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0 pointsautocorr5y ago0 comments

A DIY custom actually![1] It's a split with 3 x 6 alphas, 3 thumb keys, and a palm key. I really like it but I was already moving in the direction on layout-minimalism on my ErgoDox. You can find a pic of my layout here[2]. Happy to answer any questions about it.

On ergonomics and RSI, tough to say whether some of these things make a difference or not. There's no data. The single biggest difference to me is having multiple thumb keys because that allows you to almost completely relieve the pinkies. The only sideways movement I use them for now is a "sticky keys" style one-shot modifier for Control on the keys adjacent to the home-row. Although having a split board (and standing desk) has been super for overall posture.

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/ErgoMechKeyboards/comments/infzme/t... [2] http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/#/gists/8105b7f97f89fa...

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wyclif5y ago

In Vim, I would love to be able to map Ctrl-[ (which is what I use instead of Esc to change modes) to Ctrl-thumbkey just to relieve the right pinky. I'm using a standard mechanical TKL layout now. Or maybe just map Esc to a single thumb key.

autocorrOP5y ago

Yeah as a heavy vimmer I also used Ctrl-[ with Caps-as-Ctrl for the longest time on a regular full-sized keyboard. Esc is great to have on a thumb key though. I used it on one of the outer ones on my ErgoDox and it worked well. A nice vim quality of life improvement was programming keyboard macros for `Esc : w Enter` and for quit.

It's not new in the vim world, but now what I use is `jk` pressed at the same time. Adjacent finger pairs are pretty easy to coordinate fast combos with -- just sort of jab your hand. Since it's in the keyboard firmware (QMK) it works in all contexts and not just vim, but the `jk` combo is also something that I can configure in the vimrc to use on my laptop.

codezero5y ago

Thanks for sharing, that’s something else!

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