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by squeedles 25 days ago
65% is the sweet spot for me. Reaching across a numpad for a mouse aggravates my RSI. I ditched 100% long ago, then eventually ditched the mouse and moved to a laptop-style trackpad in the middle, which did the trick.

Over the years, I tried pretty much every keyboard with a built in trackpad. Usually the keyboards were so-so to poor. Eventually I got a plate of 6061 aluminum, added a nice wooden wrist support with routed out space for a trackpad, and built my own keyboard tray so I can have my pick of keyboards. Now I use a Ducky with Cherry Ergo Clears and couldn't be happier.
2 comments
Konnstann 25 days ago
The dactyl keyboard family with built in trackballs are way nicer than ones with built in track pads at least from my experience. My personal favorite so far has been a Charybdis from bastardkeyboards. Expensive but I don't need a mouse anymore for being productive.
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AlexErrant 25 days ago
Hah, 2 minutes before my remark. I feel like if anyone has 2+ ergomech keyboards, they should really try something with a pointing device. It's clear they don't mind having an expensive hobby :D
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squeedles 25 days ago
That looks really nice! I haven't spent much time with split keyboards, particularly the extreme ergo things like that but I am very tempted!
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ToyKeeper 25 days ago
Yeah, 65% to 75% is great. It may be "boring", compared to the more exotic layouts, but I've tried a bunch and I like this more. The traditional rectangle is popular for a reason.

The main thing is... it's gotta have open-source firmware. After switching to something like QMK, I wouldn't want to go back. I customize stuff too deeply to go back... like 8 to 12 layers and a bunch of completely custom behavior. And for notebooks, remappers like Kanata help immensely.

Ideally it's nice to have a small touchpad under the space bar, like maybe 4 keys wide, retro style, meaning a high-DPI zero-force touchpad. But that's optional. With good firmware, I don't really need a mouse because MouseKeys and Warp do most of what I need.

The world has a lot of problems, but ... at least we've got a wide selection of awesome keyboards these days, to suit nearly every person's style and taste. Typing has never been better.

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