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At someone who has to pound a lot of keys for a living, I’ve taken a small passing interest in these sorts of split boards, especially since they keep popping up so prevalently in the Lemmy “all” feed. (Currently I use a variety of traditional, but very nice mechanical keyswitched, 104 key boards.)
But… The apparent universal lack of a number row is turning me off of all the offerings I’m seeing on display, or built by others. Is there a reason for that? I use my number pad a lot, ergonomically terrible or not, but losing not only that but also the number row would drive me batshit. No arrows, either? Are you guys doing all that stuff with foot pedals, Fn key combos, or telepathy, or do you have a manservant off to the side holding a numeric pad for you, or what?
Generally yes, for keyboards without a number row we will tend to use some combination of those kinds of tricks. In the past I’ve had numbers on the homerow under an fn key (note that said fn key is on a thumb key so easier to press than the standard location for fn keys on regular keyboards). Currently I have a number row as vertical combos on my Sweep (34 key low profile split). So q+a = 1, w+s = 2, and so on. As well as a numpad on one half under a fn key (we call these layers). So for long strings of numbers I use the numpad layer, for short ones I use my “virtual number row”.
However, I got here gradually, my first split was a keebio Iris (which has a number row) and have gone progressively in the direction of smaller ones. There are a good number of numrow inclusive splits out there. Some examples:
- ergodox
- moonlander
- dygma raise
- Lily58
- Sofle
- Iris
Splitkb.com is due to release the Elora (Kyria, but with a number row) Any Day Now™️
On foot pedals, I have a stack of them but haven’t got around to making use of them in any projects yet. Others have
I’ve built myself a Redox (Open Source split keyboard).
That one has a number row. Also due to the possibility of programming multiple layers I can hold down a key on the left half, then use the right half as a numpad.
It would also be possible to program it as a toggle button to switch to jumped more, so you don’t have to hold it down, but I prefer not having some kind of invisible state in my keyboard that I have to keep track of.
There are certainly split ergo boards with number rows, but I think the reason they’re less popular is that once people try one of these boards they realize they really like the reduced finger movement. Personally, I am using a square numpad on a second layer (as other commentors have explained) and am really starting to like it. Moving all the symbols to another separate layer also drastically reduces use of the numbers for programming, for example.
I recently bought a Dygma Raise (with the tenting kit) and it has been great so far. Very pricey, but worth it. As for a numpad, it’s on another layer now (hardware layers are awesome).
i have a number row, and a number pad (on a layer)
look up the lily58 for a rumber row.
for a numpad, I just press a key with my thumb on the left keyboard, and my whole right keyboard becomes a numpad. 7 8 9 stay in the same place as they normally are on the number row, with 4 5 6 under them, 1 2 3 under those.
works like a charm
Try the UHK. I’m quite happy with mine.
Removed by mod
I know it’s a joke, but if those are the worst mistakes one makes while typing on that keyboard then it’s pretty good
Which keyboard is he using?
I’m pretty sure that’s a claw44
