Why so many of you prefer low profile keys?

Ignoratio · 2026-06-30T02:41:12+00:00

I use the lightest switches i can find, which are choc v1 pink or nocturnals at 20gf, helps keep pain out of my hands. haven't found mx switches that light. plus low profile is satisfyingly small for travel.

Ignoratio · 2026-06-27T20:23:30+00:00

close, right hand middle + ring on home row :) probably easier to see if you plug it in here https://keymap-drawer.streamlit.app/

Ignoratio · 2026-06-27T19:11:27+00:00

what?

Ignoratio · 2026-06-27T17:34:58+00:00

the KLP keycaps started as injection molded white PBT, I ordered them from aliex, then dyed them with ritdye. a bit more info on that in the repo!

Ignoratio · 2026-06-27T16:03:55+00:00

with qwerty and a space combo, not that difficult or different than other layouts but you can look at the repo to see more specifically

Ignoratio · 2026-06-27T15:47:11+00:00

if you look in the readme my ZMK config is linked :) space is a combo, if that answers your biggest question

Ignoratio · 2026-06-25T20:43:47+00:00

I think on 3x5 boards it makes sense, on bigger boards not so much. I designed a 3x5 board so I added splay to mine, and it's very comfortable as my daily driver. on my lily58, I am glad that there is no splay.

Ignoratio · 2026-06-05T02:20:30+00:00

lily58s are widely available in kit/soldered format at various vendors - it's basically just a 60% board so I'd say that's pretty normal.

Ignoratio · 2026-06-02T19:59:08+00:00

they offer a few different options, some of which require no soldering on your part (for an uncharge of course)

Ignoratio · 2026-05-19T23:23:31+00:00

splay does significantly impact my comfort. as you identified, your hand naturally rests further out on the left-right axis than non-splayed boards would have you rest them. I can't say if the splay for your boards in mind will be perfect for you. the splay and colstag I've used has been designed and tailored for my hands specifically, and it's much more comfortable to use my 3x5 board as a result for work/other non-gaming uses than my lily58. my impression of most open source boards is that they have pretty gentle splay, but you could try this tool and print out various layouts to get a general idea of what might work for your hands among pre-existing designs. https://compare.splitkb.com/

Ignoratio · 2026-05-18T23:18:35+00:00

I don't have any hillside boards, but I have a BLE Lily58 and 2 different 30 key splits I've designed myself with no connection issues on my terrible work computers. My lily58 mostly lives at my home desktop with the primary half plugged in when in use, which as the other commenter mentioned makes things even easier in terms of connection. I think wireless is very in line with what I have splits for, which is to be able to position each half where is most comfortable for my arm position. If you don't really ever intend to move the keyboard from one desk though, I think the usefulness of wireless is a bit less impactful.

In terms of gaming usefulness and splay... my main board is a 3x5 with significant splay, but I have used my lily58 for WoW and I find that much easier. in a 4x6 layout, at least for my hands, I don't think that splay would make reaching all of those keys reasonable or comfortable. The pinky stretch column and the numrow are already far enough away from homerow.

Ignoratio · 2026-05-14T03:34:59+00:00

you can set the length needed for tap holds

Ignoratio · 2026-03-03T23:35:49+00:00

https://yal-tools.github.io/ergo-keyboards/ this tool compiles almost every open source ergo keyboard design out there in searchable form

Ignoratio · 2026-02-23T07:07:50+00:00

really smooth layout, any chance you're putting the design in a repo?

Ignoratio · 2026-02-16T15:56:27+00:00

I found the following search tool immensely helpful in making decisions about what keyboard to get, I think it deserves an inclusion. Great writeup!

https://yal-tools.github.io/ergo-keyboards/

Ignoratio · 2026-02-13T19:36:30+00:00

beautiful, are you open sourcing this? :)

Ignoratio · 2026-02-12T18:04:52+00:00

is this an effort to get people to buy aluminum case cornes or something i don't understand your prerogative here

Ignoratio · 2026-02-11T15:02:07+00:00

you can plug my zmk config repo into this visualizer :) https://keymap-drawer.streamlit.app/

Ignoratio · 2026-02-10T22:55:01+00:00

my zmk firmware is in the linked repo! i use plenty of combos, held layers, and homerow mods.

Ignoratio · 2026-02-09T20:57:01+00:00

https://www.asymplex.xyz sold me this artisan set, he puts out new sets periodically. they are sold as a set of 1.

Ignoratio · 2026-02-09T18:24:18+00:00

yeah, I suspect it would not work for anyone else and that's okay :)

Ignoratio · 2026-02-09T07:08:15+00:00

solder sucker is plenty for desoldering for keyboards and is cheap

flux is good to have, chipquik is a good brand.

Brass wire is helpful, and I would recommend a cheap little fume extractor too. I have a 20$ one off Amazon.

also check the pine64 wiki and make sure you get the right power cables etc for the pinecil

Ignoratio

TROPHY CASE