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Whats a hobby/craft that you wouldn't expect that has an incredibly high ceiling either monetarily or in sheer skill? (lemmy.world)
submitted 3 years ago by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world
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For example, I'm sure the average joe doesn't know just how expensive calligraphy pens can be, or how deep the rabbit hole goes on video game speedruns.

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[–] 114 points 3 years ago (8 children)

Keyboards are generally known about, but the ergo part of it is a rabbit hole within the rabbit hole. Some people literally design, 3D print, wire up, solder and program one-off keyboards because they don't like the ones made by other people.

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  • [+] 36 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (4 children)
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  • [–] 6 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    I wonder if someone could outperform a Stenographer with a chorded?

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  • [–] 10 points 3 years ago

    Steno machines are also "chorded", and they type in a form of shorthand where sounds, words, and phrases can be represented by just a few characters. My guess is that given equal skill levels, a steno machine would still be faster.

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  • [–] 6 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago)

    Stenographers usually use something pretty similar so I doubt it. The ones I've seen (to be fair, live captioners, not stenographers) use something that's closer to a piano than a normal keyboard, and it types full words rather than letters, but also has a regular typing functionality. Pretty cool to watch honestly.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 years ago

    No way. Stenographers can transcribe speech live. Some have been timed at close to 400 wpm. While the top chorded typing is closer to 250wpm. Good, but nowhere close to a stenotype. Both are pretty ridiculously fast though. A pretty fast typist can barely approach 100.

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  • [–] 19 points 3 years ago (5 children)

    Oh hey, you called? https://imgur.com/a/INk7FzQ

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  • [–] 3 points 3 years ago

    You're very brave showing your wiring.

    Just built a simple 3x3 macropad and I spent several hours trying to keep every last bit of the wiring clean and I still have a rats nest....

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  • [–] 8 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    I did exactly this! It was super fun! Ergodox keyboard is very expensive. I spent about $40 on my custom one. It works great too :)

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  • [–] 7 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    How did you spend only $40 on a custom ergo? When I built mine, I 3d printed the cases myself, but it's still $30 for cheap key switches, $20 for cheap keycaps, $20 for a pro micro, and at least $40 for PCBs,unless you handwire.

    Or did you reuse existing switches and keycaps?

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  • [–] 5 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    Sorry, forgot to mention, I handwired and reused key caps. I have a lot of extra sets from liking keyboards for a while lol.

    I also used a pi pico which took some extra tlc but saved a good chunk of money (1 pico is 7 dollars and only one is necessary).

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  • [–] 7 points 3 years ago* (1 child)

    The DIY fallacy. “You can do this yourself for just $20. You only need some string, a plastic bottle cap. And $5k of equipment and materials that have accumulated in your garage from around a decade of on and off hobbyist hoarding. Then you too can own a solar powered battery 3D printed fusion ferromagnetic screwdriver.”

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  • [–] 1 point 3 years ago (1 child)

    I get it, but to be fair, the keycaps I already had were only about $20 on Amazon. So if you want to be pedantic I spent $60 total. Still beats the $300 plus for the ergodox. Also, if you really want to get into it, it took me around 25 hours to fully complete since I opted to hand wire. So factor in whatever your hourly rate is times 25 hours to get the opportunity cost of the diy job. Maybe you’re right and it just makes sense to buy the darn thing. At least I had fun though.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 years ago

    Most people don't even own a soldering iron to wire it all. That's another $20 right there. Just, it's fine to say DIY is about the fun. And by all means, anyone who wants to have fun tinkering with some tech, go ahead, it's a blast. But it's never about the money. It's disingenuous to tell people, “Oh I did this $300 at retail machine for $10”. No, you didn't, you are just doing creative accounting and failing to report previous expenses. Because if it could be done for $10, big manufacturers would be doing it for $7, because they have the advantage of economics of scale.

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  • [+] 5 points 3 years ago (2 children)
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  • [–] 4 points 3 years ago

    The nice thing is that it’s possible to find your “endgame” where you are satisfied without spending a TON. I’m happy with my Drop ALT, stock key caps, and Zeal Zilent v2s. Mind you that was my 3rd or 4th board of varying “depth” in the scene. 🤣

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