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Mechanical Keyboards @lemmy.ml

cloffwrangler @lemmy.world

9mo ago

Family photo

Top: KBt RE: 66, Akko Mod 005 Middle: Zoom 65, Qazimodo Bottom: Vault 35, Daisy 40, mISO 34

33 comments

Can't imagine using full spacebar again after tasting split spacebars and 40's. I'm never typing with 9 fingers again.
- Tell me more. What do you mean by 9 fingers? Is one split a regular spacebar and the other a mod key?
  
  Yes, you can bind something to the other spacebar. Shift, a FN key, backspace, enter, a letter, whatever you want. Normally you would have 8 fingers on the alpha cluster (the letters) and use a thumb for space thus using 9 digits (before someone comes after me for calling thumbs fingers lol). By splitting the space you effectively gain the ability to type with all your digits by giving each thumb a separate key. You can also split the space in more than two keys. Personally I quite like two keys per thumb.

Qazimodo offends me every time I look at it. That 005 looks a lot like my drop entr
- It’s honestly really useful having the three keys off to the right. You can just map them to macros or something.
  
  Rational arguments do nothing to quell such emotional response. For the record, it offends me deeply as well.

This picture is very concerning due to the lack of letters and punctuation on some of these keyboards. One has "QAZ" in the wrong place, two more lack those letters entirely, and one has gone so far as to remove "L" too. What psychopath designed these?
- Look up layers, each physical switch can be used for multiple keys.
  
  For letters and punctuation though? Seriously? Like, okay, lesser used punctuation like carets, tildes, lesser/greater than, stuff like that seems reasonable to stick behind a layer. Letters though?
  
  chording (using multiple hotkeys to redefine the char set) requires retraining and mental overhead and can lead to errors. no thanks. I don't even like the superset buttons on laptops, fuck fn keys etc.
- That psychopath would be me (for the pink one and the black one, the green one is a vault 35). If you want to have your eyes opened, the black one with the QAZ on the right has an interest check going on now.
- I understand removing numpads for people who don't enter a lot of numbers since you have a second set, but removing things beyond that, I don't know, I don't get it. I don't even think I can give up my function row (f1-f12)
  
  I can see using Fn+# for function. I’d keep F11 for the full screen shortcut though.

Excellent taste!
- Thank you!

Could you share your keymap for the qaz boards? I'm curious to see what those look like
- Here's the map I've been using for the past month or so. I use pretty much the same layout minus the macro keys on the Vault 35.
  I also have used this unhinged map and it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. It's the default map that I wrote for the firmware.
  And then I started trying out this gaming layer on the Vault last week. Still getting used to it.
  
  So few f keys mapped :O
  Have you looked into home row mods at all? I find them quite nice to use once you get used to them.
  Edit: wtf is that second keymap LOL

Aesthetically they look great. But my wrists hurt from carpal tunnel syndrome just looking at them. Especially the small ones.
Aren't they uncomfortable to use?
- I've never found them uncomfortable, but I'm pretty small so maybe that helps.
- As someone who uses a 40s keyboard (no numbers row, kinda similar to the bottom middle keyboard in OP's pic): my wrist pain that I got from typing 4-6 hours a day was gone once I started using them, because they're compact and I don't have to move my hands/wrists at all. When I type with a full-sized keyboard, I have to move my wrist when I want to type numbers, for example. Now I can type for 8+ hours a day without worrying about pain.
  Of course, keyboards are all personal preference! That's why I love the mech keyboard community, seeing all the different layouts and shapes people tailor to use for themselves.
- Scale for these is sometimes hard to give in pictures. Their use case is also important, as generally, you’re not typing a novel with these.
  
  I got a few friends who work in IT like me who have keyboards line these. I wouldn't last an hour using those for daily programming.
  So far my favorite keyboard for work has been the Microsoft Sculpt ergonomic keyboard. I haven't had any other keyboard match it's comfort.
  They discontinued it but Lenovo now has a similar one.
  They're not very good for gaming though. And the mouse is usually pretty lousy in terms of DPI.

Dasher SA, nice, but pricey

KBt RE: 66
When you want OG Mac (and HHKB) on the left, but an 8u equivalent on the right.
What are we looking at for switches and keycaps?
- It's got lubed KTT Strawberries in it right now. I was going to go with North Poles but I could not get them to fit so I put those in the Mod 005. The caps on the KBt are Drop Dasher which I fell in love with after watching Severance.

33 comments