Qazimodo interest check is now open!
Qazimodo is an aluminum Vial-compatible QAZ-ish keyboard with an exploded right column of 3 keys, inspired by the Vault 35 HHKB.
Details:
- Aluminum case
- Top mounted
- 3 degree typing angle
- POM switch plate (subject to change)
- STM32F072-based PCB
Sorry I'm not overly familiar with custom keyboard types, what exactly is the benefit of this type of layout?
It started as a joke for my friend who doesn’t understand how I use a 35% but then some people seemed interested so I actually made it.
I’ve been using it for about a month now and use the QAZ keys for macros. I have tried actually using them as Q, A, and Z, too and it was actually easier than I expected.
If you leave off the amusing extra keys on the side of this one, the idea of "40%" boards (actual percentage of 104 keys varies) is to minimize finger movement while touch typing and to move lesser-used keys onto one or more Fn layers like laptops (or really most keyboards these days) have.
I don't really touch type, so while I still like weird stuff (and make it myself), the 40s scene is a bit lost on me, though my very first hand-wired keyboard build was a "Planck" (somewhat similar to this but with the keys in a perfect grid) with three extra keys.
I learned to type on a giant clacky qwerty keyboard in highschool in the 90s, this all feels very foreign to me lol
The 40s gang would love to have you.
Even for people who do touch type, there's a definite learning curve when you move to a 40% or lower board. I found that the muscle memory starts to build up pretty quickly so after a bit of stumbling around I got used to smaller keyboards without too much trouble. The main problem now is when I try to write code on anything larger than a 40% I make constant typos.