
Atreus: My Custom Keyboard - luu
http://blog.mattgauger.com/blog/2014/08/19/atreus-my-custom-keyboard/
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technomancy
Designer of the Atreus here. The post linked to the Atreus OSS project, but I
am also selling kits for anyone who wants to put one together without tracking
down the parts yourself.
[http://atreus.technomancy.us](http://atreus.technomancy.us) Happy to answer
any questions.

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msluyter
The action of the switches is described as "crisp," but is it light? Ideal for
me is something with a very light but not mushy action. If that's the case
with these, then... please take my money.

~~~
technomancy
Technically I believe the lightest available switch for this kind of thing is
the Cherry MX Red, at 45 cN activation pressure. However, since this is a
linear switch rather than a tactile one, it's difficult to tell when the
switch has activated, and you typically end up bottoming out while typing.

The MX Blue switches I use have a the same spring, but the tactile bump gives
them a slightly higher activation pressure. However, it also gives you tactile
feedback about what point at which you can release, so in practice it may end
up feeling lighter.

That said, I can put together a kit with Red switches if you like; just put a
note in the shipping field. I think the Blues are a better all-around choice
(they are still much lighter than the famous IBM Model M's buckling springs)
but if you have specific needs I can work with that.

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cordite
I'm currently working on a one handed keyboard and only recently did I learn
how to solder.

As a proof of concept with a teensy, I did a 3x3 and in the end, I did get a
"hello world" out!

[http://youtu.be/nsoSEf64tbM](http://youtu.be/nsoSEf64tbM)

I too am using clear switches, and today I was working on the real version
with a protoboard. Drilling is not fun.

Cherry MX's website also has some of the sizes in inches while on a mm grid. I
wish they were just consistent and used mm, even though I am in the US.

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wyager
Cool! The case is super nice!

I posted my keyboard project on HN a while back. I decided not to do a case,
but to split it like an ErgoDox.
[http://yager.io/keyboard/keyboard.html](http://yager.io/keyboard/keyboard.html)
I've been considering the possibility of fabricating a case of some kind.
Looks like I'll have to add wood to the list.

~~~
gcb4
the case is spiffy. but way too tall. i will probably use it bare. definitely
will induce wrist pain if not used on a low keyboard tray (which no one has on
any table from this century)

and nice project and documentation of it! thank you a lot for sharing.

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brandonmenc
Another interesting custom keyboard is Tim Tyler's:
[http://youtu.be/9yg3s77nAMQ](http://youtu.be/9yg3s77nAMQ)

He has a lot of technical information on his website. He's kind of gone in the
opposite direction re: complexity.

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dhruvmittal
I just finished my massdrop ergodox a few weeks ago, and I'm loving it. One of
the things I like the most about it is the way the left and right hands are
separate, allowing me to keep them about shoulder width apart in a very
natural position. That was actually the biggest selling point to me over
something like the kinesis or the TECK. The split layout feels like it's
really revolutionizing the ergonomics of typing.

~~~
jdpage
I have a Kinesis Freestyle (another split keyboard), and I absolutely agree:
being able to keep my hands further apart is wonderful.

There wasn't anything like the ErgoDox available when I purchased my Kinesis,
but if I were in the market now, I would definitely consider it--the thumb-
area modifiers are something that I would have liked to have had.

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roberte
Make a keyboard where you have one key for each finger. You get all characters
by pressing combinations of keys. There are 1024 possible combinations.

~~~
tunesmith
As a pianist of several years, I don't tend to think that chording is a very
good idea for fast typing. Certain chord combinations are never very graceful
and are a good recipe for tendon strain. We learn to avoid certain fingering
because of these hand limitations, and part of the reason we can do that
easily is because we are generally moving our hands all over the keyboard. The
secret to effective piano playing (to limit strain and tiredness and harm) is
honestly the complete opposite of what a lot of computer-keyboard-minimalists
seem to be striving for - pianists are supposed to minimize finger movement,
and send as much of that movement upstream as possible. Transfer finger to
hand, hand to wrist, wrist to arm, arm to body - limit individual finger
activity as much as possible for relaxed playing. The idea of minimizing
computer keyboard keys for having _less_ keys, and putting more responsibility
on agile fingers while freezing the hand in one location, seems exactly
backward if the goal is for fast, efficient, fluid strain-free typing.

~~~
sparkie
With stenography, you do transfer much of the "push" to your forearms (and
keeping the wrist reasonably still). You just place your fingers in the right
position for the keys you want. It's unlike typing where you use the force of
your fingers to actuate the keys.

The primary goal of steno though isn't to provide chords - it's to learn a
short-hand language enough to reduce whole words or sentences down to a single
stroke of the arm - so you can get down much more information with less
movement.

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oneofthose
A few days ago I stumbled on Axios, an "Open Source Modular Ergonomic
Keyboard". They are preparing a crowd-funding campaign here [0].

[0] [https://www.crowdsupply.com/multiplxd/axios-
keyboard](https://www.crowdsupply.com/multiplxd/axios-keyboard)

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WindRider011
As expensive as it is, I've found a Kinesis to be ideal ergonomically, but
also to be by no means the end of the story. The design reminds me of a
flatter Kinesis keyboard with an angle, due to the split in the middle.

The other part of the story was getting rid of qwerty, and using colemak
instead (not Dvorak, which I'm still modestly confused about.) I found that
qwerty was modestly uncomfortable to type with due to the dated understanding
of how often keys are actually used while typing, which wasn't fixed by the
keyboard alone.

~~~
technomancy
The Kinesis Advantage and Ergodox are both fantastic designs, but they are
untenable for people like myself who travel a lot and work from coffee shops
and parks. (The Kinesis would also be a lot more appealing if you could swap
the key switches with a tactile option.) I wrote a bit about how this compares
to those designs on my blog a while back:
[http://technomancy.us/173](http://technomancy.us/173)

~~~
Adrock
It is possible to switch the switches on the Kinesis to Cherry MX blues, but
it is a lot of work:

[http://t.co/OyjGCdwvGN](http://t.co/OyjGCdwvGN)

That said, it is awesome (and loud).

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SmileyKeith
I thought about making one of these but chose to go with the ErgoDox instead.
The entirely split layout of the ErgoDox is really nice. That along with more
keys sold it for me. 42 keys just isn't enough in my opinion.

