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Thoughts on Mechanical Keyboards and the ZSA Moonlander

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Re: Thoughts on Mechanical Keyboards and the ZSA Moonlander

#141

Post by hosteur »

miladyincontrol wrote: post #7

I too have a moonlander but imo the biggest gain from most mechs isnt how they can tent but being ortholinear in nature reducing some of the more awkward directional movements of a staggered keyboard. Honestly my biggest gripe with the moonlander is its too many keys, a 40% is more than enough, less can be more in many ways. My datahand is probably my favorite keyboard though for reducing movement while avoiding too…

> Honestly my biggest gripe with the moonlander is its too many keys

Can't you just program it such that you do not use the keys you find unnecessary? Perhaps even remove the switches?

Re: Thoughts on Mechanical Keyboards and the ZSA Moonlander

#142

Post by lrem »

wulfstan wrote: post #118

OPs experience working their way up the keyboard stack is very similar to my own. I settled on the Dygma Raise. I now own one of the Raise and Raise 2. Yes, they are a lot of money. I don’t have time to game any more, and they clearly focus mainly on gamers. But if you’re a software / IT person your wrists are your livelihood, so for goodness sakes invest in them. There is no silver bullet and you will probably have…

If only this had the F key row. Why is "fewer keys" the first decision that every fancy keyboard designer starts with :/

Re: Thoughts on Mechanical Keyboards and the ZSA Moonlander

#143

Post by dotancohen »

distances wrote: post #140
dotancohen wrote: post #4

All I want is a quality split mechanical keyboard with Function keys. I use an IDE all day, I don't want to pull quadruple buckies every time I debug. The Matias Ergo Pro is almost perfect, but I had two of them and they both failed within one year. I had one of each switch type (low force and regular) - both were missing some button presses and repeating other button presses.

You got a lot of exotic suggestions, I'll give one closer to normal: Perixx Periboard 535. Split (though non-adjustable), low profile mechanical switches with three options, three tilting levels, wired or wireless, with or without numpad. And has function keys. Also quite cheap. I got the wired option with tactile brown switches and numpad, and I've been happy with this. I was looking for a replacement for MS Sculpt…

That does look pretty good. Thank you!

Re: Thoughts on Mechanical Keyboards and the ZSA Moonlander

#144

Post by dotancohen »

bsmith wrote: post #107
dotancohen wrote: post #4

All I want is a quality split mechanical keyboard with Function keys. I use an IDE all day, I don't want to pull quadruple buckies every time I debug. The Matias Ergo Pro is almost perfect, but I had two of them and they both failed within one year. I had one of each switch type (low force and regular) - both were missing some button presses and repeating other button presses.

I love my Dygma Defy: https://dygma.com/products/dygma-defy

Thanks, but the Defy lacks Function keys.

Re: Thoughts on Mechanical Keyboards and the ZSA Moonlander

#145

Post by dotancohen »

dimator wrote: post #90
dotancohen wrote: post #4

All I want is a quality split mechanical keyboard with Function keys. I use an IDE all day, I don't want to pull quadruple buckies every time I debug. The Matias Ergo Pro is almost perfect, but I had two of them and they both failed within one year. I had one of each switch type (low force and regular) - both were missing some button presses and repeating other button presses.

Not sure if it's been mentioned, but keychron make split keyboards: https://www.keychron.com/collections/split-keyboards I'm not sure if they're in stock, but it's a lovely keyboard with dead simple programmability.

Looks like a good choice, thank you!

Re: Thoughts on Mechanical Keyboards and the ZSA Moonlander

#146

Post by dotancohen »

zie wrote: post #67
dotancohen wrote: post #4

All I want is a quality split mechanical keyboard with Function keys. I use an IDE all day, I don't want to pull quadruple buckies every time I debug. The Matias Ergo Pro is almost perfect, but I had two of them and they both failed within one year. I had one of each switch type (low force and regular) - both were missing some button presses and repeating other button presses.

You might try the UHK 80: https://ultimatehackingkeyboard.com/uhk80 I have the UHK 60 and I really like it, except as you mentioned no function keys. The software is pretty good, includes a little DSL and you can do pretty much anything you want.

Looks great, thank you!

Re: Thoughts on Mechanical Keyboards and the ZSA Moonlander

#147

Post by dotancohen »

bb88 wrote: post #54
dotancohen wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get that you're trying to be helpful, but I meant that I am looking for a keyboard. Not for a keyboard hobby.

There's a certain trend to repairing existing electronics and keeping electronics waste out of landfills, right to repair and what not -- and that's the spirit I was talking about. Even hot swap switches prevent more landfill waste as it makes it easy for people to replace bad switches. And if you want a reliable keyboard in the future, that's what you'll need, other wise it will just be more e-waste. Owning 20 cars…

Oh, I've soldered my share of keyboards. But only in repairs, not in actually building one from scratch.

Re: Thoughts on Mechanical Keyboards and the ZSA Moonlander

#148

Post by dotancohen »

grepex wrote: post #84
qwerpy wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I completely agree. Moonlander would be perfect with a F key row and dedicated modifier keys. The purists will sneer, but they could always take off the keycaps and switches if they want to show off how minimal they are. I don't spend all my time in vim, my job is mostly emails and docs now. Muscle memory decays for all the fancy chords/layers/macros/etc and I don't have infinite time to spend tweaking keyboard layou…

I added a numeric layer where my left thumb activates the layer key and the numbers are arranged like a numpad on my right half. The dedicated number keys at the top row are now f keys. Highly recommend

That's an interesting idea. But it makes other key combinations quadruple buckies. For instance, in JetBrains IDEs Ctrl-Shift-4 sets bookmark number 4.

Re: Thoughts on Mechanical Keyboards and the ZSA Moonlander

#149

Post by atoav »

Jcampuzano2 wrote: post #8

I started having RSI issues 2 years ago, what a way to welcome me to my 30s. It was excruciatingly painful just getting through a workday even with plenty of breaks. I didn't care for building my own keyboard I literally just wanted something to help me not be in pain no matter how weird it looked. I've ended up on a Kinesis advantage 360 pro after spending thousands of dollars on keyboards because I needed something…

Having been extensively on computers for the past 25 years and I have never experienced the whole keyboard-/mouse-pain thing even in the slightest on myself. I know many collegues who did tho.

I wonder whether this has to do with me being a bass and guitar player. Playing an instrument where you essentially press down thick steel wires with your finger tips with full force, while your fingers are in odd angled ("unhealthy") positions for hours certainly does something to your motoric system.

I know anecdotal evidence with n=1 is useless, but the idea that motion is important to reduce body pains isn't exactly new or unresearched. A whole family of ergonomic chairs have evolved about that very idea. I know multiple people whose only solution to excruciating back pain was simply to exercise and build muscles in the back, and they tried every ergonomic chair in the book. The only thing that really helped was excercise.

Since I don't have RSI take all that with a grain of salt, but maybe trying with those guitar-finger-strength-trainers for a month isn't that big of an investment?

Re: Thoughts on Mechanical Keyboards and the ZSA Moonlander

#150

Post by dotancohen »

squigz wrote: post #31
dotancohen wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds a lot more like a keyboard hobby, than a keyboard.

It's very basic customization of a tool you use all day for your job. This is a strange attitude to me coming from a programmer.

I used to customise my car, my keyboard, even my fountain pens. Now, I just want to use them. I bought a car that's quick enough to pass lumbering trucks on tight roads (Tesla Model 3), I bought a pen that fits my hand and writes comfortably (Jinhao A10 EF), and I'd love a keyboard like the Matias Ergo Pro that I don't need to replace every year.
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