ErgoDox VS awesome-mechanical-keyboard

https://www.ergodox.io/, been around forever now.

Closest split PCB based design with a Kinesis Advantage thumb cluster, I know of, is the Ergodox Would need tenting to emulate the keywells. Lovingly design and print a case with tenting legs for it? 🤔

Should be in here somewhere: https://github.com/Ergodox-io/ErgoDox

> Is ZSA's build known to have latency issues compared to QMK?

ZSA is using a patched QMK - they even let you download the exact source for each firmware build they make for you. At the time when I switched to vanilla QMK (that was already some years ago), ZSA were veeery far behind master; running the latest QMK release fixed a couple of issues for me (like hotplugging the halves), so I guess there could be other improvements? No idea really.

> Would a faster microprocessor help

In the MCU world, latency and clock speed can have a very linear relationship - until they suddenly don't. The microcontroller's job is very simple really: scan the key matrix at a certain frequency, perform key debouncing, compare the current state with the previous, and craft a USB HID packet with key press/release events.

So having twice the clock speed could theoretically let you scan twice as often, so it might let you cut the latency in half. Except we have those pesky physics getting in our way! For simplicity let's assume we don't have split halves (where there's an extra serial connection slowing things down); I'm no EE so I only grasp these concepts at the surface level, but signals take time to propagate, and long traces on the PCB (and cables too) have a tiny bit of their own capacitance. (Capacitors are like really fast, really tiny batteries - but they still take a tiny amount of time to charge and discharge, which does all sorts of interesting things to high-frequency signals.)

On top of that, the electrical connection that the pieces of metal are making inside the switch, are never perfect at the exact instant the switch is supposed to (de)register: a couple electrons might start jumping over the air even before contact is made, and the physical connection is subject to normal wear, amplifying the "edge case" effect over its lifetime - which all together means we have to actually spend a certain amount of time "looking" at the state of the switch, to let it settle and make sure we got it right.

We end up spending so much time letting physics do its job that in a trivial firmware, the MCU is actually spending a significant amount of time... just sleeping. Which means we were later able to cram all sorts of madness like individual RGB lightning or status displays, and never decreased the poll rate.

Where would these 40ms come from then? Well I wouldn't get near the problem without an oscilloscope, and unfortunately I don't have one.

> I'm just starting to get into custom keyboards.

Then I recommend studying the original ErgoDox firmware & build instructions! It's extremely straightforward compared to a beast like QMK, which actually uses a whole RTOS.

https://www.ergodox.io/; https://github.com/benblazak/ergodox-firmware

Hi! Does anyone here have some experience playing age on an ergodox? I usually move the right part out of the way so that I can have more space for the mouse (it is actually great for things like FPS because the mouse hand is in a very natural position), but the default hotkeys force me to move my left hand across both sides, making it hard to actually hit the key without looking. I've been only using control groups 1-5 due to this, which is less than optimal.

The closest open source keyboard you'll get next to the Moonlander is probably the ErgoDox that it's heavily inspired from.

You should build something you would want for yourself no? Have a look here for some options: https://github.com/BenRoe/awesome-mechanical-keyboard

I have found two different GitHub repos that have a database of open-source mech keyboards. Most have plate files available as well, I’d start there.

I'm very late to this party, but here's an amazing list of buildable keyboards[0], specifically linked are the split ones (like Ergodox).

Most of these today run QMK and specifically the Configurator[1].

I recommend most people stay away from the Ergodox unless your hands are larger and have a specific reach. While a great keyboard back in 2012-2015, the thumb cluster is outside of comfortable for most people and there have been a lot of improvements in this area over the years.

If building a keyboard yourself isn't your thing, I highly recommend the keyboard.io crew.

[0] https://github.com/BenRoe/awesome-mechanical-keyboard/blob/m...

[1] https://config.qmk.fm/#/hotdox/LAYOUT_ergodox

I'm in the middle of designing my own ergonomic split keyboard. The way I do it is to put my hand over a sheet of paper and curl up my fingers like I would if I were to use a keyboard efficiently, then I draw where the fingers are in the home position. I check the location where my thumb is most relaxed as that will be the location for the spacebar (on one hand). Then I check and draw in the arc of my thumb as it moves with little or no strain and mark off the other thumb keys that will be comfortable to use. (My thumb can with relative ease cover 4 keys from under my middle finger and out, but not as far out as e.g. the Moonlander). Next I check where I can most comfortably move my pinky, which seems to be in a diamond shape. Next, can I move the middle finger both 1 key up and 1 down or should I go for 2 keys for the ring finger and therefore shift the column a bit? For the index finger I also check what stagger the second (inner) index column needs, and I can only comfortably hit 2 of those so I focus on getting good positions for them. I then draw the location of the keys with the amazing ergogen software, and printed it first on paper to test. Next I bought some sample choc key switches and I use their footprint in ergogen, exported to kicad pcb and made a color printout. I cellotaped the printout to about 3mm of cardboard and made through holes with a pin and mounted the keys and tested a real physical model. To get mm precision I needed to do one iteration as the tenting and height of the keys will affect what's most comfortable. This is where I am at right now. I still need to draw the rest of the PCB. From my second iteration I can see that there are a few keyboards that closely match my thumbfan position, but only 1 that has a vaguely similar pinky cluster. Since I also want low profile keys it looks like the best option is to continue to make my own design. But if you are in luck and you know what you're looking for you might be able to find something that closely matches your specs in a previous design. There is a pretty large list here https://github.com/BenRoe/awesome-mechanical-keyboard/blob/master/docs/README.md GL

here's a list of keyboard builds you can check out.

This GitHub repo is a good source to find tutorials and open source projects https://github.com/BenRoe/awesome-mechanical-keyboard

There’s a whole bunch of small boards listed here — https://github.com/BenRoe/awesome-mechanical-keyboard/blob/master/docs/README.md — but most are one-off or small runs. The only commercial 36ish-key ones I can think of right away are split keyboards:

Many of these are pro-micro based: https://keebfolio.netlify.app/