You've probably moved on by now, but for anyone interested -- the correction for the usability issue of the small thumb keys is quite simple, actually. They need to be taller than the longer thumb keys. I have used Kinesis keyboards for about 15 years and that is how they are set up on the Advantage. I copied that setup on the ErgoDox and it rocks. I would imagine they can be ordered but didn't need to because I pulled mine off one of my Kinesis boards. I can get some measurements with a caliper when I get home if you are interested. I can imagine the hassle it would be to use all flat/level thumb keys. By being taller than the "long" keys they are very rapidly and easily reached. The inner most line of thumb keys (the three in a row vertically) are also staggered in height with, e.g., the PgDn key being the same height as the longer thumb keys, and the PgUp key being a height in between that and the two tallest keys.
I haven't moved on yet. I'm still using this board as my daily driver for work and love it. I haven't tried using an SA or other taller keysets, I'm sure that would help with reaching those small keys. Right now I don't really miss those keys as the function modifier and other keys work just as well. I'd love to try out the kinesis, Acidfire's grand piano ergodox and adereth's dactyl for a comparison.
Instead of backspace, enter and so on you should try to use the thumbs for layer modifiers. I also have the shift key on my left thumb. And I agree, the thumb cluster on the ergodox is mostly useless. I have a Redox keyboard and I only use the lower two keys and I also think the thumb cluster of the ergodox is too far away and you have to stretch you thumb to much. The Redox thumb cluster is a bit closer
hi sean, where do you get the acrylic case file? are you design it by yourself or download it from someone else? im planning on hand wiring my own ergodox and cant find the acrylic case file (sorry for my bad english)
Are you still on colemak? I did the switch about 6 month ago and i was spending a whole weekend with a typing tutor programm it feels way better type on colemak, but this is maybe because i also learned real touchtyping and switched to matrix layouts at the same time. What helped a lot was uning blanck keycaps.
I gave up on colemak. I really wanted to switch but after a few months I just couldn't get the hang of it and touch type. Maybe I'll try it again in the future, I really did love typing some of the common words like "the" as they just rolled off the fingers. One of the main reasons I gave it up tho is because I switched to the ortholinear layout (ergodox/atreus) layouts and colemak at the same time and wanted to find out if it was the key placement or layout that was slowing me down.
Out of curiosity, what made you choose Colemak? I will be getting an Ergodox soon and am having a tough time figuring out which layout I want to use on it. I was considering Workman, which seems to have been partially designed with the column setup in mind (but doesn't take thumb keys into account) What's your solution for getting your ergodox to be compatible with standard keybinds in games? I am considering leaving a standard QWERTY layer in my ergodox that I could switch to, so that I don't have to go through the trouble of rebinding everything in every game.
None of the layouts are going to have the thumb keys in mind from what I've seen since most layouts are means as a replacement for the standard keyboard layout and not an ergodox. I chose colemak because it was similar enough to qwerty for standard shortcuts and every device/os I use has a colemak layout (workman doesn't have much support). If you only plan on using your ergodox then standard support isn't a big issue but for things like my chromebook pixel, phone and other peoples computers it's easy to switch to colemak temporary where workman isn't. dvorak is also a decent choice in this regard however colemak just seems newer. For games I just rebound keys but you do get into situations where the developer forgot to bind keys and uses some hardcoded values (the new doom does this which is annoying). I've heard of some people having a layer for qwerty to switch to during gaming, I haven't tried it tho. That being said I'm back on qwerty, I was on colemak for about 2 months and I just couldn't adjust fast enough and I need the speed for work. Now that I've switched back to qwerty I'm much happier with the ergodox.
I plan on using my ergodox for most things. I actually bring my current keyboard to work with me, and since the ergodox has the support in the firmware I don't care too much about needing a toggle in the OS (that's a big part of why I chose to get an ergodox in the first place). I know there's going to be times where I'll need to use qwerty (ie, my laptop, or phone, or any time I need to use someone else's keyboard), but I don't think I'll be completely destroying my ability to use qwerty. I know switching between the two might end up being awkward- but the way I see it, the ergodox looks like it's shaped/structured differently enough that typing on it will be like learning a new skill, rather than overwriting an old one. Did you find that trying to use colemak on the ergodox made it hard/difficult to use a laptop keyboard for example? Or was it more the other way around, where using a laptop for a while would screw up your colemak skills.
The keymap made more of a difference than the layout. I switch between a 60% and laptop at home and ergo dox at work and have no issues now that I'm all on qwerty. One thing I do occasionally is use the spacebar for backspace/delete on keyboards that don't have the thumb cluster so there is that confusion but it isn't bad.
I like the speakers on your desk. Thank you for posting.
You've probably moved on by now, but for anyone interested -- the correction for the usability issue of the small thumb keys is quite simple, actually. They need to be taller than the longer thumb keys. I have used Kinesis keyboards for about 15 years and that is how they are set up on the Advantage. I copied that setup on the ErgoDox and it rocks. I would imagine they can be ordered but didn't need to because I pulled mine off one of my Kinesis boards. I can get some measurements with a caliper when I get home if you are interested. I can imagine the hassle it would be to use all flat/level thumb keys.
By being taller than the "long" keys they are very rapidly and easily reached. The inner most line of thumb keys (the three in a row vertically) are also staggered in height with, e.g., the PgDn key being the same height as the longer thumb keys, and the PgUp key being a height in between that and the two tallest keys.
I haven't moved on yet. I'm still using this board as my daily driver for work and love it. I haven't tried using an SA or other taller keysets, I'm sure that would help with reaching those small keys. Right now I don't really miss those keys as the function modifier and other keys work just as well. I'd love to try out the kinesis, Acidfire's grand piano ergodox and adereth's dactyl for a comparison.
Instead of backspace, enter and so on you should try to use the thumbs for layer modifiers. I also have the shift key on my left thumb. And I agree, the thumb cluster on the ergodox is mostly useless. I have a Redox keyboard and I only use the lower two keys and I also think the thumb cluster of the ergodox is too far away and you have to stretch you thumb to much. The Redox thumb cluster is a bit closer
R and S were my biggest headache in switching to Colemak too, but I'm thankful now! The rolling A to R, and R to S are just perfect.
hi sean, where do you get the acrylic case file? are you design it by yourself or download it from someone else? im planning on hand wiring my own ergodox and cant find the acrylic case file (sorry for my bad english)
Are you still on colemak? I did the switch about 6 month ago and i was spending a whole weekend with a typing tutor programm it feels way better type on colemak, but this is maybe because i also learned real touchtyping and switched to matrix layouts at the same time.
What helped a lot was uning blanck keycaps.
I gave up on colemak. I really wanted to switch but after a few months I just couldn't get the hang of it and touch type. Maybe I'll try it again in the future, I really did love typing some of the common words like "the" as they just rolled off the fingers. One of the main reasons I gave it up tho is because I switched to the ortholinear layout (ergodox/atreus) layouts and colemak at the same time and wanted to find out if it was the key placement or layout that was slowing me down.
Out of curiosity, what made you choose Colemak? I will be getting an Ergodox soon and am having a tough time figuring out which layout I want to use on it. I was considering Workman, which seems to have been partially designed with the column setup in mind (but doesn't take thumb keys into account)
What's your solution for getting your ergodox to be compatible with standard keybinds in games? I am considering leaving a standard QWERTY layer in my ergodox that I could switch to, so that I don't have to go through the trouble of rebinding everything in every game.
None of the layouts are going to have the thumb keys in mind from what I've seen since most layouts are means as a replacement for the standard keyboard layout and not an ergodox. I chose colemak because it was similar enough to qwerty for standard shortcuts and every device/os I use has a colemak layout (workman doesn't have much support). If you only plan on using your ergodox then standard support isn't a big issue but for things like my chromebook pixel, phone and other peoples computers it's easy to switch to colemak temporary where workman isn't. dvorak is also a decent choice in this regard however colemak just seems newer.
For games I just rebound keys but you do get into situations where the developer forgot to bind keys and uses some hardcoded values (the new doom does this which is annoying). I've heard of some people having a layer for qwerty to switch to during gaming, I haven't tried it tho.
That being said I'm back on qwerty, I was on colemak for about 2 months and I just couldn't adjust fast enough and I need the speed for work. Now that I've switched back to qwerty I'm much happier with the ergodox.
I plan on using my ergodox for most things. I actually bring my current keyboard to work with me, and since the ergodox has the support in the firmware I don't care too much about needing a toggle in the OS (that's a big part of why I chose to get an ergodox in the first place).
I know there's going to be times where I'll need to use qwerty (ie, my laptop, or phone, or any time I need to use someone else's keyboard), but I don't think I'll be completely destroying my ability to use qwerty. I know switching between the two might end up being awkward- but the way I see it, the ergodox looks like it's shaped/structured differently enough that typing on it will be like learning a new skill, rather than overwriting an old one.
Did you find that trying to use colemak on the ergodox made it hard/difficult to use a laptop keyboard for example? Or was it more the other way around, where using a laptop for a while would screw up your colemak skills.
The keymap made more of a difference than the layout. I switch between a 60% and laptop at home and ergo dox at work and have no issues now that I'm all on qwerty. One thing I do occasionally is use the spacebar for backspace/delete on keyboards that don't have the thumb cluster so there is that confusion but it isn't bad.
Thanks for the review. So this is your main board now? What games do you play using this?
Yeap, been using this board at work and home for the past two weeks or so. Currently I'm playing Roguelands and Chivalry.
Upload them case files playboy
Don't fix your hands on the home roll. Hover you hands over the board and move your entire hands to the hard to reach thumb keys.