I work from local coffee shops frequently, and the Advantage is just too
clunky to toss in a bag and tote around.
Update: I’ve designed by own keyboard, which is meant to be a
smaller, more travel-friendly complement to the Ergodox that
shares a lot of its characteristics.
Do you find it difficult to switch back and forth between the Atreus and a standard keyboard? I would be concerned that, given time, that it would be problematic given how many keys on the Atreus require using a layer. Would switch between keyboard types cause me to focus too much on the typing and not what I am typing.
I’ve found that the weirder the weird keyboard is, the easier it is to switch between the weird one and a normal one. I used to use a standard qwerty 60% keyboard at work, with lots special bindings/layers, and a normal laptop at home. This was constantly problematic because I’d try to use my special arrow key bindings and they obviously didn’t work anywhere.
I’ve since switched to a kinesis for “work” (now my desk) and I no longer have any problems typing on my laptop because it’s so much different in every way. I also got an atreus and played around with it for a bit and I feel like it is likely in the “weird enough to be okay” territory due to the non-staggered key layout (forgot the technical term for this)
The only exception to this rule is that I can hardly use a computer if caps-lock isn’t bound to control, but that’s a different problem.
I actually do this. Surprisingly enough, switching is mostly painless. I use Colemak on all keyboards, and muscle memory works itself out somehow, at least 95%.
My experience as a laptop user is that even though I greatly prefer the Atreus, having to plug it into my laptop means that I don’t use it 100% of the time; sometimes I’ll open my laptop for something really quick and won’t get the external keyboard plugged in. This is infrequent, but for me it has been enough for me to maintain my ability to type on a conventional keyboard.
However, if you only very rarely use a laptop, this might not apply; can’t speak to that.
How easy is it to use a three-finger chord key? I have a keyboardio model 1 and find that three-finger chords - in particular the alt-shift-arrows that I use all the time in Eclipse - become an effectively impossible to type four-finger chord (since arrow keys need a modifier).
Depends on which three fingers! I’ve been using ctrl-alt-letter chords since long before building the Atreus, because I’m an Emacs user. I don’t use any programs which require you to hold down shift while moving the cursor, so I can’t really say authoritatively, but alt-shift-arrows sounds like a key chord I would like to rebind to something less awkward even on a conventional keyboard.
If that was a combo I had to use a lot and could not fix in software for some reason, I would probably remap my keyboard so that the alt key was adjacent to the shift key so that a single thumb could hit both.
Got mine one month ago and I’m experimenting different layouts. I’m quite happy with just the main layer and a symbols+numbers+f-keys layer, and I still have a bunch of unused keys in the second layer.
The software is nice, but I wish it allowed sending macros (for typing accented characters using a non-international US keymap, for instance). I might try menelaus at some point if you think it can handle that.
The article mentions it was designed with a resting position for the pinkies at Z and ‘/’ in mind. Is that correct? I might experiment with that configuration using them also as shift modifiers when pressed.
The software is nice, but I wish it allowed sending macros (for typing accented characters using a non-international US keymap, for instance).
I’m like … 99% sure that this limitation is part of the GUI frontend, not the underlying firmware implementation itself. So the path of least resistance would be to build Kaleidoscope.
I might try menelaus at some point if you think it can handle that.
It definitely can’t handle that out of the box, but depending on your relative familiarity with C++ toolchains vs Scheme, it could conceivably be easier to implement that functionality to Menelaus vs configuring that as existing functionality in Kaleidoscope. Only one way to find out!
Oh, no I keep them on A and semicolon normally, but I hit the outermost top keys with my ring finger instead of the pinky. The pinky only hits A/Z and semicolon/slash (well, the dvorak equivalents of where those are on qwerty) and occasionally enter/esc; tho I usually use Ctrl-m instead of the enter key since it sends the ASCII equivalent of enter.
I really like mine as well. I got the box whites with blank keys. I’ll be honest, though, I find it really hard to find resources about how to actually use the thing for something besides typing on the default key map. I managed to get Chrysalis up and running, but once I make a new map, I honestly have no idea how to switch to it.
At first I used Chrysalis to change my keymap to something dvorakish. You can load premade keymaps from Chrysalis. If you did (or changed anything else) it will tell you it needs flashing. That worked great with my keyboard.
I’m the original designer of the Atreus; happy to answer any questions.
Why do you choose a fixed Split keyboard, instead of an adjustable split keyboard?
I can’t find the reason in your blog post neither in Atreus repository.
Notes:
Found. https://technomancy.us/172 Thanks for a very thorough history, reasoning, and decision.
Do you find it difficult to switch back and forth between the Atreus and a standard keyboard? I would be concerned that, given time, that it would be problematic given how many keys on the Atreus require using a layer. Would switch between keyboard types cause me to focus too much on the typing and not what I am typing.
I’ve found that the weirder the weird keyboard is, the easier it is to switch between the weird one and a normal one. I used to use a standard qwerty 60% keyboard at work, with lots special bindings/layers, and a normal laptop at home. This was constantly problematic because I’d try to use my special arrow key bindings and they obviously didn’t work anywhere.
I’ve since switched to a kinesis for “work” (now my desk) and I no longer have any problems typing on my laptop because it’s so much different in every way. I also got an atreus and played around with it for a bit and I feel like it is likely in the “weird enough to be okay” territory due to the non-staggered key layout (forgot the technical term for this)
The only exception to this rule is that I can hardly use a computer if caps-lock isn’t bound to control, but that’s a different problem.
I actually do this. Surprisingly enough, switching is mostly painless. I use Colemak on all keyboards, and muscle memory works itself out somehow, at least 95%.
My experience as a laptop user is that even though I greatly prefer the Atreus, having to plug it into my laptop means that I don’t use it 100% of the time; sometimes I’ll open my laptop for something really quick and won’t get the external keyboard plugged in. This is infrequent, but for me it has been enough for me to maintain my ability to type on a conventional keyboard.
However, if you only very rarely use a laptop, this might not apply; can’t speak to that.
How easy is it to use a three-finger chord key? I have a keyboardio model 1 and find that three-finger chords - in particular the alt-shift-arrows that I use all the time in Eclipse - become an effectively impossible to type four-finger chord (since arrow keys need a modifier).
Depends on which three fingers! I’ve been using ctrl-alt-letter chords since long before building the Atreus, because I’m an Emacs user. I don’t use any programs which require you to hold down shift while moving the cursor, so I can’t really say authoritatively, but alt-shift-arrows sounds like a key chord I would like to rebind to something less awkward even on a conventional keyboard.
If that was a combo I had to use a lot and could not fix in software for some reason, I would probably remap my keyboard so that the alt key was adjacent to the shift key so that a single thumb could hit both.
Got mine one month ago and I’m experimenting different layouts. I’m quite happy with just the main layer and a symbols+numbers+f-keys layer, and I still have a bunch of unused keys in the second layer.
The software is nice, but I wish it allowed sending macros (for typing accented characters using a non-international US keymap, for instance). I might try menelaus at some point if you think it can handle that.
The article mentions it was designed with a resting position for the pinkies at Z and ‘/’ in mind. Is that correct? I might experiment with that configuration using them also as shift modifiers when pressed.
I’m like … 99% sure that this limitation is part of the GUI frontend, not the underlying firmware implementation itself. So the path of least resistance would be to build Kaleidoscope.
It definitely can’t handle that out of the box, but depending on your relative familiarity with C++ toolchains vs Scheme, it could conceivably be easier to implement that functionality to Menelaus vs configuring that as existing functionality in Kaleidoscope. Only one way to find out!
What about the last bit? Do you rest the pinkies at Z and /?
Oh, no I keep them on A and semicolon normally, but I hit the outermost top keys with my ring finger instead of the pinky. The pinky only hits A/Z and semicolon/slash (well, the dvorak equivalents of where those are on qwerty) and occasionally enter/esc; tho I usually use Ctrl-m instead of the enter key since it sends the ASCII equivalent of enter.
I bought this keyboard also, and haven’t had time to give it a proper review, but I generally agree with this one. (I like it!)
I really like mine as well. I got the box whites with blank keys. I’ll be honest, though, I find it really hard to find resources about how to actually use the thing for something besides typing on the default key map. I managed to get Chrysalis up and running, but once I make a new map, I honestly have no idea how to switch to it.
Great little keyboard though.
At first I used Chrysalis to change my keymap to something dvorakish. You can load premade keymaps from Chrysalis. If you did (or changed anything else) it will tell you it needs flashing. That worked great with my keyboard.