Split keyboards and how to build them

Re:Split keyboards and how to build them by surfsvammel on Wednesday January 27, 2021 @03:00AM (#25925503)

I have the same board and I am generally happy with it. There is one warning I’d like to make though; I have fairly small hands and I feel that my hands have to reach more using this keyboard than with other split keyboards I’ve used. It’s purely anecdotal though, because I have done some measuring and cannot actually find that there is any significant difference in distance between keys compared to my old keyboard. So, there must be something else at the root of that feeling.

It is, however, something I’ve heard from others as well.

In general though, it is a great keyboard. It is expensive, compared to off the shelf Logitech and Microsoft boards, but seen as a the main tool I use for getting my job done, it’s no cost to pay.

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Re:Split keyboards and how to build them by badlucklottery on Wednesday January 27, 2021 @04:56AM (#25926247)

> I have fairly small hands and I feel that my hands have to reach more using this keyboard than with other split keyboards I’ve used

The Moonlander has a lot of key rows for a "flat" keyboard so there's going to be some reaching if you use them all. I have relatively large/long hands and coming from a Kinesis Advantage (which has a similar number of rows) it was a lot of reaching for the top and bottom rows, especially the corner keys. I ended up putting a lot more keycodes on layers to get around it.

But I ended up building a Bastyl last month: https://www.hidtech.ca/?product=bastyl#tab-description

I still get QMK and the true split design (which helps with my shoulders) but I also get the curved keywells back so I can hit everything on the keyboard pretty easily. I did lose that bottom row but I just pushed the useful keys to the thumb cluster.

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Re:Split keyboards and how to build them by learnvella on Wednesday January 27, 2021 @08:45AM (#25928146)

imo a large keyboard is good to start with as most people will be used to having a large standard keyboard. what i've done is, using qmk, slowly updated my keyboard to make less and less use of keys that i wouldn't have on a 3x5 dactyl. it allows me to make my changes slowly but still develop the habits to get away from the number row and what not all while finding what works well for me

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Re:Split keyboards and how to build them by gundmc on Wednesday January 27, 2021 @04:28AM (#25926055)

I have smaller hands as well and have adapted well to the Moonlander. I have found that I prefer to keep the thumb cluster tilted upwards to reduce the distance to my space/return keys.

Unfortunately this means I can't use the tenting since that requires the thumb cluster to tilt down and act as one of the legs. That's my only real gripe so far.

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Re:Split keyboards and how to build them by flurdy on Wednesday January 27, 2021 @06:07AM (#25926759)

I have smaller hands as well and I do tent it slightly but then I only use the first "piano" key regularly [1]. The others on the thumb cluster are for layer keys.

My only gripe is that you can't negative tilt it, which I prefer when standing. I do love my Moonlander though.

* [1] https://configure.ergodox-ez.com/moonlander/layouts/rOjGj/la...

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Re:Split keyboards and how to build them by willtim on Wednesday January 27, 2021 @05:16AM (#25926390)

The Kinesis Advantage 2 has the keys in a concave well, which means less reach is needed to get them. It's similarly priced and worth a try!

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