this post was submitted on 06 Nov 2025
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ErgoMechKeyboards

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Ergonomic, split and other weird keyboards

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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

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38
Wireless setup (quokk.au)
submitted 2 weeks ago by SatyrSack@quokk.au to c/ergomechkeyboards@lemmy.world
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  • Kinesis Advantage360 Professional
  • Kensington SlimBlade Pro

Modifications:

  • I remapped the Kinesis to Colemak layout, both in the firmware and by just swapping around the physical key caps. I do not necessarily mind the fact that the lighter home row keys are now out of place.
  • I used a tiny dab of hot glue on each half of the Kinesis to add tactile homing bumps
  • On the function layer of the Kinesis, I set the T, S, and R keys to left click, middle click, and right click (respectively). I do not use the buttons on the Kensington at all; I just make use of its trackball for pointing/scrolling, then click with the Kinesis
  • I tented the Kensington using a double magnetic ring phone stand. I also placed a sheet of scrap metal under the desk mat to help keep the magnetic stand in place

I tend to have a very pointer-heavy workflow, so it is important to me to have an efficient pointing solution. Because of that, I do prefer my Svalboard with its integrated trackballs situated just millimeters away. But this is a sufficient secondary setup that has the bonus of being wireless.

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[–] MigratingApe@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I have a pointer heavy workload due to being forced to use Windows at work AND scrolling heavy workload due to me reading tons of technical data sheets and others people code every day. Typical mouse scroll wheels survive up to a year with me until they start skipping lines, gaming mouses up to two years. My last purchase was Logitech G502 which I selected deliberately due to it having heavy metal scroll wheel. So far it exceeded the two years mark :)

Do you maybe have some thoughts or tips that would help me better organize my setup? I am looking at buying Kinesis or Glove80, but that does nothing for my scrolling problem.

[–] SatyrSack@quokk.au 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)
  1. I would love to hear from someone who uses a keyboard with an encoder for scrolling, because that seems like it would be the optimal hardware for scrolling. And any keyboard with an encoder is likely designed in such a way that it is relatively simple to replace the encoder if it eventually wears out at some point.
  2. I have had good experience with the Logitech T650 touchpad, which is likely able to put up with overuse. All you are doing is swiping your greasy fingers across the flat surface, so there are no moving parts to wear out. This handles pointing, scrolling, clicking, and other touch gestures that you would expect on a laptop touchpad. The biggest downside is that it uses micro USB for charging.
  3. I have seen reports that there is a way to use an Apple touchpad on Windows by extracting the Bootcamp drivers or something.
  4. There are keyboards with touchpads built-in, like the Bastard Keyboards Dilemma
  5. Something like a Ploopy Nano sounds like it would be a great option for a dedicated standalone scrolling device. It is small enough you can probably pair it with whatever keyboard/mouse you want.
  6. The Bastard Keyboards Charybdis has a concave keywell similar to that of the Kinesis Advantage or Glove80, plus a built-in trackball. Buying a prebuit, you have the option to put the trackball on either one of the two halves. But I have seen images of custom Charybdis builds with a trackball on both halves, which would be great for dedicating one to pointing and one to scrolling.
  7. If you get a keyboard with a single trackball, I think you should be able to configure it so that pressing or holding a certain key toggles the ball between pointing and scrolling. But your workflow sounds like it would likely benefit from separate dedicated pointing/scrolling devices.
  8. My overall suggestion is a Svalboard Lightly with dual trackballs. That is by far my favorite pointing/scrolling experience, with a very natural/intuitive feel. The main downsides are the price and the learning curve involved in adapting to that fairly unique key system. But if you can deal with that, there is a reason it is often called "the bottom of the ergo mech rabbit hole".
[–] MigratingApe@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Thank you for your wisdom! :)

[–] SatyrSack@quokk.au 2 points 1 week ago

I just noticed Ploopy has a couple other relevant products:

  1. The Trackpad looks like a more modern version of the Logitech trackpad I mentioned above
  2. The Knob could be a decent dedicated scroll device