The Solace of Quantum (Mechanical Keyboards)
TLDR: I’m going to try some mechanical keyboards to help me work from home and blog about my experiences.
I’m fortunate that I’ve been able to work from home this pandemic. I’ve always made a special effort to make my work more “digital,” by scanning and organizing digital copies of important work documents. In many ways working from home hasn’t required too many changes to my overall workflow. My entire office and desk space shrunk to just a single laptop propped up on a plank of cardboard with some holes to help distribute heat. I have to be more disciplined about creating digital notes, since I can’t cover my work space in post-its and illegible scraps of paper. Two pairs of noise cancelling bluetooth headphones are are taking the place of four walls and a door to help me concentrate and communicate “I’m working” to the kids. 1 While I’ve gotten used to one medium sized laptop screen, in place of a dual monitor setup, the one thing that’s been extremely difficult is using a laptop keyboard instead of a full fledged keyboard.
Which brings me, dear reader, to the QMK or “quantum mechanical keyboards.” The QMK is a keyboard firmware2 that allows you to create very customized keyboards and keyboard layouts.
A while back I wrote a Chrome extension to help me with some work related data entry tasks. It works by intercepting some of the top row function keys, preventing their default actions, and replacing them with some macros. This setup probably slashed the number of required clicks and keystrokes by 75%. My fevered dream is for a custom keyboard which could cut this yet in half.
Now, if that keyboard also has some media controls and sweet RGB goodness, well, then, awesome. Of course, this means I can’t just go order a keyboard off a shelf. While there are plenty of neat custom and QMK keyboards, to really get the most out of a board, to get exactly what I need, I will need to roll up my sleeves and actually dive into the firmware itself.
Next up – which keyboards?!
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