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I Like Small Keyboards

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Re: I Like Small Keyboards

#41

Post by aconbere »

stavros wrote: post #38
cjshearer wrote: post #35

Gonna shill my project, a 34 key solar powered split keyboard https://github.com/cjshearer/cweep . Each half should end up just a bit wider than a smartphone (114mm x 86mm). I'm still working on the case generation, which is intended to have a metal backplate for magnetic mounting, but I've gotten distracted developing a generic method to convert kicad geometry primitives to cadquery, so others can benefit from this…

What is that battery? It looks like it will last about ten years, wouldn't a solar keyboard need a battery about 1/50th the size?

That's a 10440 lithium ion cell. It's the size of a AAA battery. Probably bigger than the keyboard needs but they are cheap, standardized, and easy to source.

Re: I Like Small Keyboards

#42

Post by Hackbraten »

childintime wrote: post #39
shen wrote: post #18

I like to be able to sit down at any computer and keyboard and be fully productive right away.

Exactly, so do away with the zoo of national keyboards, any language should be typable on the standard QWERTY keyboard.

QWERTY is just one national layout among many. It’s not the “standard” by any meaningful metric. Why not let people use whatever layout they like?

Re: I Like Small Keyboards

#43

Post by kccqzy »

benjiro29 wrote: post #21

> I Like Small Keyboards I like quiet keyboards but finding non-laptop / non-membrane keyboards that do strip the leather from your wallet, is a almost impossible task. Let alone one that does not grow in noise level over time! There is way too much focus on a entire enthusiastic click click keyboards, but everything that i keep finding, sounds like absolute horrible loud, in a quiet room, where your partner is sleep…

Quiet keyboards are basically a solved problem. Go get something like a Varmilo Minilo75 or a NuPhy with silent switches, if you don’t want to build your own.

Re: I Like Small Keyboards

#44

Post by numpad0 »

the__alchemist wrote: post #14

For anyone out of the loop: Size/key count is the new(ish?) metric which perhaps most accurately categorizes the keyboard hobby. E.g. if you look at reddit's r/MechanicalKeyboards, they're mostly <80% layout.

The classic full US keyboard with numpad nominally has 101 keys, HHKB style compact boards usually 60 or so. The bare minimum with all numbers and Fn keys may have as little as 40 keys. Hence:

  100%: full w/keypad,  
   80%: the main part plus cursors,  
   60%: just the main part, with 0-9,  
   40%: just QWERTY, no numbers at all.
The actual numbers of keys slightly differ from percentage figures(PC full keyboards had expanded beyond 101 keys as well), but this is how mechanical keyboard percentage notation is often used.

Re: I Like Small Keyboards

#45

Post by y-curious »

AlexErrant wrote: post #30

For people who like small keyboards, why do you NOT have an integrated trackball/pointing device? E.g. I love my Charybdis, but I rarely see people advocating for a keyboard with a pointing device. Does a trackball disqualify it as "small"?

I need a trackball in my life. I am a glove80 user and love the keyboard but god damn do I tire of moving to my ball mouse when I need to. All of the pointer/trackball mods for the glove80 are janky at best. Help! I want to be proven wrong.

Re: I Like Small Keyboards

#46

Post by elemeno »

nico_h wrote: post #11
seanhunter wrote: post #3

For people who like small keyboards I recommend you checking out the planck and preonic keyboards from olkb. https://olkb.com/ I built my first planck by soldering each keyswitch. That's no longer required. My latest preonic I bought fully-assembled and it works great.

They are nice but please also look into the atreus, it uses a column stagger and has least some angling for your wrists. It’s both a finished product and also a set of instruction for DIY. Otherwise r/ergoMechKeyboards has a plethora of unibody and split small keyboards

Keyboardio sells both the Preonic and Atreus (https://shop.keyboard.io) fully built with a variety of key switch types.

I use the Preonic as my daily driver and really like it - minimal but not too much so. I tried the Atreus like the idea but it was a touch too minimal for my taste - certain key combinations I used a lot at work were too much of a finger twister!

Re: I Like Small Keyboards

#47

Post by numpad0 »

semiinfinitely wrote: post #40

so how do you type a number?

They use special "upper" and "lower" layer keys to switch between mappings. There's a whole open source ecosystem around a project called QMK firmware, and convergent common keymaps for keyboards that use it.

1: https://github.com/qmk/qmk_firmware

Re: I Like Small Keyboards

#48

Post by numpad0 »

childintime wrote: post #39
shen wrote: post #18

I like to be able to sit down at any computer and keyboard and be fully productive right away.

Exactly, so do away with the zoo of national keyboards, any language should be typable on the standard QWERTY keyboard.

well, that's actually how East Asian input usually work, so...

Re: I Like Small Keyboards

#49

Post by quasigod »

shen wrote: post #18

I like to be able to sit down at any computer and keyboard and be fully productive right away.

I really don't think it effects your ability to do that. I've used a split keyboard as my primary keyboard for many years, it has not at all effected my ability to use a standard keyboard. As soon as my hands are on a typical layout the muscle memory kicks in.
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