pica40 VS Pragmatic

Hi, fairly new to the ergo world. I'm looking for a replacement for my first ergo keyboard that stopped working. It is a 40 keys split keyboard with a 3-keys thumb cluster. I want something with similar keys layout.

I would just solder the wire directly to PCB and hold it in place by tying it with steel wire or even hot glue. Check my prototype here https://github.com/zzeneg/pica40/tree/v1, you can make it prettier if you plan it beforehand, for me it was an accident :)

This build was inspired by the pica40 mostly: https://github.com/zzeneg/pica40

https://github.com/zzeneg/pica40/tree/v1 - my prototype with handwired connection, can easily be upgraded with nice nano and battery.

Presenting my first low profile split keyboard. After my experiments with aggressive stagger I thought that it's not enough and I still have to move my hand to reach top pinky keys (Q/P) and it would be more comfortable to have these keys on the side instead. For the sake of the experiment I wanted to try choc V1 switches with choc spacing as well.

All files are available on my [GitHub](https://github.com/zzeneg/pica40).

In the end I do not recommend building it, but still it's more or less unique design :) My repo - https://github.com/zzeneg/pica40

If you don't need a lot of keys than you can just extend the matrix to the second half but must use some other cable than trrs. As far as I remember there is a Reviung Split which uses ethernet cable. I've also designed a split which uses usb-c cable for communication, but it's not built yet so proceed with caution - https://github.com/zzeneg/pica40.

As said, there is no space for the jst connector on corne-like boards. You can place it instead trrs jack but it limits you to wireless communication - can be done though if you plan use it exclusively like this. I'd say it's not needed, you won't change battery often anyway, you can solder the wires and have only a power switch. For example you can take a look on nijuni https://github.com/krikun98/nijuni. If you like nijuni, it would be easier to replace switch footprints to chocs than modifying corne. I can also humble brag about my own design with switch and jst - but note that it's not assembled/tested yet https://github.com/zzeneg/pica40.

Exactly, the little magic box has a pro micro inside. Repo here https://github.com/jamessa/Pragmatic

That’s exactly how I use my keyboard. https://github.com/jamessa/Pragmatic

You can find an used one in r/mechmarket to try it out. Low Profile or light switch is not that important. FYI, I used only Cherry MX Red on my Pragmatic 34. I don't like to play those switches because I've got works to do.

I was frustrated by MCU shortage and had the same question last year. So I create https://github.com/jamessa/Pragmatic a split design using only one dev board. Those IDC cables turns out really handy, sturdy and reliable.