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Mattia Dal Ben |
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An ergonomic mechanical keyboard journey
- Master degree in EE
- Work as SWE @ Eurotech
- Mechanical keyboard enthusiast and maker
- Designed the Redox Keyboard and the Yampad
- Sub 40%
- Ergonomic
- Low profile
- Open source
- Mechanical
- Keyboards
- Hardware
- Software
- Layout
- Miryoku
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- Top: Corona Model 4 1920 ca.
- Bottom: Macbook Air 2020 ca.
"Your wrist are not built to bend like that. Split the keyboard to have a more natural posture."
"Why is your strongest finger used to press only a key?"
"The row staggered layout is a heritage from the old typewriters that needed such an arrangement to prevent the percussors to get stuck."
"We are moving our keys to the fingers, we're not moving our fingers to the keys"
"A moderate elevation of the thumb side of the hand dramatically reduces the pressure on the forearm muscles."
"The concave key wells ensure the keys are reachable and mimic the curve drawn by our fingers."
QMK (Quantum Mechanical Keyboard) Firmware is an open source (GPL-2.0) community centered around developing computer input devices. The community encompasses all sorts of input devices, such as keyboards, mice, and MIDI devices."
ZMK (Zephyr™ Mechanical Keyboard) Firmware is an open source (MIT) keyboard firmware built on the Zephyr™ Project Real Time Operating System (RTOS). ZMK's goal is to provide a modern, wireless, and powerful firmware free of licensing issues.
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... this amounts to a function key that allows for different keys, much like what you would see on a laptop or tablet keyboard.
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The hold-tap key will output the 'hold' behavior if it's held for a while, and output the 'tap' behavior when it's tapped quickly
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The Mod-Tap behavior either acts as a held modifier, or as a tapped keycode.
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In simple terms, hom row mods are the main modifier keys (namely Ctrl, Option/Alt, Command and Shift) on the home row of they keyboard set as Mod-taps.
- Great article: https://precondition.github.io/home-row-mods
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The "layer-tap" behavior enables a layer when a key is held, and outputs a keypress when the key is only tapped for a short time.
- QMK https://docs.qmk.fm/#/feature_layers?id=switching-and-toggling-layers
- ZMK https://zmk.dev/docs/behaviors/layers#layer-tap
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Combo keys are a way to combine multiple keypresses to output a different key. For example, you can hit the Q and W keys on your keyboard to output escape.
- QMK https://github.com/qmk/qmk_firmware/blob/master/docs/feature_combo.md
- ZMK https://zmk.dev/docs/features/combos
- Leader key
- Conditional layers
- Tap dance
- Caps word
- and so on...
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We have seen that the DVORAK layout does produce better typing speed performance than the QWERTY keyboard, but that this difference is just 4 or 5%. When we look at the history of the typewriter we can assume that people are not willing to switch to this superior design: the gain is too small compared to the costs of retraining.
The major feature of Dvorak’s DSK, however, is its optimised key placement. The DSK is designed for touch typing and significantly reduces finger movement and thus typists’ fatigue. Though this ergonomic feature has been pointed out in many different studies –and in fact is quite evident– this has not convinced the general public that they are better of with the DVORAK layout.
"Comparing Different Keyboard Layouts: Aspects of QWERTY, DVORAK and alphabetical keyboards"
Coleman states that he designed Colemak to be easy to learn, explaining that Dvorak is hard for QWERTY typists to learn due to it being so different from the QWERTY layout.
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Docs: https://github.com/manna-harbour/miryoku
- It improved my typing habits
- The "limitations" of this keyboard made me discover new improved typing habits
- Shortcuts are so much more comfortable to type
- Improved symbols access
- I've yet to encounter a key combination that I cannot type
- It is FUN
- Minimal (sub 40 keys) ergonomic keyboards are viable, if not preferable to normal keyboards.
- The techniques developed for this keyboard to work might come useful for all keyboard users.
- Give them a try!
- Cover pic: /u/Kyek
- Taobao Supreme pic: /u/dantambok
- Moonlander pic: hardwarecanucks.com
- Corne pic: /u/molwams
- Skeletyl pic: @urza_cc
- Miryoku keymap: Manna Harbour