I think the “bad” typing behavior for those stretches has a bit to do with PC gaming. In the old days of CS and other games before voip, T was all chat and Y was team chat. So my left hand was used to migrating to that specific key very quickly to open a prompt as my mouse hand transitioned over to the keyboard. As a gamer on a split keyboard, it’s usually fine, but sometimes I wish my left half had an extra column of keys.
You can do that on a zsa moondlander and assign those key to be whatever you want.
Edit: except for the B/N. But someone that has bad typing technique and crossover and switching to columnar, my muscle memory only does thaty with T/Y and G/H. Not a problem for the bottom row.
By design it’s not there. This is replacing the Planck keyboard from their line up to be very minimal on keys, but embracing the split key and ergonomics of the ergodox and moonlander.
Default Layout for those curious: https://configure.zsa.io/voyager/layouts/default/latest/0
If they ever force me to go back to the office, this will be my portable keyboard. The Moonlander is my keyboard for the home office, and can’t imagine going back to a standard keyboard. Wish my Moonlander keycaps had the symbols on number keys and +/- keys caps.
Is that the same trackpad as used in the steam controller? Does it click?
I am signed up for the ZSA newsletter. They just sent an email with the subject line called “The Ergo 58.” In it they discussed why they are are no longer making the compact Planck EZ, but said:
“In response to my original announcement about the Planck EZ going away, we got a whole bunch of people professing their love for compact keyboards and wondering if we’ll ever make another. To which I can say — we love small keyboards too, and… stay tuned. :)”
They didn’t discuss anything about the keyboard in the email body. So maybe waiting a bit would be a good option if you are looking for something more compact and portable. Not sure if they will be making a compact ergo split key keyboard, or something more in line with the planck.
For me it was really up in the air between ergodox and moonlander. But as a novice to mechanical and ergo, the Oryx software was a huge selling point, and I wouldn’t discount that benefit when considering a ergo keyboard where you will be needing to tweak and edit layers to experiment with fit. Just built a budget GMK67 keeb for my partner, and that software is sketch and weird… Really made me appreciate Oryx.
In the end, I think I preferred the moonlander thumbcluster layout of 3 columns of thumb keys. That red key is really a modifier for not typing. The column and row ergodox thing seemed not as great for me. I was surprised that the modifier keys on the moonlander being narrow width wasn’t a hard thing to get used to.
I have a moonlander and love it, but that’s technically columnar and not ortholinear since it’s staggered rows. One thing I like is the Oryx software that I found very intuitive and easy to use to update layouts and layers. Although some question build quality, it was cheap to find someone on printmything to 3d print extra feet for the thumb cluster to add stability to the cluster. Swapping switches was easy as well and installed U4Ts to get more tactile feel.
But I found it helpful to print shit out and play with it on a desk to get a feel for size and layout difference in lieu of seeing a real keeb. You can get creative with folding stuff or angled binders to simulate tenting options as well. This tool lets you do size comparison and print out different keyboard layouts on paper. https://jhelvy.shinyapps.io/splitkbcompare/
I find having to tinker to re angle the thumbcluster each setup with hex key kind of a deal breaker on the portability on a daily basis. Also it’s kind of thick in the foldable case. After getting my wife a Keychron K7 low profile and case, I realize that is closer to the form factor I want for portability.