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[–] 39 points 7 months ago (10 children)

Yes! I never liked typing the letters in the left column, now it's not possible!

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  • [–] [S] 37 points 7 months ago (5 children)

    I just copy and paste them from Wikipedia

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  • [–] 8 points 7 months ago (4 children)

    Where do you copy the A from to get to Wikipedia?

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  • [–] [S] 6 points 7 months ago (3 children)
  • [–] 4 points 7 months ago (2 children)

    Ahh, but that still needs you to type an A... 3 actually. What's your real source of A's huh???

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  • [–] 17 points 7 months ago (2 children)

    Who needs Q, Z and, erm, A, anyway? Nobody!

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  • [–] 5 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    How did you even type those characters?!

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  • [–] [S] 5 points 7 months ago

    What looks like left sided mods of esc, tab, shift are in fact q, a, z. Esc is q and w together, tab is a and s, shift is if I hold down Z.

    Why would I choose to do this? To get me to use my pinkies more for normal typing. On a 40% (which is my normal keyboard) I use only the three larger fingers, which is a bad habit if speed is your aim.

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  • [–] 13 points 7 months ago (14 children)

    It’s a good thing it has dual spacebars, or else this board would be seriously flawed.

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  • [–] 9 points 7 months ago (11 children)

    Indeed, multiple spacebars is what really makes these types of boards work. I like having four of them personally.

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  • [–] 14 points 7 months ago (10 children)
  • [–] [S] 5 points 7 months ago (2 children)

    While a 1u spacebar may sit on the council we will not grant it the rank of master

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  • [–] 3 points 7 months ago (2 children)

    Seeing this board again inspired me to revisit my own custom. I really love how even with 14 columns it remains symmetric without using too many odd-sized keycaps (not against using a few blanks for the mods). And the arrow keys! This is the layout I've settled on for my own use: https://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/#/gists/68b440125bd9755baf0fcb5faf19ed61

    If it turns out OK I might have to get a case milled.

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

    Very cool!! I think your bottom row may ultimately prove slightly more user friendly than mine, though I certainly got used to it. The ortholinear number row has proven to be a non-issue for me, though I have the "advantage" of not truly touch typing, and my hand-eye coordination therefore doesn't have too much trouble with losing that 0.5u stagger.

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  • [–] 3 points 7 months ago (3 children)

    This is sexy. I need details.

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  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

    DIY board. I designed a no-stabs matrix-only PCB (the Pi Pico MCU has to serve as the "daughterboard"). It's FRL 1800 and is one of my personal favorites, though I've since replaced the black spacebars with a couple of BOW keys that reflect the hold-tap mapping I set up; I've also changed it from KMK to ZMK.

    Anyway, PCB orders usually have a minimum order of 5 pieces, so I snapped the numpad off of one and laser-cut a case of sorts, really just plates and spacers, and got "half-height" switches. My laser can sort of half-assedly dye-sub cheap PBT blanks, so I did a Timex Sinclair design. Later, I added feet, a 3D printed replacement one-piece spacer with a sidewall, and a MagSafe ring so it could be the keyboard for a Chrometab I converted to Debian.

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

    You “snapped the numpad off” and the rest of the board kept working?! I wish to subscribe to your blog.

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  • [–] 3 points 7 months ago

    I mean, it helped that I knew the designer, LOL.

    IIRC, there is one single bodge wire in there from where I did compromise the matrix, but I cannot stress how simplistic this PCB design was. It is holes for switches, holes for diodes, holes to string it over to the microcontroller dev board, and traces connecting them all. My second one is slightly more ambitious, allowing a couple of layout choices, Alps or MX, and has a designated spot to solder a specific MCU. That one requires two bodge wires because I screwed up the traces a little. If I do a third, I will know to make sure every trace is assigned to a "subnet" before I tell KiCAD to clean things up.

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