System76 Launch Configurable Keyboard with Open Source Code
github.com
github.com
I backed them on CrowdSupply some years ago and although it took a while to be delivered have used it extensively since and even purchased a second one for at home & the office. A huge positive while waiting for it was the regular, informative status emails from the founder.
Now they are on to v2 [1] with backlighting and better keycaps.
The "Agent" firmware is also regularly updated and makes customising the keyboard a breeze. I won't go extensively into the functionality here but it's worth checking out.
I am in no-way affiliated with UHK but if anybody is looking for a split, open source, customisable keyboard I would highly recommend.
[0] https://uhk.io/
[1] https://ultimatehackingkeyboard.com/blog/2020/11/05/introduc...
Personally I have the Ergodox Shine and I love it. If I had to do it again I wouldn’t do the shine though; the backlight just highlights how much cat hair is on my desk.
Personally I am very happy with my two UHKs (one for the office and one for home, though for obvious reasons they are both home now). I have stopped using a mouse and use the mouse layer exclusively now for working, though on my work one I have a prerelease version of the trackpoint module that I use. Being a split design has made it easier for my hands and finally forced me to learn proper finger technique.
I scroll using the mouse layer mostly. There is a mini trackball in the key cluster module that is handy for more accurate scrolling but it easily also scrolls horizontally. I would assume they'll make it configurable.
Could you explain how dragging works with the trackball module? The website says that the trackball is not pressable and I can't imagine how I would control it and press one of its keys with the same hand.
And one question about the trackpoint, if you have time. I tried trackpoints on my Thinkpad laptops, but couldn't get used to them because they were too stiff. Have you ever come across any alternative tips/nibbles? I would love to have one that feels like a PS controller stick :-)
If you get the left side key cluster module, it has clickers on the edge, so you can use those for clicking with your left hand while dragging with your right. Personally for me it wasn't the most comfortable choice so I stick to my mouse keys.
This is actually my first trackpoint that I really use, so I haven't searched for any alternative tips. I do admit a PS controller stick could be nice. :D Maybe a bit too light to touch?
Before building this, I had tried a split ortholinear and was eying a moolander. Unfortunately, since I have to use a standard laptop for work (and I’m moving around a lot during the day), I just couldn’t reprogram my fingers on an ortholinear ... I found switching back & forth very challenging and in the end, not worth it.
You can change literally any key mapping you like, and do some wild stuff with it. I've got shortcuts for taking different types of screenshots mapped to key combos that are easy to reach, for example, because I take tons of screenshots for work.
The UK layout is close but not quite there (enter is 2 rows tall in our layout and one extra key next to it)
http://www.farah.cl/Keyboardery/A-Visual-Comparison-of-Diffe...
Basically after P I need at least 2 keys to the right of it (not counting enter). 3 keys to the right of L (again not counting enter) and one key left of Z (not counting shift).
And yes our enter key is 2 rows tall.
Really all I want is a normal nordic layout keyboard split in 2 with good quality switches and working tilting/wrist rests.
I'm tempted to change the kicad on this to just take the low profile switches but I can't do the layout change
I did stumble upon the Moonlander [0] but couldn't justify the price point.
Further looking brought me to the Koolertron split keyboard which so far I've been liking for a small "cloffice" used during the lockdowns. I even did a full write up here of what I thought: https://twitter.com/alexpotato/status/1350530940561457155
If you can spend the money on it I highly recommend it. If not you can try looking into self-building a redox (I'd recommend non-wireless as the wireless has some quirks atleast mine from falbatech does, falbatech has nice tenting and bamboo casings for split keyboards. You can buy separate parts and kits or buy them pre-built.
Swapped the pinky keys to ones with lighter springs and that is a great ergo boost.
I have a huge desk, I don't want a 12" keyboard with 2 weird small space keys, and the arrow keys smashed into the right side.
My suspicion is that the market for TKL keyboards or even full keyboards is already served by the big brands so the custom vendors have a harder time.
Or configure certain keys to do something different with a double or triple tap. Double tap lshift = [ Double tap rshift = ], etc.
They are highly configurable.
There's a ton of rethinking what a keyboard is that is going on in the ergo space right now as to what a keyboard _should_ be and how they should function. From physical layouts, curvature, keymaps, layering and combos it's interesting to see the experimentation going on. These devices are going to be used for the rest of our lives, they should at least be non-harmful over time.
Right now I'm using a GergoPlex, but my holy grail is a QMK'd DataHand. (And if you know who has one, please send them my way)
That being said, if someone wants to miniturise the LalBoard and rework it, I could design a PCB/firmware :)
1. Repeatedly/repetitively using small/weak/fine-motor muscles
2. Contorting your hands (like holding multiple modifirs with the same hand and also pressing whatever non-modifier)
Moving your whole hand from the venerable home row to for example the nav cluster doesn’t fall under any of the above, since you can move your arm with your shoulder. I have never had problems with using larger muscles like my shoulders all day for simple, non-strenuous tasks, and I haven’t heard of people who have reported problems with it yet. I have however heard of people who have gotten in trouble because they repeatedly do tiny motions with their fingers or hands. Which is tempting since it can feel easier to use those muscles for precise control -- I certainly pen-write with my wrist too much when I should be using my shoulder more -- but can easily lead to fatigue or worse.
I have had more problems with Emacs’ modifier-heavy default keybindings than I’ve ever had with modifier-less peasant software like word processors, ergonomics-wise.
It isn’t a problem for me ergonomically to move to the arrow keys if I want to do a bunch of “meta” keys like move word right or left,[1] which is harder to do on som fn-keyboard where you both have to hold down the shift key and the fn key. I also am able to use the arrow keys from the somewhat overrated home row, but that is on a non-configurable keyboard (remapped in software).
I would say that people have a minor point when they say that moving your hands wastes time. Kind of like me going for a five minute walk every so often wastes time compared to sitting at my desk for eight hours straight. Now I’m putting a fine point on it, but I actually think that even a little bit of gross movement like that can be more beneficial than hurtful.
I’ve used a cheap 60% keyboard for a while and it was never really my thing (just got it for the n-key rollover):
1. You can’t reprogram the fn key on the keyboard (again if cheap)
2. You can’t reprogram the fn key in software since it is effectively “blessed” (your OS can’t see it)
3. Now you’re stuck with whatever fn layout that they made, which is often subpar (example: my 60% has some fn-whatever combos that turn off keys or lock them which just causes problems whenever I accidentally press them (always accidentally))
4. Big Brand keyboards are customizable but their software is likely to be too limited, which means that you have to buy somewhat boutique keyboards in order to truly map the fn layer business the way you want
5. I already alluded to how multi-modifier keybindings can be a pain: a lot of software assume that you use a regular keyboard so they will throw keybindings like Ctrl+Shift+PageUp at you, which might translate to something unwieldy like Fn+Ctrl+Shift+P. That’s too much hassle. (Intellij is a real sinner in this regard.)
I currently use a tenkeyless keyboard which gives me the only less-than-fullsize keyboard advantage that I care about: my mouse is closer.
[1]: Yes, sometimes I use built-in/embedded editors or textfields (like Firefox’s address bar) that are not Vim or Emacs; No, I don’t want to configure every last software that I use that contain mini-editors to use some kind of Vim-like plugin so that I can e.g. move word-right with `w`.
I am not aware of real studies and conclusions on this matter. If you are subject to this problem, even finding professional expertise is difficult and eventually expensive. Investing 100-200 usd to experiment doesn’t sound absurd. In my experience, enthusiast keyboard hold their value pretty well if you are not satisfied.
Anyway, I like the small ortholinear keyboards with thumb keys because the whole keyboard is accessible with very little movements and combos do not require stretching.
I have experimented myself. That was what that whole post was about. I am quite picky when it comes to keyboards so I have bought a few of them over the last year. But my experiments won’t lead to “real studies”, nor will anyone else’s, so that point seems misplaced since you open your post by dismissing my anecdotes.
Somewhat expensive keyboards is a particular hobby for people with disposable income. Programmers don’t have some special need for typing speed or ergonomics compared to other office workers. If we did have a need for speed, for example, we would learn something like Plover since that would make us write at least twice as fast (at least for prose, but I type that quite often.) It also allows us to buy regular keyboards and not crazy expensive steno machines. But we don’t: instead we do some minor “optimizations” with one-key-per-letter keyboards like use the home row 25% more and gain 200% more subjective empowerement (I’ve customized my keyboard in software to do the same thing).
> Anyway, I like the small ortholinear keyboards with thumb keys because the whole keyboard is accessible with very little movements and combos do not require stretching.
No modifier combos require stretching on a regular keyboard as well; notice how all the modifier keys are close together in case you need to press multiple ones at the same time, and at least a few of them (like control and shift, maybe “Windows” and Alt) should be on both sides of the keyboard. Regular keyboards don’t have a stretching problem as long as you touch type.
not sure I can take that for granted; the need for typing speed could come from having to grind through a ton of boilerplate - you can see the desire coming through as intellisense/autocomplete, and from abbreviations like "str", "std", "int", "fn", "<T>", etc. instead of full names. Assume other office workers are writing English to communicate an idea, English doesn't start with public static void main implements EmailMessage, IMemo, getter, setter, whatever whatever. So maybe programmers do have a need for typing speed, because of using such inexpressive languages (APL/J/K programmers need not apply).
> "If we did have a need for speed, for example, we would learn something like Plover since that would make us write at least twice as fast (at least for prose, but I type that quite often.)"
Again, not sure I can take this for granted - Steno is used for transcription, it's basically another way of spelling every word, phonetically. My suspicion is that it's more mental work to use it than it is to write normally. Is it still as fast, as useful, if you also have to come up with what to write? Take this video of record holding court reporter Mark Kislingbury taking transcription:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61c0bEdVtX4
His fingers move slowly to capture fast speech, but he is only writing the sounds down, he goes on to read back from the Steno phonetic transcript which you can see is not fleshed out English prose. That excuses him from any need for capturing homonyms, clashes between multi-syllable words vs separate words, punctuation, spelling, parentheses, caps on abbreviations, commas in numbers, etc.
Now take some person who came up in the search results for Plover videos, writing after ~6 months practise:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28v3cm21uAA
The words appear quite quickly, but there are lots of pauses and corrections which means I can approximately keep up with it on a QWERTY keyboard, losing ground when they are in flow and catching up when they pause. Impressive though it is, and maybe a little faster but it's still going to take them a lot more effort to get from here to anything like double this speed. The pauses and corrections suggest to me that it takes a lot more thought to do it - and the corrections of Steno mistakes aren't typos of individual letters in words, they're whole sound and word changes like REGOURDLESS instead of REGARDLESS and "Steno is much more ergonomic than questionnaire" instead of "than QWERTY". That is, a typo left in a normal typing document is usually understandable, a miskey with Steno is more jarring like an autocorrect substitution. And you can see slow parts, e.g. where they write numbers like 225, the farther you deviate from prose the harder it gets to go fast - and I do tend to write names of programs, names of servers, IP addresses, customer company name abbreviations, made up words and spellings for emphasis (like "customer says yoooooouuuuuuuuu broke it"), project and software and product and vendor names, and etc. AFAIK, a lot of the real speed boosts come from adding custom short briefs for long words you write a lot - e.g. specialising in legal, medical, or technical subjects and adding shortcuts for those, which you can potentially do with snippets and hotkeys to help normal typing overall. And of course, two full hands, a custom keyboard, and custom software.
That's not to say I don't like it, or don't respect it, or don't think it's faster, but it is more nuanced than simply being "learn it and write at least twice as fast". Mark Kislingbury is world class good, it is literally his job and his career and his record is 360 wpm. If everything you typed took you 1/3rd of the time, how much would that change your life? George R. R. Martin surely isn't holding off the last books of Game of Thrones because of typing speed. Typing speed probably isn't the limit of how many emails you can get through in your inbox, or how long you spend in meetings, or how clearly you can write documentation, or etc. I suggest if not using it as a career transcriber, considering it as hobby, or procrastination like people overly focused on their note taking systems instead of what the notes were supposed to be helping with. Almost every book or document or program ever written was written on qwerty or typewriter or pen and paper, and got on fine with it; good enough is good enough.
On another side of it, like the quote "I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time.", life and office life is overburdened by prose, it's already too easy to write paragraphs of guff that never gets to the point, who doesn't have an overflowing email inbox these days? Being able to churn it out faster possibly shouldn't be the goal - anyone wonder what it would be like if we all had to write like Stephen Hawking? Think as much as you like but turning it into text for someone else to read will cost you; making writers suffer, to make readers lives easier with less to read. Use a horrible painful keyboard, write less, your audience won't thank you because they won't be thinking of you, but good because the point should be to get out of their way not to take their attention for as long as you can.
(Author, condense thyself; yes I should)
FINALLY an advantage to my "handicap": I use the numeric keypad somewhat frequently, and the additional size of the keyboard doesn't bother me at all. The number pad could be as large as another full-size keyboard, and my mouse wouldn't be a nanometre further away. And ever since I bought my left-handed mouse, it's comfortable and ergonomic and whatnot, too.
This is a more efficient way to use the arrow keys compared to a standard keyboard where you have to move your hand out of the home row.
For my keyboard: fn + jkli (or fn + wsad) for arrow keys. fn + uo for page up/down. fn + hn for home/end. fn + <number> for f1-12.
I rarely used insert/delete. I never used the number pad. I have my capslock set to be fn.
I was tired of a full sized monster keyboard taking so much space on my desk. At first I tried TKL but enter key placement turned out to be awkward for me, so I switched it out for a 60% since there was going to be a learning curve regardless.
That would make the ctrl+ pg up/down shortcut that I use to switch between tabs in Firefox (or Kate) much harder. I'd suddenly have to press 3 keys at once instead of two.
I buy 15in or larger laptops specifically to get the 10key num pad built in.....
It's a change of mindset.
Rationale: I used a mouse only for (a very few) games in the last 20 years and moving the hand to reach the mouse loses time. The touchpad is good enough to select and click stuff on screen (and a touchscreen would improve the experience for a few buttons here and there.) Furthermore the mouse has literally more friction than a finger on the touchpad (the ball ages ago, the laser now, the cord, the batteries, etc)
It's the same, except with keyboards: if you grew up with a laptop, you want a 60% keyboard because it's "natural".
If you don't believe it, just look at /r/MechanicalKeyboards on reddit: 9/10 posts are about 60% keyboards.
I don't use a 60% keyboard, but I do use a tenkeyless keyboard because I do love my F keys.
My choice has zero to do with laptop keyboard. In fact, I hate laptop keyboards. Laptop keyboards are the result of severe design constraints imposed by the laptop's form factor, and most of them are pure crap to begin with.
Tenkeyless and 60% keyboards don't take over half your desk for no good reason, and provide you with everything you want or need. And they are symmetric too.
To put it differently, there is absolutely no reason whatsoever a regular user going about their regular day would need a standard keyboard. The tenkey section is one of those oddities that barely anyone touches ever, and more often than not only serve as indicators of when you need to clean your keyboard.
My current Keychron fits the bill nicely, and I think this System76 is right in the same vein, except with some improved flexibility. I don't need a full-sized keyboard, I just want a comfortable keyboard with dedicated PageUp/Down + Home/End keys. Plus, for whatever it's worth, I'm digging my Pop!_OS distro, so knowing that their keyboard will play nice with it is an extra bonus.
For instance, I made a "nav" layer and put the arrowkeys under hjkl because I'm a vim person, and then I put Home, PgUp, PgDn, End under "nm,." because it made sense to me geometrically, and now I use those keys all the time.
Or another one: I brought "Insert" to mirror "Tab" and configured my zsh to do bash-style tab completion on "tab" and to autocomplete from history on "insert". Who the hell uses insert regularly? Me apparently.
Rewiring my brain took some doing, but I'm quite happy with the results.
In fact I only have two complaints about the default layout, both pretty minor. One is that {}[]\| are on the Fn layer which took some adjustment for programming. The other is that with alt and space side by side, I sometimes hit alt+space which on macOS becomes some non-ASCII space character that looks just like ASCII space. A find and replace for that works wonders.
http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/#/gists/eb0696806831fc...
That layout is a bit outdated, i moved super to the outer corner so I can palm press±hold it to manipulate windows in i3 with hjkl. Palm+tap is still enter.
The left hand uses fdsa to move the mouse and vcxz to send mouse scroll wheel events--so it's mirrored hjkl action.
I've done away with the number row in favor of a 10 key, and then mapped the symbols to their finger on the opposite hand, so '@' still goes with 2, but in a different kind of way.
Any symbol with a mate ()[]{} is similarly mirrored (index fingers do these). The idea is that if I ever hurt a hand (which is likely, since I'm a rock climber) I can map a foot pedal to activate a "switch sides" macro and I'll be able to exploit the symmetry to learn to do without whichever hand faster. This hypothesis is untested.
I originally designed it to give my right pinky finger a break, so the hands are further apart to give the index fingers more options and enter is a right palm-press.
Another nice thing about warping your mind to fit inside a tiny keyboard is that you can easily "embed" those neural mappings to a larger keyboard. I have an ergodox ez as well--which has plenty of keys, but I've just ported my planck layout inside of the ergodox and I really just ignore the other keys. I still like it because I can tent either side at different angles, which you can't do with the planck.
Disclaimer: this is not a hobby for those unwilling to burn a lot of time tinkering. Also, "maybe it's a bug in my keyboard firmware" is a new and unwelcome thought that must be made peace with. But it's fun for me, and pinky doesn't hurt anymore, so that's something.
Me for Shift+Inserting my X Primary selection (eg. HN block quotes. Virtually every single time I ever try to use any non-free OS I end up highlighting something, (Control|Alt|Command)+Tabbing, Shift+Inserting or middle-clicking, and hating my painful life when I realize I have to tab back and manually copy the text with a keyboard chord or dragging down a menu).
The feeling of inserting the primary buffer is so natural that I forgot it exists.
And the feeling of trying to use it and not having it--it's so bad I guess I blocked out.
Shift insert aside, a raw insert is a rare thing--until you tie it to zsh-autosuggestions
Us old-schoolers (veterans of Windows 3.x) reared on the IBM CUA who never really took to those newfangled [Ctrl]-[C|V|X] Macintosh editing keys, that's who.
Instead of reaching with your fingers to far-away keys, you will press a function key, and another key that is closer to your hands. This results in keys that are normally further away on 100% keyboards to become easier to press, because you don‘t have to move your whole hand just to reach that key.
You’re right that it takes muscle memory and time to learn, but in reality it’s not that long. Layers take maybe a day or two to get used to and then you’ll wonder how you ever lived without them!
Seriously, give QMK and layers a shot. You will probably find it much easier to get used to than you think!
I initially though I wanted more keys, but as I went I found out I wouldn't use them. It made a lot more sense to have a couple of layers on the thumbs and place all I needed around the rest position. In the end I had nothing important to put on extra keys.
After that it's basically a cultural thing.
My model is old, looks like the most similar current model is the Coolermaster "Masterkeys Pro M" (RGB or white LEDs available):
https://www.coolermaster.com/us/en-us/catalog/peripheral/key...
Picture of the layout:
https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/cdn.coolermaster.com/asse...
I did a bit of blog series as I went through the design and build process after my Model M died after a coffee accident. https://www.ibbotson.co.uk/tag/keyboards/
I'm mulling over doing a custom design with a ISO/US layout so I can kill the function key row but keep both ~` and the escape key. Basically the "Vortex Vibe" but with an ISO layout.
That makes absolutely no sense. Your choice of keyboard should not come attached to a monitor.
Furthermore, laptop keyboards are notoriously unmaintainable and uncleanable.
If all you want is to be able to use a nice keyboard that doesn't take over half your desk space, specially if it's already cramped, then this is the stuff you crave.
1. Small means the mouse is closer to the keyboard 2. Games often rely on wasd instead of arrows 3. 40% cheaper for alternative switches and keycaps, or higher margins for the producers 4. Style and look may feel like more exclusive, competitive, make hands look bigger. Fashion is important in this community.
Thanks to their firmware, they are very usable but it is really a matter of personal preferences.
Unless my right hand (mouse) is very close to my left one, I get RSI.
I started using keyboards without a numpad first, then without the nav cluster. Nowadays I choose keyboard which are taller but narrower, so that I can get the most functionality but without needing to force my right arm too far away: https://tex.com.tw/products/shinobi?variant=16969883648090
It gives my right hand a much better position, it's quick to switch between mouse and keyboard, and it gives my elbows room to rest on the table.
The only downside is that it requires a slightly deeper desk than having the mouse next to the keyboard, but you probably want space on the desk for your arms anyway.
I would also highly recommend getting a trackball, personally I'm a programmer and have to rely on my hands despite having RSI and CTS.
The Scuplt was about halfway to a vertical mouse; the MX Vertical is like, all the way there. It was disorienting at first, but I stuck it out for the first weird day or two and I can't say I've ever been happier with a mouse.
I do like smaller keyboards though, easier to switch with laptop, less finger travel, less travel to the mouse and so on
No USB connection of course as those keyboards predate the standard, but any cheapo PS/2-USB converter will work.
Beware that the Model M draws more power than USB is allowed to supply. I've never heard of this being a problem in the real world, but I always plug my model M into a powered hub to ensure there is plenty of power available.
True converters do. Those that don't work are just connector adapters relying on the mainboard to recognize that a PS/2 device is connected although on a USB port. To be sure you get a working adapter, never buy single port ones as they often contain just connection wires. All converters I tried with dual PS2 port, to be used with mouse and keyboard together, contained a real protocol converter and worked flawlessly on all PCs. An image search for "ps/2 usb" returns may examples of the two converters types.
Someday I want to find a Northgate omni-key from that era which people tell me is the best.
But I think this video is an excellent introduction on the reasoning why tiny keyboards are popular: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKGXZ1ReU54
Personally my numpad is indispensable and I never understood the desire to have a tiny keyboard.
1) More space for my mouse when playing games. I prefer a low sens and full sized keyboards are a legitimate problem for this
2) Desk space. If I'm not playing games it's also helpful to have space for a notebook next to my keyboard when working, or my MIDI controller while making music.
The main reason I moved my hands around before was to use the arrow keys, and now they are mapped to [right spacebar] + [IJKL]. I have also expanded a little to use U and O as backspace and delete on that same layer. I don't think I could ever memorize 3+ layers, but this small use of a second layer that is very easy to access has been great for me.
I use a kinesis advantage which is not small.
I've been using a HHKB for the past 3 years and have gotten used to not having to stretch my right arm to reach the trackpad. You get used to the arrow keys being in a different place as well, especially with the HHKB which requires you to press a function key to use them.
Nearly all the DIY keyboards I've seen are ruthlessly minimalistic and I really would prefer a larger keyboard with more keys, so I don't have to remember lots of meta-key combination short-cuts. I don't think I've memorised all the keyboard short cuts in a given piece of software in a decade... I just don't really use one particular thing enough to make it worthwhile.
That keyboard with the active LED keycaps came out in what... 2006? I expected a regular keyboard with small set of active keycaps for macro keys would have existed by now. Come to think of it, I never used an Apple laptop with that active TouchBar thing either but that doesn't seem to have achieved enduring popularity. but I guess there's no real market for that either.
Moreover you can make [1] the same key to do the same action in different OSes and programs. No need to remember different shortcuts how to switch tabs in a browser and in a text editor.
[1] https://github.com/qmk/qmk_firmware/blob/master/users/miles2...
Razer makes a macro keypad which they call "orbweaver" and it also has a nifty thumb switch which I suppose they intended to be used for the wasd movement in games. Unfortunately, it's designed to be used with the left hand and I mouse with my left hand. I would dearly love a macro keypad exactly like an orbweaver but which was designed for use with the right hand.
So I also now own an unbranded "ambidextrous" macro keypad. Besides the fact that it is great example of how ostensibly ambidextrous devices being really not that great for left handed people, I mostly used it for gaming but as I am not much of a gamer it doesn't get used often.
I also migrated from a Mac desktop to Linux. I had a very nice application for macros on MacOS called ControllerMate but I've yet to find anything remotely similar for Linux.
I've got a "WASD v3" keyboard which is a full keyboard with numberpad, like you I can't stand low key count keyboards. You can choose the color, switch type, key color/images, and program macros/layouts stored in the firmware. No LED displays if that's what you want though. The nice thing about this option vs a DIY is you order it, it arrives. I.e. you're buying a customized keyboard not a customized keyboard building experience. There are plenty like this out there, you just have to specify that's what you want when searching.
You're making it sound like reinventing the wheel to come up with a higher cost and lower quality offering is something to be proud about.
(Of course I know many reasons why that's not happening. I'm just frustrated by the staggerphilia all around.)
This has nothing to do with being staggered or not. I use a typematrix 2030 and it has function keys, arrows, and everything, in a split and matricial layout.
Most "enthusiast" ortho mechanicals seem to be smaller like the plank and appeal to the people who like layers. I know I don't enjoy lots of layer shifting with smaller keyboards.
I have been tempted to build something like an XD75 which is 75 ortho keys in a 60% size. I have also been considering doing a hand wire. More for the fun of making stuff than any necessity.
There are bigger orthos aimed at point of sale and ergo users but their features are a bit different.
- ortho
- angled but not split
- replaceable MX-style switches
- 86 keys
- lights, no whistles
With ortholinear this argument holds more without actually twisting your wrists.
Combined with the fact that the numpad for me is pretty much completely useless outside of entering one-time codes for online purchases and Steam login—I'm quite grateful that it's a separate unit on Sculpt.
That's all despite the fact that I'm a programmer and supposed to love the digits: purportedly that's how they ended up in ‘lowercase’ on the second-top row of the keyboard, i.e. pressed without the shift key (and Apple managed to stick dot and comma in the upper register on that row, in my language's layout). I actually tried to change the mapping so that the symbols are entered without shift, but somehow that breaks a lot of muscle memory of which I didn't even know.
I'm vaguely curious about one setup that seemingly would be especially ergonomic: an Advantage keyboard with a trackpad in the middle. There's almost exactly enough space for a trackpad there, and I've seen kludgey setups that slap a trackpad on an Advantage. A less-ideal split keyboard like Freestyle would probably work too. Meanwhile, semi-portable keyboards like Microsoft's ‘All-In-One’ still go the tired staggered flat-board path and attach a trackpad at the end, despite the opportunity.
[1]:https://github.com/system76/launch/blob/master/pcb/launch-pc...
I find it visually easier to trace tracks that aren't perfectly parallel, too. This is splendid in that regard, pairs are obviously pairs, but their spacing to other pairs is variable (which also suggests slow transitions in impedance rather than step-changes; another benefit).
If anything, this looks like it moves a lot of components out into their own space, where they won't be shadowed by others in case of rework. Looks great to me.
Backspace is one of the top three most used keys for common computer usage, putting it on the thumb is a huge win over the corner to be used with the pinky (or a Shift, Control, Enter, etc.). The layout is otherwise fairly conservative with dedicated function keys, arrow keys, and navigation keys (albeit in a non-standard cluster).
[1] see key layout and mapping: http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/#/gists/8ec5e9026d616e...
Where did you get this from? I'm trying to come up with a good layout for my Dactyl-Manuform, so it would be very helpful to know which keys are the most commonly used.
This is a post[1] from a fella who ran a key logger for a while. He found the top three most keys for his usage were Space, Backspace, and E. There are probably better datasets out there because it doesn't break things down, but I suspect Backspace is almost always up there.
For my layout, I have Enter and Space on the two home thumb keys and Shift and Backspace on the next outer keys. You can find my layout here[2] for more ideas if you're interested. It does however use palm keys that wouldn't be available on a DM.
[1] https://daniel.haxx.se/blog/2014/11/12/keyboard-key-frequenc... [2] http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/#/gists/8105b7f97f89fa...
The offer is pretty good for external keyboard enthusiasts. One can buy a controller, hand wire switches to it and scatter them over a sphere, with custom celestial keycaps for a hundred dollars. On laptop though, I have not seen much more than retrofitting old Lenovo keyboards on newer generations, with some pretty fragile firmware patches.
If I'm allowed to dream, they could be an open Mac some day. We sell you this optimized hardware and software, but you own it, do whatever you want.
The keys are in the usual places instead of multi-function keys, arrow keys are separated, it has a numpad... I'd like to have dedicated media keys, but that's the only thing I'd change. I keep buying it and have spare ones just in case.
Maybe also there's a component of 'expression of self'. We are individuals with individual personalities. As coders our keyboard is important so it's a more productive medium than most to express our individual tastes.
People definitely go overboard but I think it’s worth it to experiment a little bit and see if you can gradually optimize some things you do a lot. I’m a big fan of the Ergodox keyboards and having a decent number of layers. For example, holding W turns my right hand into a window manager. Holding F turns my right hand into an app switch (H = Chrome, J = IntelliJ etc). All of this is on/near the home row so it’s minimally straining.
Learning curves on new keyboards are awful though!
The weird ones are us, the custom mechanical keyboard enthusiasts, and because we are niche and have particular needs we pay much more and have much more to discuss.
Lucky you to have set your preference on a cheap keyboard. I use a Logitech MX Keys everywhere I can. It costs ten times as much, though.
As soon as you start digging in any type of hobby you'll find people going crazy about things you will not understand at all. From audiophiles, to barbecue enthusiasts, knife collectors, wood workers, if you go deep enough in the rabbit hole you'll feel like an alien
I think some personalities are just drawn to these kind of things. They want "the best" and enter an interminable quest or discussing, comparing, building, fighting with other people about "what's the best", &c. I know because I'm part of it in some aspects of my life
Then they went to the flat aluminum ones and I couldn't feel the keys. The concave keys were traded in for flat keys and I could no longer center my fingers and feel the edges of the keys.
So I hunted around and tried a bunch of keyboards. mechanical, mechanical knockoffs, clicky, smooth.
I ended up with a topre realforce rgb. Extremely solid keys. Very smooth throw, and adjustable activation point.
The other mechanical keys like cherry don't feel as solid. They wiggle side to side. The topre has a solid base and a cylindrical to guide the keys as they depress.
I didn't want rgb, but in the end I set it to single color dim and I can find the keys in a dark room, which is great.
Later I went back and tried my old apple keyboard and gah it felt like typing on bubble wrap. But I would not have known and I would have been happy if apple didn't change things around.
Recently I've been trying to introduce a Cherry G86-series SPOS keyboard, since it has a giant pile of relegendable/remappable keys that I want to use for CAD stuff. I've gotten all the remapping done and that works well enough, but just plain typing on the QWERTY portion is a PITA. Small r-shift key has me hunting every time, I think I'm gonna have to glue sandpaper to it or something. The Esc key is on the wrong row and it throws me off every time, etc. Muscle memory is huuuuuuge.
I'm also fond of the Kailh BOX White switches, but they aren't for everyone.
- ThinkPad 7-row laptop ANSI keyboard (like in T420)
- 87 keys ANSI keyboard (does not have to be mechanical) [1]
All other keyboard layouts literally does not exist for me - not matter how 'hackable' or 'open source' or configurable they are ...
[1] https://mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/images/products/large_9...
I'm really glad they did the ThinkPad 25, and I really don't know what I'm going to do when that thing becomes too old to be usable. :-(
Anyway, for anyone thinking of getting one, it's worth checking out this as well: https://www.xyte.ch/shop/t25-frankenpad-kit/ and https://www.xyte.ch/thinkpads/t25-frankenpad/
Cheers.
It is also another step in System 76s long run to produce their own laptop in house. Today they just put their label on an off the shelf laptop (the advantage of buying from them is they are a large enough customer that they can demand linux compatible parts, while if you buy the same laptop you might discovered they substituted some incompatible part for something). However making their own laptops from scratch gives them flexibility to make them with the specs linux users say they want. (it remains to be seen if linux users will actually buy what they say they want)
- detachable lift bar
- swappable switches
- integrated dock
- per-key RGB
- QMK
- open source design
I'm also a fan of two choices made with the layout. First, the split spacebars - it's better to give each thumb it's own job. Second, the minimization of modifier keys requiring stabilizers, because smooth consistent stabilizers are hard to get right.
[0] https://github.com/1MachineElf/qmk_firmware/tree/_sb4dv_refa... [1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2020/03/18/linux...
I've always wanted a keyboard with a keylogger inside the keyboard itself. That way it doesn't matter which OS or computer it is attached to, every keystroke is secretly logged inside the keyboard (to be dumped at a later time for examination)
Edit: looks like the microcontroller is an Atmel chip [0] which has either 16/32 KB of flash depending on which one. I'm not sure which the system76 keyboard uses. I'm assuming part of that flash is for the firmware itself, but maybe there is extra room for logs as well?
[0] https://github.com/system76/launch/blob/master/pcb/docs/Atme...
Plus, it can be used for nefarious purposes to harvest credentials, which is probably illegal most of the time, but might be useful for penetration testing and such.
https://github.com/system76/launch/blob/master/pcb/launch-bo...
I think it is a ATmega32U4-MU
Seems to me something like this you'd want to be able to blow a pubkey into once when you buy it, and have it never accept unsigned firmware or new keys.
[0] !https://beta.docs.qmk.fm/using-qmk/software-features/feature...
That said, I have forgotten what the third layer shortcuts are, because I never actually used them after day 1.
All my modifier keys are on the home row. E.g. F is Shift until I release it, or F after I release it. My pinkies are not overburdened, and I'm an Emacs user.
Then, layers. I don't need to move my hand to the numpad; I press a modifier with my left hand, and the numpad is instantly under my right hand. Same with shifted symbols like @ or &; I can have them right under my left hand, without reaching far. Same for media control keys.
QMK also emulates a mouse, so I can move the mouse cursor, click, scroll with keys, pressing another modifier.
Also you can assign macros to keys. I have little use for it, but people playing games, or people using certain unergonomic software, appreciate it a lot.
This all is, of course, fully configurable.
e.g. pressing a shortcut like "Ctrl + b" most likely involves stretching your pinky finger on a standard keyboard. One feature custom keyboards often have is dual-use keys; keys which act the same if tapped, but have a different function if held. So e.g. tapping 'f' outputs 'f', holding 'f' is the same as holding 'shift'. With that technique, you can put Shift, Ctrl, GUI, Alt all on the home row.
Custom firmware can also support chords; e.g. pressing 'cv' at the same time could be a chord to switch to the previous virtual desktop.
Custom firmware also allows layers (similar to how some laptops have a 'numpad' in the middle of the keyboard which can be used if Fn is held). This allows more flexibility, at the cost of more complexity.
Much of this could be done with e.g. kmonad, but it's nice to have it on the keyboard itself.
If I'm working in a DAW such as Pro Tools or Logic, I can do all sorts of things such as program keys to play full chords or chord progressions. Maybe I want to press some key combo to start/stop my external sequencer, or arm/disarm a synth to improvise live with a looper, but not record into the loop.
I'm sure the possibilities are endless, but having the flexibility to tinker and build your own workflow is super neat.
Plug your keyboard into a new computer and the keymapping stays the same.
But the reason why you'd want user programmable keyboards is the ability to change which keys do what. My keyboard has four different layouts ("layers") that have totally different keymappings. I use them for daily work, work macros, and video gaming.
Software for keyboards has a long history. Custom software for keyboards, not as much, but it's a pretty established niche. QMK firmware mentioned in the article is a few years old.
Probably the first driver for custom firmware is custom layouts.
Some people like some fairly exotic layouts. For example, a lot of smaller keyboards rely on multiple "layers" hidden behind modifier or toggle keys. Or you may just want a few programmable macros. For example, I have the incantations for my KVM switch mapped to a few uncommon key combinations.
If you're moving between different OS's or even machines, it might make more sense to bake all the smarts into the keyboard rather than to try to get several different software installs to behave consistently.
There are also a lot of gimmicky things you can add with custom features: per-key light effects, little OLED displays with graphics or statistics, faster scan rates.
You get some true horror stories coming from embedded engineers dabbling in software in this fields, the firmware is probably some of the least tested, verified, and generally visible code in many stacks.
Because USB is very complicated. I'm sure you could do it 100% with hardware, but then your keyboard's source code will be Verilog since you would need an ASIC
Unlike other keyboards on the market claiming to be Mac-friendly, Das Keyboard Professional for Mac is specifically designed for maximum compatibility. Give your Mac some love with the best mechanical keyboard on the planet.”
This means "we changed the keycaps and remapped two keys" in the mechanical keyboard world. Trust me, this isn't my first time looking through these. There's nothing "designed for Mac" about that. Just look at the non-Mac Model S Professional. They look literally the same except for the keycaps.
Edit: I see. You want four modifiers on the left. That’s pretty uncommon. I remap Caps Lock to Control so I leave Fn in the bottom left.
The thing is that what you’re asking for isn’t impossible. The keycap support is there. A small tweak to the plate and PCB would do the trick. It’s funny though, Apple doesn’t put Fn on their full size keyboards.
I'm looking at my full-size Apple keyboard and there is a Fn. It's just not where >99% of mechanical keyboard manufacturers think it is.
Total cost for that is bound to be something like 50 bucks, mostly keycaps. A BTC 5100-series board is easy to find for under 20 bucks.
No.
I don't really understand that whenever I bring up a "Mac layout mechanical keyboard", everyone starts talking about keycaps.
If the extra keys are necessary, why not just get a macro pad? Keyboard-wise a focus FK-9000 will probably cost you less than a Matias board and give you 20 something more keys. No need to treat me like I am a friggin idiot for not guessing your rather fringe needs.
No, I'm treating you like an idiot because you come suggesting things to me that you have no idea about. You're still wrong about what a Mac keyboard layout is. It's not just "some extra function keys". There's a very distinct and different layout in which the keys are, which is evident if you just look at one, which is why I'm referring it my needs as "Mac layout" and not "keyboard with some Mac stickers".
If you can't "guess what someone's rather fringe needs" are, then don't make recommendations. If someone is looking for a mechanical keyboard with a Mac layout, don't just suggest a keyboard with some stickers on it just because you don't understand what they want (and then get upset that the person's needs are "rather fringe" just because you have no idea).
This is like the 100th time that this same exact pattern happens. You're not even the first person in this thread to regurgigate what I've seen online for years. I don't know what it is about mechanical keyboards that makes everyone an expert regardless of what they know. If I was looking for a car with room for three child seats, I doubt I'd be showered with random suggestions ("I have a Honda Civic and it's a good car. Get a Honda Civic!").
The other weird thing about this keyboard is that the keycap compatibility is a little bit awkward. The wide delete key, short backspace, small return, and split spacebars are not impossible to replace, but many common MX sets don’t have those keycaps in the base kit. Most GMK base sets will only include the smaller backspace. You’ll need to shell out for the additional “40s” kit for those keys.
I don’t know the price but I would estimate at least $250 USD depending on the volume they intend to produce. A keyboard like this run through GeekHack and co would easily go for $350 without keycaps.
My favorite ended up being lightly lubed cheery mx red. But you never know unless you try at least a few.
I ended up liking Kailh BOX Silent Brown switches.
I sometimes hear of keyboard aficionados having strong preferences for various "colors" of Cherry key switches. And I see high-end keyboards advertised with having particular choices of Cherry switches.
But I have no idea if it's actually worth the effort of making the stars align so that I have a particular kind of Cherry switch under my fingers.
How do people figure this out without wasting a lot of money? I.e., is there some kind of keyboard that shows off all the popular Cherry switch types? If so, do people end up having to buy one just for that single use, or is there a way to rent one?
(or even: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3143070)
it's just a frame, no electronics, that you can snap switches into and then mount a keycap onto them. you can get kits that comes with a handful of different switches + a handful of blank keycaps, or just the frame.
switches can be purchased individually or in small batches for around $1/per (obviously varying by brand and retailer).
you can see how it's a slippery slope from "let me try out a couple switches" to "wanna see my custom keyboard collection?".
[1]:
[0] https://uhk.io/
It's not compact, however.
I'd rather have 2 regular-size blank keys in its place (& if you really need Caps Lock you can map it to one of them.)
(My Caps Lock is remapped to be a Compose key, but I'd rather have 2 keys there that I can remap. The space is there and it's nicely reachable.)
Best keyboard ive ever used, Linear keys. Fantastic for not only gaming but its office safe as its not a loud annoying clunk of crap
Imagine the following scenario - memory only malware lands on my computers, identifies the keyboard, uploads a malicious firmware and disappears. Using basic heuristics like time and entropy it detect when I logon to the machine, get my passwords, understands my OS, and what for a hidden signal by the memory only malware. If the signal is not detected for a while because I rebooted my computer or reinstalled it, It unlocks the computer with the password at a time of inactivity, and types in a command like wget/curl to to download the malware again, and so on.
I think this can even be used for Virtual Machine escape, as many VMs just pass-through HID commands, so its possible the firmware can be updated from a VM.
Kudos to System76 though for providing the firmware, this helps in auditing it and running tools like lint or PVS studio to decrease the chance of bugs like that. They are consistent in being open source and I hope more vendors with firmware follow their lead.
Most open source keyboards have a button you press to switch from KB mode to flash target mode. Not sure how this laptop works but a solution would be to require the user to hold fn and some other key for a few seconds before it will accept firmware.
This problem btw is actually present in a lot of devices you already use but it’s proprietary. People have found out ways to flash firmware to USB devices, SD cards and hard drives before. It just requires reverse engineering to work it out.
And fwiw, user updatable keyboards are usually configured require a particular key be pressed to flash it, or have a dedicated button to hit with a paper clip.
system76's launch requires the holding of ESC on bootup (well, top-left matrix position).
Under normal circumstances there's no "unattended update" functionality built in. Unsure if system76 has modified this behaviour to do so.
(Full disclosure, am a QMK maintainer)
So it is possible to reboot into the firmware update mode just by sending some bytes to the raw HID interface. Apparently they did not think about the security aspect of this feature.
EDIT: I have created an issue here: https://github.com/system76/launch/issues/17
We do not intend for the production firmware to include any software reset to bootloader functionality. It will require a physical keypress (Fn+ESC)