Thanks a lot for the insight. Aside from the tools you need to actually build the board, from what I understand, you would also need to purchase keycaps separate (or blank ones can be added on), correct?
I'm somewhat used to building model kits (Gunpla fan), so I think I'm pretty average when it comes to assembling things, and the assembly is part of the reason I want to get the board. It feels more worth it if you actually build it yourself, at least that's how I feel.
I will keep an eye out for the gaming thread.
This answer was actually quite amusing. By first board, I meant my first mechanical keyboard. I was just wondering if it would be suitable to go from a rubber dome to an ergo mechanical keyboard, as opposed to a regular mechanical keyboard.
Another question, is it possible to add backlights on the ErgoDox, or would it be too difficult or not possible at all?
if you're used to building model kits, you should feel right at home, as even though the activity is different, having an eye for detailed work helps. For what it's worth, when I built my ergodox, it was the first time in my entire life that I held a soldering iron. A cheap random one at that, and a tube of solder wire, and a desoldering pump that was a waste of the plastic and spring it was made of. I did however, sit through a few soldering videos on youtube, read thorough several sites and a comic on soldering before I got started.
There were hiccups when I fired it up for the first time, but it wasn't too hard to fix. If there's any issues, most geekhackers would probably be able to help you through it.
As for whether you should be going from a rubber dome to an ergodox - that is a complicated question. Let me answer this in two parts. Going from rubber dome to mechanical imo, is a no brainer. Whether you should go for an ergodox is however, up in the air. You may or may not like the layout, depending on how willing you're to adapt. And for that matter, there's several outcomes,
1: if you do decide to go with the ergodox, there's a good chance you'll never want to use a normal staggered keyboard again. I went cold turkey and switched to it all the way from day 1 of finishing up my build. I'm pretty sure I've been on this board for about 3 months now. I still have several normal boards, but I can't standing typing on one of those for more than five minutes.
2: you decide to go half-half on adapting to the dox; good chance you'd never feel fluent with the matrix layout, and end up selling it away.
3: Or you could go half-half and be able to switch between the two equally; though I find it hard to believe that anyone who had acclimatized himself/herself to the ergodox layout would actually still want to use a staggered layout.
Imo, the matrix layout is a commitment that you have to decide on.
As for gaming; I used to be an avid MMORPG player - spent years on Wow, and prior to that, UO, EQ, EQ2, SWTOR, and several others (the list can get quite long), and other games, including FPS, racing, RPGs etc etc. I can easily tell you that an ergodox during my wow days would have been awesome; all my macros and hotkeys on one hand? Some would say that it would be a huge pain to set up the keys on a custom board, but since when did any half decent player not take the time to set up detail macros for pvp or raiding? It would made rotations so much easier and fluid. Customization of layouts on the ergodox is pretty much relies the same principle - you'd be able to make full use of the ergodox's potential if you're willing to put the time in to make custom layers that you know at your finger tips. Lots of thinking, preparation and adjustment. Otherwise, it's just a normal board with a weird layout.
You should probably read the anandtech review of the keyboard. Although I think it rather obvious that the reviewer doesn't really 'get' the ergodox's full potential, I think its a very fair review of how a regular person would find the massdrop kit. Regular, in this case, being the kind of person who just wants a keyboard that works out of the box, and be naturally fabulous without having to tweak stuff too much.
http://anandtech.com/show/7245/ergodox-review-an-ergonomic-mechanical-keyboard-via-massdropMany of his issues mentioned are actually valid - if you're not willing to put in the time and effort to tweak and mod the keyboard further than what came out of the box. But if you're willing to get the board, adapt and modify it to a set up that suits you (i.e. making layouts, adjust, repeat until perfect; find a way to tent the board; make your own TRRS cable if its too short or too long (this particular complaint in the review made me roll my eyes. it was like he was finding things to nitpick about) - then I think you'd love the ergodox. Otherwise, you might want to reconsider getting one.
For LED backlights, can't be done without an extensive mod. If you're not even sure how to put the basic kit together at the moment, I would consider such a thing rather impossible at this time.
