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Looks good! A customizable split keyboard was one of the better investments I've made recently. No more hand pain after my work day. Retail options like the Ki

Looks good! A customizable split keyboard was one of the better investments I've made recently. No more hand pain after my work day. Retail options like the Kinesis and Moonlander are perfectly fine products, but there is also an abundance of (typically open-source) keyboard designs these days: https://github.com/diimdeep/awesome-split-keyboards https://github.com/diimdeep/awesome-split-keyboards https://golem.hu/boards/ https://golem.hu/boards/ Note that anything that runs QMK and Pro Micro MCUs can generally be made wireless using ZMK and nice!nano MCUs. Be warned that it's a deep rabbit hole. Personally I use and really enjoy the TBK Mini: https://github.com/Bastardkb/TBK-Mini https://github.com/Bastardkb/TBK-Mini

orangepurple 4y ago
If you pay attention to builds and commentary on them after completion a lot of people begrudgingly dislike the Dactyl Manuform layout because it is uncomfortable for them and awful to type on. That said I never tried one myself. Just be careful and don't assume it's automatically going to be good for you! I think the layout is parametric but who knows exactly how to adjust the parameters?
- fsociety 4y ago
  That was my experience. I went from an ergodox to a dactyl manuform and at first I found it great. But that went to good to decent. I did not jive with something about the curvature + layout, even though I could touch type at a good speed. I ended up switching to a moonlander and find it is more enjoyable. I also found it an improvement over the ergodox, because the clusters are more thought out and the tenting has less degrees of freedom so is easier to get just right.
- badlucklottery 4y ago
  > a lot of people begrudgingly dislike the Dactyl Manuform layout because it is uncomfortable for them and awful to type on Part of this is just the nature of ergonomic keyboards. Each one is usually solving a set of very specific ergonomic problems. If you don't have that set of problems it can be either a lateral move or even a regression in your comfort/pain level. My wrists are fucked up from years of skateboarding and mountain biking. Going to curved key wells helped me a lot because it lets me freeze my wrists in a comfortable position and still hit keys far from the home row. And having a fully split keyboard helps me find those comfortable wrist positions easier. With those requirements, a split Dactyl was a good choice and worked out well for me.
orangepurple 4y ago
This post might nerd snipe you and destroy your life. Stop reading here. Keyboards are a rabbit hole but I spent at least a week of my life searching and trying out existing optimized layouts. Then I got fed up and tried to optimize my own keyboard layouts on my own corpora. All this snowballed once I realized how massive the ergonomic and RSI problems with QWERTY are.
- microtonal 4y ago
  I went down the rabbit hole and came out realizing that the Kinesis Advantage2 is just a fantastic allround ergonomic keyboard. Kinesis has been at it for 25-30 years and seem to have a good idea of the trade-offs and have found an (probably local) optimum. I still like building keyboards as a hobby, it’s a lot of fun (but expensive). But none have felt so good so far as the Advantage (which felt great from day one). I’d love to buy a 360, but the price is a bit steep…
- Aeolun 4y ago
  I think I tried everything and realized that I just wasn’t bothered enough by my bog standard keyboard to try and learn anything else.
Symbiote 4y ago
I have a fork / remix of your first link, putting everything (and more) into a gallery view. https://aposymbiont.github.io/split-keyboards/ https://aposymbiont.github.io/split-keyboards/
- brenainn 4y ago
  That looks great, I've bookmarked it for future reference. Thanks for putting it together.

orangepurple 4y ago

If you pay attention to builds and commentary on them after completion a lot of people begrudgingly dislike the Dactyl Manuform layout because it is uncomfortable for them and awful to type on. That said I never tried one myself. Just be careful and don't assume it's automatically going to be good for you! I think the layout is parametric but who knows exactly how to adjust the parameters?

fsociety 4y ago
That was my experience. I went from an ergodox to a dactyl manuform and at first I found it great. But that went to good to decent. I did not jive with something about the curvature + layout, even though I could touch type at a good speed. I ended up switching to a moonlander and find it is more enjoyable. I also found it an improvement over the ergodox, because the clusters are more thought out and the tenting has less degrees of freedom so is easier to get just right.
badlucklottery 4y ago
> a lot of people begrudgingly dislike the Dactyl Manuform layout because it is uncomfortable for them and awful to type on Part of this is just the nature of ergonomic keyboards. Each one is usually solving a set of very specific ergonomic problems. If you don't have that set of problems it can be either a lateral move or even a regression in your comfort/pain level. My wrists are fucked up from years of skateboarding and mountain biking. Going to curved key wells helped me a lot because it lets me freeze my wrists in a comfortable position and still hit keys far from the home row. And having a fully split keyboard helps me find those comfortable wrist positions easier. With those requirements, a split Dactyl was a good choice and worked out well for me.

orangepurple 4y ago

This post might nerd snipe you and destroy your life. Stop reading here. Keyboards are a rabbit hole but I spent at least a week of my life searching and trying out existing optimized layouts. Then I got fed up and tried to optimize my own keyboard layouts on my own corpora. All this snowballed once I realized how massive the ergonomic and RSI problems with QWERTY are.

microtonal 4y ago
I went down the rabbit hole and came out realizing that the Kinesis Advantage2 is just a fantastic allround ergonomic keyboard. Kinesis has been at it for 25-30 years and seem to have a good idea of the trade-offs and have found an (probably local) optimum. I still like building keyboards as a hobby, it’s a lot of fun (but expensive). But none have felt so good so far as the Advantage (which felt great from day one). I’d love to buy a 360, but the price is a bit steep…
Aeolun 4y ago
I think I tried everything and realized that I just wasn’t bothered enough by my bog standard keyboard to try and learn anything else.

Symbiote 4y ago

I have a fork / remix of your first link, putting everything (and more) into a gallery view. https://aposymbiont.github.io/split-keyboards/ https://aposymbiont.github.io/split-keyboards/

brenainn 4y ago
That looks great, I've bookmarked it for future reference. Thanks for putting it together.