Split Keyboards
This is an interactive gallery of split keyboards, based on an earlier list by diimdeep.
The keyboards included are mechanical and have either two halves ar a “wedge” in the middle to allow the wrists to lie in a more natural position. Many are available for purchase, either assembled or in kit form. Some only have the source (plans) available, which means making (or ordering from a service) the circuit board and case from a manufacturer yourself.
A good resource for mass produced, membrane (non-mechanical) keyboards is Xah-Lee’s Ergonomic Keyboard Reviews.
The mechanical keyboards shown on this site are further classified as follows:
Layout
- Traditional
- traditional ergonomic keyboard; the normal layout with a wedge in the middle.
- Ortholinear
- keys placed in a grid or near-grid.
- Ergonomic
- keys usually staggered by column rather than row, and almost always including thumb keys.
- Dished
- a shaped keyboard with thumbkeys and dishes or wells for the fingers.
Number of keys
The minimum and maximum number of keys supported by the keyboard. Some keyboards can be assembled with a different number of keys (for example, using a double-height key instead of two single-height keys). Other keyboards are available with several variations on the design. In either case, the filter is based on the maximum.
Features
- Two halves
- two independent parts to the keyboard
- Rotary encoder
- one or more knobs which can press keys, useful for volume up/down, page-up/page-down, etc.
- Trackball/point/trackpad
- an integrated trackball, laptop-syle trackpoint, or trackpad mouse.
- Display
- a display on the keyboard, which can show status (Caps Lock, current layer, macros etc)
- Wireless
- no wires!
Availability
- Mass produced
- Reliably in-stock for immediate delivery.
- Probably includes a GUI or other professional tool for configuring keyboard layout, macros etc.
- Assembled
- Available for purchase pre-assembled and programmed.
- To distinguish this from the following categories, it omits keyboards where individuals are willing to assemble a kit for others — otherwise there’s little point to the filter. A company should be willing to buy an “assembled” keyboard for an employee, but less likely to ask someone on Reddit to solder a kit (below) for them.
- Kit
- Kit (circuit boards, cases, components etc) available to purchase.
- Some people will assemble a kit for you, for a fee.
- Plans (source)
- Open source keyboards, where files defining the PCB and case are available. Sometimes, a group of people will order circuit boards and/or cases together to save costs, this is a group buy.
- Unavailable
- The keyboard is no longer available, and was not open source