In the last decade I had shoulder pain on and off, I think this was the right time for me to try it out.

I never tried an ergonomic keyboard and I really wanted to. One of the main drawbacks are the price. There are some bigger brands that can set you back with hundreds of euros. I am sure they are quality devices, but when you only want to see if you like the idea of split keyboards, I think it's better to start with something on the lower end of a budget.

Ergo keyboards are definitely in a better state thanks to the DIY space. Plenty of people publishing their own open-source design. I am really bad at soldering, so I was looking for prebuilt solutions.

I also didn't see the reason why I can't go instantly split design, instead of an Alice one, which is just a one body, but split in the middle layout. In that case my hands would largely be in the same position, in the middle of the board. I also wanted to try out column staggered layout, which means it fits more to your hands "design".

One of the main design philosopy of split keyboards, is to use less keys, to make the finger travel minimal, which makes typing experience faster, but also more confident, and less prone to mistakes. Even after a month I am not typing that fast, but I still making less mistakes that are on a normal keyboard, due to having less keys. "Slow is smooth, smooth is fast" - as they say.

How do you use the keyboard, when you lost half of keys? Everything is in the layers, Watson! Just as we use layers with the shift key, to use it for secondary characters, we can use many layers thanks to the software that is most popular on ergo keyboards, QMK. This software is placed on you keyboard, which means, no matter where you go, your board will always behave the same, which is pretty nice. Plus you don't have to be a programming wizard to use it, as it has standalone software, or you can modify it from you favorite text editor/terminal. In some cases, you can just use vial, which is a browser based software.

Adding layers is nice, but what happens to the modifier keys, like shift, control, alt and the windows/super key? We usually have two from each. One good solution is the home row mods. For people who are comfortable with touch typing, they put their hands in the middle row. You might met the little bump on the F and J keys, which helps find your way back to the home row. Some very clever people thought that we can use this for mod keys. Normaly if you press a key it will give the letter back: ASDF / JKL: - however if we put a hold action, then we can make them modifiers, if you hold the key for a longer period of time, to avoid typing the letter instead of using as a modifier.

For more information about home row mods, I recommend A guide to home row mods post, which goes into detail about it, including some problems and solutions. It's also nice that we don't have a unified layout, cause everybody has different habits. My order of mods are Alt-Control-Shift-Super, as I don't use alt as frequently as the others. I use tiling window managers, and my mod key is super, as I use the alt key for Emacs stuff. What I really like in home row mods is that the layout is mirrored, ergo on both sides the same key is under the same finger, so it's easier to install it into muscle memory. I also used home row mods before switching to split keyboard, I use the software, kanata, so I got used to it somewhat. I like that solution, and you can use it on any keyboard, any OS.

For a normal keyboard, every finger has variety of jobs. Except our thumbs, both tasked for Space only, which is weird and highly ineffective. Split keyboards solve this, by adding a thumbcluster to use for your thumbs.

They can be used with different sized keycaps, that can be bigger or just a 1unit wide key. I use the bigger one for space, on the left, and for enter on the right. This can be different for many people, but I used mostly my left thumb for the space key.

What I have discovered on the first day, is a weird habit, using my right hand to press b, and my left hand to press n. It took a few days to retrain myself, and it definitely added to my speed of typing.

I am still using QWERTY, as I didn't want to learn and adapt to a new physical and keyboard layout at the same time. I might try to learn others as I get used to the nature of split.

Through reddit, I found out that Aliexpress has some nice budget offering for ergo keyboards. While it wasn't my first choice, the price and convenience, got me to Silakka 54, a keyboard with number with 54 keys in total and 3-3 thumbkeys. I didn't want to go without number keys, not because I am a numbercruncher, but because of the number of layers to use. In this way I only have a specific layer to the function row. I felt I would feel uncomfortable with a 34 key layout. I love my combos in my current setup, with tiling window managers.

I also choose the version that comes with all the switches and keycaps, barely paying that much extra for it, plus, I don't have to do additional research, order, headaches. I had two choices for switches, a silent red switch, and Darkwood linear, but with a little bit on the louder side. After watching a couple of videos, I decided I need some sound in my typing, so I choose Darkwood. A month later, this was the right choice!

Here is a short video from the author himself:

The keycaps are nice as well, different from the usual OEM profile ones, having a bigger surface for my fingers, I feel I can type with more confidence. I don't really care much about the typeface on it, since I rarely look down, and some of the thumb- and sidekeys are just graphics.

Price wise, I paid the same as for the Redragon K552 at home, with all the postage from China, delivered within 10 days, which was far faster than it was promised. Good packaging as well. The build quality is solid, and I like that you can connect them to the computer from either half. Mine even included a TRS cable for connecting the halves to each other. It's long enough to use it on my bed right now, to put them at my side. I needed a USB-C cabel to connect it with the computer, but that is normal now. Just make sure to never disconnect the two halves before you disconnect it from the computer first.

If you want it to build it for yourself, you can find it on github, The design uses the same PCB for both sides, which probably makes it cost efficient as well.

It is definitely a big change, but I am having fun learning to use it. I would say it is much faster than I expected, but it definitely helps if you can type without looking down, with a reasonable speed. I am still figuring out my layer setup, I don't need that many special characters, cause I either write or game on it, not program. I have one dedicated layer for gaming, where I don't have home row mods active, in case I need to use those keys in my games.

I feel that in the future, I might try a small board, like the Corne, which is a 34 key one. Really small, and probably needs a better layer setup than I have now.

Switching to split keyboard also had an interesting side effect. I don't think I will go back to regular keyboards now. I follow a couple of youtube mech keyboard channels, and honestly, I can't really look at normal keyboards now. I become an ergo board elitist monkey. :) Please do not send help, because I think split keyboards are awesome.