Ortholinear mechanical keyboards
Ortholinear mechanical keyboards
Looking for some purchasing advice.
At the moment I use a Typematrix non-mechanical keyboard which is starting to wear out and become unresponsive. I was really happy with it apart from wishing it was mechanical. A mechanical clone of that, maybe a bit wider, is really my dream.
So what are my options? The mechanical ortholinear keyboards I've seen tend to be of the compact and minimalistic variety, but size isn't my priority I'm looking for something full-featured, preferably with some media keys and shortcut buttons. A number pad or some way to input numbers with a calculator-style layout is essential as my job involves numerical data entry.
Other "nice to have" things I'm more willing to compromise on:
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I type in Dvorak so blank keys or Dvorak labels would be preferable
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Hard-wired Dvorak switch is nice to have, the Typematrix has it, handy if I want to switch layouts in software to access special characters without worrying about finding a Dvorak-based layout.
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Ideally no assembly required
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I'm in the UK, I'll import if necessary but local availability is better. On that note the 105-key layout is preferred (but not that the Typematrix has that either)
Open to alternative suggestions that ignore any of the above.
I'm thinking ur options might be a smaller one with a numpad layer or an external numpad. Otherwise I think you're going to struggle with finding this one m8ty.
3The position of the number pad doesn't matter, as long as it has one. The number pad layer is what the Typematrix has, that's fine.
1most ortholinear keyboards I've seen have a numpad layer and are customisable by via or something, so if you're happy using a layer that definitely opens your options up.
3
This is DIY but the site does have an assembly service for their other boards, it might be worth contacting them about it.
3ZSA used to make the Planck, but it looks like it's been discontinued. That, and it's smaller than what you're looking for. But you could maybe look for a second hand one if you're interested?
3That would definitely be much smaller than I'm looking for, but thanks, ZSA's other keyboards are now under consideration.
1My first thought was OLKBs Planck or Preonic. There is also a copy cat on AliExpress. I have a Planck and I get super lost in the sauce without having a super different F and J key. The height also kills me without a big wrist rest. I've since moved over to a diy board using Choc or the even lower X switches My Board.
1
Don't your wrists still bend at weird angles with ortho compared to a split colstaggered board? Why not a Lily58 or a Sofle board? With QMK and Via you can set up a number layer to be just like a numpad (I do this with my Corne board), as well as having a utility layer for media keys.
2I'm mainly thinking of typing efficiency over wrist comfort but I'm not opposed to a split keyboard. Those are all viable options.
1Then I'd recommend getting a Lily58 with MX hotswap sockets and putting whatever mechanical switches/keycaps you want on it.
-1
Very much diy but this kind of layout from Weteor ticks a lot of your boxes.
https://github.com/weteor/ChonkyKong
Let me know if you need guidance on getting from the GitHub to an actual physical board. Soldering will be required (which I always encourage because I find it fun) but I recognize not everyone has the time.
2I know this violates a lot of the requirements, but it's what I use and getting stuff in Ireland was a pain in the ass, so if none of the other solutions work as a last resort you can check https://mechboards.co.uk/products/helidox-corne-kit it's a very small keyboard and requires full assembly, however it is ortholinear and fully configurable, once you get used to the concept of layers it offers a lot of possibilities, e.g. with the press of a button I have a numpad, but it takes a while to get used to and to edit the layout to fit what you prefer.
1