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Comment by mtalantikite | Hacker News Reader

Does anyone have a recommendation for a simplistic split keyboard? I've been curious about them as a better orientation for my shoulders, but I really have no need for all these glowing color leds and whatnot that gamers seem to like.

The ZSA moonlander looks maybe the closest, but I'd really love to be able to disable the leds (or just not have them at all).

Edit: Well that was fast, I'll check out the ergodox-ez for sure -- thanks!

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I would like to second this and add some discussion. I follow /r/ErgoMechKeyboards/ and the "regular" mechanical keeb subreddits... The amount of jargon used is dizzying. I have no interest in a collection of keyboards, but would like to try to build one for myself... I have been hesitant because keyboard culture goes from like 0 to hypersonic in a day.

That is, "Buy a mechanical on Amazon to try some switches... " to "Do you want a spilt with PCB or handwired? linear, clicky, or tactile switches?, tenting with a thumb cluster? LEDS?, QMK or KMK or some other firmware? GMK caps or?, USB-C or wireless?, How many layers can you remember?" and on and on!

It seems like the JavaScript ecosystem but even more complex/subtle with no clear answers because its subjective from the start. I realize little problems with one keyboard lead to buying another and so on. How do you buy a kit to build yourself without having to invest the hours of learning the culture?

You do not need to really know most of that stuff - the most important things are just the actuation force of the switches and the type (linear, clicky, tactile).

I would just recommend going to a physical store that has any brand(s) of mechanical keyboards and try them out - then you will know if you want one with higher actuation force ("heavier" switches - harder to push) etc etc. Instead of a switch tester I would probably just recommend starting with getting a deal on a decent cheap keyboard that is close to what you want and see how you like it after testing.

Pretty much all the options are covered here:

https://github.com/diimdeep/awesome-split-keyboards

Lily58 is a popular minimalist split keyboard

I don't have the Moonlander, but on their Ergodox EZ the LEDs can easily be disabled.

It doesn’t get mentioned much but the kinesis “freestyle pro” was the one that finally fit my needs and it’s been a joy to use. Definitely worth consideration!

If you go custom ones, all kind of of combination is there but premade is not so much, plain ergodox ez would be the closed of what you want.

You can turn off the led btw. I assembled some out of curiosity but usually don't be bothered to turn it up on my own.

Moonlander LEDs can be enabled or disabled as you please.

I have LEDs disabled by default, but then enable LEDs for certain key buttons on different layers to make them easier to find.

I love my Moonlander, but don’t have much other split ones to compare with.

I'm currently typing on a moonlander as well. My one complaint is I have to shift my hand to reach all the buttons on the thumbclusters - particularly the bottom key and the big red one. So I try to map those keys to symbols I seldom need.

ErgoDox is a popular one, but I'll mention a couple others.

I've been using an Ultimate Hacking Keyboard (UHK) for a few years now. It's fine, I can't comment on software capability, I just got it for the form factor. [1]

There's also options from Keyboardio. Model 100 is looking good, I preordered over the ErgoDox because the thumb buttons and stand make more sense to me. [2]

[1] https://ultimatehackingkeyboard.com/

[2] https://shop.keyboard.io/

Just a split or an ortholinear split? If you're just looking for a split keyboard there's options like the Kinesis Freestyle 2, the Matias Ergo Pro, the Mistel Barocco and other random little brands. If you want Ortholinear, thumb clusters, etc. then you pretty much are left with the Moonlander, Ergodox Ez, the upcoming Kinesis Advantage360 and building your own.

Also if you don't care about fully split keyboards then you get options like the Kinesis Advantage 2, MS ergo boards etc.

I returned a Barocco, the build quality was awful. If you want the ability to join the halves I would just get a UHK (mentioned elsewhere)

ZSA Moonlander is great, but don't go crazy on reprogramming all of the keys like I did because it'll be too hard to get real work done. My current plan is to use the Moonlander only for VR where I can't see the keys and will have to relearn how to type anyway.

Here's one I designed as my first electronics project: https://github.com/tadfisher/nyx-kb

Seems to meet your criteria, but obviously requires some assembly.

I use a Moonlander. You can program the LEDs to not turn on. I have several keys which I don't use, and which just have "black" as an LED color.

I love the Moonlander.

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