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If you've ever seen the efficiency-motivated TheCore hotkey layout created by TheJaKaTaK and FoxyMayhem, you might be familiar with the way it's designed to involve the thumbs by using them to actuate Ctrl, Shift, and Alt. I've been using JaKaTaK's layouts since Chameleon and I really believe in them; to me, TheCore is a HUGE improvement over standard layout--plus, it let me switch back to left-handed mousing since it can be used with either hand.
Now, on a normal keyboard, this requires you to tilt the board so that the thumb can reach the modifiers, and at the same time the keyboard hand is on the opposite side of the keyboard that it's used to. This can certainly be overcome with time and training, as indeed everyone who currently uses TheCore probably has. However, what if you could hit all the Ctrl, Shift, and Alt keys with your thumb, while your fingers rested comfortably on the home row where they're used to sitting?
For instance, say you had this board. It's a custom board designed by the user community at geekhack (where some of you might have even gotten those custom sc2 keycaps a while back), and it's designed to be ergonomic for people who type all day and all night. However, I feel like it is particularly applicable to sc2's case, specifically when used with TheCore.
Of course, it uses Cherry MX switches of your choosing for those who are already hooked on mechanical boards. As well, it supports totally programmable firmware, complete with layering such that you can achieve laptop-like Fn keys to do things such as converting your number row to an F-key row, your WASD to bona fide arrow keys, or your right hand home row to a num pad, onboard media keys, etc. Lay it out however you like!
The board, called the ErgoDox, was conceived in a thread on geekhack about a year ago, in which it was successfully designed and completed to prototype. Recently, however, the designs were brought to Massdrop, which is a company focused on orchestrating bulk purchases in order to achieve price breaks for buyers, and Massdrop is now running a buy for the ErgoDox. The buy has already achieved the top price break, and still has about a week remaining, if you wish to buy one for yourself. Massdrop is orchestrating the purchase of the printed circuit board, the switches, the electronics, and the machined case material, however assembly is left to the customer.
Also, one thing to note is that Massdrop is constrained to have a registration wall, for the same type of reason that Amazon can't show you some of their prices until you add items to your cart. They're not as big as Amazon though so they can't push the wall that far back. It's worth stating this up front though because a lot of people apparently find this off-putting.
So anyway, if you know anything about soldering, you're willing to learn, or you know someone who's good with an iron, I highly recommend taking a look at this board! They have very detailed assembly instructions, too, if you decide you want to give it a try.
As a disclaimer, I neither work for Massdrop, nor for any part of Geekhack, and I have no interest, financial or otherwise, in selling this board. Also, I mainly lurk here, and don't post a ton, so I need to politely ask the mods not to ban me for advertising (which I don't think I'm doing, but I'm not totally sure). I legitimately think this board is worth a look in the community.
Thanks for reading!
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The one reason I do not like these kinds of keyboards is when you want to do some surfing on a second monitor it is difficult. As well as typing a paper on your main pc you need have to switch keyboards.
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aight.. I am down with custom layouts for optimized keying when it comes to gaming... I am a GunZer and I definitely don't use the hard-to-use default keys.. I have made my own setup which many others in the community have adapted.. The core setup for sc2 is strange.. Using the right side only part of the keyboard for gaming.. while using a right handed mouse.. It reminds me of when I was a lil 11 year old playing unreal '99 still using the arrow keys to play. (middle click for jump)..
The keyboard featured in this thread is just very unattractive to me.. I love mechanica keyboards and everything... But there are 2 parts to this bad boy? what if one part moves? It just seems.. not for me..
edit: it is also sooooooooooooo0o0oo0o0o0o frustrating that I cant see the price of this keyboard without signing up. with that being said, this thread seems like a really lame plug for a mehhh product.
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I can never get used to these type of keyboard layout. Plus I am so used to the standard hotkey set up already.
Would be interesting to see those who use core hotkey to try out this keyboard though, I wonder how does 200+apm looks on this keyboard lol
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This seems like a really cool idea but I think I'd have a hard time switching from this keyboard at my house to the standard ones at school xD.
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On January 22 2013 13:10 LarJarsE wrote:
The keyboard featured in this thread is just very unattractive to me.. I love mechanica keyboards and everything... But there are 2 parts to this bad boy? what if one part moves? It just seems.. not for me..
edit: it is also sooooooooooooo0o0oo0o0o0o frustrating that I cant see the price of this keyboard without signing up. with that being said, this thread seems like a really lame plug for a mehhh product.
I might be wrong but I thought it just has a left hand model and a right hand model, not a two-piece set. So you'd pick which one you prefer I assume.
I think this would be a great idea, and I am jazzed that there's opportunity for a community to get together and make something cool like this happen with the Massdrop and what not. That's cool, but I would never leave my standard mech keyboards. For one, I transition to standard typing/computer usage too often to justify something like this custom one, and also Flash uses a totally standard keyboard, so clearly there's nothing wrong with that.
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This is almost equivalent to plugging in a joystick every time you want to run a flight simulator game. The keyboard would only be used for starcraft and not much else. I don't know :/ I like the idea behind the core layout, don't get me wrong, but I find myself using more keys then those keyboards have to offer. I like the post, it is very informative, but it did seem like advertisement.
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This is like advertisement for sure....
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Why not just stick with the default layout- it works for 99% of us...
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On January 22 2013 14:25 mrRoflpwn wrote:
Why not just stick with the default layout- it works for 99% of us...
what shortsighted other decisions doth thou make in a day. if everyone thought like this you wouldnt be on a computer and prob dead because you were not the smartest of the cavemen and got picked off
there is so much improvement to be made for sc2 keybinds that anyone willing to try a new method thats more optimal will suck for a while at it but you get good at all things over time. its worth it in some cases and its obviously a personal pref
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On January 22 2013 13:28 wptlzkwjd wrote:
This seems like a really cool idea but I think I'd have a hard time switching from this keyboard at my house to the standard ones at school xD.
Having used quite a few different layouts (most similar to this one, the Kinesis Advantage) it's actually not very hard to transition between keyboards once you've learned them. I'd compare it to learning a new language.
On January 22 2013 14:16 DanceSC wrote:
The keyboard would only be used for starcraft and not much else.
The design behind the board was actually just to minimize hand movement for programmers, typists, and people who use computers all day for work and suffer RSI. The default layout for the board is actually to have Backspace, Delete, Space, and Enter on the thumb keys that I plan to use for Ctrl, Shift, and Alt, but that's just a configuration thing.
Personally, I fully plan on using it for both work and laddering.
On January 22 2013 13:55 Kommatiazo wrote:
I might be wrong but I thought it just has a left hand model and a right hand model, not a two-piece set. So you'd pick which one you prefer I assume.
The board as a whole is made up of both halves--each hand gets its own half-board.
On January 22 2013 13:55 Kommatiazo wrote:
Flash uses a totally standard keyboard, so clearly there's nothing wrong with that.
Certainly nothing wrong at all. At present, probably over 99% of players both pro and casual use standard boards. Just an idea for anyone who plays starcraft and also happens to be a keyboard nut.
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I'll stick to playing starcraft 2 with a keyboard , sorry.
If the pro's can play like they do , then there is no reason to change anyhting IMO.
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On January 22 2013 15:57 MrSourGit wrote:
I'll stick to playing starcraft 2 with a keyboard , sorry.
If the pro's can play like they do , then there is no reason to change anyhting IMO.
no ones saying you gota switch but just because you succeed with something, doesnt make it ok. i dont mean to get upset but its this logic that ruins the world. it really really is think outside the box man damn
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On January 22 2013 17:35 sunglasseson wrote:Show nested quote +On January 22 2013 15:57 MrSourGit wrote:
I'll stick to playing starcraft 2 with a keyboard , sorry.
If the pro's can play like they do , then there is no reason to change anyhting IMO. no ones saying you gota switch but just because you succeed with something, doesnt make it ok. i dont mean to get upset but its this logic that ruins the world. it really really is think outside the box man damn
your statement kinda implies that playing with a standard keyboard and hotkeys is not ok :/
The thing is that having a diffrent keyboard or hotkey layout might give you that one percent of performance, but it will take a while until you are fully comfortable with something new and different (muscle memory...).
So for the standard casual, or semi competitive player there won´t be that much of a benefit and for the progamers and competitive players there is the major downside of not beeing able to practice normally for some time and the reward isn´t that tempting either.
so yeah i´m still going to ruin the world and keep playing on standard keyboards with classic hotkeys, big sorry tho...
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I would LOVE to have this keyboard (both for gaming and writing/coding).
I've been looking at ergonomic keyboards for quite a while now, and this one is the best I've ever seen, hands down.
Unfortunately, I recently bought another ergonomic keyboard (so I can't really afford to buy another one just now), and also I don't have any soldering iron or any of the stuff/skill required to build it :/
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Well, my say in this would be that, i think you can certainly optimize the way you play ergonomically!
I have been using the belkin n52 for ages now (worn down 3 models) and i would never go back. Sure i could become just as good using a standard setup, but playing without wears out my arm faster for sure.
I guess the point is, that even though there is no apparent gain in your play, and that you are not just instantly better, you should still consider solutions like this when gaming for long periods of time. for example hitting P, is maybe doable and for some people not even that hard, but you cant tell me with a straight face that when playing SC2 it a) doesnt slow you down or b) does not require excess movements. Elitists approaches to this is just bad and hurtful in the long-run. Everything can be optimized and perfected. And a device made for writing letters is pretty obviously not the perfect input-device for games like SC2.
The pros do fine with standard? sure - could they do better with a system specifically designed to aid and optimize their hand movements - yes!
- funny fact, the only reason we use qwerty today as opposed to dvorak is because back when we used typewriters, this approach was too fast, and produced too many mechanical errors when used by a experienced typist, so they made a "slower" system. But dont fool yourself to think that nothing can be improved/optimized.
however this keyboard looks kinda lackluster. Mechanical keys would be a god-send on the n52 though 
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This looks interesting, though I personally am so used to standard layout, it'd be hard to train myself for something like this (I'd also need it at home and at work, so meh, I'll skip).
But this topic either belongs into the mech keyboard thread: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=260143
or at least in the tech forum.
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United Kingdom14103 Posts
To be honest it looks like something I could have made myself.
Although I suppose if you want to use it it's no different to those weird keyboard things Razer sells.
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to be honest, it looks worse than the core itself. now that is saying something.
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On January 23 2013 04:16 Targe wrote:
To be honest it looks like something I could have made myself.
Although I suppose if you want to use it it's no different to those weird keyboard things Razer sells.
Haha, sure. Saying it looks bad is one thing--a subjective opinion--but I strongly doubt you're fluent in KiCAD, materials, teensy programming, etc. Enjoy your weird keyboard thing Razer sells.
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I would be super aware of this. The key caps don't come with the unit itself. There is another mass drop for the caps, adding $41 to the total price. That brings it to a whopping $240 for the unit.
Not including key caps, and not mentioning that they are not included seems really shady. The post and mass drop page inclined me to think everything would come together for the $199 price tag. Having the case made out of untreated aluminium sheets screwed together adds another $61.
It is a really cool product, but I can see some serious customer backlash regarding the business side of things.
Edited for punctuation
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United Kingdom14103 Posts
On January 23 2013 06:56 bisl wrote:Show nested quote +On January 23 2013 04:16 Targe wrote:
To be honest it looks like something I could have made myself.
Although I suppose if you want to use it it's no different to those weird keyboard things Razer sells. Haha, sure. Saying it looks bad is one thing--a subjective opinion--but I strongly doubt you're fluent in KiCAD, materials, teensy programming, etc. Enjoy your weird keyboard thing Razer sells.
To build it all I would have to do is dismantle any mechanical keyboard and re-arrange the keys, use a jigsaw to cut out the shape then drill through to make some places for screws, no programming experience required.
There was no need to be so aggressive there, I was just commenting on the looks and was saying that using this is the equivalent to those Razer keypads, I didn't say it was bad.
Some people...
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Looks like a cool keyboard. Sort of like a DIY kind of thing.
Looks like a fun challenge and project.
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This keyboard is what Vim is to text editors. Fast but really annoying to learn.
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On January 23 2013 20:34 Targe wrote:
To build it all I would have to do is dismantle any mechanical keyboard and re-arrange the keys, use a jigsaw to cut out the shape then drill through to make some places for screws, no programming experience required.
You're right, sawing apart a mechanical keyboard will not adversely affect the function of the underlying circuit board. No subsequent PCB design would be required to accomodate this rearrangement, nor firmware programming required to support it. Any keyboard can be made with a jigsaw a drill, and screws.
I'd be interested to see your handiwork.
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United Kingdom3482 Posts
Looks cool and all and I really like the idea of building the keyboard myself but $200 is a lot of money for a keyboard.
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On January 23 2013 06:56 bisl wrote:Show nested quote +On January 23 2013 04:16 Targe wrote:
To be honest it looks like something I could have made myself.
Although I suppose if you want to use it it's no different to those weird keyboard things Razer sells. Haha, sure. Saying it looks bad is one thing--a subjective opinion--but I strongly doubt you're fluent in KiCAD, materials, teensy programming, etc. Enjoy your weird keyboard thing Razer sells.
Who would use any razer product. I have a steelseries 6gv2 and a Das Keyboard. I could go and get my old model m back out of the garage too.
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EPT
