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Show HN: Split Keyboards Gallery

aposymbiont.github.io

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Re: Show HN: Split Keyboards Gallery

#51

Post by 1-more »

salted-fry wrote: post #15

I like the idea of a split keyboard, but I've never been able to go down that road because I sometimes hit keys with the "wrong" finger - most notably, I need to be able to hit B with my right hand because it's down-left in roguelikes (i.e. Nethack). What I'd love to see is a "106% keyboard", where a couple columns are duplicated on both the left/right side. Does anybody make such a keyboard?

I hit air for the first week with a let's split, but it chilled out. I'm probably about as fast on a macbook keyboard two+ years on even though I use it way less.

Re: Show HN: Split Keyboards Gallery

#53

Post by alpb »

I know this is super off-topic but I’ve needed to design this web experience myself over the past few years (and ended up making visitors use Google Sheets with filters they adjust).

It seems you've got some property/binary/numeric filters already in there and if you could load the data from a js/json file, this UI could be entirely open source and customizable. I’d just fork and put my own data, set my own sliders and good to go.

Just a thought if you ever wanted to open source it. It would be a superb experience for many developers.

Re: Show HN: Split Keyboards Gallery

#54

Post by kemitchell »

I own or have owned several of these. The Kinesis Advantage 2 is the only one I regularly recommend. It's very expensive, but also refined, thoroughly tested, and highly customizable.

It did not take me long to adjust. I'm now as fast on the Advantage as on any mechanical standard.

Re: Show HN: Split Keyboards Gallery

#55

Post by xudongz »

xbeta wrote: post #31

I have been looking for a keyboard, but fails to find one. - ergonomics - wireless (bluetooth or a tiny USB dongle is OK) - mechanical keys - mac cmd-key - below $200 USD I am not sure why it is so difficult to find one like that :-(

I recently developed a high end wireless ErgoDox keyboard [1] though I'm working on a more affordable version that will be announced in March/April. It will be around $200 with all the components (some minor assembly required). If you would like to be notified, please subscribe to my mailing list [2] for "ErgoDox Wireless Lite". If you are interested in details, you can also reach me via email (see profile).

[1] https://www.slicemk.com/pages/ergodox-wireless

[2] https://xudongz.us17.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=2e46b2d0347...

Re: Show HN: Split Keyboards Gallery

#56

Post by castillar76 »

I've used split keyboards for ages, and until recently had a Kinesis Gaming Edge that I really liked and still highly recommend. But what I found was that I was "freezing" while typing: instead of typing smoothly, it felt like every other sentence I'd pause for a sec and then keep going. After watching Thomas/chyrosran22's keyboard reviews on YouTube and his discussions of why ergo doesn't work for him, I realized why the 'freezing' was occurring: my brain was getting hooked when the key it wanted to hit was on the 'wrong' hand.

I switched recently to a Keychron K4 (with about half the switches swapped out) and am now just being more conscientious about keeping my wrists at a natural angle than I am about hitting keys with the right fingers. The result: no more freezing, my wrists are happier than ever, and I feel like my typing has gained 10wpm. I do miss the extra macro keys, though—might have to get a macro pad at some point...

Re: Show HN: Split Keyboards Gallery

#57

Post by regus »

I switched to using a Kinesis Freestyle 2 with the tenting kit. It has made a big difference for me, a lot of the pain I was feeling when using other keyboards has gone away.

I am so intrigued by some of these minimalist keyboards. I tried to use a 60% keyboard but I found using the extra layers to be difficult to adjust to. On paper it sounds good, move your fingers less, just use a layer. But in practice it got old fast.

I never realized how often I needed to press the ` key until I started using a 60% keyboard.

Re: Show HN: Split Keyboards Gallery

#59

Post by Arainach »

mholm wrote: post #9

Anybody have the moonlander and enjoy it? I currently have an ergodox infinity, and want something I can swap to Kailh Choc White switches. The layout and programming seems perfect for me, though I'm disappointing that it's still wired.

I've also been enjoying the Moonlander. I was hesitant about the layout, but spilling liquid on my Kinesis Edge and damaging one of the switches forced my hand. The first few weeks were slow going (I dropped from 140wpm to 50-60), but I adapted fast enough. I haven't measured in a while, but I feel like I'm fully back to speed.

I love the customizability - I started with a layout that was influenced by 3 or 4 other programming layouts I found but have made a dozen or so minor tweaks to it over the last few months into something I (mostly) love.

For coding, it's fantastic and I have no complaints (once I found a system for getting to the bracket keys that work for me, at least). For gaming, however, the tap/hold pairing just doesn't work for me. I had Alt and Esc bound to the same key and could not reliably Alt+Tab or hit Esc in a game for the life of me. I split those out earlier this week and now Esc is better, but Alt is still combined with PgDn which is problematic.....I'm probably going to give up and make it a dedicated Alt key and move PgUp/PgDn to another layer.

I have larger hands, so I wonder if I should have just got the Ergodox and had more thumb keys, but now that I'm used to the Moonlander I have no intention of switching.

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