ErgoMechKeyboards
Ergonomic, split and other weird keyboards
Rules
Keep it ergo
Posts must be of/about keyboards that have a clear delineation between the left and right halves of the keyboard, column stagger, or both. This includes one-handed (one half doesn't exist, what clearer delineation is that!?)
i.e. no regular non-split¹ row-stagger and no non-split¹ ortholinear²
¹ split meaning a separation of the halves, whether fixed in place or entirely separate, both are fine.
² ortholinear meaning keys layed out in a grid
No Spam
No excessive posting/"shilling" for commercial purposes. Vendors are permitted to promote their products/services but keep it to a minimum and use the [vendor] flair. Posts that appear to be marketing without being transparent about it will be removed.
No Buy/Sell/Trade
This subreddit is not a marketplace, please post on r/mechmarket or other relevant marketplace.
Some useful links
- EMK wiki
- Split keyboard compare tool
- Compare keycap profiles Looking for another set of keycaps - check this site to compare the different keycap profiles https://www.keycaps.info/
- Keymap database A database with all kinds of keymap layouts - some of them fits ergo keyboards - get inspired https://keymapdb.com/
view the rest of the comments
It depends. If you get one that uses a bluetooth capable MCU (like a nice!nano) then yes generally, although last I looked none of them supported QMK so you'll most likely be forced to use something like ZMK. That could have changed by now though, I know it was being worked out.
Yes, but be aware that you should never plug/unplug the TRRS cable used to connect the two halves while they're powered on. Some Bluetooth models don't use a TRRS cable but instead have both halves connect wirelessly. Also I know sometimes the firmware can be setup to always expect the half that's plugged in to be the right or left half and plugging in the opposite side can sometimes do funky things to the keymap.
classic or cherry I think. Definitely not chocolate, that's exclusively for chocolate switches, not cherry. Also switches aren't hotswap, the sockets are, so there's no such thing as a Gateron hot-swap switch, that's just a Gateron switch.
usually no. If you get a chocolate switch board you need to be careful about the caps, but finding chocolate caps is already a royal PITA. Some exceptionally large or unusual cherry caps could cause problems but that would be true of any keyboard not just a corne. One thing to be aware of is you're going to want a ortholinear cap set, not the standard one as you'll want square modifier keys and things like enter/space that are normally rectangular.
Addendum to 1: While QMK is nice, I personally prefer ZMK and use it even on my wired boards. So just wanna say, "forced to use" sounds a bit harsh. ZMK is a great and very capable firmware, and it does certain things better than QMK.
I second this. I also prefer ZMK and use it on my wired boards whenever possible.
I was curious about ZMK but now I already have everything set up exactly how I want it in QMK and I do not wanna pay the cost of switching lol. Maybe one day though