The Hillside Dactyl 50 is a small contoured-keywell ergonomic keyboard with three choc-spaced rows of six per side. This repository has the body files, and describes parts and assembly in the wiki.
Two other repositories have the PCB files
- Amoeba Choc14 to wire the switches and diodes to create the key matrix.
- Hillside Dactyl Shield to connect the MCU, keys, display, and LEDs.
Though still in development, it has been reliable and comfortable. See the Chgange log for known issues, but I hope you find the board useful.
- Three main rows of six, a lower row of two, five thumb keys, and 50 keys total.
- A keywell with 15° column curve, and 15° tent built in.
- A Dactyl style thumb cluster with a pressing-down motion not a gripping one.
- Choc v1 18 x 17 mm spacing, often nicer for medium or smaller hands.
- Wireless focused, yet with a wired split USB-C with ESD protection.
- An external switches header for foot pedals, but case drilling would be needed.
- Default key maps for ZMK as an external module and QMK as a branch on a fork.
- Switch insertion or replacement externally. The case needs to be open to press the amoebas up onto the switches. The switches snap into the case, but the amoeba don't. The amoeba are held in place by a tight grip on the switch's plastic posts. Switches popping out is rare when dropped, but is possible. Iterating on this is on my list of longer term items.
- Per key RGB. The amoebas don't have much space. It would be cool and might be possible, but is low on my priority list.
For non-breaking changes: the display corner could use more smoothing, front magnets spots would allow a palm rest, and, as a larger change, a CNC steel bottom plate would give a wider base for tenting adjustments and could lower the height a few mm.
The development branch folder stl_dev/ may have untested files with some of these changes.
Eventually there will be a breaking change to eliminate the external recesses for the USB plug overmolding. A matching new shield design will be needed that extends the USB into the inner walls. But this will be a while.
I don't foresee changes to the basic key configuration, such as a five column version. But I'm working to release STEP and source files for the amoeba socket to help others who want to create small choc dactyls.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.
This Dactyl evolved from my ergonomic but flat Hillside keyboards, which offer easier starting points for those new to small choc-spaced ergonomic boards.
The general reasons for split contoured-keywells and small keyboards may explain why this board can be nice to use.
This Dactyl fits me well and I think likely others with medium hands. But a roughly good fit is important in a Dactyl, so the below are valuable alternatives.
Some prebuild Dactyls include the larger Kinesis Advantage 360 and MoErgo Glove 80; while Bastard Keyboards has prebuilt medium to small Dactyl Manuforms. Some argue that the original Dactyl is gentler on the thumb joint and wrist than the Dactyl Manuform is. The Glove 80 is the only of these prebuilt with choc spaced switches, which are nice for medium or smaller hands.
Cosmos is a great generator for custom Dactyl Manuform bodies that can do choc vertical but gives thickness warnings for choc horizontal spacing. It offers a prebuilt option and allows broad changes to board parameters. Including changing the position and angle of the entire thumb cluster, with the select cluster and edit cluster controls, to make it more original Dactyl like or not.
Two choc v1 boards with contoured body columns, though no home-row height variation, are the juriform36 and the rkbrd3. YellowAfterlife's ergonomic keyboard list shows a few more contoured keywell options and many flat options.