ons which are gimmicky...
- nine_k 8y agoThis is one of the few I see with a trackpoint / trackpad as an option. Having a separate mouse next to a programmers keyboard sort of defeats the purpose, because it makes you move your hand constantly. But a pointer device is often the most ergonomic option if one of your tools is a browser.
- mondalaci 8y agoThere are hardly plenty of truly split 60% keyboards on the market, especially if you add to the requirements tenting, negative tilting, or having a configurator as powerful and polished as Agent.
- jokoon 8y agoWhy is it so small? TKL (tenkeyless meaning a keyboard without a numpad) is just small enough, and honestly I use the END/HOME/DEL keys a lot, so I cannot conceive a keyboard without them. Better posture?
- mondalaci 8y agoThe UHK is a 60% keyboard which only features the alphanumeric block. The idea is that the hands shouldn't move, only the fingers should move. This design results in heavier chording, so it's a deliberate compromise with which some are comfortable, others are not.
- kabdib 8y agoI ordered a couple of these a couple of years ago. Still waiting. Hadn't internalized the lack of an ESC key, so they are probably going into a closet. I'm really happy with my Kinesis Gaming keyboards. Half a dozen of my cow-orkers have bought them based on just a few minutes of using the one on my desk. They're the best keyboards I've used in the last 20 years, since Microsoft's Natural keyboards started to crater in design and build quality.
- mondalaci 8y agoHi there! You ordered your UHKs within 2 years, and they are just being manufactured. Please check out https://ultimatehackingkeyboard.com/delivery-status https://ultimatehackingkeyboard.com/delivery-status You should finally have them in about a week or two. We're catching up, and will deliver every pre-order in about two months. Thanks for your patience!
- hannasanarion 8y agoAll the keys are mappable, you can put Esc anywhere you want. I made the key marked ` into Esc, and put `~ on Fn-T (for tilde)
- canhascodez 8y agoWhat do you use ESC for? It doesn't seem particularly common these days, and ^[ tends to be just as good, in my experience.
- nerder92 8y agovim?
- brazzledazzle 8y agoYou can map caps-lock to escape to reduce travel but some HN folks turned me on to the idea of avoiding it altogether: http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Avoid_the_escape_key http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Avoid_the_escape_key
- kingnothing 8y agoI'm highly skeptical of any "ergonomic" keyboard that doesn't use some form of columnar layout.
- amelius 8y agoLooks like CGI, and not a real product yet. Be careful when ordering.
- mondalaci 8y agoThe UHK IS a real product! See https://twitter.com/UltHackKeyboard https://twitter.com/UltHackKeyboard
- Hayframe 8y agoHere's a photo of the product I received and customized, if it helps: https://i.imgur.com/n1D0LAV.jpg https://i.imgur.com/n1D0LAV.jpg
- fstanis 8y agoLots of people, myself included, received it. You can find some real photos if you search for the #GotMyUHK hashtag: https://twitter.com/hashtag/GotMyUHK https://twitter.com/hashtag/GotMyUHK
- drewg123 8y agoMaybe just make it one row wider or taller so that it can have an escape and a `~ key simultaneously? The need to make these things so small that compromises like having to choose between esc and `~ is very strange to me. This is not a portable device. I have had a Mistel MD650L for the last 6 weeks, and I didn't notice that it had the same issue as this one -- you need to press a mod key to switch between esc and `~. I use both enough that this is a major PITA. I remapped the "del" key to `~ for a while, but then I started to have to hunt around for that key on my laptop.
- mondalaci 8y agoYou can remap the ~ key on the UHK to be Esc by default and ~ via the Mod layer if you want to. We plan to design further UHKs of different form factors. I don't get however why you don't consider the current model compact.
- graedus 8y ago> I don't get however why you don't consider the current model compact. Are you referring to this? > This is not a portable device. The way I read it, drewg123 wasn't saying that this particular keyboard is not compact compared to other keyboards. Rather, a keyboard in general doesn't need to be particularly portable, so why attempt to shave an extra inch off by eliminating useful keys?
- drewg123 8y agoYes, that's exactly what I'm trying to say. I didn't notice the tradeoff on the kbd that I have now before I bought it. So every time I go to use tilde, I need to stop, think, and hit the mode key. I'd much rather have another row with fn/esc above the numbers, just like on regular keyboards. I was actually hoping this keyboard had that. I can't seem to find a "mild" ergo split mechanical keyboard with enough keys; I'd buy one if I could find one..
- mondalaci 8y agoGotcha, thanks for clarifying! Well, 60% keyboards are not for everyone.
- pro_zac 8y agoAfter using the Comfort Keyboard system [1] for about 10 years, I made the switch to the Koolertron split keyboard [2]. I'm a huge fan of having the left spacebar programmed to backspace. It comes with extra key caps so you can make them all black. http://www.comfortkeyboard.com/keyboards_ergoflex.html http://www.comfortkeyboard.com/keyboards_ergoflex.html https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076FTNXDX/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076FTNXDX/
- bitxbit 8y agoI just came here to say HHKB and rubre domeh. I actually moved on to custom myself but still stick with the original HHKB format.
- twiceaday 8y agoReference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm02Gc7dNh8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm02Gc7dNh8
- amelius 8y agoWhat would be the best location for a dedicated "lambda" key?
- nfd 8y agoMaybe under some simple chord?
- utopcell 8y agoI find Massdrop's CTRL mechanical keyboard [1] fascinating. AFAIK it is the only keyboard whose keys are not soldered on the PCB, which allows you to swap mechanical key types out or mix-and-match. [1] https://www.massdrop.com/buy/massdrop-ctrl-mechanical-keyboard https://www.massdrop.com/buy/massdrop-ctrl-mechanical-keyboa...
- make3 8y agorequiring login to view the price is a big nono for me
- ur-whale 8y agoyup. I will never know what this product is.
- IronBacon 8y agoThis should be accessible even for not registered people: https://www.massdrop.com/buy/massdrop-ctrl-mechanical-keyboard?mode=guest_open https://www.massdrop.com/buy/massdrop-ctrl-mechanical-keyboa... There is allegedly a reason about it...
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- JimmyAustin 8y agoThe CTRL's predecessor, the K-Type, also featured hot-swap socket. There are a few others (like the GK64 and the Ergodox EZ) that also feature it!
- utopcell 8y agoThanks, I did not know about these keyboards.
- ur-whale 8y agoNo esc key ... Hacking keyboard ... Doesn't compute.
- egorfine 8y agoWhy did they name a keyboard with no escape, no arrows and no function row a "hacking" keyboard?
- rijoja 8y agoBecause the escape key heavily used by VIM was placed there since it used to have the position of where the caps lock is currently located. Hence all elite users map the escape key to the caps lock key. As far as the arrow keys are concerned the keyboard used for the original vim had arrow keys placed on the keys h,j,k & l. Which is what real hackers use to navigate apparently.
- ithkuil 8y agoCtrl-c can be used to exit insert mode as well. Caps-lock key was also historically the location of the ctrl key.
- Lio 8y agoCtrl-c is a poor substitute for escape as it messes up your history and stops things like mutiline visual inserts working. You’re better off using ctrl-[ which is exactly the same as escape in functionality.
- Lio 8y agoNot sure I qualify as an “elite” but I’ve never seen an original keyboard with the escape where thr caps is on a modern keyboard. I’ve seen them in the place of the tab key but never on the home row. Personally, as a long time Vi user, I think you’re better off mapping the caps key to Ctrl and using C-[ for escape. That leaves you with many more Vim insert mode commands within easy reach. E.g. C-r <buffer> — to put a buffer C-h — backspace C-i — tab C-m — CR C-xC-f — complete filename Etc, etc. h,j,k & l are really only the simplest od vi navigation keys. Once you know how to, say, jump to 3rd paragraph or to jump or to the middle of the screen you won’t use them anywhere near as much. Much as I love vi navigation owning a Pok3r keyboard has shown me how annoying it is to not have dedicated cursor keys for GUI applications.
- ConcernedCoder 8y agoI read the 1st line of the description as: "Increase your productivity by never leaving the home NOW." lol... I need to get outside.
- _ph_ 8y agoLooks very nice, a big bonus that it is available as an ISO layout. The difficulty with finding a decent keyboard is, that as a German, I need an ISO layout, which rules out a lot of potentially great keyboards. But unfortunately it is missing the row with the escape and function keys and the cursor keys. Currently I am using the Microsoft Sculpt keyboard, and I am mostly happy with it, except that the escape/function key row is only half sizes. If it were full sized, I probably would be compeltely happy with it. I would be willing to shell out serious money for my dream keyboard, but so far the offerings are few and scarce.
- _ph_ 8y agoFollowing a link in this discussion, I found the matias, which is avaliable in ISO layout and has the extra keys: https://matias.ca/ergopro/pc/ https://matias.ca/ergopro/pc/ does anyone have experience with their "quit click" keys?
- saintPirelli 8y agoWell, I need a numpad for Blender though.
- BananaHemic 8y agoYou can use their keyboard customization program to do this, so for example you could have a blender mode that when active lets you use a certain group of keys as the numpad
- barbecue_sauce 8y agoMinor quibble, but I'd rather the B key be on the other side when split.
- stevenicr 8y agoInteresting, made me look.. on my microsoft erqo natural 4000, the B key is on the left side, which matches what I seen on the linked site's pics. Are you using a brand of keyboard that is putting the B on the right side of a large split? Or using a keyboard that has no space at all between the right and left?
- ken 8y agoBack when I had to learn touch typing (do they do that any more?), we learned the 'correct' finger for each key. The five columns of letters on the left belong to the left hand, so the "B" is in the correct place. The "6", however, is on the left of the split, while it belongs to the right index finger. Most split keyboards get this 'wrong' -- in the sense that old people like me who learned to "touch type" will have to re-learn it. The root cause of all this disagreement, of course, is the weird offsets of the rows. Why aren't the keys in a square matrix formation? There haven't been typebars on keyboards in decades, and the fingers on my left and right hands are symmetric. If you're going to make everybody learn new muscle memory for escape, space, arrow keys, function keys, etc., why not fix the row spacing, too, while you're at it? I find it strange to maintain just this one legacy misfeature.
- yourpalkeith 8y agoThe idea that pouring time into customizing your keyboard just so will boost productivity is madness. Is typing speed really the bottleneck for anyone? That said - beautiful keyboard.
- brodsky 8y agoIt's not (just?) the typing speed though - for many it's the ability to limit hand and arm movement, and alleviate the effects of many types of RSI. I just ordered one, and as I type this through noticeable pain in my right wrist, I eagerly anticipate this keyboard helping me continue a healthy career.
- sajattack 8y agoAs a lefty thinkpad enthusiast I'm really disappointed the trackpoint module only works on the right half of the keyboard.
- mondalaci 8y agoWish we could make both-sided modules of every kind, but high demand is questionable, and the tooling prices are high. Possibly later.
- jnordwick 8y agoWhoever made this didn't seem to program much in vi or emacs. - you need as modifier for esc. - control is shoved in the corner. - return is too small - no easy arrows I'm sure I could get used to other issues like needing a modifier for function keys, but those three are a real deal breaker. If you are going to do a hackers keyboard, make it so you don't need shift for the parens, brackets, or other commonly used symbols when coding or at a shell prompt. (My emacs setup makes heavy use of function keys including modifiers with them so that might actually be a deal breaker too. Having to be a world class pianist to compile doesn't sound like a step up.) Edit: i hate hn formatting so very much
- hannasanarion 8y agoNo keyboard would be a hacking keyboard if it were not hackable. The central feature of the UHK is how extremely easy it is to reprogram, you can put any key anywhere, with 4 layers to work with (normal, fn, mod, and mouse) and borrowings from qmk like different behavior on a key when is tapped vs held, one-shot-mods, and tapdancing.
- brodsky 8y agowhat are one-shot-mods and tapdancing? I'm new to this terminology! :) thanks.
- hannasanarion 8y agoOne-shot-mods is when you press a button once, and then release it, and it has an effect on the next button you press. For example, to get to upper case, instead of holding shift and pressing buttons, you can press shift once, and only your next button press is shifted. Tap dancing is when a button does different things for how many times you press it in a row. For example, one of my keyboards has the button to the left of the pinky finger (the one usually labeled "caps lock") with this schema: tap: backspace hold: control double tap: escape double tap-hold: super
- 8y ago
- 3rdAccount 8y agoAnybody have a keyboardio to compare against?
- thraxil 8y agoI have a Keyboardio Model 01. I haven't tried the Ultimate Hacking Keyboard so I can't compare directly. From looking at it: * Keyboardio has vertical key columns rather than the staggered ones on regular layouts like the UHK. That took some adjustment, but is much nicer once you're used to it. * The thumb keys layout on the Keyboardio has clearly had a lot of thought put into it. When I got it, I expected that I'd hate it and remap a lot of them, but it really works very nicely. The modifier keys on the UHK look much harder to hit without some awkward stretching. Hard to say without actually trying it though. * I do like the Thinkpad style trackpoint module. I'd love to have something like that on the Keyboardio. It does have a mouse layer, but it's hard to use and I mostly forget that it exists. Overall, I absolutely love my Keyboardio. The sculpted keycaps, thumb key layout, palm keys and overall feel are extraordinary. Every detail is really aimed at maximum ergonomics and long term comfort. The biggest issue that I have with it is that it kind of spoils you for other keyboards. It's a little big and bulky, so if I'm travelling, I have to choose between lugging it around with me or suffering with a regular laptop keyboard for a while. It also took me a solid month of deliberate practice to really adjust to the Keyboardio layout when I first got it. The UHK looks like it might be easier to switch back and forth between it and a normal keyboard.
- bitesthedust 8y agoI'm very happy with mine. I did not notice the lack of a dedicated escape key when I ordered mine, but I it's turned out to not be an issue for me. My wrists are very happy. Anyone who bought one and doesn't like it and wants to sell theirs, I'll give you $50. ;-)
- Penguin-Guru 8y agoI for one am very excited about this. Loud, directionless, and without escape is exactly how I prefer my keyboards. It is unfortunate that the modules aren't ambidextrous, but I hardly use a mouse anyway and I'm right-handed. Rather than fixing that, I hope they start working on Bluetooth modules next. Maybe some battery modules and get this baby working on my phone.
- thecrumb 8y agoWish you could 'rent' one of these for a few weeks. $300+ is a lot of investment for something you may not like. I bought a Kinesis and it's just gathering dust on my desk.
- jcl 8y agoFWIW, it looks like the Kinesis boards, at least, hold their value well... There's only one used Advantage 2 board available on Amazon, at practically the price of a new one. (The used market might be a reasonable stand-in for rental, too, once enough of these keyboards get into circulation.)
- mondalaci 8y agoYou can just return your UHK in 30 days if you don't like it. You'd have to pay for shipping, but it's not a major expense. See https://ultimatehackingkeyboard.com/shipping-and-warranty https://ultimatehackingkeyboard.com/shipping-and-warranty
- stevenicr 8y agoWhat is the deal with the wire between the two halves I see on all of these split keyboards? My first thought is that if they were two wireless pieces, then timing of the receiver could be an issue and it could see key strokes in the wrong order(?) I guess power is also a thing. Perhaps it would require two usb sticks a receivers? I've been keeping an eye on these discussions for some time and seeing some that are so close to my vision of a perfect design, the wire in between the two pieces limits one of my use cases. Noticed mention in the thread about "Let's Split" - a quick search shows some pics that appear to show some without a wire between them, so maybe it's an easily solved issue, or could be trick photography hiding the in between wiring(?) Glad to see more and more people working on better keyboard layouts!
- fstanis 8y agoAccording to Laci, power + modules made them decide not to go with wireless: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/3tkyme/iama_lászló_monda_founder_and_ceo_of_the_ultimate/cx75yt7 https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/3tkyme/iama_lászló_mo...
- mondalaci 8y agoGreat find! Didn't even remember of talking about this.
- fstanis 8y agoI actually had some trouble finding it, but I had strong memory of reading the answer to the wireless question in the past, since I wondered the same. Have you considered adding it to the FAQ? I feel this is a thing many are curious about.
- mondalaci 8y agoI'll build a knowledge base on the UHK site soon, and I'll add it.
- mondalaci 8y ago
- Hayframe 8y agoI've been using this keyboard for 8 months, always split; in my workplace we tend to move stations very often to work in pairs, so I can just merge them, move around and split them. Turns out it is very easy to carry them from home to the workplace, and around the workplace. I'd say it's what makes this keyboard very different from other splits, since all the rest (remappable keys, layers, etc.) are commonly found in keyboards that lack the function row or arrow keys anyways. If it weren't for the ability to carry it easily I would have definitely looked at the competition for other split keyboards.
- fstanis 8y agoI've been using it for a few months now. I didn't know how to touch-type before it arrived and I forced myself to learn. Without that, this keyboard is not very useful. That said, after learning to touch type, I found some layout decisions surprisingly intuitive. Most notably, it turned out that having arrow keys on my home row is a great idea. Only after I got used to that did I realize how annoying it is to leave the home row on a normal keyboard. Still not sold on escape and fn keys. I believe that it would've been better if had an extra row for those, but I might learn to appreciate that too in the future.
- kbenson 8y ago> Most notably, it turned out that having arrow keys on my home row is a great idea. Those are the original vi cursor movement keys, so when you're in command mode you can move around without leaving the home row (and I suspect it was originally used on systems without arrow keys...). Tried and true for multiple decades. :) Edit: Actually, it's not the same as vi cursor movement keys, since it uses i for up, instead of having them all on the home row. I didn't notice that originally, but anamexis comment reminded me. :/
- anamexis 8y ago> (and I suspect it was originally used on systems without arrow keys...) This is correct! The vi editor was originally created on a ADM-3A terminal which had the arrow keys on HJKL. http://www.catonmat.net/blog/why-vim-uses-hjkl-as-arrow-keys/ http://www.catonmat.net/blog/why-vim-uses-hjkl-as-arrow-keys...
- brazzledazzle 8y agoI have a decent keyboard with a small form factor but I can't get over having to toggle the mode of the keyboard to turn on the arrow keys when I need them (which is annoyingly often in macOS) or using a modifier key. I wish I hadn't had such a hard time getting the WASD keys to work as toggle-able arrow keys because I felt like my muscle memory there could have helped bridge the gap. I should give it another go because I otherwise really like that keyboard.
- fstanis 8y agoRegardless of whether you like the keyboard or not (or have no opinion), I strongly recommend you check out their blog: https://ultimatehackingkeyboard.com/blog https://ultimatehackingkeyboard.com/blog They gave a very thorough overview of the (many, many) challenges involved with "kickstarting" a hardware product - and how they overcame them (from issues with banks to FFC and CE certification). It's a great source of knowledge for anyone who considers doing the same. Laci also did an AMA on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/3tkyme/iama_l%C3%A1szl%C3%B3_monda_founder_and_ceo_of_the_ultimate/ https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/3tkyme/iama_l%C3%A1sz...
- codethief 8y agoFunny that you would recommend their blog, I was going to do recommend the blog[0] by the people behind keyboard.io[1] for the exact same reason. [0] https://blog.keyboard.io https://blog.keyboard.io [1] http://keyboard.io http://keyboard.io (If anyone from keyboard.io is looking, please consider enabling TLS on your main domain.)
- dsego 8y agoWhy is it staggered?
- mondalaci 8y agoBecause it's easier to get used to. We plan to build a columnar UHK eventually.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- ramenmeal 8y agoThis thing has been or was in the works FOREVER. They kept adding more and more functionality to it and delaying the release to the point that I gave up on it. They added a trackpoint and trackpad for the keyboard advertising "never leave the home row" ffs. /rant sorry.
- mondalaci 8y agoJust for the record, we haven't added any functionality after the campaign ended that caused extra delay. It was just incredibly time-consuming to start manufacturing.
- xte 8y agoNot for me. It's seems to be designed by someone who do not really use keyboard, just plain classic Windows-style. I'm an Emacs user, coming from Vim. I think as tons of other. I do not want Vim-in-Emacs (evil-mode) but I do want single-keys commands and modifier+single key commands, no multiple big combinations. Having function keys only combined with shift, fn etc means that the designer NEVER really use function keys. Missing hyper modifier (that I admit make sense only for Emacs users, but it's support is still there in any GNU/Linux distros, "easy for dummy" included) is another BAD move. Mini-trackball are not IMVHO a good move. In the past we have many trackball/trackstick like solutions, they ALL fail. The sole, lone, survivors are Logitech style, thumb trackballs, and spaceballs (essentially a "hand centered" trackball) only for 3D design. For now, for me least bad "high-end" keyboard still in production is the freestyle edge. I'd like an ancient keyboard for I do not remember witch vendor with full row of functions keys + a second row of shift+function keys.
- jwr 8y agoEmacs user here. I have the UHK and I love it. I'm not sure if you realize that you can remap anything on this keyboard. My Emacs setup uses Ctrl, Meta, Super and Hyper. Thanks to the UHK I can also have non-conflicting keybindings for window management (i3 on Linux, various apps on the Mac).
- xte 8y agoI use EXWM so not much conflicting problems, at maximum coherence problems for non Emacs apps... My main problem is not remapping but to few single physical keys. I love to have notmuch open with a single key, notmuch-mua-new-mail with a single key or at maximum S-$notmuchSingleKey, a single key for eshell, a single key for a featured terminal emulator, a single key for a browser, single keys for windows manipulation/buffer killing or switching etc. Split, tilting etc are nice layout but I need 150%-200% keyboards, possibly with backlit and custom-printed caps. In the past I love Sun keyboards (type 6 and 7 for most), now I'm struggle to find good o possibly better alternatives. I do not look for "fast typing", I'm not a machine paid to write fast, but keyboard that enable me to use a real keyboard-based UI with comfort. Software "solution" (like hydra, evil etc) are not good enough. On remapping: why the hell anyone try to offer application for that. What's wrong with a dirty-cheap flash storage on-board and a text files or few text files and dir in witch you can flash a new fw, remap with simple text config etc? That's why I say no actual keyboard OEM really use keyboards...
- jader201 8y agoWhy are we still designing “ergonomic” keyboards where all of the keys — for both hands — still angle to the left? I know that would be straying from a long-lived standard, but if we’re going to split the middle, why not also go ahead and angle the keys on the left half to the right?
- aasasd 8y agoMore to the point, the keys should't be angled any way, the key blocks should be. That is, each half should be ortholinear. Because fingers aren't angled on the joints. Also a flat keyboard isn't “extremely ergonomic,” because human fingers rotate on joints instead of being extendable and retractable. The keys should form a bowl for each hand, like on Maltron and Kinesis Advantage.
- SmirkingRevenge 8y agoThe advantage is great. The bowl-form is now a must for me - and while I've dreamed of a split-ergo keyboard with a trackpoint on it for ages, I can't go back to a flat keyboard.
- BananaHemic 8y agoI purchased this keyboard two years ago, and it was absolutely worth the wait. My thoughts after 2 weeks of use: - The lack of an escape key was initially a real pain point, but with agent it was easy to change the backtick key to escape - The feel of the keys are incredible, but I am coming from a cheap dell keyboard so I don't have a solid basis for comparison - Mapping mod + hjkl to the arrow keys has been incredibly efficient - The mouse mode in the keyboard is unusable in its present state, but hopefully the extra modules solve this Overall I'd give it a solid 9/10, presuming that you remap the keys to fit your individual workflow
- h1d 8y agoHappy hacking keyboard has been my main for 10 years. The pushes feel very comfortable, Ctrl is in the middle row, small enough to carry around and no need to reach out on any far keys as keys are in your reach. Your friends amaze at you with the version without any characters printed on the keys even. I just figured Bjarne Stroustrup is using it. https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/4dsv9i/bjarne_stroustrup_creator_of_c_uses_hhkb/ https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/4dsv9i... (Even a photo of RMS using it in the thread.) There's also a black version. https://www.pfu.fujitsu.com/direct/hhkb/images/detail_hhkb-pro2-b-1.jpg https://www.pfu.fujitsu.com/direct/hhkb/images/detail_hhkb-p... (HHKB lite is a complete different thing which I will never buy.)
- Hashbrown777 8y agoI ordered mine a couple years ago but honestly it'll be worth the wait. I don't care much for the mechanical keyboard, what I'm itching to finally use is the on-board remapping of keys. At the moment I use dvorak and there are some applications that simply refuse to listen to the OS configurations. Especially remote desktop on windows and anything that isn't rdesktop on linux (which like to read direct keycodes an use the guest OS' configuration I guess?). Having the keyboard handle this in-hardware means the computer can never make these mistakes, it'll just think it's a qwerty. Also in going to other people's desks at work, I can just carry this tiny KB with me instead of switching my brain over back to qwerty on their KBs. On top of dvorak though, I though to myself "why only move the alpha keys in the name of ergonomics?", so I've also really mangled my non-alpha keys using .Xmodmap and autohotkey for my windows machines. https://i.imgur.com/4Q51VIL.png https://i.imgur.com/4Q51VIL.png As ridiculous as it looks this is an amazing setup. Having shift pressed by the thumbs is incredibly easy, especially contrasting it to using the pinkies. Moving backspace and other command keys to the centre was also a really liberating change, I never have do move my hands. Like dvorak though, using software to implement this is problematic. Autohotkey/windows for instance likes to lock my shift key in occasionally when I use my moved alt key, requiring a logout :/ Having these issues dealt with via a hardware solution is going to be extremely satisfying.
- earenndil 8y agoLots of keyboards let you remap keys directly on the hardware. I'm currently very happy with the kinesis (which has backspace, delete, space, enter, ctrl/alt, pageup/pagedown, and home/end on the thumbs).
- Hashbrown777 8y agoWow, whoops, thanks. It's a serious wonder how I hadn't ever seen these guys before. I looked into it a bit before going "well I guess I should get this". Kenesis' SmartSet is basically UHK's Agent. The Advantage series looks bulky as but the Freestyle is basically the same keyboard as the UHK but is so much cheaper. All I came across where huge keyboards, or ones paneled of wood, or some bowl ones and ones where the keys were orthogonal (although I use dvorak and have a trackball, I wasn't ready to completely jump in the deep end and get one of those flight-control looking beasts). The 'programability' was usually in-software like with Logitech's LGS, but it seems if I found this in my search it's what I would've gone with. Going forward I guess I can be satisfied by the more solid design of the UHK (7segment LED for layout display instead of some lights, a replaceable and much longer cable between the two halves, magnetic rejoining of the halves for transport, and the addition of modules whenever they finish designing those). Looks like it's not as revolutionary as I thought, but I'm still pretty chuffed with how much of an improvement it seems to be in the evolution of these keyboards. I haven't got mine yet, but I doubt my opinion will sway as I'm yet to read a bad thing about them (that would affect me like 'where are my f-keys' or 'I hate staggered rows') for the people who have received theirs.
- sam0x17 8y agoThe trackpoint module makes this super sexy for me
- krupan 8y agoEveryone: make the left space bar your function key. It makes using function keys, ESC, arrow keys, etc. super easy
- jwr 8y agoI use it as the Mouse key. I consider the key that is usually CapsLock (Mouse on the UHK) to be Control, which I guess dates me to the Sun keyboads. The beauty of the UHK is that everyone can set it up to his/her own preferences!
- jwr 8y agoI have the UHK and I love it. I would recommend this keyboard to anyone who needs to work with several different operating systems. I have it set up with keybindings for Mac, Linux and Windows and switch between the three quickly. You can set things up so that switching is relatively painless, e.g. the same shortcut will do similar things in all OSs that you work with (well, to the extent that Linux apps do similar things given the same keypress...). What I also enjoy is that I can place the halves on both sides of my laptop, with my MacBook in the middle. A very comfortable typing setup. BTW: Jamie Zawinski writes "I don't know about you, but the frequency with which I change my keymap is: exactly once ever. So I don't really need this thing glowing at me. You can turn the light off, but even when unlit it's still ugly as sin. It begs for a piece of electrical tape over it. Also, I'm baffled that they chose to devote so much physical space to such a useless indicator." I guess I'm different: I switch keymaps all the time. And this is a killer feature of the UHK: easy management of keymaps, fast switching (using shortcuts which I can define!) and a visible indicator of which keymap is currently active. But then this is a keyboard for hackers, who I'd venture to guess routinely use several computers, right? :)
- PurpleRamen 8y ago> But then this is a keyboard for hackers, who I'd venture to guess routinely use several computers, right? :) Yes, and usually they all come with their own keyboards. I don't think many are rich and crazy enough to spoil 300-400 Euro per keyboard just to have the same at work, home and for the random access on the go. Not to forgotten that you need to sync the settings for all of them when you change something.
- semi-extrinsic 8y agoThis is one of the big stumbling blocks for me when it comes to fancy keyboards. I'm not going to spend $1000 on keyboards, and I'm definitely not going to be dragging a keyboard back and forth between work, home and the garage. So for me it's a $99 CM Masterkeys Pro M at work, a saved-from-the-trash IBM Model M at home, and a brilliant machine washable Logitech K310 in the garage.
- jwr 8y ago
- stitis 8y agoI am a keyboard fanatic. Two soldered, one repaired, two custom builds, QMK, 60%, 75%, 96, TKL, you name it. It’s a total disease to get hooked on this stuff. I use both AHK on Windows and Karabiner on MacOS to map all my shortcuts with more than 3000 lines of code to get them all working. CapsLock is my Fn key and every key (literally all of them) have secondary functions with Caps held. I also have hold macros, double taps, tip taps, two button simultaneous combos, it’s crazy. I’m bragging about the awesomeness but also complaining about the time spent on something so out there. Back to UHK. The build quality is amazing, and allows me to rebind many of the shortcuts so they work in HW instead of the OS, allowing me to use my favorites on any computer. If you’re looking for a starter, map your UHK Fn + hjkl to arrows (see Vim), b to home “beginning”, n to end, d to page down, and u to page up. After a week you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it. Bonus points if you map another to “delete word” by Option+BS or Ctrl+BS depending on your poison.
- codethief 8y ago> CapsLock is my Fn key and every key (literally all of them) have secondary functions with Caps held. I also have hold macros, double taps, tip taps, two button simultaneous combos, it’s crazy. I would love to hear more about the specific key chords you use and your overall setup! Do you have a blog somewhere?
- stitis 8y agohttps://github.com/StitiS/AHK https://github.com/StitiS/AHK If you find it interesting and end up poking around to try it, feel free to ask questions and I'll eventually get it updated to my latest.
- Exuma 8y agoThe sounds don't work, that's mostly what I wanted to hear.
- nickhudspeth 8y agoYou'll never get me away from my VE.A
- lispm 8y agowhy is control on the outside and why are there no unshifted parentheses?
- 5_minutes 8y agoUnfortunately availability of many of the products mentioned here are limited in Europe, require int shipping and which makes it also hard to try out and send it back. So it becomes tricky looking at a 300 Euro somehthing product
- rpilgrimr 8y agoUHK is shipped from Europe.
- rpilgrimr 8y agoJust to clarify most common things: 1) This is a 60% keyboard - an accepted standard.(https://www.keyboardco.com/blog/index.php/2017/08/full-size-tkl-60-and-more-a-guide-to-mechanical-keyboard-sizes/ https://www.keyboardco.com/blog/index.php/2017/08/full-size-...) If you want arrows, F keys, - get a 75%, TKL, or fullsize board. 2) No ESC key? This board is fully programmable. You can make ALL keys to be ESC at the same time! Settings are saved ON THE board , so even if you go anywhere else, you can still use your ESC key. 3) This board is actually shipping. It’s not a Kickstarter “we will make it someday, maybe” thing. Guys did a great job keeping every backer updated on current status in their monthly blog. Read it here, it’s amazing: https://ultimatehackingkeyboard.com/blog https://ultimatehackingkeyboard.com/blog
- codethief 8y agoRe 1) and 2): Even if the keyboard is fully programmable, I still don't see where I would put the arrow keys, F1-F12 and ESC here… Yes, you can come up with all kinds of key combos but at the end of the day it will still take you longer to press one of the F keys and, even worse, it will be far less ergonomic if you have to press one such key combination repeatedly—especially if the required super and meta keys are below your pinky & ring finger (= your weakest fingers), instead of your thumb. In my opinion, keyboard for hackers should have more keys than regular ones, not fewer. I like what the people at TrulyErgonomic[0] did here, namely put a lot of keys in reach of your thumb and index. If only their support wasn't abysmally bad… [0] https://www.trulyergonomic.com https://www.trulyergonomic.com
- tuxlifan 8y agoPreamble: I've so far only used my UHK for "regular text" usage, i.e. writing text, CLI, browsing and some light wasd + trackball gaming... I've also activated an option for the left Mod key so that pressed alone it gives me a space character but together with other keys it works as Mod.' I have the brown switches which I find satisfyingly clicky enough and at the same time easy to press. --- * arrow keys are very comfortable with holding my left thumb on Mod down and then using the right fingers for jkl and i (I was a bit skeptical at first but even the left thumb on Mod + left pinky on Ctrl to jump words etc. is working well for my fingers). In some instances I've also used the right thumb on the frame switch ( Mod; which I find not as comfortable to press as the regular Mod/Space keys but works well enough) plus jkli for one-handed operation. Also, if you need to do a lot of arrow-work at once you can toggle the Mod key held by double-tapping it (same for the mouse and fn keys). For applications / games where you use the arrow keys and other keys at the same time a lot and where input speed is critical I would look into creating a custom mapping though, if possible. It's very easy to duplicate an existing layout and modify it with the UHK Agent (and also to switch between layouts. Later on a feature to automatically switch layouts depending on foreground application is planned, IIRC). --- * ESC left-handed Mod+q has become almost second nature after a few "training" sessions with vim :) and if you don't want the burden to hit the q key exactly, Mod+` (key in the upper left corner) works as well in the standard mapping. --- * F1-F12 I barely had the need to use them since I switched to the UHK. I can imagine that it might be an issue in e.g. certain games where you would want to use F1-F12, 1-12 and Ctrl+1-12 and Ctrl+F1-F12 at the same time and quickly. For the occasional F2 or F4 in htop it is more of a mental hassle (for me) to figure out if the description is supposed to be left or right of the F* label than pressing Mod+number, especially since the F* are printed on the vertical sides of the caps. Besides, if there was an extra row of keys above the numbers I wouldn't be able to reach them with my fingers anyway without lifting my hands from the (excellent! wooden) palm rest. --- * thumbs vs. weak fingers there are extra switches on the frame right "below" the split mod/space key which you can use or reconfigure the same as any other key (if you don't want to have secondary actions like I have set up with the left Mod key). One of the addons (Key Cluster Module) will also bring extra keys into the split. --- Granted, SysRq makes you think a while before you get it right the first time :) One of the biggest advantages yet for me has been the ability to put my trackball where the numpad used to be and thus have it in an even more comfortable position for my right arm and shoulder. I'm looking forward to the addons though to see if they will obsolete the need for any extra pointing device. That brings me to my biggest hurdle so far: I've yet to create a numpad-layout to more quickly enter lots of numbers and that will definitely feel just weird on a staggered key layout compared to a regular numpad (after half a decade of very frequent and regular usage). If all attempts to retrain my fingers on that would fail there are still those USB-numpads availble though for the now more occasional number-after-number sessions and it's an expense and inconvenience I am willing to potentially endure for the satisfaction the UHK gives me so far in all other typing and ergonomic aspects. HTH PS: all and any typing and other errors are mine and not the UHK's ;) [EDIT: formatting]
- etatoby 8y agoI've been using a Truly Ergonomic for close to a decade, heavily used every day (yes, the same unit) and it still is the best keyboard I've ever used. Highly recommended. https://trulyergonomic.com/ https://trulyergonomic.com/
- honkylips 8y agoI quite like mine. I haven't used it continuously - still getting used to the no-other-keys on a minimal keyboard. I like the cursor keys being a mod, but that seems like a lot if you want to do a lot of cursoring. I haven't delved into the software at all - i need to. I am just happy to have a split keyboard. I've waited yeeaaars for two-halves. It feels like a very solid product. I like the purposeful click as the two halves join together. It did take a couple of years, but I was in no hurry. I await my addon-modules. Oh, and I also got a Das 5Q about the same time. Looks pretty but a very different mechanical feel than the UHK, which I just love. I have nothing but good things to say about this thing at this point. A joy to type on, with both arms wherever-the-hell i want them.
- diimdeep 8y agoInterested ? Take a look at https://github.com/diimdeep/awesome-split-keyboards https://github.com/diimdeep/awesome-split-keyboards
- Tbohnen 8y agoI was part of the pilot run so hsve been using it for a couple of months now. I love the fact that I can easily put it in my bag and travel around with it. I use mac but it's so easy to change to ubuntu layout when Pairing and you just keep on being productive. I use emacs, vim, visual studio code and intellij with vim plugins on non native vim and the esc / ctrl modifier is great. It's a 1000 times better than the normal ctrl. One thing that I appreciate the most about the UHK is @mondalaci's drive to make this a brilliant product. From the newsletters to responding almost instantly to any query someone might and even helping me out with my config. I was starting to get very sore wrists after typing a lot and now, during one of the most intense coding years of my life, no sore wrists! The UHK is part of my kit now and sure, there are a couple of things to get used to and some things I would have liked to change in beginning but have gotten used to. I really dislike typing without it now
- ksmithbaylor 8y agoI have been looking at this recently with great interest! A problem I have with all other split layout keyboards is that they place the B key on the left side of the keyboard. However, I type the letter B with my right index finger, not my left. I know this is "incorrect", but it is firmly ingrained in my muscle memory and while I've tried changing it in the past, I've had little success. I got very excited when I saw the "key cluster" module, since if it were available for the right side, it would allow me to just place my own B key next to N where I want it. Is this planned? I would buy this in a heartbeat if so.
- linsomniac 8y agoI used to have this habit as well. I ended up borrowing a ErgoDox Ez from a friend when my normal keyboard broke a few years ago, and bit the bullet and unlearned this habit and a bunch of others, and it was, to me, worth it. I also always typed shift with my left pinkie, no matter what the next character was, even A. I also would ALWAYS look when doing numeric keys, and sometimes other combinations. I ended up with blank keycaps, and broke that habit. You can do it!