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# Little Pumpkin
My daily driver has been a 60% split keyboard. As holidays come, I feel a bit
adventuous for a 50% one, so here is Little Pumpkin, named after its color
theme. It removes the two outer pinky columns from the 60% and adds two thumb
keys, so the load is more reasonably distributed. This is probably the smallest
layout I can work with since I need the numbers in the base layer.
*The thumb arc* - only three keys but still pretty hard to get right. I end up with
negatively tiled keycaps to make thumbs rest on them more comfortably and
modified 1.25u key in the middle to reduce gaps between keys. Still I don't
think I got everything right there.
*Staggering* - added z-staggering where each column's elevation is based on the
finger length. This is different than column staggering which I would call
y-staggering. Combining y- and z-staggering gives most benefits of a keywell.
*Wiring* - handwired with a single Teensy LC controller. You can see some guts
through the two semi-transparent windows. One reason is that I'm just
old-school and not mass-producing keyboards. Another reason is that PCBs don't
handle z-staggering well.
*Shape* - almost rectangular so I can keep using the same simple tenting
mechanism. Recently I've seen a lot irregularly shaped boards popping up. They
are aesthetically appealing but could be impossible to tent. :)
*Keymapping* - only the base layer and one functional layer. Handling more than
two is too much mental gymnastics for me, so hats off to people who can work
with a 30% keyboard. There is enough space for two controls, two shifts and
two alts but I have to make them dual-role modifiers to accommodate more keys.
*Verdict* - a good toy for now. The thumb arc is unsatisfactory. Column
staggering could be a mistake, e.g. "in" becomes harder to type because they
are further away from each other.
c6a657837This file is pinned to the selected release. Download the original to open it in your design tool.