Ergonomic, split and other weird keyboards
Posts must be of/about keyboards that have a clear delineation between the left and right halves of the keyboard, column stagger, or both. This includes one-handed (one half doesn't exist, what clearer delineation is that!?)
i.e. no regular non-split¹ row-stagger and no non-split¹ ortholinear²
¹ split meaning a separation of the halves, whether fixed in place or entirely separate, both are fine.
² ortholinear meaning keys layed out in a grid
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Something like this? The heavy stagger is great, 42 keys is almost perfect, but the thumb placement is -- for me -- horrible. Having to move my thumb to practically under my palm is just terrible ergonomics.
This thumb layout reminds me more of the ErgoDox variants, and is far better placement. Is there a layout close to this?
Kyria is a solid alternative. I was seduced away from it by the Piantor Pro and forgot about it, but the Halcyon Kyria looks perfect. I probably wouldn't use those outer thumb keys much, but it doesn't hurt they're there, and there are plenty of more well-positioned thumb keys from which to choose.
I'd like more stagger on the body section than the birdy44 has, which looks like almost none; it has pinky stagger, but other than that no columnar stagger. The integrated track pads are lovely, though!
KLOR has the same thumb key positioning - the "m" key is too far in - you have to tuck your thumb to get it under your index, which is over the "m" key. It's the same layout as the Piantor. I was hoping for a thumb cluster positioned more naturally under the resting thumb, with less horizontal thumb movement, like the ErgoDox (and siblings).
I use a cantor keyboard daily and I love it, it looks like it fits your description quite well. There are a lot of vendors, I got mine from https://42keebs.eu/shop/kits/pro-micro-based/cantor-pro-lp-40-low-profile-hotswap-split-ergo-kit/
Hah! I'm having trouble distinguishing between the Cantor and the Piantor Pro, which is what I'm currently using.
My issue with these is the thumb key placement. The innermost two are fine, but having to tuck my thumb almost into my palm to reach those outer (looking at the keyboards, or inner, if you look at each hand) keys is not very ergonomic for me. It's also a fairly wide horizontal span to move the thumb, and sequences requiring inner:outer are both tedious and unavoidable.
I don't doubt you like it; for me it's not ideal.
Thanks for the suggestion!!
Ah it seems that I misunderstood the image you provided. I have the outer thumb keys mapped to keys I don't often use (GUI and Alt) so I'm okay with them.
Maybe try looking at all the builds people share on kbd.news? I've also heard that it's not super difficult to modify open source designs and order the PCBs yourself, but I haven't tried it.
Hope you can find something that works for you
Have you looked at https://compare.splitkb.com/ yet?
Gosh, yes, love that site. I don't use it much since it's almost impossible for it to stay comprehensive; for example, it's missing both the Piantor and Piantor Pro, and the Piantor had been around for a couple years at least.
It is a wonderful tool, though. I think it'd be a full time job to keep it current with all commercially available keyboards, much less all of the bespoke builds.
I had exactly the same issue! Ended up building a cheapino https://github.com/tompi/cheapino
Oooo, that's better! It's a few keys short, for me; I need those missing 6. I'm already past my chording comfort level. Maybe a little more pinky stagger, too, but this would probably work.
Thanks, though! That's the right direction.
The Kyria maybe?
The Kyria is nice; that's what I originally had my eye on. The stagger is right, and while some of those thumb keys are placed absurdly far in, there are enough further out to be useful. I do like the knob options, although I'd never use them.
You know, after I set my sights on the Piantor Pro, I completely forgot about the Kyria. I'm just now seeing the Halcyon series with a load of thumb keys! Frankly, more than I could use; I'm not facile with them and find dancing between layers with them to be challenging, but it does give my a lot of positions to use whichever is most comfortable.
I think that's the winner.
Does the zsa voyager help?
The Voyager, like its bigger brother the ErgoDox has tepid stagger. They are the inspiration for this layout; I have the ErgoDox and like the thumb key placement.
Thanks for the suggestion!
keyboardio has gread thumb clusters (and a palm key which you won't find anywhere else afaik. which is also super nice to use)
but it is H U G E compared to this, one more collumn on each half and one more row
I almost got a Keyboardio. I was put off by reviews of the switches, or quality issues, or something.
Size doesn't really matter; I wouldn't use all of the keys, but I don't care if they're there. I don't travel with my keyboard.
I'm mainly where I am because (a) I'm maxing my home row usage, (b) I try to eliminate anything that requires me to take my hands off the home row, and (c) I got sucked into the aesthetics of Chocs. A and B lead to an upper practical limit for the number of keys, so the keyboard size is a function of that and not because I'm trying to save space. C was just a mistake; yes, it's slick, but I should have gotten full size switches, which would have allowed me to get higher tactility.
Those Keyboardios are very nice looking.
Not trying to argue with your preference, just trying to be informative:
The first model had shitty switches.
The newer model 100 is great and uses normal switches (you also can swap them).
They replaced/fixed any quality issues for both models, as far as I have followed in the forum/discord.
I also own both and I can not live without the palm keys haha so take my fanboyism with a grain of salt.
This is great information. I really do like the look of the Keyboardio, and even have a tiny preference for fixed splay. It's good to know they've fixed the switches;I think that's what initially threw me off.