keyboards VS Fulcrum

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.

dude I really think you should consider a sideways-mounted 5-way switch for the thumbs like I did on the fulcrum. I think it would work really well on this form factor

You may be interested by the 40-key version of the Fulcrum

It's tough to use more than 2 or 3 regular thumb keys. Check out the Fulcrum for max ergo thumb functionality

I use 20 keys as my daily driver and it’s been a dream come true. My RSI disappeared and as a bonus I type faster than I did before on regular keyboard.

Fulcrum allows you to use one of the thumb joysticks as a mouse, though i wouldn't recommend it as a full mouse replacement

Although, I guess you could also go with your idea with using one hand for the vowel and one for the consonant and use just two 5way switches. There is actually a DIY keyboard with two 5way switches: https://github.com/dschil138/Fulcrum I think it would work well for kana input.

I think you would really like the fulcrum

I doubt this will be what you are looking for but I did the same thing with the keylogger and had the same realization, which heavily informed my keymap and hardware design on the Fulcrum. Full keymap is at the bottom of the readme page. Also if you go to my profile I have a pinned repo on key press stats that you may find interesting.

Fulcrum would be either your dream keyboard or your nightmare keyboard. Not sure which

I humbly suggest the 40-key version of the Fulcrum, which will give your thumbs a multitude of ergonomic options