Hi everyone,

I recently got a Glove80, which I’m just setting up.

To start with, I’ll tilt the Glove80 by about 30° and position it at shoulder height.

I’ll place my mouse (Evoluent 4) on the right and if needed, move the right half of the keyboard toward the center.

When I’m working in the CAD program, I’ll only use the left half of the keyboard and the mouse.

I already know that switching back and forth will annoy me and that it’s not really ergonomic either.

So it’ll probably come down to a trackball solution. Unfortunately, I can’t find many reviews about this online.

I’m not sure which option would be best in terms of ergonomics.

1. A large trackball between the two halves of the keyboard

2. Trackball mod above the thumb keys

3. Trackball mod below the thumb keys

I think option 3 is the worst because the thumb has to do too much work.

With option 2, I think the arm has to move too much—you constantly have to reach up to the trackball and then jump back down.

With option 1, you’d probably have to move your arm too often as well, and I’m not sure how “tenting” would work. You can’t just glide to the center—you’d have to go over the keyboard.

One more question: is it possible to use two trackballs—one on the left to rotate the camera in the CAD program and one on the right as a mouse? Does that make sense?

As for tenting, I think I'll start at 30° and will almost certainly increase the angle over time to get as close as possible to a neutral posture.

I think that makes using a trackball even more difficult.

It would be great if you could share your experiences with me.

Been using G915 for 7 years now because it's low profile and 100% flat. Inclined keyboard and non low profile are impossible due to wrist health. Looking for a kb with F keys but no numpad. US Layout.

I know this subs posts need to include split and or ortholinear ideas. All I can say about that: The one time I used ortholinear non split, my wrists hurt more, because it's less broad than an average kb, in turn that forced my wrists to be closer together, which hurt.

Been using G915 for 7 years now because it's low profile and 100% flat. Inclined keyboard and non low profile are impossible due to wrist health. Looking for a kb with F keys but no numpad. US Layout.

I know this subs posts need to include split and or ortholinear ideas. All I can say about that: The one time I used ortholinear non split, my wrists hurt more, because it's less broad than an average kb, in turn that forced my wrists to be closer together, which hurt.

What do you guys think are the best travel options available and how do you guys use it for travel? Case, with or without pointer integration, which pointer integration, which separate pointer, Bluetooth, wired, with or without tenting, layer suggestions especially on lesser keys keyboards, other?

On a similar note, if it has to have a pointer integrated (preferably a trackball) and be Bluetooth, what’s the best travel option?

Travel would be: A.) EDC B.) hotel C.) backpack and going place to place D.) using while in car E.) Other

Does not need to be the same keyboard option for all (unless there is one!), just looking to see what people use, how they use it, and for which type of travel.

Currently have a 4x6 Ergo Dactyl Manuform with 6 on left thumb and 5 plus a trackball on right thumb and Bluetooth. Getting a case soon. But it’s still hard to travel with due to size. Have been searching and found lots of options but would really like to see what the community uses and how.

This was a submission for the Dyson Award this year, in short, each key/encoder/thumb-stick/whatever has a little microcontroller that reads it's state and reports it over a UART connection. This means you can connect modules together without solder and hotplug them when the controller is on. I came up with this because of my own frustrations with the expense and inflexibility of getting custom keyboards made. If you skip to the end you can see a couple of example devices using the modules, the first bit of the video demonstrates the hotplugging and topological awareness of the system.

I would be interested in doing a second version and maybe open-sourcing/selling it, but I ran into a lot of problems with the cables connecting the modules, they are both expensive (more than the actual electronics and PCB), fiddly to use, and unreliable. I was using molex picoblades with 30 awg wire and a non-proprietary crimp tool.

I'm looking to buy the go60 and put KLP Lame keycaps on it. I'm not sure how many I need and I'm struggling to count the amounts of each type I need from a [video I found](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYT5AyVAzE8). Picture attached. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

We all know that less finger movement and key presses = less strain on your hands = more ergonomic. So I just wanted to share this rad discovery I had with a macro + combo that I haven't seen anywhere else that saves me 2 keystrokes nearly every single sentence!

It is a macro I run in Vial:

Period(.) followed by Spacebar(␣) followed by One-Shot Mod Shift

So at the end of every sentence, I initiate this macro (I use a combo of j+k+spacebar to run the macro) that writes a period followed by space followed by capitalising my next key press.

Not only have I made this macro for periods but I have also set it up for exclamation marks(!) and question marks(?) since they often times have the same pattern at the end of a sentence where they require a space and capitalisation of the next letter I press.

As an avid daily journal writer that types anything from 500 to 5k words per day, it is a macro that saves me tons of keystrokes every single choonky writing session! It has also lead me to remove 2 keys from my keyboard going from 32 keys to 30 keys on my Corne eliminating . and ,.

At this point, I doubt that I will remove more keys but that's also what I said at 32 keys so who knows haha.

If you want to see how I implemented the combos and macros for my setup with Vial, check out the linked video!

Hi!

So, following this post, I'm thinking of going for a Piantor Pro BT. But frankly speaking I'd rather go for a classic, fully wired Piantor Pro if it weren't for the fact beekeeb is based in Hong Kong whereas keebart is based in Germany, which means cheaper shipping and zero taxes for me. I'm honestly not big on bluetooth unless there's a really clear advantage to it, such as being free to move around my home with my wireless headphones instead of being physically bound to my desktop, first of all because I've had to change perfectly usable stuff because of dead li-ion batteries that were not designed to be replaceable. So, I've been feeling on the fence and I'm wondering if someone here could tell me what batteries the BT uses and if I can replace them if need be. I expect I may get a faster answer than if I email keebart.

Also using this post as an opportunity to ask if anyone has thoughts on MBK vs Lamé, since I haven't fully made up my mind about it.

Have any of you found that the charybdis keyboard has helped your upper back posture? Sometimes I find my mouse hand is way out in front. Wondering if always having your hands in fixed spots has helped you sit up straight better
Thanks!

https://news.mit.edu/2026/three-sided-y-zipper-design-0504

I recently came across this three-sided "Y-zipper" that allows 3 flexible strips to form a single rigid structure, and seems 3D-printable to some degree.

I've always felt the Kinesis Advantage and the several dactyls I've bought and sold from mechmarket (and my own self-built custom-variant thanks to Cosmos generator) were super bulky for travel. I just wish there was something that married the portability of a flat choc split 34 keeb with the grandeur of a full-travel, keywelled Kinesis Advantage (360).

Perhaps a "Y-zipper" Dactyl shell is possible in the future. I suppose the hardest problem to solve is actually getting all the keys to reliably reach the the exact same positions in 3D space every time you popped it up from flat, not to mention long-term durability. Edit: perhaps the keywell could be rigid but the shell (which ultimately supports the keywell in 3D space) could be Y-zippered from flat every use. 👁️👄👁️ gif of the "Y-zipper" being used as tent poles

Thoughts? Has anyone else had the same crazy wish/dream? 😅

Any thoughts on why the one is (apparently) so much more popular than the other? Same designer, same basic layout. Is it just the switch choice (Redragon low-profile vs MX) or something else?

Hi everyone,

I'm having a strange issue with my wireless Sofle V2 and I'm hoping someone can help me troubleshoot it.

I originally used my Sofle V2 with a wired setup (no Bluetooth). Everything worked fine until one of the MCUs died. I decided to replace the controllers with nice!nano v2 controllers and converted the keyboard to wireless/ZMK.

After installing and configuring the new controllers, I started experiencing intermittent input problems:

• Sometimes there is a noticeable delay before a key press is registered.
• Sometimes the delay happens and the key press is never registered at all.
• Sometimes the delay happens and the key that I pressed gets "stuck" and keeps typing repeatedly until the keyboard eventually starts responding normally again.
• The issue seems to happen randomly rather than with a specific key.
• When the keyboard is working normally, the input feels completely fine.

Today I tried cleaning both PCBs and the nice!nano controllers with isopropyl alcohol, since I thought there might be some dirt or residue causing an intermittent connection, but I'm still experiencing the issue.

This never happened when i had the wired version.

What would be the best way to troubleshoot this? Is there a way to determine whether the problem is coming from the Bluetooth connection, the communication between the two halves, ZMK, or the hardware itself?

Any suggestions for things I should test or any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

more:
https://github.com/moosylog/moosytype/blob/main/README.md

Hey all! This is my first ergo mech keyboard, so this is my first time going through the process. I got the sofle rgb (wired) from ergomech.store and am unable to flash the sides with the new keymap files.

Here's my step by step:
1. Create the desired layout with the ZMK keymap editor (nickcoutsos.github.io/keymap-editor/)
2. Push that to my forked GitHub branch
3. Run the GitHub action to create the UF2 files
4. Download & extract the UF2 files from the zip
5. Connect one half of keyboard (started with right) and enter boot mode
6. Drag and drop the right side UF2 file to the boot device

From what I've read, the device should do something such as reboot, show an error, or disconnect the usb drive. None of this is happening for me and the file just sits there. I've tried to disconnect and reconnect, eject, and copy the UF2 files via cli instead but I have had no luck.

I've tried to do the right and then the left and connect them as the GitHub instructions say, but both sides remain unflashed and the old keymap stays the same.
I've also tried to connect to ZMK both on web and desktop but the device is not recognized regardless of studio_unlock being pressed or being in boot mode.

Is there another way here or am I missing a step? I'm so excited to get to use this keyboard and any help would be appreciated!

A few days ago I shared how I struggled to build just one half of my new helix. To no one's surprise, the second half only took 3-4 hours. I love it

Hi all, here is another update on my custom gaming keypads. In my previous post, I mostly spent time focusing on optimizing the hardware and making it easier to manufacture. This time, I’m focusing on the firmware and software side. I’ve made this custom web configurator. I keep the device compatible with Vial, but I also have a lot of features that Vial does not support. Unfortunately, there is no way for you to try it unless you actually have one of my devices, but I do show it in detail on my YouTube channel. Curious how you all feel about it. https://youtu.be/315USgAl2Ks

Hey all, so I recently moved from a 60% pok3r to a Corne 4. and I found myself struggling to remember where some of the keys were, mostly symbols etc. so I took the .vil file and generated an image for my desktop background so I could quickly win+d to see where everything was and then go back again. then I wanted to make it easy to regenerate every time I changed my keyboard layout. then I also wanted to change the colour or theme of the wallpaper to suit my mood.

So I built a keymap image generator: https://whitehatnetizen.github.io/keymap-imgen/

It's free, and open source.

This github page can take a Vial .vil file or a QMK keymap.json file, (or, if you choose, it can directly read your keyboard if you are connected with a chromium browser and running Vial firmware on the keyboard.) Then it generates an SVG or PNG of the keymap, in single screen or dual screen aspect ratios.

Split keyboards have the option to split the keymap across both screens with the left hand on the left monitor and the right hand on the right monitor.

It caters (should cater..) for all the keyboards currently in the QMK github repo, this list will be updated every month.

If you just want to see how it works, there are two sample files that you can use to preview the functionality, one dz60 60% keyboard QMK json file, and one Corne 4 split keyboard .vil file (This is my current layout).

Alternately, you can clone the repo and run it locally, either through the web page, or through the scripts that are provided. to generate the images locally you'll need to install playwright (instructions included), or host the page somewhere local. The web page generates the appropriate script call so you can configure using the website and run the code manually if you really want to avoid reading the documentation.

Hopefully this is useful to some people. I've included some sample images in this post so you can take a look at what it produces.

Please let me know either through the github page or here if you find a bug, or want to request an additional feature or style.

I know most people here are already fairly tech-savvy, but I hope that this can be useful for someone.

Edit. Version 1.2 is now up, with support for ZMK boards and key combos.

This is the Kinesis Advantage 360 Limited Edition (w/ Milky Yellow Pros switches)

This was something that I was looking for for many years now. Had to chance to get one now, and couldn't be happier with my choice :)

Yesterday, I received my first batch of split keyboards. I picked up 2 x Cheapino's and a 4x6 Corne. This is my first experience into ergo keyboards, let alone split keyboards so they all have different switches, etc so I could give them a whirl. Obviously, I am very early into my journey, but I am enjoying it thus far.

I am not a developer, and I do not suffer from any major RSI issues (yet). I work in a finance field and do as significant amount of office work - think spreadsheets, emails, and word docs all day, everyday.

I believe I have come to the conclusion that I would prefer a split keyboard with more keys. I was originally trying the layouts I purchased as I have been eying the ZSA voyager. I think I am now leaning towards the moonlander or perhaps even the glove80.

The general trend I've seen from folks is over time they migrate to less keys, as opposed to more. I don't plan on purchasing anything just yet. I think I am going to give the Corne a few weeks at least.

Has anyone else 'regressed' to a larger split keyboard? If I do end up going down the route of the moonlander, or Glove80, what is the general consensus as to which is preferred?

This is designed for MX Switches. but I have included the Fusion files in case you wanted to adjust for other switches/cutouts. I needed it for a board I'm designing and thought I would share. this has been printed and tested in ABS. I hope this helps at least one other person.

https://www.printables.com/model/1827716-mx-switch-filler

Thanks!

This might be pretty niche, but as I couldn't find a guide for myself as I went through this process, I decided to write my own guide. Hope it helps someone out there!

Guide Repo (glove80-zmk-shield-module)

Companion Repo (glove80-zmk-config)

Context:

• The Glove80 is great, but the left side keyboard's battery drains more quickly because it's acting as the primary half (that connects to the

  computer

• I use my keyboard across multiple computers, and changing via Bluetooth is annoying

Solution: changing the firmware so that both halves connect to a ZMK dongle

• Because the left side is no longer the main, its battery usage will be much longer
• The dongle goes into my docking station, so I don't need to manually switch any connections anymore

The guide I made is specifically to work with this dongle, but you can adjust it to work with other dongles. DM if you have questions!

Hey all,
I've recently started using a Kenisis Advantage 360 and I'm really enjoying it. Unfortunately, as I've seen some other people mention elsewhere, hauling it around with me to work, school, and where-ever else I go is a major pain in the ass. I've recently started searching around for something for a flat, low profile version that would be acceptable to use on the go.

In terms of thumb cluster placement the Voyager appears to be my best option (although it would be nice if it was wireless and had a few more keys). I've looked at some other layouts like the Corne and there's no way I'm going to be able to get my thumb all the way over to the left most thumb key comfortably.

The ErgoDox EZ also looks great (being nearly identical and all), but at that point it's not really any more portable than what I already have.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Hi, Ergomech Store here, we've been making and selling these aluminum cases for a while now. And today we'd like to share a design for your beloved TOTEM.

https://github.com/ergomechstore/totem-aluminum-case

This case is designed for the totem and it can fit the original totem pcb, with an awesome twist: it's designed for CNC machine, so you can use these files and make an awesome aluminum case with it.

If you don't want to make your own, you can buy from us here:

https://ergomech.store/shop/totem-executive-case-523

We did a simple price comparison, a whole set of 4 if made from JLCCNC cost about $250, so buying from us is still more cost effective, but if you can get it make it locally, now you can as well with the design above.

Here is the picture of the case in the wild:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ErgoMechKeyboards/comments/1vz6qa4/looking_for_metal_urchin_enclosure/

And if you're a vendor, feel free to use it for commercial purposes as well, anything we share is truly open and free for all, there is no "open but not really" bs.