geekhack
geekhack Community => Ergonomics => Topic started by: dusan on Tue, 06 March 2018, 11:43:57
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This is UNIK64, the core of one of my TKL keyboard layout design. However I think it may be of separate interest.
It is designed to eliminate lateral movements and / or wrist angling (hence, the need for split board). Yet it is highly conservative. There're only ten relocated keys, of which only four critical (i.e. new position being far away from the standard one), namely \ = ] and Backspace.
The numpad, navigating and editing keys (Ins and Del) are under function layer (not shown here). There are two function layers. One can use the left Fn key to activate the function layer containing the right-hand numpad, and vice versa.
It is easily customizable. It can be extended with up to six additional keys (the empty positions), which may be useful for some national languages and/or operating systems. The leftmost and rightmost columns, as well as the bottom row may be implemented with different keycap sizes.
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This looks like a Preonic with an extra column on either side.
I think an interesting thing for this could be the option of 2u keys on the edges for things like shift and whatnot.
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This looks like a Preonic with an extra column on either side.
I think an interesting thing for this could be the option of 2u keys on the edges for things like shift and whatnot.
It is similar to a Helicase. (https://southpawdesign.net).
2u side keys on this layout would be equivalent to 3u on a Planck/Preonic, which is a bit too large. Around 1.5u would suffice for most people.
Attached is a variant with 1.25u R1, 1.75u R2 and 1.5u R3 profile found on common keyboards.
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Sorry, I wasn't very clear with that. I meant that you could replace the two outer columns into a single 2u key. For example: replace 1u Shift and 1u +/= with a 2u shift, or 1u Raise and 1u Tab with a 2u Tab.
The idea being that you could do it on some rows but leave other rows split if you wanted to.
Personally, I think 1.5 or 1.25u would be a better replacement than 2u, but that would make cases super weird.
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I wonder if it will be affordable once Massdrop gets its hands on it. Otherwise not really able to try it out.
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Sorry, I wasn't very clear with that. I meant that you could replace the two outer columns into a single 2u key. For example: replace 1u Shift and 1u +/= with a 2u shift, or 1u Raise and 1u Tab with a 2u Tab.
The idea being that you could do it on some rows but leave other rows split if you wanted to.
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Ah, I see. But then, we'll miss some keys. Taking your example: we'll miss either the left Shift or +=, and either Esc (the Raise symbol) or Tab.
The idea is maximal comfort for minimal changes to the standard layout.
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I wonder if it will be affordable once Massdrop gets its hands on it. Otherwise not really able to try it out.
Matias switches are pretty affordable. And both variants I showed above can be made with available keycaps.
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I wonder if it will be affordable once Massdrop gets its hands on it. Otherwise not really able to try it out.
Matias switches are pretty affordable. And both variants I showed above can be made with available keycaps.
Then you gotta find someone to make it. Sometimes it's harder than it looks because nobody will take that risk.
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True. The best location of side and bottom keys vary greatly for different people. (Attached figure is just an example that shows the minimally needed key size and the exact optimal key location for one particular person -- me.)
In order to reduce the variation, a minimum 2u gap between the left and the right - hand halves must be added, and some keys must be made wider or higher (side and middle keys would be > 1u in height, at least two keys must be then relocated from side columns to middle columns, and bottom keys would be > 1u in width). What's worse, even with that, the key location must vary, or it won't be optimum for all people.
It is possible to make a single PCB that fits all reasonable variations of side / middle columns and bottom row in size and location (at least for some types of switch). For example, for the bottom row, a single PCB can fit all combinations of 1u, 1.25u, 1.5u in size, located anywhere in 0.125u grid, for up to five modifier keys on each hand side.
I wonder if it is possible to do so for the plate and the top cover.
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Two years of research, and I managed to simplify the layout for mass production. Now there's only one version. All keys are now fixed in size and position. (But they're to be programmable, though.) The gap between left and right hand side halves is also fixed at 2u.
Because it is designed specifically to be a full keyboard (not as the core of a TKL keyboard), it has two additional modifier (Fn) keys.
By coincidence, the latest version has 64 keys, i.e. exactly same as the original version.
[attach=1]