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QMK and Keyboards

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Re: QMK and Keyboards

#41

Post by bsnnkv »

7839284023 wrote: post #6
bsnnkv wrote: post #4

Gotta 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 [2]: If I…

> 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-mechani...

This 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-c...

[2]: https://keychron.de/products/keychron-k15-pro-alice-layout-q...

Re: QMK and Keyboards

#42

Post by Snow_Falls »

crotchfire wrote: post #29
Scene_Cast2 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh 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.

IMHO 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…

See the crud around john deer tractors. Not being able to modify your word processor is one thing, being unable to repair thousands of dollars of agriculture equipment is much worse.

Re: QMK and Keyboards

#43

Post by Snow_Falls »

waveBidder wrote: post #26
mynegation wrote: post #16

I 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.

I'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.

I'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.

Re: QMK and Keyboards

#44

Post by crote »

crotchfire wrote: post #21
Scene_Cast2 wrote: post #19

If 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…

The 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…

> This includes the awesome non-Bluetooth 1000hz-rate Nordic Semiconductor wireless feature of the NuPhy Air keyboards!

It seems like the code doesn't actually contain the RF firmware, though - it's just the glue to talk to an external chip which essentially acts as a "modem".

The reason ZMK uses the MIT license - and proper RF support cannot be added to QMK - is that Nordic's RF stack drivers use a license which isn't compatible with GPL. This means if you want to do wireless stuff inside the actual keyboard firmware you can't use QMK.

There is of course a fork out there doing exactly this because nothing is technically stopping you, but you're legally not allowed to combine the two.

Re: QMK and Keyboards

#45

Post by heads »

I 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.)

Re: QMK and Keyboards

#46

Post by crote »

jsheard wrote: post #30
crotchfire wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 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…

Does that NuPhy QMK codebase include the wireless code, or are they doing the old trick of running QMK on one microcontroller and the wireless stack on a separate microcontroller? QMK has very limited wireless support so AFAIK wireless QMK boards usually use the dual MCU arrangement, and the wireless MCU firmware is probably still closed even if they release their QMK source.

Separate wireless controller, see the glue code at [0]

[0]: https://github.com/qmk/qmk_firmware/compare/master...nuphy-s...

Re: QMK and Keyboards

#47

Post by bluGill »

crote wrote: post #40
kkfx wrote: post #27

Personally 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 t…

> made the customization much more comfy, without the need of recompile the fw Get someone to write a profile for https://get.vial.today/ support. > add a damn service to print easily custom keycaps 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.

People 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.

Re: QMK and Keyboards

#48

Post by zvmaz »

bsnnkv wrote: post #39
zvmaz wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use a Keychron Q11, a split row staggered keyboard. On the laptop, I use Kmonad on linux with home row mods but I think I will switch to Kanata because it seems more compatible with Windows (work OS). I have been using home row mods for a few days now and I feel that it has greatly alleviated the pain I have on the left pinky finger (remapping caps lock to control and using Emacs keybindings for years did that I th…

I have both an Ergodox and a Ferris which are both now gathering dust. In my experience, columnar layouts are not worth it for me as a developer, because there is nothing that I can gain from a layout that changes the position of the {};' () keys that will ever offset the productivity and familiarity lost by those keys never being where I expect them to be.

So what do you use Kanata for if you don't mind the question?

Re: QMK and Keyboards

#49

Post by nprateem »

rgoulter wrote: post #3

The 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…

When 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.

Re: QMK and Keyboards

#50

Post by [deleted] »

crote wrote: post #44
crotchfire wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 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…

> This includes the awesome non-Bluetooth 1000hz-rate Nordic Semiconductor wireless feature of the NuPhy Air keyboards! It seems like the code doesn't actually contain the RF firmware, though - it's just the glue to talk to an external chip which essentially acts as a "modem". The reason ZMK uses the MIT license - and proper RF support cannot be added to QMK - is that Nordic's RF stack drivers use a license which isn…

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