ErgoMechKeyboards
Ergonomic, split and other weird keyboards
Rules
Keep it ergo
Posts must be of/about keyboards that have a clear delineation between the left and right halves of the keyboard, column stagger, or both. This includes one-handed (one half doesn't exist, what clearer delineation is that!?)
i.e. no regular non-split¹ row-stagger and no non-split¹ ortholinear²
¹ split meaning a separation of the halves, whether fixed in place or entirely separate, both are fine.
² ortholinear meaning keys layed out in a grid
No Spam
No excessive posting/"shilling" for commercial purposes. Vendors are permitted to promote their products/services but keep it to a minimum and use the [vendor] flair. Posts that appear to be marketing without being transparent about it will be removed.
No Buy/Sell/Trade
This subreddit is not a marketplace, please post on r/mechmarket or other relevant marketplace.
Some useful links
- EMK wiki
- Split keyboard compare tool
- Compare keycap profiles Looking for another set of keycaps - check this site to compare the different keycap profiles https://www.keycaps.info/
- Keymap database A database with all kinds of keymap layouts - some of them fits ergo keyboards - get inspired https://keymapdb.com/
Normally, the isn't a dedicated FW for right&left. There is just one FW for both and you flash that to both halves. The KB determines which side is right and which is left by either the half the USB cable is connected to ( e.g. FW is configured with "USB half is right side") or by flashing a small marker to the EEPROM of the controllers to mark them as right/left (this marker us not part of the FW, look for EE_HANDS in the QMK docs).
Flashing with the .uf2 file provided by the webpage, you should get the default behavior of the keyboard and it should generally be working.
If you want to change any behavior (like key layout or anything) you would need to flash the halves with your own config of QMK anyways. That is kind of the neat thing about custom KBs - you can configure your device to your liking.
I'm using ATmega micros, on my Lily58. If I remember correctly, the default QMK behaviour was to use the USB to select which half was the master and what side it was on. That would work on RP2040 boards just as well so that may be what the provided firmware does.
I would suggest you just flash them both then see what they do. If they are swapped, try connecting the USB to the other half. If that works then you don't have a problem. There's no risk of damaging them and the RP2040 is pretty easy to reflash.
I wasn't satisfied with that method and set QMK to store the sides in eeprom so I could use the same firmware but connect to either one. I'm not sure if the 2040 has a separate non-volatile memory so you'll likely need a different method. I think a GPIO can be grounded to set the side but the Lily58 doesn't do this. You could add a bodge wire if you want this but you have to customise QMK to use that method.