HolyKeebs just announced their new keyboards with integrated trackpoints: https://holykeebs.com/pages/trackpoint . Something they do that is really cool is build them into the microcontroller itself, so if your board has the microcontroller in a convenient place, you can add the trackpoint straight to an existing device (already sell it for pimoroni trackballs, trackpoint in Q3). I have a Corne from him with the pimoroni, and I enjoy it, but the pimoroni is not a full mouse replacement for me.

One thing worth remembering is that with any programmable keyboard you don’t need to actually use all the keys (and can even physically remove the switches if your board is hotswap).

You can see Ben did this himself to test out the layout with a modified version of his keyboard “the card” (looks like a different soldered board rather than hotswap: https://youtu.be/5RN_4PQ0j1A ) and again to demo his one button keyboard for the April fools video (with a one button version of the card—he must’ve had a ton of those PCBs laying around 😂).

So, if you want to try out his layout, you can do so without any worry by just taking any layout you think you’ll like, buying that, and flashing Ben’s layout to a subset of keys. A lot of the cost of a custom keyboard of this style is in the switches, keycaps, and microcontrollers (say 2/3 or 3/4 the cost depending), which if you make them all hotswap, you can keep reusing for many different layouts until you find one you want to stick with for a while.

All this is to say: there is a cost to get into the hobby, but experimenting after that point is pretty affordable!

I think the 2.4ghz is going to be the most rare feature. I found essentially one Etsy seller (https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?sid=vooooodooooo&_pgn=1&isRefine=true&_trksid=p2349624.m3561.l49496) and then the dygma. I think since Bluetooth in integrated in to microcontrollers, this becomes the simpler solution.

I do think it satisfies all the desires, but once you add on the optional things (like the wireless and rgb) you’ll actually end up north of $550, so while you’d probably love it, it is likely out of budget.

Also an issue I experienced here while writing this very comment: I think you sometimes can’t post if someone else posts while you are writing yours lol

I actually stopped using Reddit like 5-10 years ago and only started again for this community a few months ago. I will go where this community goes.

That said: my experience with Lenny has been super janky. It can take over a minute to get it to load a page for me. Also, I have issues with not all comments showing up when being accessed from a different federated service (an issue shared with mastodon, which is completely unacceptable in a Reddit-like). I have no desire to stay here on its own, but the community matters most.

I experienced this at first with my ergo, and for me it is currently not an issue. There are some minor issues with some of the super common keys that are in different places (like enter which is currently on my left thumb on my ergo, and right pinkie on normal keyboard).

Starting with my ergo was also very disheartening (for me I went way too extreme with my switches which killed my accuracy for a month), but I love it now.

This is a nice clean layout! I appreciate that it isn’t trying to be tricky, but just lay everything out simply. The only part I’m not really getting is the equals sign relative to things like plus and times? Seems like typing equations, and things like += or *= kinda awkward? Beautiful all the same.

I notice all the 1.5u choc caps are out. I assume there is no way to make those for the giveaway?

Dactyl Manuform is always in style! Beautiful build!

So this one offers no prebuilt, but I forgot that the Ximi is dual trackball. Maybe you can get someone to build one? https://fingerpunch.xyz/product/ximi/

Not sure about your timeline, but the Naha Create is currently on Kickstarter, and I think might satisfy all these requirements: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/naya-create/naya-create

In general, I’m not sure how easy it is to have multiple pointing devices? For the example you give of a coarse and fine pointing, the most common solution is to have keys that switch between coarse and fine pointing on a single trackball. I’m not sure if QMK can support two pointing devices at once (without significant customization).

For single pointing devices, I’d check https://bastardkb.com/ . They are also very slick devices, but can get pricy.

In my opinion, https://typeractive.xyz/pages/build offers a very compelling way to customize a build. They’ll let you pick whatever features you want and send a partially completed kit (limited soldering needed). The only limitation is that they do currently only the Corne in either 42 or 36 keys, but will do either of those in either MX switches (taller, but a lot more options for switches and keycaps) or choc switches (low profile, but limited options for switches and keycaps).

One thing you have not mentioned is that you probably want to get everything with hot-swap sockets so that you can swap out switches, microcontrollers etc. I’m still in the beginning myself with my first board and I’ve swapped switches, taken them out, modded them, etc. There is a lot to learn, and you will not get your perfect board the first time. Socketing both means that you can try out tons of more options now for the switches, and that if you decide your first board is not to your liking at all, you can then move the switches and microcontrollers over to another board of a completely design, say going from a Corne to a Soffle, without needing to repurchase everything. The switches, keycaps, and microcontrollers are the majority of the cost in many boards.

Interesting! Have you found any caps that fit well? I assume without the switch plate, you need to use soldiered switches, or does hot-swap work?

Very nice! I’ve been eyeing the KS-33 switches for my next build and this is an informative comparison. To be sure I have it clear in my head: basically any MX compatible keycap works right?

One thing to remember: in English, the space character is about twice as common as the letter e. It is, by far, the most commonly pressed key, so you probably shouldn’t overload it!

I tried using shift on my thumb as the hold action for space, but I was not a fan. The problem for me actually things like the end of sentences. I tend to still double space between sentences, so this meant every sentence was tap-tap-hold on the same thumb for space-space-capital. Even worse, I was testing a layout where you did exclamation point with that same thumb by chording the layer button and shift, so such a sentence would have 4 sequential uses of the same thumb!

Now, I actually keep a dedicated pinkie shift key, but the other modifiers are on the thumb. My thumb keys are space (live alone) and all things I rarely roll though (delete, backspace, enter, tab, escape), so on all the ones you don’t roll through, I’ve put the modifiers without any delay: The moment you press them the modifier activates, and then on release it deactivated, then sends the key tap if less than the tap time. This lets you go really fast without misfires.

I have a pimoroni trackball that I use for a variety of things which might feel good on some knobs too. I think that text cursor will likely feel pretty good, particularly if your encoder ticks while twisting. Then you could make one tick equal one arrow key press, and you dial in precise cursor location.