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Keyboards and Open-Source

cullmann.io

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Re: Keyboards and Open-Source

#21

Post by tarsius »

I am somewhat confused by all the love for mechanical keyboards. Don't get me wrong I absolutely agree that a good keyboard is a great investment and think that about 99.99% of all keyboards are complete garbage.

What I don't understand is how someone can spend so much time and/or money getting just the right key switch and researching the right amount of lube to be applied on the inside of those switches, but at the same time not get/build a keyboard that fixes the two major defects shared by 99.99% (probably understating it) of all keyboards.

Instead of telling you what those defects are I invite you to notice them on your own by moving away the keyboard and mouse and what else is on your desk and instead place you hands on the plate and looking at them for a few minutes.

Once you notice those two characteristics of your hands you should also see how your current keyboard (be that an apple/dell/logitech or fancy keyboard for $1000) completely fails to take those into account.

Sure, lube you key switches, I am sure that improves your typing experience too, but compared to fixing the two defects of most keyboards those improvements are only marginal.

Re: Keyboards and Open-Source

#22

Post by aix1 »

salamandersauce wrote: post #19
aix1 wrote: post #17

I really like my keyboards wireless, specifically BLE (so no receiver dongles). I also like them to have long battery life (months). I don't care for backlight LEDs. Is there existing open-source firmware that would tick these boxes? I couldn't find anything last time I looked. (I own and love an HHKB Hybrid Type-S, but am curious to what extent it can be replicated -- and then tweaked -- using open-source designs th…

ZMK maybe? It supports Bluetooth low engergy at least.

Thanks for prompting me take another look at ZMK. I remember concluding that power consumption would have been an issue, but either things have improved or I just reached the wrong conclusion last time I looked.

https://zmk.dev/power-profiler/

Re: Keyboards and Open-Source

#23

Post by cptMayhem »

tarsius wrote: post #21

I am somewhat confused by all the love for mechanical keyboards. Don't get me wrong I absolutely agree that a good keyboard is a great investment and think that about 99.99% of all keyboards are complete garbage. What I don't understand is how someone can spend so much time and/or money getting just the right key switch and researching the right amount of lube to be applied on the inside of those switches, but at the…

Column staggered keyboards exist, if that's your point.

Re: Keyboards and Open-Source

#25

Post by tarsius »

cptMayhem wrote: post #23
tarsius wrote: post #21

I am somewhat confused by all the love for mechanical keyboards. Don't get me wrong I absolutely agree that a good keyboard is a great investment and think that about 99.99% of all keyboards are complete garbage. What I don't understand is how someone can spend so much time and/or money getting just the right key switch and researching the right amount of lube to be applied on the inside of those switches, but at the…

Column staggered keyboards exist, if that's your point.

My point is that I find it difficult to understand how someone can invest so much time/money improving their typing experience without realizing that such a keyboard is the way to go.

I am guessing that it is because we are all so used to "normal" keyboards that it is not enough to be explicitly told what isn't so great about them and being shown a picture of the alternative to overcome the "wow, that surely is a keyboard for freaks designed by freaks" reaction.

And I though that having those two insights about anatomy on your own might just be enough for some to be more open to those freakish keyboards. After all that's what I did; it might work for others too. Back when I bought my first Kinesis Advantage nobody talked about such keyboards. One day I looked at my hands and then at my keyboard and realized that that can't possibly be the best there is. Then I went on the still young internet and searched for something reasonable().

() Of course such keyboards have disadvantages too. Mainly they tend to be on the bulky side, which isn't so great for traveling.

Re: Keyboards and Open-Source

#26

Post by stephc_int13 »

mkdirp wrote: post #10
stephc_int13 wrote: post #5

For those who are on the fence, looking at the mechanical keyboards and wondering if they are that great, I've been there and contemplated the idea of building one for a few years. It's a rabbit hole, and the cost can easily pile up, not even talking about the time spent studying all the possible mods and brands and styles, but at the end the satisfaction is there and I think that my custom keyboard is built to last…

> It's a rabbit hole This is my issue. I really want a mechanical keyboard, but the amount of choice is insane, and the price difference between different ones are insane. Sadly these days it's hard to separate fact from fiction when it comes to products. All of this, and I have very basic requirements too (at least I think so). 70% keyboard layout, needs to be somewhat quiet, and I don't really want to pay an arm an…

Building it yourself is the best way to tune it to your personal preferences and to reduce the cost.

What is your budget? If you can spare a few weekends I think it is worth it, but I usually enjoy building things so I might be somewhat biased...

70% is not a thing AFAIK, there are 60% 65%, 75% and TKL.

Re: Keyboards and Open-Source

#27

Post by ajolly »

Symbiote wrote: post #15

I was warned by a colleague that this was a rabbit hole, then warned by people online, and I'll pass on that warning now. I tried to help by updating and better-presenting an existing list of ergonomic mechanical keyboards: https://aposymbiont.github.io/split-keyboards/ I'm using an ErgoDash¹ with a 3D-printed tilted stand, but I intend to assemble a Lagrange² "soon". ¹ https://github.com/omkbd/ErgoDash ² https://git…

Thanks for sharing this!

I switch between a mistel md770 split Bluetooth keyboard and a kinesis advantage.

Re: Keyboards and Open-Source

#28

Post by salamandersauce »

stephc_int13 wrote: post #26
mkdirp wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's a rabbit hole This is my issue. I really want a mechanical keyboard, but the amount of choice is insane, and the price difference between different ones are insane. Sadly these days it's hard to separate fact from fiction when it comes to products. All of this, and I have very basic requirements too (at least I think so). 70% keyboard layout, needs to be somewhat quiet, and I don't really want to pay an arm an…

Building it yourself is the best way to tune it to your personal preferences and to reduce the cost. What is your budget? If you can spare a few weekends I think it is worth it, but I usually enjoy building things so I might be somewhat biased... 70% is not a thing AFAIK, there are 60% 65%, 75% and TKL.

You can't go lower than what the Chinese manufacturers have these days. You can easily get a TKL for less than $40 these days from Amazon with prime shipping.

Building certainly let's you control all aspects but you just can't compete on price unless you want something exotic like a split ergo or fancy metal chassis.

Re: Keyboards and Open-Source

#29

Post by mkdirp »

stephc_int13 wrote: post #26
mkdirp wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's a rabbit hole This is my issue. I really want a mechanical keyboard, but the amount of choice is insane, and the price difference between different ones are insane. Sadly these days it's hard to separate fact from fiction when it comes to products. All of this, and I have very basic requirements too (at least I think so). 70% keyboard layout, needs to be somewhat quiet, and I don't really want to pay an arm an…

Building it yourself is the best way to tune it to your personal preferences and to reduce the cost. What is your budget? If you can spare a few weekends I think it is worth it, but I usually enjoy building things so I might be somewhat biased... 70% is not a thing AFAIK, there are 60% 65%, 75% and TKL.

> 70% is not a thing AFAIK

Maybe this is what has thrown my research in shambles. I thought 70% was basically a laptop like layout (basically normal keyboard + arrow keys cramped under the right shift key and maybe a few extra keys). Maybe I'm mistaken.

In terms of I've been thinking up to £150 or the equivalent. Split keyboard optional, though, I've never really used one, so maybe it's worth it if it falls within the budget for ergonomics.

Re: Keyboards and Open-Source

#30

Post by mncharity »

lament, n: a passionate expression of grief or sorrow

VT102 keyboards were ok, and space cadet keyboards were fun, but if anyone had been nutty enough to suggest that four bleeping decades later, almost a half century, we'd be focusing on making keys click nicely... I might have pointed out that four decades earlier computers had been hydraulic, that graphical user interfaces looked to become awesome, and asked what disaster they envisioned occurring to so cripple humanity's progress on interface tech.

In the before (covid) time, I had extra cameras on my thinkpad, to half-heartedly play with 3D hand tracking, and "which finger pressed the key" events, and "just where on the keycap was the finger", and keyboard as touchpad, and cep complex event processing with rollback to address input tech with diverse latencies, and keyboard-on-screen shallow-3D overlay for heads-up keyboard overlays, and ...

Sigh. Having a keyboard you love can be visceral tactile joy, something which repeatedly uplifts your spirit throughout the day. So yay on working towards more people having that experience. But sometimes the discussion has for me the vibe of a snowmobile forum with people discussing nice ways to spend half and hour in the morning chasing down sled reindeer.

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