geekhack
geekhack Community => Keyboard Keycaps => Topic started by: lrochfort on Tue, 03 May 2016, 00:53:23
-
Hello all,
I'm buying an ergodox kit that comes with Cherry MX keys but not key caps.
How many of each size are needed?
I must admit I'm completely new to keyboard enthusiasm so if somebody could please post information/link to help me understand which keys on a 104 keyboard are which sizes that would help me a lot.
The second problem is that I'm in the UK and getting key caps here is somewhat tricky. Links to sites in or shipping to the UK would be appreciated. Ideally I'd like spherical caps, but I've had no luck with that so far. I also don't really care about ISO layout or the £ symbol.
Alternatively, could I strip the keys from an old Cherry keyboard to get what I need?
Thanks all!
-
you can't get all you need on a cherry keyboard, because you need 4 x 2units keycap on thumb clusters, and 12 x 2 units keycap for modifiers.
A typical cherry G81 keyboard consists of 1 x 2 units keys.
Having keyset in the same profile in hand would help greatly for this kind of weird layouts, such as DSA
ErgodDox Keycaps List :
BASE
38 – 1u Keys
2 – 1u Deep Dish Keys (for F and J)
MODIFIERS
20 - 1u Keys
12 – 1.5u Keys
4 – 2u Keys
76 Keys in Total
Getting the ergodox in my opinion is a mistake though, how much did you pay for the barebone ?
-
you can't get all you need on a cherry keyboard, because you need 4 x 2units keycap on thumb clusters, and 12 x 2 units keycap for modifiers.
A typical cherry G81 keyboard consists of 1 x 2 units keys.
Having keyset in the same profile in hand would help greatly for this kind of weird layouts, such as DSA
ErgodDox Keycaps List :
BASE
38 – 1u Keys
2 – 1u Deep Dish Keys (for F and J)
MODIFIERS
20 - 1u Keys
12 – 1.5u Keys
4 – 2u Keys
76 Keys in Total
Getting the ergodox in my opinion is a mistake though, how much did you pay for the barebone ?
Thanks for the advice.
It will be £100 for everything except the keys, but other things may mean I have to hold off for now.
Why would you not get the ergodox?
Any recommendations for a different mechanical ergonomic keyboarf?
-
It's funky shape doesn't necessarily mean more ergo, plus even more dependent on the individual's hands.
For example the thumb cluster just doesn't work, it stretches out your thumb Ina weird angle. And your palm will get sore quickly. Look at some photos of people using funky shaped keyboards, and the hands just don't look relaxed.
I honestly find the spacebar on a normal keyboard quite ergonomic despite it doesn't look like it. Reason is it's most natural to have your thumb curled. The ergodox will force your hand to be stretched out.
And the small space bar + it's weird orientation means that you'll have to rest your wrist on something in order have it pressed accurately. If you move your hands a lot on a normal keyboard, it might actually be healthier for your wrist, as wrists rest blocks blood flow.
But if you have large hands I guess it's ok. I find ergonomics keyboard gimmicky, even for keyboards like the Maltron/ kinesis despite their ultimate funkiness having a bowl shape. If it's ergonomic it should be efficient to use, meaning it should be speeding up your typing and with less effort. I find them always slows people down instead.
Normal tenkeyless is pretty ergo to me, its the combination of efficient and relaxed hand and finger movements that gives me the ergonomics. Ridiculous changes in appearance of the hardware doesn't do me any good.
-
This thread (https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=23446) is about Kinesis Advantage, but the layouts are almost the same: the ErgoDox only has 1.5u keys instead of 1.25u, and there's an extra pair and an extra pair of columns. Properly sculpted keycaps are a big deal, and even the tall Row 5 comes handy, esp. on top of thumb clusters.
As for need's opinion on ergonomic keyboards, it completely misses the point: hand separation and lack of pinkie overloading.
-
A G81 has 4 2u keys: backspace, 0, + and enter in the numberpad. If you get an ISO winkey model you get 8 1.25u keys which you could use in place of the 1.5u caps for testing, but you still have gaps...
For a proper set you're looking at PMK as your only option.
-
G81
Which one.
Anyway, Cherry alphas are great (esp. thick), and the rest can be gathered from various sources. I recommend inverted bottom-row keycaps for the lower (thumb) keys, bottom-row winkeyless modifiers for lower pinkie and vertical 1.5u keys, extra tall function-row keycaps (e.g., DCS Row 5) for upper keys, maybe DSA for the rest.