YellowAfterlife

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I write code for videogames!

You could go for a Sofle, that’s very Corne-like (V1 is a direct superset) but has a number row, a few more lower row keys (good for dedicated Alt/Gui/Menu keys!), and rotary encoders. Plenty vendors make these.

More generally though, there are many keyboards! If you were to set requirements as “pre-built, low-profile, number row, at least 3 thumb keys”, that’s 10-something keyboards as per a list I maintain, and probably a few more if you count the stuff in Unsorted keyboards and/or mystery keyboards from Aliexpress.

YellowAfterlife's ergo keyboard list

A sortable and filterable list of ergonomic keyboards!

Apart of Kyria, Hillside keyboards, Birdy44, and KLOR are similar to what you picture here. Maybe even Porcupine, but that’s a key short per side.
GitHub - RaphCoder13/Birdy44: A low-profil split keyboard

A low-profil split keyboard . Contribute to RaphCoder13/Birdy44 development by creating an account on GitHub.

GitHub
Thank you! I think convex keycaps are very nice to have - even if just for the thumb cluster.
Thank you!
Sofle layout! - Lemmy.World

# In picture I think it would be unfair to do this kind of post without showing the keyboard Keyboard: Sofle Choc by splitted.space. They’re making Cooler Sofles these days. Switches: 35gf Ambient Twilights Keycaps: 57x MBK Convex POM, 1x wrk. Dime (for the Gui key!) Legs: “Slim laptop kickstand” by Baseus Macro pad: UwU by Wooting Sometimes you can find these for cheap when people discover that switch actuation point was not the only thing stopping them from being good at osu! / etc. Mouse: Razer Naga X A slightly excessive number of side buttons requires the so-called MMO mice to have a somewhat ergonomic profile. Mostly out of frame: Kensington Orbit Here for the “scroll ring” or giving the cursor small nudges. # Default layer I’ve had the keyboard for slightly less than two years now so the layout has relatively stabilized. [https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/bc0470be-9efc-49ba-a3a6-ea2211496d9e.png] Notes: - I have medium-sized hands and use a lightly claw-ish hand placement so all of the keys are accessible from the home row - Ukrainian alphabet has 33 letters in it so the alpha rows have to be mostly like this unless you’re willing to learn an alt. layout (as if I don’t have enough things to do) - Having a rotary encoder with Up/Down arrows next to an Enter key is very nice for navigating menus! - I press those Left/Right keys by curling fingers, not with a thumb - Having Delete as a tap on Alt is very nice when selecting things with a mouse! - Having -_ =+ on thumb is a little silly, but it’s nice for programming/markup. # Navigation layer [https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/34df5f54-c216-423f-a05d-8907f900ad4a.png] Notes: - I don’t like home-row mods, but I do like a home-row of mods on a navigation layer for wiggling lines of text/code around. - Having PrtScr and F4 above Alt is very nice on Windows/Linux! - Copy Word does Ctrl-Left, Ctrl-Shift-Right, Ctrl-C. This isn’t perfect (can’t select on word start), but still I get a lot of use out of this. - There are two AltGrs because I have a bunch of symbols (— · ➜ ≤≥ etc.) mapped through AHK on Windows and custom shortcuts on Linux. - “Search” opens voidtools Everything on Windows and FSearch on Linux - for quickly locating well-named files and directories. - The top-left key used to be Esc and I haven’t found anything else I’d like there. - TG N/2 toggles the following: # Nav block toggle layer [https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/ebd32013-f558-4207-bc9b-9344ac2bce9f.png] For playing games without re-mappable controls (or playing them without re-mapping anything). # Numpad and mirror layer [https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/c880daab-f45f-492b-ad3f-9d28966bb6f9.png] Enough to type numbers and small snippets of text without moving the right hand away from the mouse! The numpad portion is mostly used to type phone numbers and 2FA codes. # The mouse [https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/18dcd724-9923-4c95-8b45-21795657796b.png] Evidently it’s mostly navigation keys and shortcuts that would take more work to access otherwise (e.g. are on the right half of the keyboard). Scroll Up/Down do 4 scroll “clicks” at a time. Razer’s software isn’t The Best, but they do have application-specific profiles, which is good help for games with a large number of inputs. You can also define one extra layer, but this mouse does not have any buttons that are convenient enough to press for that (e.g. G600 had a third “shift” button on top) so it’s mostly useless unless you have another Razer peripheral and the service is running. # Considerations Hypothetically I could use another column for layout experiments (like offloading [ and | keys there and having an arrow key corner instead of a toggle layer), but there are rather few keyboards like this, less so pre-soldered and/or low-profile. On other hand, the smallest keyboard I could use for anything would likely be 6x3+3, though I don’t see myself needing one unless PG1316S boards become common enough for vendors to sell pre-built options. Thanks for reading !

The keycaps are a part of this keyboard’s cost (Keebio prices a similar set that comes with Cepstrum at $52), though it’s not easy to find choc-spaced keycaps for cheap unless you 3d-print them.

The primary drivers for the cost are likely the R&D work behind the keyboard and that it’s a keywell (with more complicated assembly process).

Perhaps you could get a used one - IIRC there was a channel on MoErgo’s discord.

If you mean the thing for strafing, there was a QMK pull request, though this is now being hastily banned from just about every competitive game. If you mean hall effect switches, I’m not aware of any keywell keyboards with them - there’s just a single 58-key (Lucca 58-HE) as far as column-staggered boards go.

If the keyboard would be sitting on your office desk anyway, you could get yourself an Ergodox/Redox/ErgoDash and not worry about shedding keys for sake of portability.

People and companies occasionally come back to the idea - there’s the recent Flux, Elgato’s macropad (and its numerous imitators), and who was it that was showing off a keyboard with mini-screens while using Dota 2 skill icons as an example

Another way to tackle this problem would be to have a little projector (maybe laser, ideally not) next to the keyboard to shine the labels onto the keys

The keyboard I’ve used for longest was K860 (which still works fine after 3 years and which I still like, though it is rather wide), and as for future works I’d like something between the current two keyboards being Sofle Choc (rotary encoders next to QWERTY B/N) and Redox (thumb cluster layout) with a couple tweaks to allow for closer-angled placement of the halves.

However, no such keyboard seems to currently exist, so I’d have to either find the time to design and build one myself, or commission someone to do that for me.

I recently remembered about it and it seems like the keyboard has been re-scheduled from May 2024 to August 2024 to (now) February 2025, so I think you’d be better off getting something else and then ordering it if/when it releases (and if it doesn’t turn out to be a disaster).

If you’d like an extra-wide keyboard, there’s timception’s Drift (or less-wide Pinky4, ErgoArrows, etc.)

If you’d like pointing devices, there are some designs with various placements.

YellowAfterlife's ergo keyboard list

A sortable and filterable list of ergonomic keyboards!