Craigslist and r/mechmarket have been my go-tos to finding used boards. It’s not very reliable as they pop up once in a blue moon, but every so often the stars align and I check mechmarket on a day when a board I want is there.

I like alternating hands to use my trackball

That board can be found here:

https://github.com/sekigon-gonnoc/CorneECWL/tree/main

I believe he sells it online sometimes here: https://nogikes.booth.pm/items/2371017

Haha, honestly not nearly as bad as you might think! The amazing thing about the brain is that it’s incredibly good at learning when it feels a strong need to learn something. For me, a couple of days of trying to keep up on Discord is enough time to learn a new layout and be proficient.

What about the Ferris sweep or the Kyria? Both have significantly more stagger than the Ergodox.

Shirogane Lab’s Keyball has the most elegant integrated trackball situation, IMO. I thought I heard somewhere that it was an open source design but I haven’t been able to find the socket. If your keyboard can support it I think mouse keys are really nice too.

Maybe we could do a sticky promotional thread?

Welcome to the infinite rabbit hole! At this point I’ve decided that actually, I’m just an ergo mech keyboard collector…

IMO, if you’re just starting out, the Moonlander is one of the best options. It can be hotswap, which will help you figure out what kind of switches you want. It’s incredibly durable and reliable. It’s got the best configurator software of all ergo keyboards, in my opinion. Unless you have really small hands (like I do) it works quite well for most people’s needs. And even if you get into the even more niche boards, having a board that you can count on to reliably work like the Moonlander is always going to be useful.

Getting into stuff like the Piantor is a lot more about narrowing down the specs you exactly want in a keyboard. Honestly, it’s hard to know without just diving in and trying it. The Moonlander is great in this way as well because you really don’t need to use all of the keys on it. I would also put on your radar the Corne, the Microdox, the Kyria, and the Iris. All amazing boards, all fulfill slightly different needs :P

Another way to figure out which board is best for you is if you have active pain or injury, you can go backwards from there. But it seems like you’re doing something more preventative rather than reactive to pain.

Amazing! Would love to hear how it’s getting on for you :D

How did you get it for cheap?

There’s a 3D hand model roaming around somewhere that you can put into the Dactyl model and give it a try. Also, if you know anyone with a Kinesis Advantage (2 or 360) you can test drive a default Dactyl (it’s based on that). I 3D printed mine blindly knowing that I have smaller than average hands and want more aggressive stagger + tent and it worked out really well for me.

Also check out Ergogen and Ergopad for truly customized to your hand experiences. This video is a great primer.

I’m a huge fan of the Kensington Trackball in the middle in between my halves. It’s not especially subtle or cute but it’s very comfy to use. I think the slimblade is smaller, not sure. Also, I love mouse keys. I use them for all small movements that I can, and the trackball for larger movements. I would love an app that like, subdivides my screen into a grid that I can use to just automatically jump to a place with just my keyboard, that would be perfect.

TBH though, especially if you’re a frontend dev on Mac, you will still need the trackpad or Magic Mouse. Gestures are kinda not replaceable, as far as I can tell.

Pro-tip: getting rid of the numpad is good for you long term. Num pad existence is associated with RSI pain. I would consider a 60-80% keyboard and a separate numpad that you can pull out when you need it.

Thank you!

Its where caps lock normally is on a mac keyboard by default, although I’ve remapped my esc to a thumb cluster.

Since you’re looking at non-ergo mechanical keyboards, you have way more options and flexibility.

I would get a quality hotswap board (Keychron boards are the usual recommendation, if you go Aliexpress you can find cheaper options too) and a set of any switches you like. Switches maintain resale value well (some even raise, because broken in switches tend to work better than non broken-in) so get a set you’re interested in, daily drive it for a bit, and then see what you’d want changed.

You can also think about your current keyboard setup, what you like about it and what isn’t working for you.

Personally I think you can always have more keys and just not use them/only have them as “emergency” keys. I’m personally on a 5col corne layout, I love it.

I use many layouts and am totally comfortable switching between them. I primarily use Colemak-dh and QWERTY and each of my boards have a slightly different layers keymap.

You’d be surprised how flexible the brain is. I was able to do this after 25+ years of only QWERTY.

Do you know if the maker has a twitter or something so we can keep up to date with it?

Darn! Could you share your thoughts on it?