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New Keyboard
2020-02-23
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This week I finally got my new keyboard. It's an "ultimate hacking
keyboard" [1], and the name sounds stupid. But it's amazing. I got
the wristrest, which is screwed into the keyboard so no wobbling or
creaking. The feet I put on in the tenting configuration - the
keyboard halves are angled so the insides are higher than the
outsides.
A short introduction: The UHK is a split ~60% keyboard. No f-key
row, no arrow key cluster and no numpad. If you never used a 60% or
smaller keyboard, this may sound stupid, but it's actually quite
awesome. The idea is that you do not have to move your hands as
much as on a "big" keyboard. A bit like the idea of vim keybinds,
where the arrow keys are on the homerow.
The firmware is way better than i expected, being used to QMK [2].
With QMK you directly write and compile parts of the firmware in C.
Which means you can pretty much do anything you want. The UHK
layout/firmware editor "Agent" works as you'd expect, and you can
do almost everything you need. You have four layers to configure as
you wish. QMK can do 16 layers, but in my experience, four is
enough for the way I set things up.
Build quality is top notch. It's heavy and sturdy and gives the
impression it will last forever. I hope so, given the price.
On to the real reason I got the UHK, since there are many split 60%
keyboards to choose from. The one thing that makes the UHK special
are the mouse input modules. I ordered the trackball one since I
hate touchpads and could never get used to the trackpoint on my
thinkpad. There are some projects that combine split keyboards with
trackballs, but none of them really are what I need.
The UHK puts the trackball module to the right thumb, in a position
that should be perfect for me. Idea behind all that being of course
to never have to lift my hands from the default position on the
keyboard, not even for mouse input. The modules are now beginning
production, so hopefully I'll get them Q2 or Q3. The latest update
on the prototypes [3] looks incredible.
Typing on this thing feels great, some modifications to the layout
and it works for me. I'll post an update and a mini review once
I've used it for a few weeks.
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[1] https://ultimatehackingkeyboard.com/
[2] https://qmk.fm/
[3] https://ultimatehackingkeyboard.com/blog/2020/02/19/every-module-prototype-is-functional