zmk-config VS keyboards

I‘ve mained various 30 key boards for over a year now. I find it to be the optimal size to have all keys within easy reach, but without too much combo/layer jumping. You can see my config here: https://github.com/jcmkk3/zmk-config

No analyzer can really model these things at this point, but I think that you can feel when things are bad. I don't use colemak, but feel free to look at my config/layout. https://github.com/jcmkk3/zmk-config

I feel like any programmable keyboard should be able to be configured to work well with emacs. I personally like having very few keys so that my hands need to move less when typing/navigating. Because I use powerful firmware (ZMK), I still have access to all of the keys that I need. You can take a look at how I configure my keyboard (along with some of my keyboards) here: https://github.com/jcmkk3/zmk-config

I have custom alpha layers and extremely optimized symbol layers, combos and other features in my keymap. It is not designed for web development, but it is good for VIM and Java.

That made me think. If I would adapt Romak for 20 keys, it would be something like this:

But since you are a programmer, I invite you to check the fancy programmer features that I have implemented in my keymap. I still need to rework on the documentation, but you can take some inspiration from there if you decide to design your own.

Romak also has some very nice attributes, as do poqtea and uciea. I also find Canary to have a lot of merit.

There is also the unusual option to handwire a keyboard without soldering, as I did here, but the result might not be so reliable.

You can see my layout here.

I started my own layout, Romak, using BEAKL as inspiration, with similar objectives, mostly making it more suitable for my home language and reducing the load on pinkies and indexes, concentrating in the middle and ring fingers instead. Another thing I did was to remove the top row key from both the central and pinkie columns. Later I also removed the bottom row key from the pinkies.

My first handwired board checks all your requirements, and I have some pictures of the process, but it is not a complete guide. It might help though. And I think the FFKB case can be great for a first handwired project.

Really nice work, congrats. My custom layout is designed for both Portuguese and English, and I have some of the same ideas implemented, with similar reasoning. I also have some programming features that remind yours, but I preferred to remap hjkl instead.

I've used two different options in my builds. You can see them in the build logs: FFKB and Rommana.