I started building my own keyboards

Ever since I discovered the power of keyboard shortcuts in school, I have been interested in tech-related productivity hacks. At the beginning, simply opening and closing browser tabs with CTRL+T and CTRL+W made me feel powerful.

I continued learning more and more shortcuts in my free time, and eventually I decided to push this hobby as far as humanly possible just for fun.

After learning many shortcuts, I went to the next level by remapping my keyboard with

AutoHotKey⁠

. I moved the arrow keys to IJKL so my hand didn't have to leave the homerow and created custom shortcuts to launch my most frequently used apps as well as toggle between them directly without having to cycle using Alt+Tab. These improvements meant I could get work done slightly faster and context switch without losing as much focus. More importantly, I was having a lot of fun adding new mappings and enjoying the dividends it paid.

⁠

My power was growing exponentially

At this point, I switched from Windows to MacOS and recreated my remapped setup using

Karabiner Elements⁠

and

Hammerspoon⁠

. It was shortly after this that I dove into custom-built mechanical keyboards. There are a massive array of keyboards to choose from and they cater to many different audiences. Whether you're interested in aesthetics, key feedback, or ergonomics, there is something for you. I was interested in ergonomics, and the keyboard that immediately appealed to me was the

ZSA Moonlander⁠

⁠

The ZSA Moonlander

The ZSA Moonlander

⁠

Having the keyboard split into two halves allowed my hands and elbows to easily rest at my sides, which was much more comfortable than splaying out my elbows and cranking my wrists to having my hands gathered the middle of a regular keyboard. Moreover, the keyboard had a user-friendly version of

QMK⁠

, a piece of software to remap and customize key functions, that made it easy to experiment with different key layouts. Through progressive experimentation, I ended up switching from QWERTY to a completely new layout altogether, called

Colemak-DH⁠

. That's the topic of a separate article, though.

At this point, I had come a long way from the CTRL+T / CRTL+W days of the hobby. I was happy with my progress, but I felt that there was still a lot of unexplored territory on the map. This became clearer when I stumbled upon a

video by YouTuber Ben Vallack⁠

covering the virtues of the custom-built, open source

Ferriss Sweep V2⁠

. The Sweep was a fully programmable, 34-key, split mechanical keyboard. The Sweep immediately struck me as one of the coolest things I had seen in recent memory, and I decided I needed to have one. More precisely, I needed to build one, because this keyboard had simply been designed by an enthusiast and posted online for anyone to order the parts for - there was no company behind it.

⁠

Working remotely on the Moonlander

Working remotely on the Moonlander

⁠

I got to work. I slowly reduced the amount of keys I was using on the Moonlander from to 34 from the 72 available. On the side, I started ordering the necessary components for the Sweep. PCB boards, switches, processors, keycaps, soldering materials and more started flowing into my home over a few weeks. I watched tutorials on how to solder safely. I picked a weekend and built the whole thing, then spending a few days to configure QMK and flash the keyboard. I was up and running.

I realized I was close to my final form. There was just one more step: going wireless. For simplicity’s sake, the version of the Sweep that I had initially built was wired. For the wireless version, I would have to learn the ins and outs of

ZMK⁠

, a different keyboard software specifically designed for those builds.

I re-ran through the entire component order process, studying the ZMK documentation in the meantime. This time, the building phase went by faster since I had already built a similar keyboard once. A few weeks later, I had reached my final form.

⁠

Who needs a Porsche when you've got these bad boys am I right? 😤

Who needs a Porsche when you've got these bad boys am I right? 😤

⁠

Falling down the keyboard rabbit hole over all these years has been an incredibly gratifying process. It’s rewarding to pursue an interest as far as it can take you. I’m very happy with where I am on the journey right now, but I wouldn’t call this adventure finished yet. I may still explore new keyboards in the future. I’m excited about where my curiosity will take me!

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