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QMK and Keyboards
- scoopdewoop 3y agoI built a midi controller out of an ortholinear keyboard kit and QMK. It really is a fun way to dabble in C and embedded hardware!
- hammyhavoc 3y agoNo velocity though, right?
- junon 3y agoIf they are analog/hall effect switches then in theory you could do it.
- evanjrowley 3y agoElectro-capacitive boards (EC) could also do this, with the caveat that EC switches in general are tactile rather than linear as most hall-effect (HE) switches are. When it comes to QMK, it seems that there is a greater number of EC keyboard projects out there. Some examples below. For a MIDI device, I imagine an ortholinear boards may be the best layout. Unfortunately there isn't much out there for EC ortholinear boards. A group buy for a 47-key EC ortho board ran a few years ago, but the price was an outrageous $500-600: https://www.ashkeebs.com/product/conundrum/ https://www.ashkeebs.com/product/conundrum/ More recently, a handful of QMK-compatible EC PCBs have popped up on AliExpress. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to locate the actual QMK firmware source for them. Perhaps in the minds of the creators, it is simply enough to provide VIAL compatibility for user customization. The drawback here is it does not expose the necessary feedback for velocity: https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806073672667.html https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806073672667.html https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806010654548.html https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806010654548.html https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806009306496.html https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806009306496.html https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805431878689.html https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805431878689.html
- atoav 3y agoProbably not, but there is a lot of intersting stuff you could switch/trigger/activate without velocity.
- rgoulter 3y agoThe most common misconception I see about QMK keyboards (especially keyboards which stray far from the traditional form, like in OP's) is about small keyboards. The most common kind of small keyboards are just like laptop keyboards, and try and fit a keyboard into a smaller space (and the omitted keys get relegated to being behind Fn key). These tend to retain the impractically big spacebar of a typical keyboard, out of familiarity. Whereas, many non-traditional keyboards ditch the big spacebar, and instead give the thumbs two or three keys to use each. This allows bringing the full functionality of the keyboard within easy reach of the hands on home row (similar to how Vimmers would rather use hjkl than the cursor keys). It also allows reducing usage of the pinky fingers. I've seen OP post some neat code which works with QMK firmware. (The orbital mouse looks interesting). But stuff like "Caps Word", etc. are also neat.
- nprateem 3y agoWhen I first saw a ferris I thought they were a nerdy joke. I ended up buying one though due to severe RSI and wanting a programmable keyboard so I could reduce how far I was reaching for symbols etc. I'm now a convert to programmables. My glove80 is more ergonomic, but I use equivalent keymaps on both and they're a game changer. It feels so clunky now if I use my laptop keyboard to actually have to reach for symbols, numbers, etc. Home row modifiers, number, symbol, nav layers, colemak & qwerty... Just awesome. They've helped my RSI no end.
- plufz 3y agoI’m still quite new to my glove80 and I’m still a bit slow on the modifier keys. I was looking for something a little more aesthetic in the beginning but everything else is amazing about it. I look forward to unpacking it from it’s case everyday. I did not know you could feel that way about a keyboard. :) Great ergonomics and a great experience. They have an active discord and the two founders are active as well.
- nsajko 3y agoWhat's the misconception, then?
- bsnnkv 3y agoGotta give a shoutout to kanata[1] which I have used daily for years at this point after giving up on QMK-powered keyboards. QMK itself is great, but I was never able to find a non-columnar split ISO keyboard to use it with. Eventually I reluctantly settled on the Logitech K860[2] and I'm now happily using my favourite features from QMK with kanata at the software level. [1]: https://github.com/jtroo/kanata https://github.com/jtroo/kanata [2]: If I'm behind the times and there is now a QMK-compatible keyboard that looks like this, please let me know!
- 7839284023 3y ago> QMK itself is great, but I was never able to find a non-columnar split ISO keyboard to use it with. https://keychron.de/products/keychron-q11-qmk-custom-mechanical-keyboard-iso-layout-collection https://keychron.de/products/keychron-q11-qmk-custom-mechani...
- jsheard 3y agoor https://nullbits.co/snap/ https://nullbits.co/snap/ if you don't mind a more DIY approach
- bsnnkv 3y agoThis looks excellent! I have gone down a bit of a rabbit hole and I'm considering once of the Alice ISO keyboards[1], perhaps even waiting until the low-profile Alice variants are available in ISO layouts[2]. [1]: https://keychron.de/products/keychron-v10-alice-layout-qmk-custom-mechanical-keyboard-iso-layout-collection https://keychron.de/products/keychron-v10-alice-layout-qmk-c... [2]: https://keychron.de/products/keychron-k15-pro-alice-layout-qmk-via-wireless-custom-mechanical-keyboard https://keychron.de/products/keychron-k15-pro-alice-layout-q...
- bostik 3y agoBoth Q10 and Q11 are good. I have one of each in their respective uses. Q11 may possibly be even better for someone prone to RSI, because you can set the halves up angled even wider apart. Just make sure to get a good wrist support to go with the keyboards, no matter which you go with: they are thick, and that makes them positionally elevated from the surface they are on. With two more things they would be pretty much perfect. An embedded USB port on both sides, so you could slot a YubiKey nano on your chosen edge. And a double-sized Esc-key. The latter is the single thing I miss from Kinesis Freestyle's form factor.
- Sakos 3y agoThis is surprising to me https://getreuer.info/posts/keyboards/non-english/index.html#unicode-input https://getreuer.info/posts/keyboards/non-english/index.html... I wonder why a better solution hasn't been implemented in QMK. Is it a technical limitation?
- delusional 3y agoMy understanding is that unicode is just not part of the hid spec. Keyboards send scancodes that the pc interprets into window events. That translation is not part if the spec, and therefore os dependent.
- the_gipsy 3y agoIt is an OS limitation/inconsistency. QMK allows to toggle mode for linux/win/mac. There is nothing else QMK can do. I personally just use some layout (us-intl with no dead keys), which works for the integrated laptop keyboards too.
- crote 3y agoThe HID protocol used by keyboards to talk to the OS doesn't support Unicode. In fact, it doesn't even support letters: you're sending key positions instead. If you press the letter "A" on an Azerty keyboard, your keyboard will essentially send a "Q Down" event - because that "A" is placed in the "Q" position. Getting Unicode out of that is really tricky due to half a dozen abstraction layers, most of which are unique for that OS. Mapping a specific Unicode character to a position isn't too bad (just use a custom keymap), but adding generic Unicode support is a nightmare.
- FullyFunctional 3y agoOh neat! I didn't know it could do this. I use U+202F (Narrow No-break Space) all the time to separate numbers from their unit (as in "20 kg" which I'm sure won't display correctly here), but I haven't found a convenient way to enter that on macOS.
- eviks 3y agoIs a modifier+space not convenient?
- flurdy 3y agoI use Oryx by ZSA which is built on top of QMK, but not with all the features. It is great still though. I use a lot of MO keys on my keyboard. Too many accidental layer-locking with TT and OSL. So I would love it if/when ZSA adds the QMK "layer lock" feature to Oryx. Currently, I use a layer lock intermediate layer. But that is one extra key press and finger travel.
- mynegation 3y agoI considered using something like that, but my concern that it is going to ruin my muscle memory for the situations when I cannot use it - eg locked down environments at work. So I stick to whatever can be done with standard OS capabilities.
- moondev 3y agoBehold, an inline USB QMK controller. Just carry one on your keychain https://yaowei.dev/posts/usb-to-usb-converter/ https://yaowei.dev/posts/usb-to-usb-converter/
- reactordev 3y agoThere are some places that do not allow USB connections. People have been fired over it.
- layer8 3y agoWorks great on laptops and Bluetooth keyboards.
- waveBidder 3y agoI've got a weird split thumb board like OP, and the muscle memory for a normal keyboard is fine. I think it helps that I mostly left qwerty intact, and messed with meta keys.
- Snow_Falls 3y agoI'll throw another anecdote to the pile. I use a split, angled keyboard with a nonstandard keyboard layout for over a year now and I can use normal keyboards just fine.
- stavros 3y agoIt doesn't, I use a standard laptop keyboard and my weird-ass custom keyboard very interchangeably with zero trouble. Hell, I'm typing on a MacBook right now.
- 3y ago
- lvl102 3y agoI feel the mk community died during the pandemic and all the commercialization that happened. People just stole stuff community built on goodwill. At least I was turned off by it and stop caring.
- nsajko 3y agoFor example?
- Scene_Cast2 3y agoIf you're interested in QMK, you might want to give ZMK a shot as well. The big differences are that it's wireless-first (cognizant of power consumption, supports various wireless modes, etc), it's built around ARM (doesn't support Atmel), and is a much newer codebase. But I have to give it to QMK as well, they have been reworking / refactoring a major wart in how you config keyboards, with the move to info.json and away from custom C and make files.
- crotchfire 3y agoThe downside to ZMK is no copyleft protection. So when you buy a keyboard that advertises "ZMK", you're getting a binary blob you can't customize or audit. OTOH, QMK has successfully forced-open proprietary keyboards that were sold with QMK forks and then repeatedly, emmphatically refused to release the source. This includes the awesome non-Bluetooth 1000hz-rate Nordic Semiconductor wireless feature of the NuPhy Air keyboards! https://github.com/qmk/qmk_firmware/pull/21949#issuecomment-1833408909 https://github.com/qmk/qmk_firmware/pull/21949#issuecomment-... Copyleft works. In spite of all its haters.
- Scene_Cast2 3y agoOh huh. This might sound silly, but your commend nudged my opinion on copyleft. My previous take was more cynical - I remember, ages ago, seeing a lack of enforcement around some less popular gnu / fsf software.
- crotchfire 3y agoIMHO copyleft is mostly about the balance between hardware manufacturers and free software. It's important to remember that. It forces the hardware vendors to stay on "their side of the line" -- or at least to give up control over any part of their product which extends into the software space. This is why it's much more important for the hardware-touching parts of the stack (Linux, GRUB, GCC) to be copyleft than the rest of the software we use. A lot of the anti-copyleft people think only in terms of software-company/software-company interactions.
- layer8 3y agoCaps Word: Nice idea, something I might go implement with AHK. Orbital Mouse: This reminds me of Logo turtle graphics. Word selection: Using Ctrl+(Shift+)Left/Right, this doesn’t work at the edge of a word, or only on one side. You need to be able to look at the characters to implement it fully. Editors that don’t support “select word” at both word boundaries always frustrate me.
- kkfx 3y agoPersonally I have a Keychron V6, witch is just ok for it's price, but my complaint is that QMK have enough power to simply read a text file on a small flash memory even a raw memory flashed via `dd` wrapped by a simple script and made the customization much more comfy, without the need of recompile the fw, downloading ~1.5Gb of stuff simply mapping a physical key or key combination to a set of keycodes. Second RANT to ALL keyboards OEMs: please add a damn service to print easily custom keycaps, a small example, being from the EU writing in few languages every day I've chosen the EurKey layout, witch actually does not exists on sales in some pre-build keycaps set. I have mapped differently some keys, MOST of them I know from memory, but sometimes being able to see the key is a very nice to have thing. Ok, keycaps normally are not really printed, meaning it's not cheap to produce custom ones, but if you damn ask 300+€ for a keyboard and someone buy it I'm pretty sure a custom keycap set does not change the game much. Third RANT please STOP making cherry, OSA etc profiles. Very old IBM keyboards have solved the height issue with a simple parabolic support, there is NO DAMN REASON to make flat support and different height keycaps making limited room to move them on the keyboard.
- crote 3y ago> made the customization much more comfy, without the need of recompile the fw Get someone to write a profile for https://get.vial.today/ https://get.vial.today/ support. > add a damn service to print easily custom keycaps https://www.wasdkeyboards.com/custom-text-cherry-mx-keycaps.html https://www.wasdkeyboards.com/custom-text-cherry-mx-keycaps.... > please STOP making cherry, OSA etc profiles They are making them because people keep buying them. Turns out most people actually like typing on them.
- bluGill 3y agoPeople buy them because they like a curved layout. OP is asking for more curved circuit boards with keys all the same height so that they can use whatever layout they want. It makes sense to me, but I'm - like most people - stuck with what I can get which means QWERTY keyboard layout.
- apetrovic 3y ago
- preya2k 3y agoI have a newbie question around Keyboard firmware: I built a simple Macro-Pad based on the RP2040. I want to use it under macOS for application-specific functionality. However, I cannot find a firmware that allows me to change/define Macros during runtime. I find it very cumbersome to always compile and flash a new firmware, whenever I want to change a simple Macro. What am I missing?
- crote 3y agoYou might want to look into Vial[0]. It's essentially an addition to QMK which allows you to do exactly that. [0]: https://get.vial.today/ https://get.vial.today/
- preya2k 3y agoThanks! That looks really good!
- tehnub 3y agoYou might want to try via (https://www.caniusevia.com https://www.caniusevia.com) instead, actually. I know at least Bastard Keyboards switched from vial to via because vial-qmk (the vial fork of qmk_firmware) was lagging 9+ months behind upstream qmk at one point.
- ThatPlayer 3y agoOne feature that made me prefer vial for custom macropads is being able to embed the keyboard definitions that via/vial needs within the firmware. A lot more setup and forget rather than having to deal with additional files to be able to change my keymap. Especially when I'm gifting these to friends.
- bobsmooth 3y agoConfigure the macropad to send uncommon key combinations and use something like Keyboard Maestro to do the rest.
- heads 3y agoI am quite in love with the touchpads on my Steam Deck. Has anyone here seen a keyboard that incorporates such devices? (1.5” square haptic feedback pads, one under each thumb.)
- aurecchia 3y agoI only know of the Dilemma keyboard by bastardkb, but it's round touchpads. I'm not sure how similar they are to the SteamDeck ones. https://bastardkb.com/dilemma/ https://bastardkb.com/dilemma/
- skidd0 3y agoWhen I started getting some RSI from coding all day, I looked for solutions. I ultimately settled on a split keyboard (separating the left and right hand more, less cramped in front at odd wrist angles) with a bunch of thumb keys (to act as modifiers, much easier to use than pinkie based mods) and a folding tripod stand for each so i could "tent" each keyboard out at an angle that matched my natural resting hand posture. That and a wrist pad completely resolved any RSI/tension I had. With QMK, I was able to setup a nice set of keyboard layers for regular use, gaming, and multimedia control. For any keyboard power users, it's a dream! My hands are always in home row and everything is a simple finger movement/chord away. Link to the build kit I used: https://splitkb.com/products/kyria-rev3-pcb-kit https://splitkb.com/products/kyria-rev3-pcb-kit
- keyle 3y agoWhat language programming gives you RSI? I spend around 50 times the time thinking and navigating than typing code. And with LLM completion I barely type nowadays. I thought RSI was mostly for documentation writers and emails people. Ref: programming for 25+ years. I only had problems when my posture was bad. Lucky I guess.
- kobalsky 3y agoif everything you do is move over stuff from the whiteboard to the computer yeah you wont type much. but that’s not the kind of programming that exists, there’s a lot of trench digging.
- skidd0 3y agoI was writing mainly JavaScript all day. The main culprit was my wrist posture. They were squeezed together in front of me and at an awkward, flat angle while typing. Even with a sit/stand desk, multiple breaks, etc. the pain would build up over the day.
- LAC-Tech 3y agoHmm that's interesting to me. I'm currently on a Planck EZ, I like it but would like my hands a little further apart, and the idea of using my thumb for more modifiers is definitely interesting. Had a look at the Corne but didn't want to lose keys (not interested in homerow mods, and I like having keys like ctrl on both sides of the board). Kyria might be the thing for me..
- qmk_man 3y agoI feel like with keyboards and QMK there is only so much you can do before its probably worth your time to learn some steno instead unless you really need to repeat keys a lot. There is a bit of a learning curve, but its not much harder than messing with all the layers and layouts. The main benefit is that its a lot easier to make a new dictionary that adds more functionality without having to modify the keyboard letters at all. Basically, you pick a cluster of letters to act as the modifier on one hand, and then a pattern you want to enter for the command on the other hand. For example, all my symbol commands start with ASDR + a pattern from UIOJKL. So like ASDR+UJ, ASDR+UIO ASDR+UJOL etc. If you just look at the shape of the letters that you make when you press them it makes more sense. My movement commands start with QWER or ASDF (for selection) and then (you guesssed it) UIOJKL. So say you happen to install a new Emacs package and want to make chords for all the commands. I make AWD + and then (you guesssed it) UIOJKL. And then, I don't have to type the command again. You can also type individual letters (and should practice until you can hit 30-40WPM) and don't need to memorize that many words if you don't want to. I actually stopped after like 200 or so because I don't feel the need to.
- nightowl_games 3y agoThis made no sense to me at all and I doubt I'm alone.