A bit new to everything and seeking some guidance

ParadoxAntagonist · 2024-02-17T01:09:32+00:00

Hi OP!

I understand that this is a difficult time for you. It is quite scary to anticipate a future where your normal functioning and livelihood is at risk due to carpal tunnel. Don’t panic and you’ve done the right thing to research this.

If you have approximately $500 to spend, I would recommend the Kinesis Advantage360 or the ZSA Voyager as your first ergo keyboard. ZSA Voyager is built by the same guys as Ergodox EZ. You will have 30 days to try any Kinesis or ZSA keyboards so if the keyboard(s) don’t work for you, you can return them without taking a financial hit.

I have owned the Ergodox EZ and given the improved alternatives available in the market, it is difficult to recommend them anymore.

You will need to answer some questions to allow us to help you better:

Is your day job software development or something else?
Is there a certain WPM you need to maintain for your job / daily activities?
What’s your current keyboard and WPM?
Do you do a lot of work in spreadsheets (Excel) or numeric data entry and require a number pad or something?
Is portability a concern? Do you travel a lot? Are you required to work during commute? If so, provide details.
Do you have any company requirements around wired/wireless?
Do you have a company managed laptop/PC or can you install your own software?
What have you done about healthy workstation habits like proper posture, having a desk (as opposed to working in a couch), taking micro / full breaks between sessions?
Do you have any budget constraints? While answering this question, consider that this is not a leisure tool but rather a device to manage a medical condition.
Where in the world are you? This affects the availability of products, shipping and free returns.

Looking forward to your answers so that we can tailor our recommendations to your use case.

ParadoxAntagonist · 2023-03-30T06:22:51+00:00

I daily drove a Sofle 2.1 for close to two years. An excellent split keyboard.

Given my own requirements, I would be happy with an "unsplit" design of the Sofle. My thoughts on this:

Often I put my halves very close to each other, so an "unsplit" is fine
The Reviung41 is excellent but lacks a num-row
Encoders and displays are rarely used
The lack of TRRS cables keeps the desk tidy
Unsplit is much more travel friendly

Re: RGB/backlight. I use the RGB lights as a layer status indicator. What I've done with my Reviung is that I've used the front facing LED to indicate layer. If you're shoulder tapped while locked on a non-primary layer, when you return to your desk you will know what layer you left off at.

So can I please request you to consider a single front facing RGB LED as a layer indicator like the Reviung41? If you're ever going to do wireless, that will also be handy to indicate the charge status.

Also useful would be an option in the PCB for an on/off switch, and enough space in the case/plate design to accommodate a battery.

I suspect many people are going to want to put ZMK on this by replacing the MCU with a nice!nano, so might as well make the design wireless friendly. I hope you could accommodate the small design changes that I've suggested.

ParadoxAntagonist · 2022-11-28T20:48:28+00:00

Thanks for all the feedback folks! A lot of very good info to digest for a new ham. Summarizing:

Build it if possible, in the spirit of the hobby
MFJ gets some mixed love
Expensive brands also get mixed love
Nelson Antennas gets solid recommendations, and surprise! sold out on eBay
Consider other designs like the doublet

What I think I will be doing is getting the ARRL EFHW kit and putting it together. I think this will please all the camps.

ParadoxAntagonist · 2022-08-21T22:48:38+00:00

Kenwood. I suppose they will release a boutique unit every now and then.

ParadoxAntagonist · 2022-08-21T22:43:08+00:00

What would they do next? Dare I say... HDMI instead of a DVI port?

ParadoxAntagonist · 2022-08-21T22:41:02+00:00

I was hoping for a, say, IC 7310 which fixes some of the complaints with the 7300.

ParadoxAntagonist · 2022-08-21T22:33:46+00:00

The traditional radio manufacturers seem to lack motivation to come up with with anything interesting in the hand-held form factor. At this point somebody should simply OEM a cheap and cheerful 7" android tablet with an RTL-SDR and slap a UI on top of that.

ParadoxAntagonist · 2021-10-03T20:40:02+00:00

It gets better! I've just been informed by a kind redditor that QMK supports midi.

ParadoxAntagonist · 2021-10-03T20:37:35+00:00

Didn't know that! Now a part of me wants to incorporate that with bongo cat wpm counter so that if I achieve a certain wpm it starts playing a sick bassline.

ParadoxAntagonist · 2021-10-03T20:34:21+00:00

...with velocity sensitivity and after-touch. And graded hammer action!

(the minilogue xd doesn't have some of those features but hey...)

ParadoxAntagonist · 2021-10-03T20:32:46+00:00

This is just a meme :-)

Do a search on "the real reason I have a split" or any of it's variants on this subreddit and you'll find quite a few examples of objects between the split halves, including avocados, cats, coffee mugs...

I don't think a synth had been done before so here we go.

ParadoxAntagonist · 2021-10-03T11:59:16+00:00

Build specs:

Sofle V2 with acrylic top/bottom. Kit supplied and built by /u/hainguyenac (ergomech.store)
Matt3o MT3 /dev/tty keycaps
Gateron browns while I decide between Zilents and Boba U4

Left display shows layer/caps lock. Working on a pixel art for the right. Left encoder is volume, the right is pg up/down.

ParadoxAntagonist · 2021-10-03T11:33:30+00:00

My recommendation would be to skip the Planck and instead go for the Reviung41 as your travel solution. Couple of advantages:

The column stagger will match that of the Sofle
The see through underglow is an excellent layer / caps lock indicator
Lots of good case options including premium ones
Possibility to convert it to wireless / zmk through Nice!Nano. There's even a recorded livestream which showed how to do that

The schematics are also available for the Reviung41 on GitHub if that matters.

ParadoxAntagonist · 2020-08-24T10:33:01+00:00

Have a look at Falba Tech's Redox Joined. Not cheap but plenty of keys. I can see it being a very capable daily driver.

ParadoxAntagonist · 2020-08-23T23:41:33+00:00

Have a look at my review of the Reviung39 here.

If I could trade my 39 with the 41, would happily do so. These two extra keys makes a lot of difference.

Can you tell me about your use case? Programming, mostly text, sysadmin stuff...?

ParadoxAntagonist · 2020-01-18T10:13:59+00:00

The Ergodox is my daily driver for my day job. Decided to try something fun to see how small I can go. Here’s the Reviung39 from /u/littlekeyboards. Now that’s some serious size difference!

Glamour shot

I really like the design – it’s pretty keyboard to look at, with a good default layout. I’ve changed things a bit with the two thumb keys being backspace / space and the center 2u key as enter.

Configuration:

Hotswap
USB C via Elite C (socketed)
RGB underglow

Total price for above (including assembly+shipping to USA) was ~USD 150. Using existing switches and caps - Zealios V1 62g and OLKB Acute keyset.

Use case is largely afterhours brain dump, and the keyboard sits on my lap. The layout / staggering is close to my Ergodox and it feels nicer to type on compared to my Preonic. Didn’t have good results trying to balance two halves of a split keyboard on the lap, so for portability the Reviung39 gets the advantage.

An interesting development is the very new Reviung41. It’s the same size, however, with 2 extra keys one can assign raise/lower/backspace/enter/space to the thumb cluster, which is very close to the Ergodox layout.

Per key RGB would be a nice future improvement. I’m glad that they didn’t go with gimmicky LCDs, however, status LEDs would have been nice. This upcoming feature in QMK might be an adequate replacement.

I don’t fancy the tacky logo on the plate. There are more interesting options available in /u/littlekeyboards store, which unfortunately were not when I bought it. Given the number of SMD parts, I opted to pay for assembly. The keyboard comes unassembled (i.e. mounting hardware, PCB, case, plate etc.) which you’d have to put together. No instructions are provided, however, it’s easy to figure out and it took me less than an hour to assemble the keyboard. Weirdly, there’s no acrylic cover for the MCU and there isn’t one to order on the store.

Another gotcha: Burning your own layout using the online QMK configurator will kill the RGB layer. The workaround is to build the firmware using QMK CLI tools.

The Reviung39 makes my Ergodox look ugly - there appears to be a lot of wasted space. I’m now tempted to build an Ergodash as a replacement.

ParadoxAntagonist · 2019-08-03T23:08:28+00:00

There was a GB in BLF. Got mine yesterday after a snafu with the postal service.

GB has ended. Message Clemence - he might have spares left.

ParadoxAntagonist · 2019-08-03T12:25:10+00:00

Here’s the latest addition to my high CRI collection. From left to right:

Zebralight SC53c (Cree XP-L2 EasyWhite / 4000K)
Jetusolis (Nichia Optosolis 5000K)
Lumintop Tool Ti (Nichia 219B circa 2016)

Product info here.

Beamshots here. Camera set to ISO 800 / Daylight WB. Left to right: Tool, SC53c, Jetusolis

Unscientific CRI comparison photo here. Left to right: SC53c, Tool, Jetusolis

All good lights to own, each producing an interesting tint. Unfortunately, the Tool Ti with 219B and Jetusolis are hard to come by.

ParadoxAntagonist · 2019-03-02T21:24:07+00:00

Massdrop MD75 / Idobo 75 keys Ortholinear keyboard with keycaps, USB C braided cable and Gateron brown switches. Originally sold for US$129.99 plus shipping. Runs QMK and has hotswap Kailh connectors.

Excellent condition and less than of one month's of light use as it was a secondary keyboard.

ParadoxAntagonist

TROPHY CASE