Comment by grayrest
2 days ago
I have a Chocofi (36 key, 3x5 + 3 thumb per half). My complaint with the Cornes is that the keyboard doesn't have enough stagger for where they thumb cluster is positioned. Either the thumb cluster should move out like the ZSA voyager or more stagger is needed like Ferris sweep and most newer boards at a similar size including mine.
I'm curious but not particularly enthusiastic about keywells because I find the biggest improvement with a split keyboard is the tenting. My personal setup uses heavy tenting+tilting (basically half of a square base pyramid split on the square's diagonal) with the keyboard in my lap and my forearms resting on the chair arms locks me into a neutral wrist position without any active muscle effort. Keeping a good wrist position through the entire day instead of just the first half makes a noticeable difference.
Finally, I use the neutral thumb keys for shift on hold but I don't use any other thumb holds because I believe it has stress injury risks[1]. They're used for important but relatively infrequent keys: backspace, enter, tab, esc.
[1] https://getreuer.info/posts/keyboards/thumb-ergo/index.html
Yeah, I have found it most comfortable to use two keys on each thumb cluster. Space, Enter, Layer 1, Layer 2. I also like how ZSA's thumb cluster it moved out (Keyboardio really did it the best imho), but for some reason the keywell on the glove80 makes it much easier on my pinkies than the ortho layout on the voyager.
How did you find an ideal tent + tilt setup? Whenever I've tried I've wound up with sore wrists or hands, so just gave up. It seems like the glove80 w/out wrist rests does "good enough" so I stopped trying to optimize, even though the temptation remains.
I've seen some members of the erg keyboard community design and print their own pcbs based on their hand dimensions. I just don't have the time for it and fear how far down the rabbit hole I'd wind up if I did.