Unfortunately, I don’t have the necessary permissions to confirm that the original novel was in fact based on my still-classified work at the Canadian Space Agency.
I can say that I haven’t been able to bring myself to eat potatoes since I got back!
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Hi everyone,
I’ve been around the forum for quite some time but I finally got here 
I’m Florent, from France. I’m a programmer and things with keyboards started changing for me when I decided to learn to touch type.
The thing was I wanted to learn to touch type but I did not want to learn that on QWERTY (which I think is an absolutely anti-ergonomic layout). After a bit of research I finally stumbled on Colemak layout, and went for it, cold turkey. The first few months were very hard but slowly things began to get better. At the time I was using a standard physical QWERTY keyboard, that was in 2011.
A few months later, I decided to push further the experience and bought a mechanical keyboard, which I loved, that was a Topre keyboard, very good stuff. It uses a unique kind of switches and it’s very pleasant to use.
A couple years later, I decided to enhance again the quality of my typing and decided to build an Ergodox keyboard. At the time there was no way to get a prebuilt one and I had to assemble and solder it myself (I made 2 of them actually). Again, I used that for a bit more than a year when I ran into the Model 01. It seemed like the thumb cluster would be much better than the one on the Ergodox so I backed this great project, and here I am, almost three years later 
In terms of ergonomics, I use the wireless Evoluent’s Vertical Mouse 4, which is a nice addition to the setup. I should add that I position the mouse between the two halves of the split keyboard.
I also use a custom Colemak layout I have enhanced through the years to adapt it to: the fact that I have to type French, the Ergodox keyboard and now the Model 01.
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Hello!
I’m Sean. I’m a Master’s student in Theoretical Neuroscience who was introduced to ergo keyboards by my labmate Trevor Bekolay. I got a Truly Ergonomic keyboard and it immediately relieved my back pain. I also tried a split keyboard via the Kinesis Freestyle2, but kept fat-fingering keys due to their staggering, so didn’t adopt it.
I’m excited about my Model01, because it’s way easier to customize than my other keyboards and is beautiful. I’d also like to give a shout-out to those writing the firmware. I would love to help write the front-end of the user-interface, but I’m really slow at coding, so I’ll stick to doing QA on the builds.
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Hey all. I’m Arianne, and I’m from sunny, humid Southeast Asia. I used to play the piano (about 14 years), did a little guitar. I work in sales admin by day, and rough out ideas for a first novel by night, when I’m not gaming that is.
I started getting into mechanical keyboards after a year with the awful piece of junk my company’s IT department calls a keyboard (20 years old, grubby, stiff and you needed to bang hard on every other key for it to register) gave me tendinitis in my right hand.
Switching to normal mechanical keyboards gave me two years mostly pain free, before the inflammation came back with a vengeance, this time in both hands (De Quervain’s) and a shoulder; so my hands ache on a constant basis. It seems to be related to my diabetes, so I’ve been trying to improve my ergonomic setup by switching to Colemak, and replacing my normal mouse with a Kensington Slimblade trackball and Evoluent Vertical mouse while cutting carbs and sugar.
I’m excited to see what the Model 01 might do for me ergonomics-wise: Just got it today and the split configuration is already much easier on my shoulder than the standard rectangular keyboard, and actually takes up less space! It’s also nicely sized for my tiny hands, though the fit is better with the right half, I don’t have to stretch for anything and the sculpted caps are odd feeling, but amazingly comfy. Really excited to spend some time with this amazing piece of engineering.
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I’m Andrew, from Adelaide, Australia, and I’m mostly typing this because of insomnia, but it’s really interesting reading your approaches! I’m an audio typist for an ophthalmology clinic and a neuroscience student, but had previously studied maths (sadly, my computer science education from this was pretty minimal) and music. I started learning piano at 5 and clarinet at 14, and I think learning to play them without straining has translated into me avoiding the RSI problems so many have typing.
Mind you, I did get cramps from my mouse when I was competitive in minesweeper (I had a very very slow internet connection when I saw playing this enough to be competitive). I did get to the top 50 in the world and 2nd in Australia, but the cramps and jitteriness did lead me to more ergonomic mice way before more ergonomic keyboards. Thankfully, Logitech mice have been perfect for me, and my internet connection got fast enough that I stopped bothering with cramp-inducing minesweeper.
So it’s handy to have avoided keyboard cramps or injury, but I’d never been happy with the way keyboards are laid out, just never made the effort to look for alternatives. I got a Logitech Wave keyboard (k350) (not a truly split keyboard but with decent ergonomics nonetheless) about 5 years ago when I started doing audio typing, and typing on a normal keyboard did give me a little strain, and at around the same time got interested in alternative layouts. I got busy enough with work and uni that I kept on putting off actually learning (or designing) another layout, and it was only when I started to automate some tasks through autohotkey (for example, shift-backarrow, ctrl-x, right arrow, ctrl-v to swap letters around a cursor that I started really thinking about how far keyboard ergonomics should have improved, and imagined the benefits of having more buttons accessible to the thumb and all that jazz, and started looking at increasingly better ergonomic split keyboards, which in turn finally gave me the kick up the ass to commit to learning a new layout when I had my ideal keyboard (especially after being assured that ambikeyboardedness is possible).
So at various points through 2017 I looked at as many ergonomic split keyboards as I could, and was really close to being sold on the Ultimate Hacking Keyboard, then the Kinesis Freestyle, then the Ergodox, but there was always something about it which left me uncomfortable. Only in early 2018 did I find Keyboardio (don’t really know how I missed it for so long) and instantly saw that Jesse and Kaia had gotten just about everything I could think of right in my eyes! Most importantly, the thumb keys were perfect and the palm keys were a stroke of genius, one of those things I never knew I wanted! The wood finish and pretty pretty lights were also a nice bonus, but I’d have been sold without them.
Before long, I’d bought it and a set of clear keycaps and knew I’d be in for a painfully long wait. Being curious about the switches, I found a youtube review of a Matias board by someone who is an expert in mechanical switches and keyboard history and who just has a hilarious style and a strangely hypnotic voice. I highly recommend his videos, but the point is that it confirmed to me what a great choice Matias switches were and kindled an interest in historical keyboards, layers, layouts and what have you, which all contributed towards my thoughts about how I’d make my keyboardio work for me.
Getting the news that my keyboard is almost on its way spurred me to action, co-inciding in my flurry of posts here recently. I’ve finally designed what should remain my final layout (at least as far as the letters are concerned) - I’m naming it either “the whole hog” since I went “the whole hog” in designing my own layout from scratch and “hog” is spelled out on the top row of the right hand, or “Nero Fist” for the letters you can reach with the right and left hands respectively on the home row in the wasd (or rather esdf) formation. NERO FIST wins, I think!
It’s been a pleasure to see that the amazing product by Jesse and Kaia is backed up by a helpful community of contributors of many levels, and I hope some of my contributions can give others some interesting ideas
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Hello everyone!
I’m Tre and live up in the Seattle area. I am a web developer at Avvo currently and as I’m finally up in the next round of deliveries (MP5) I’m looking to really start diving into the community here, learn, absorb, and contribute!
While the 01 is my first real dive into a keyboard of this level, I’ve always been an input device nerd! I come from a background mainly as a DJ/audio engineer of 15 years where I always had one of the most crazy midi controller and hid setups. I would combine custom programmed classic midi controllers, midi keyboards, foot switch controllers, and even a Leap Motion 3d controller into my DJ sets. As a professional audio engineer in the studio, where you always had one hand on the keyboard and one hand on the mouse, I leveraged gaming mice (like the Cyborg Rat 9) with custom setups for custom controls and hot keys. I use a software on my Mac called ControllerMate (which is amazing btw) so give me a software control over my hids that were not open hardware like the 01. The layout of one hand on the keys and one on the mouse always gave me good separation of my hands and was very comfy, however now, as a software engineer, that’s changed since both hands are always on the keyboard. I noticed this right away about 2 years ago when I started my software journey, and in that search for a solution I found the 01. I’ve been following it ever since, but couldn’t warrant ordering (to the wife) until they were being shipped, or else I would’ve been one of the first backers. I’ve been following the project the entire time, watching like a kid standing outside a toy store. Now I’m waiting patiently for the next round for mine to come in.
I currently use a Corsair k90 (my first delve into mech keyboards) and have co-workers that have kinesis and ergodox boards. After playing with those a little, I’m really even more stoked for the 01. The ergodox comes close to what I was looking for, but I genuinely love the warm feeling I already get from just looking at the 01. I got to see one back in October on my last day at Microsoft when I was walking around and saw the 01 sitting on his desk, he was going to let me try it out for a week, but alas, it was my final day!!
As a web dev, and more of a front end engineer than anything, I’m already looking into ways to help make programming the 01 better for all, and mainly those that don’t have the capability/knowledge to dive into the code. I know we currently have Chrysalis, which I’m looking into contributing to. I also have my own idea for more of an online version where we can be very collaborative in sharing what we’ve created. I admit, some of the inspiration comes from he ergodox online configuration tool, but also rolls in a little different direction.
I look forward to meeting people here, and am truly exstatic to get my 01 in!
Thanks,
Tré Ammatuna
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Hi, Tim Holt here. I live in Southern California.
I don’t really know what to say here. I’ve already made a couple posts/comments, even though I just ordered my board a couple weeks ago, so that I haven’t gotten it yet.
I’m very excited about receiving my Model 01. I have very specific ideas of how I want it to work. I’m mostly going to use the lights to indicate what mode I’ve got the board in, for example. I might light the vowels a different color from the consonants, or something, for switching between qwerty and dvorak. My numpad will serve as my arrow keys, and will light up differently depending on whether numlock is on. I posted about my layout here, though I’ve made a couple changes since.
I’m excited to experiment with Arduino. I took an AVR assembly class in college, but my favorite language is C++. I’m hoping I’ll be able to use a lot of modern C++ constructs in my code. I also might take my own stab at a GUI layout editor, though it’d be one that follows how I’ve thought about making mine work (different modes—groups of layers—paired with indicative coloring). Until I’ve got more in-depth knowledge of the firmware, I’m just planning on having it literally output a .h file, or something. I might write it in Python.
I ordered the clicky. I feel like, if I’m going to get the ultimate keyboard, I should just go for the one I really want. I’ve kept my eye on this keyboard for a while, though I hadn’t spotted the Kickstarter when it was going on. I agree with every design decision made, especially since the blog posts go into the details so well. I can’t imagine a better keyboard.
I’m a Vim user. My vimrc is nearly 1300 lines long. I currently type in a customized version of the dvorak layout on a Cherry MX-Board 3.0 with blue switches. My most expensive board is, funnily enough, the type cover on my 2017 Surface Pro. It’s actually pretty nice.
I use Windows, though I’ve dabbled in Linux from time to time. I browse using Firefox, because I cannot live without tree style tabs. I’ve got an A.A. in computer science, but not a career in it yet. I want to get into programming—hopefully something that uses C++, though of course that wouldn’t be a requirement.
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Hello! I’m David Tucker, I live in southern California.
I just ordered my first keyboardio and I am excited beyond words. I’ve decided to start adapting to a new keyboard by also learning a new layout and I’ve almost fully converted to Dvorak in preparation. I’m a writer and am working on my English degree and hope the model 01 will take me through college and beyond! I ordered the quiet model when I saw a facebook post saying that it could be shipped in a week. I had been eyeing one for years and that was the push I needed. I hope it will still be tactile because I know the loud click was too loud for me. I can’t wait!
Hi! Darren from Seattle here.
My background is in Digital Marketing and Advertising.
Been a long sufferer of RSI injuries in wrist, forearm, fingers.
Switched to Dvorak while in pain. Heard of other layouts like Colemak,Workman etc but not convinced switching would help much in comfort/speed. Also PCs/MAC have built settings for Dvorak but not other alternative layouts.
Symptoms and strength improved by 90% after surgery from Harvard wrist surgeon Dr. Eric Willimason based in Mountlake Terrace, WA http://www.ericsonhand.com/
Used Microsoft Natural, Microsoft Sculpt. Liked Sculpt been started having shoulder problems. Used Kinesis Freestyle 2 Quiet Pro (with VIP 3 kit) for 2 months and improved shoulder problems but finger fatigue/discomfort gotten worse, particularly the ring and middle fingers. Installed WASD blue “O” rings which seem to help.
Interested if Keyboardio’s layout/buttons are significantly more comfortable than Kinesis Freestyle 2 Quiet Pro?
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Keyboardio concerns:
- Layout/buttons - noticeably better for finger fatigue over Freestyle 2 Quiet Pro?
- Function button - do users press or hold down the button to switch to next layer? Thinking a press would be better to toggle between two layers. How difficult for button combinations that use buttons from 2 layers such as highlighting a section of text (control+alt, function then Left arrow?)?
Concern of having to switch between layers super often
Easy to accidentally press function or other buttons? - Lack of buttons - arrow keys primary concern due to example above. Difficulty of “CTRL+ALT+DELETE” since Delete button on a different layer? How big of deal is the lack of f1 to f12 buttons, "media options such as sound on/off, louder/quieter, etc and Print screen buttons?
Least important - extra side buttons to program basic macros to. - Sharp buttons - a few users say they found the knobs on some of the buttons sharp/uncomfortable. Is it noticeably bad?
- Palm rest - do users find it better to hover or rest palms/wrists? If rest, is it comfortable or need a palm rest?
- Stable while tented - heard in the past, keyboard would wobble typing in tented form, has this been addressed?
- Tenting - max degree angle 10 or 15 degrees with default legs?
- Wood - how heavy is the keyboard? How thick?
- DIY- I am not a DIY guy and overwhelmed with the array of suggestions for palm rests and tenting solutions (looking for one that allows 5-50 degree tenting). Concerned about finding a solution that rests at correct height/angle and doesn’t interfere with button access.
Any wide consensus on best solution for:
Palm Rests? Seen Purple Pillow swatches came up. Anybody been able to buy the sample swatches without buying the pillow?
Tenting-read some users using various mounts, such as RAM mounts:
https://www.rammount.com/components
If so, what type/size all components did you buy for your set-up?
Thank you in advance for reading and feedback?
It is not stable in tented form without a stand of some sort attached. It is possible to make it reasonably stable by attaching a 2cm high support underneath the tented bar. I recommend using a flexible material for the support, since the model01 does not sit exactly level on its internal feet when tented - it leans very slightly away from the user.
If however you want to use a custom tenting angle, you will have to roll your own mount. Anything that uses a standard camera mount should attach, although not everything will be stable.
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Thanks for your response Andrew!
I am terrible at DIY, this is good to know!
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Hi together. Are community intros still a thing? However, I am Klaudia, you can also find me on the internet as jinxx or jinxxproof. I’m a hacky author, I write novels (crime and scifi) and nonfiction. And now I want to write them on my just unpacked Model01. I’m into privacy and data security; yeah, well, and writing books. I also have a bit of experience in web development and a bit of hardware hacking, which seems to come in handy for that qwertz-layout-hacking, which I’m already looking forward to. 
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I’m sure there will be an uptick once the Atreus gets into the hands of the community. In the mean time, I’m enjoying my christmas lights and fire LED effects on my M01.
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