Author Topic: Turbodox: My First Ergodox Variant (A Cry for Help)  (Read 10174 times)

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Offline maltman

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Turbodox: My First Ergodox Variant (A Cry for Help)
« on: Mon, 28 August 2017, 23:36:27 »
Here is my roughest attempt at beginning a variant of the Ergodox. I call it the Turbodox because it is going to put your coding\hacking\word-processing into "turbo drive".

177066-0


As you can see this is really rough. But I am mostly starting a thread here to give me some motivation to continue working on it out of fear of disappointing you all.

I added an extra column to the pinkys because 1.5u keys there just seemed to me a waste of space. I made the thumb keys as close as possible to the main board, and I changed the extra keys for the index finger on the left side of the board  to be 1u instead of 1.5u to allow me to move the thumb keys closer. I got rid of the 2u keys in the thumb and added an extra column for the thumb. I think that the thumb group looks pretty ugly and I am debating on getting rid of the 1.5 u on the thumb keys and just having 3 columns of 4 rows all 1u for the thumbs.

Can I add another row to the top? It seems like it might be difficult for a beginner like myself. But I like extra keys.

Thanks for reading my thread.
« Last Edit: Mon, 28 August 2017, 23:39:41 by maltman »

Offline vvp

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Re: Turbodox: My First Ergodox Variant (A Cry for Help)
« Reply #1 on: Tue, 29 August 2017, 06:51:42 »
It is probably better to add the function row at the top than the additional column for pinkie. Good luck with the project!

Offline nomaded

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Re: Turbodox: My First Ergodox Variant (A Cry for Help)
« Reply #2 on: Sun, 03 September 2017, 14:46:20 »
In my opinion, having more keys isn't necessarily better. Being able to easily access those keys is more important. I know for many people, they like to be able to look at the keyboard and see a key and just hit that key. For me, I like the ability to layer additional functionality on the existing keys. I use my thumbs to momentarily hold the layer (think shift key, but instead of Caps, doing other things like symbols, or macros). But I touch-type, so I hold an image in my head of where all the keys are and I just hit them, with or without various modifiers. I know this isn't a solution for everyone, thus there are many different styles of keyboards, and many different ways to layout those keyboards.

I think this is the reason I like the current ErgoDox layout. I have a couple big 2U, easily (for me) to hit and hold keys for my thumbs. This allows me to use the other 4 fingers on the same hand (or opposite hand) to move up and down the rows to hit all the other keys. All the smaller 1U keys in the thumb cluster don't bother me as much. I end up moving the opposite hand to hit them with my index fingers, or map functionality that is significantly less used.

So, for me, having a bunch of thumb keys, and the ability to modify the keyboard firmware completely are the most important parts to increase efficiency.
Dvorak
ErgoDox fullhand (MX Clears) w/Nuclear Green Data SA || Infinity ErgoDox (Zealios 78g tactile) w/SA Retro || Atreus62 (MX Clears) w/Chocolatier || TECK 209 (MX Browns) || TouchStream ST
Kensington Slimblade Trackball || Logitech Cordless Optical Trackman || Apple Magic Trackpad
Current Dvorak-based ErgoDox layout || Current Dvorak-based TECK layout

Offline tp4tissue

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Re: Turbodox: My First Ergodox Variant (A Cry for Help)
« Reply #3 on: Sun, 03 September 2017, 19:02:55 »
Tp4 thinks more keys is a good idea.. because you can always use more keys.


But they should be an extra row, instead of column,  because an extra column on the outside would get in the way of tenting.


and an extra column on the inside, would reduce what could be mousing space.. ..


So an extra row would be best.

Offline hanya

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Re: Turbodox: My First Ergodox Variant (A Cry for Help)
« Reply #4 on: Sun, 03 September 2017, 20:50:35 »
You have to check conflicts of keycaps between thumb cluster and main keys. And it seems distance between two rows in the thumb cluster is not enough for 18 mm size keycap.
If footprint of the keyswitch has 18 mm square on it, its makes you to check conflicts between each keycaps.

ErgoDox has 3 pins remained on MCP23018 side. You have added 1 column already. So you can add another 2 rows as you want as function row or something.
PFU HHKB JP, Sanwa MA-TB38 trackball

Offline maltman

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Re: Turbodox: My First Ergodox Variant (A Cry for Help)
« Reply #5 on: Tue, 05 September 2017, 22:55:34 »
Does anybody know anything about cutting keycaps? I am pondering if cutting the keycaps on some of the thumb keys so as to cram in the thumb keys as close as possible to the rest of the board. Is it practical to cut the caps? Is it easy?

Also, how does the angle of the thumb in the ergodox feel to you?

Offline TheOtherDave

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Re: Turbodox: My First Ergodox Variant (A Cry for Help)
« Reply #6 on: Sun, 08 October 2017, 13:44:31 »
Does anybody know anything about cutting keycaps? I am pondering if cutting the keycaps on some of the thumb keys so as to cram in the thumb keys as close as possible to the rest of the board. Is it practical to cut the caps? Is it easy?

Also, how does the angle of the thumb in the ergodox feel to you?

Find a cheap set of keycaps and get out your hacksaw (a scroll saw would probably be better, if you have one and can safely cut something that small). It’s not particularly hard, but your first few tries will probably be rough. Bring sandpaper or a file or something, else any little bits of plastic at the now-sharp edges will get stabby.

All that said, it’ll probably be easier to just use correctly sized blanks. If you’re planning on mass-producing this, I’d certainly avoid anything too crazy... you don’t want your users to have to hack up an expensive set of custom caps to make everything fit correctly, or have some weird key that they can only get from you (because it won’t match their aforementioned custom keycaps).


The Ergodox thumb cluster’s angle seems fine to me... I wish it didn’t stick out quite as far, and that the upper row of thumb keys was elevated a bit to make it harder to accidentally hit the keys on the 2nd row with your thumb.


Offline PhillyBass

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Re: Turbodox: My First Ergodox Variant (A Cry for Help)
« Reply #7 on: Thu, 23 December 2021, 15:59:21 »
Maltman, Whatever became of your Turbodox project?  It seems like an excellent idea.