ZSA Voyager: Low profile split keyboard • Hacker News Board

Re: ZSA Voyager: Low profile split keyboard

#51

Post by mkozlows » Tue, Sep 05, 2023, 4:13 PM UTC

7839284023 wrote: post #17

That's very expensive! I would recommend buying a Dilemma instead: https://bastardkb.com/product/dilemma/ or building one of the hundreds of DIY open source keyboards e.g.: - https://github.com/mmccoyd/hillside (46-56 keys) - https://github.com/GEIGEIGEIST/TOTEM (38 keys)

"Things you build yourself" aren't really in competition with pre-built things for most people. Also, that Dilemma costs over $200 for an RGB PCB plus case. Add brand-name switches and keycaps, and you're not far off the price of this, and also you had to do the assembly yourself.

Re: ZSA Voyager: Low profile split keyboard

#52

Post by tevon » Tue, Sep 05, 2023, 4:13 PM UTC

shivekkhurana wrote: post #14

If anyone from ZSA is here, please make wireless keyboards. I’m rocking an Ergodox for the past few years. It’s worth every penny, but I cannot carry it around with all the cables.

Dygma is coming out with the Defy this month, which comes with wireless capability and is also an ortholinear split board!

I have their other keyboard, the Raise, and its unbelievably good. I modded the heck out of it and now folks come up to me just the press the keys.

Re: ZSA Voyager: Low profile split keyboard

#53

Post by Zambyte » Tue, Sep 05, 2023, 4:14 PM UTC

krzyk wrote: post #23

bsnnkv wrote: post #19

I have quite a few of these sorts of keyboards, including the Ergodox EZ. I think for generalist usage they can be adapted to pretty easily, but as a developer, the lack of dedicated keys for [, ] and ' is an insurmountable obstacle for me. Those keys are in my opinion perfectly placed on regular keyboards and no amount of layering, tap dancing or anything else will ever come close. Please somebody just make a split…

and lack of F1-F12 is a show stopper for me, I use them in my IDE.

https://configure.zsa.io/voyager/layouts/default/latest/1

Re: ZSA Voyager: Low profile split keyboard

#54

Post by mkozlows » Tue, Sep 05, 2023, 4:14 PM UTC

7839284023 wrote: post #24

shivekkhurana wrote: post #14

If anyone from ZSA is here, please make wireless keyboards. I’m rocking an Ergodox for the past few years. It’s worth every penny, but I cannot carry it around with all the cables.

I don't think they will or at least not with QMK running in the background. They would need to switch to ZMK first in my opinion. See this comment chain: https://old.reddit.com/r/olkb/comments/s95y98/is_bluetooth_w...

Keychron makes QMK wireless keyboards, so there's no blocker on the tech side.

Re: ZSA Voyager: Low profile split keyboard

#55

Post by delusional » Tue, Sep 05, 2023, 4:14 PM UTC

utybo wrote: post #42

I'm a bit disappointed by the new offering and the retirement of the Planck EZ. I fully understand the decisions that were made, and while ZSA's keyboards are phenomenal, there is no way I'd buy one at a 404€ price point (including French VAT, excluding customs costs which would bump it to around 450€). The Planck EZ was great because its price point made it justifiable, mine coming around at ~320€ including VAT and…

What's the difference between the Planck EZ and the myriad of other Plancks out there? I have two OLKB Plancks (one is the massdrop version the other is the EOTW variant), and they are both pretty nice Plancks.

Re: ZSA Voyager: Low profile split keyboard

#56

Post by tevon » Tue, Sep 05, 2023, 4:15 PM UTC

Surprised Dygma hasn't been mentioned yet.

https://dygma.com/pages/defy

Equally as expensive, but really good, team is very responsive and involved with the community, and their customization software is getting better and better.

Also wireless option.

Re: ZSA Voyager: Low profile split keyboard

#57

Post by ajford » Tue, Sep 05, 2023, 4:16 PM UTC

baz00 wrote: post #13

fimdomeio wrote: post #4

What's with the gradient/rainbow led trend? Is it just me that don't have the necessary cultural references to find it appealing? To me I immediately associate it with an unprofessional, cheap look.

I agree. It looks tacky, cheap, unprofessional and distasteful. Not only that half the RGB keyboards fuck out fairly quickly or have power and USB problems. Electric truck nuts. That's all it is.

Then disable it. It's a preference option that can be used to express yourself or even indicate things in your layer configuration.

I switch backlight colors based on layout. The default typing layer is in my favorite shade of blue, then when I'm on my "ide shortcut/F-key layer" then it switches to a complementary share of orange. When I'm on my "common shortcuts/media control" layer it switches to purple for valid shortcut keys while the media keys have their own color layout to more quickly indicate where back/fwd/play/mute is.

No one says you have to use unicorn vomit colors or a constantly shifting color pattern. But it does look good in a demo and does a great job of indicating that it's not a solid color.

Re: ZSA Voyager: Low profile split keyboard

#58

Post by mkozlows » Tue, Sep 05, 2023, 4:16 PM UTC

hwbehrens wrote: post #44

rgoulter wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These small keyboards trade-off the benefit of "bring all the keys within easy reach of the hands" at the cost of a more complicated layout. The intent is "be able to press F1-F12 without having to move hands so far from home row"; it's not "I want a smaller keyboard and don't need F1-F12".

I've been using these types of keyboards for a couple years now, and I find that although the enthusiast community has sort of gravitated towards For example, let's say you need to do Shift-Option-F12. First, you need to hold a modifier to bring your F key layer, possibly a separate or chorded modifier to get you to the F-keys above 10 since you only have have 10 numeric digits. Then, that needs to be compatible with…

"a profusion of shortcuts that you need to remember" -- sure, true, but you're already talking about something esoteric like shift-option-F12. Were you remembering that in the first place?

Re: ZSA Voyager: Low profile split keyboard

#59

Post by tevon » Tue, Sep 05, 2023, 4:17 PM UTC

krzyk wrote: post #23

bsnnkv wrote: post #19

I have quite a few of these sorts of keyboards, including the Ergodox EZ. I think for generalist usage they can be adapted to pretty easily, but as a developer, the lack of dedicated keys for [, ] and ' is an insurmountable obstacle for me. Those keys are in my opinion perfectly placed on regular keyboards and no amount of layering, tap dancing or anything else will ever come close. Please somebody just make a split…

and lack of F1-F12 is a show stopper for me, I use them in my IDE.

Same I use them constantly, but just set one of your thumb keys to shift to your functions row. You can map all the way up to F24 then! and have any other IDE specific commands in that layer as well.

I use F all over the place in VS-code and have them all mapped on my dygma raise.

Re: ZSA Voyager: Low profile split keyboard

#60

Post by tiltowait » Tue, Sep 05, 2023, 4:18 PM UTC

bsnnkv wrote: post #19

I have quite a few of these sorts of keyboards, including the Ergodox EZ. I think for generalist usage they can be adapted to pretty easily, but as a developer, the lack of dedicated keys for [, ] and ' is an insurmountable obstacle for me. Those keys are in my opinion perfectly placed on regular keyboards and no amount of layering, tap dancing or anything else will ever come close. Please somebody just make a split…

YMMV, but I think the Keyboardio Model 01/100 has a pretty great layout for programming. The keys are in a different spot, but they're easily reachable, and the palm layer toggles mean you don't have to contort at all to hit them.