Hi AcidFire,
You said:
I want to make sure I'm clear about it, the flat straight/ergo split designs currently don't include space for F keys, only the split tent (I really need proper names for these designs) have the extra space for dedicated keys. Otherwise, there are enough keys in the middle of the flat designs to actually set them as dedicated F keys. If I do a dedicated desktop version (remember these designs were intended more for travel) I will include these F rows as dedicated keys.
For clarity please explain what you meant when you said:
"extra space for dedicated keys"
Does that mean there is extra space, but no actual F keys?
Or does that mean the extra space will have actual F keys?
Also for clarity it would help to see a drawing or a
picture of "the split tent" and "the flat designs".
Thanks!
xman, I think this refers to an add-on module (similar to the thumb clusters being separate modules). AcidFire mentioned that the boards will support quite a few simultaneous modules and IIRC the F-keys won't be included in the base version but as an add-on.
What that means is that the base design, while having an area you can add F-keys to, will not include them in the base kit. The addon modules however are designed to be a simple plug in and go, they were simply omitted from the base kit for cost reasons. I am however thinking of including them with the kit in the crowd supply campaign as a bonus.
As for a drawing, I should hopefully have some new photos done this weekend in anticipation of the Crowd Supply campaign.
Awesome! I wonder why I haven't checked in earlier, although I know about the project more or less since its beginning... I especially wish I had signed up for the beta.
About the switches. If I understand it correctly, backlighting will be optional. If it's so, it shouldn't be a problem to open switches, as long as there's a phantom-style plate. Then, fewer kinds of Cherry MX would be a complete non-issue, because a pair of tweezers and a bag of Korean springs would completely solve it.
I'm kinda confused, what the name of the keyboard is currently. It appears Google have burried the Nexus brand, but so did you. The name is Axios now, isn't it? And what's ErgoGP? Is it the split keyboard (as opposed to 70% and 40%), or is it depricated as well?
I see that the keyboard is modular. Have you considered palm-button modules like some users have added to their kinesis?
Another thought... What about PBT SA keycaps? Unfortunately, I haven't seen them anywhere but SP's inventory and well... the price w/ shipping to Central Europe was quite steep.
Anyway, back to work, so that I can afford this. Maybe I'll even give up on getting the czarek's planned ErgoDox-compatible wireless keyboard.
Yes, backlighting will be optional, so someone who hasn't installed LEDs should have no problem opening switches in the plate. There is however some stuff I'm working on the switch side that is completely hush hush, but very promising
Unfortunately thats all i can say for now until the crowd supply campaign.
Because of the nature of the palm rests I haven't looked at palm switches yet, however because of the nature of the modularity and the break outs available on the board its always a possibility. At this point I don't want to let feature creep slow me down but it's on the list of things to investigate after the first models are available.
As for the SA profile, I have a set of translucent PC keys coming in from SP today so I can try out the profile. Unfortunately compared to DSA/DCS there's a fairly low demand for it so I'm not sure when I'd actually end up offering it. That being said, as with most things I won't rule out the possibility of offering them in the future, it all comes down to numbers.
I am curious as to how it feels using thumb keys as modifier keys. I have been using layers to type symbols and numbers on a regular QWERTY keyboard for many years. Originally I tried using the Alt keys to the sides of the spacebar as modifiers to enable the various layers, but when later I started using a pair of high-quality footswitches to do the job it felt felt a lot more comfortable, although admittedly at the expense of portability. The reason is that, because on a regular keyboard the thumbs are the only fingers that stay put, since their only job is to push the space key, I naturally tend to hinge around the thumbs when reaching for other keys. The minute my thumbs leave their "home" position I lose my bearing and have to fumble around to get back home. This only happens when the thumb operates modifier keys, as it usually means that the entire hand has to move away from the home position. When using the thumb keys as, say, Enter or Backspace, only one key is being pressed at a time, so while the thumb leaves the home position, the other fingers don't, therefore there I can use the other fingers that haven't moved as a reference. I am asking because I see AcidFire is working on several variants of his keyboard with different thumbpad configurations and it would be interesting to know the practical differences between them.
I love using thumb modifiers for my egrodox. I have painful wrists, so I try to move my hand and fingers as little as possible. I only use half of the available finger keys on the egrodox. I touch qwerty, but am trying out Dvorak. Here is my current layout: https://www.massdrop.com/ext/ergodox/?referer=SPAJZH&hash=c9749fde145f902c34b84a3c76bfb0dd it only took a little while to get used to the mod layer. For example, tab is on a thumb shift layer, but typed with the same finger. The only difference being I don't have to stretch for it, (it's typed thumb layer "a"). Granted, it is terrible for games with a lot of key binds (I'm looking at you WoW) but works great for general typing. I also use SA profile keycaps to give the ergodox a bit of bowl shape. I'll attach a photo to demonstrate. The reduced key set + the shaped keys feels wonderful for me.
What I'm looking forward to in AcidFire's offerings is the tented thumb clusters. Even better would be one of the mini boards with tented thumb clusters. I took a lump of clay and made the ideal keyboard for me. Granted it is far from being an actual keyboard, but it does contain the most available keys for minimal finger movement (once again "for me" probably not for anyone else). I'll also include a picture of it. The keycaps don't mean anything, the green dots are the home row.
I've been looking at a tented version with the smaller clusters as well, and I even have daughter boards done for testing, however for the time being they've been tabled until the first designs are ready to go out (I like your layout btw).
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As for an overdue update, I've had my Crowd Supply budget, reward levels & stretch goals approved, so the only thing left for prep is to provide a writeup, a video and some photos. If I get very lucky, I might be able to get this all done in time to launch for the Bay Area Maker Faire. If that isn't the case, it'll go up shortly after. I hope to see those of you in San Francisco down there