hillside VS ergogen

Only two thumb keys seems like it could be a pain. I don't love trying to figure out the timing delays for tap vs hold. After a long search I settled on the Hillside 46 [1][2] which has 4 thumb keys and a splayed layout. Also choc spacing, as I didn't love the gaps between choc keycaps with mx spacing. Not sure why, as the macbook pro keyboard doesn't seem to give me any problems.

I like the all the case options and mods available to the ZSA keyboards. The biggest problem with building your own I feel is the cost of getting a nice, solid feeling case.

[1] https://github.com/mmccoyd/hillside/tree/main/hillside46

There are a few things that are close: * The Cantor/Piantor: more aggressive stagger and slightly changed thumb cluster. * The Swept Corne: essentially a big sweep. * The Hillside 46/48: This comes in many forms which are very similar to what you are looking for. Essentially an extra aggressive stagger (and perhaps splayed) Corne with a bigger thumb cluster.

I don’t have personal experience no. If you want to compare, here is a image of the key location: https://github.com/mmccoyd/hillside/blob/main/hillside46/doc/image/hill46_keys.png others exist for the other sizes in similar places. You can print this out, making sure you size so that the keys are properly spaced, and then compare that way

hillside

the first thing that pops into my head is something like the Hillside 52/56?

I'd recommend a Hillside. If you're not into the splay, there's the 48 and the 56. https://github.com/mmccoyd/hillside

Hillside ? https://github.com/mmccoyd/hillside

ergogen online

If you decide to go down this rabbit hole (which is a totally doable thing, by the way, as the others have already noted), then you might want to look into Ergogen. To be fair, it won't save you from KiCAD, but it could make the journey a bit easier.

Contractual PSA: if you're willing to get your hands dirty, you could try Ergogen (tool, Discord). There might already be a pretty close starting point that you only need to modify a bit if you ask around. Alternatively, there might be people in the server who'd be willing to do a commission - some are fucking machines when it comes to curning out great designs one after the other...

Howdy y'all! 👋 Ergogen, the ergonomic keyboard layout generator app, recently hit v4! I've been enjoying using this tool for a while now, so I decided to collect everything I've learned into a series of step-by-step articles outlining the basics of Ergonomic keyboard PCB creation.

Hey thanks! Ergogen made this entire project super approachable. Also thanks for being so quick to fix #86

Doing more research I couldn't find anything that really fit what I was looking for. At this point I decided to build my own keyboard, from the design of the PCB to the 3D model of the chassis. I used Ergogen to get the layout and outline of the plate, KiCad for the PCB, Fusion 360 for the chassis, and QMK for the firmware. All in all it took me probably 2 to 3 months of work in my spare time (I had next to no "Electronic Engineering" experience and had hardly used CAD before) from the idea to having the thing to type on. I learned a lot, and already have a list of things I wish I had done differently for V2 😅.

If you can't find one you like you can also design your own. I don't advice for your first build though. Perhaps your second. Ergogen and Kicad are vital tools for this. https://ergogen.xyz/

Sorry, forgot the link.

Another option would be designing the layout yourself with http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/ and https://kbplate.ai03.com/ or maybe https://ergogen.xyz/

I tried to PCB design and it's a harsh learning curve without electronics knowledge. I'm trying to do mine with Ergogen