Hey,

I’m looking for a portable ortholinear for taking to co-working in my backpack.

For context, I’m a coder. I use neovim all day. At home I use a maltron 3d. It’s a fantastic comfortable keyboard (I think kinesis nicked the design?), although it did take getting used to.

It’s the only keyboard I’ve ever been able to touch type on.

So yeah. I’d like to find something similar that is portable. It has to have quiet switches, as it’s a shared office. Any suggestions?

So far I’ve looked at:

Those all look nice, but are too expensive.

How does the ergodox ez hold up these days?

  • @evo@sh.itjust.works
    2•3 months ago

    I think kinesis nicked the design?

    Idk which is older but didn’t they both blatantly copy the Ergodox layout?

    I have commuted with an Ergodox and I honestly just find it a bit too large. If you are set on that many keys I’d suggest you check out SliceMK since they made a low profile Ergodox. I’m not a fan of ZSA since they are overpriced (cheap plastic) and haven’t really ever done anything innovative IMO. Although I don’t use it often my SliceMK wireless Ergodox is really solid.

    • @vext01OP
      1•3 months ago

      Thanks for the slice mk suggestion.

      I dont know when the M3D was first manufactured, but I assumed maltron were the first with that design since they’ve been in the game since the 70s.

      • @vext01OP
        1•3 months ago

        Ah, it says on their website that the first revision was developed in 1976:

        The first keyboard, (top image), was shown at the News Tec exhibition, Brighton, in December 1976

        The thumb cluster was different back then, but the ortholinear scoop was there.