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adereth
dactyl-keyboard
OpenSCAD2016–2025
adereth / dactyl-keyboard

dactyl-keyboard

Parameterized ergonomic keyboard

22Distinct people
25Mentions
0Explicit recommenders
3.2KGitHub stars
REPOSITORY AT A GLANCE

What to know before exploring

What it is

Parameterized ergonomic keyboard

GitHub

Where it is used

No documented product use was verified in the last source check.

What people are saying

No recommendation phrase was found in the indexed comments.

No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.

Also in these discussions

Mentioned in the same Hacker News threads. That is not proof they are substitutes.

This week on Hacker News

Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 3:56:07 PM UTC.

No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.

Mentions over time

HN mentions by year25 dated mentions

Observed mentions: 2016-02-26 22:32:27 UTC to 2025-01-03 13:00:27 UTC.

02462016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 4 mentions; 0 submissions, 4 comments20162017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 2 mentions; 0 submissions, 2 comments2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 7 mentions; 0 submissions, 7 comments2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 5 mentions; 0 submissions, 5 comments20202021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 4 mentions; 0 submissions, 4 comments2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 2 mentions; 1 submissions, 1 comments2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments2025

Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.

View mention counts and date ranges
UTC ranges include their start and exclude their end. Select a period to filter the source evidence.
PeriodStart (UTC)End (exclusive, UTC)MentionsSubmissionsComments
20162016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC404
20172017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
20182018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC202
20192019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC707
20202020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC505
20212021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC404
20222022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC211
20232023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
20242024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
20252025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101

From the project README

An excerpt from the repository, fetched Nov 13, 2026.

Read the project’s introduction
The Dactyl Keyboard The Dactyl is a parameterized, split-hand, concave, columnar, ergonomic keyboard. There's a talk about the motivation and design of the Dactyl that helps provide context for this repo: Assembly Generating a Design Setting up the Clojure environment Install the Clojure runtime Install the Leiningen project manager Install OpenSCAD Generating the design Run lein repl Load the file (load-file "src/dactyl_keyboard/dactyl.clj") This will regenerate the things/*.scad files Use OpenSCAD to open a .scad file. Make changes to design, repeat load-file, OpenSCAD will watch for changes and rerender. When done, use OpenSCAD to export STL files Tips Some other ways to evaluate the clojure design file Example designing with clojure Printing Pregenerated STL files are available in the things/ directory. Wiring Masks for the flexible PCBs I used are available for the left and right side. A very rough guide for the brave is here - It will be improved over time (TODO)! License Copyright © 2015 Matthew Adereth The source code for generating the models (everything excluding the things/ and resources/ directories is distributed under the GNU AFFERO GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 3. The generated models and PCB designs are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License Version 4.0.
Read the full README on GitHub

What Hacker News says

25 sources
There has always been a wireless version of the above-mentioned Kinesis Advantage 360, also running the ZMK firmware. Before it, there were the open-source Dactyl variants that more or less copied the Kinesis. The original Dactyl [1] (2015) has a layout like the Kinesis but the more popular Dactyl Manuform variants have different thumb clusters. And people have been building them both with wired and wireless controllers. The history is not complete without mentioning that Kinesis (Model 100 in 1992) in turn had copied the Maltron [2], designed by Lilian Malt in the 1970's. 1. https://github.com/adereth/dactyl-keyboard 2. https://www.maltron.com/maltron-history.html
In Ergo S-1 – An open-source ergonomic wireless keyboard
The Advantage360 feels like Kinesis' answer to the DIY Dactyl keyboard — which has a Kinesis-like layout, but which you would have to download, 3D-print, build and solder yourself. Being open-source (parametric SCAD), there are also a bunch of derived designs out there. <https://github.com/adereth/dactyl-keyboard> There is a PCB kit for the Dactyl to reduce the amount of handwiring: <https://bastardkb.com/product/flexible-pcb/>
In Review of the Kinesis Advantage360 Professional
I've never personally used a Planck, but I've got plenty of experience using alternative keyboards. With regards to ergonomics, I don't think the Planck solves really any of the issues with a standard keyboard. While the straight columns and rows might reduce some horizontal movement of your fingers when typing, the fact that it's one piece with no angle means that your wrists will be contorted, which is the same problem with a standard keyboard. Also, your fingers aren't the same length, so having ortholinear keys doesn't really account for that in any way and pinky finger keys are more difficult to access. If you're going to bother with learning how to type on an unconventional keyboard (and if you have any sort of concern for your wrist/hand health, I'd encourage you to do so), I'd suggest looking at split keyboards what have offset ro
Read the rest
ws with straight columns of keys, at the minimum. ZSA actually sells the Ergodox EZ and Moonlander, both of which I'd say are better keyboards. They are of course a lot bigger than the planck, which might be problematic if you're using it on the go a lot. If you're looking for something a bit more portable, perhaps something like the atreus would be more suitable. There's a prebuilt one you can purchase from keyboardio [1] though you can find kits online to build one yourself. Gboards [2] also has some nice low profile small form factor keyboards, though the owner of Gboards is currently not accepting any new orders as she's working through the backlog of orders. There's a ton more shops that sell kits for small form factor keyboards and there is no shortage of choice for keyboards with all sorts of form factors and numbers of keys. A good place to start researching it is the ergonomic mechanical keyboards subreddit [3] and the olkb (planck) subreddit [4]. Personally, I use the Kinesis Advantage 2 [5] with a custom microcontroller designed by Michael Stapelberg [6] that allows me to run QMK [7] on it. Kinesis has announced a new fully split keyboard that doesn't have a ship date that I'm also very interested in [8]. These have concave key wells which are a bit hard to describe but once you've put your hands on one, it becomes pretty obvious the difference in just pure comfort to the hands they bring. Any keyboard with these key wells however are very large and not exactly a great portable keyboard. Still, I think the tradeoffs are well worth it. Finally, If the Advantage isn't your jam, there are open source keyboards made with key wells and are fully split like the Dactyl [9], and Dactyl Manuform [10]. Prebuilt manuforms can be found at Oh Keycaps [11] and a few other vendors. These are very geeky keyboards that will require a lot of effort on top of the effort of learning how to type, so I'd only suggest them if you're really ambitious about using alternative keyboards and getting the most out of them. A lot of the more popular mechanical keyboard communities are great for what they are, but they have kind of zeroed in on focusing on mostly aesthetics. The Mechanical Keyboards subreddit [12] is primarily glamour photos of people's keyboards and offers very little discussion in terms of ergonomics, alternative keyboard layouts, or other aspects of the hobby. Still, it's a great place to look for key switches you might like (the sound being one of the big considerations) or keycap group buys that you might be interested in. I hope that I can help get more eyes on the ergonomic keyboard community since more eyes is more interest and more interest means more innovation and better keyboards. [1] https://shop.keyboard.io/products/keyboardio-atreus [2] https://www.gboards.ca/ [3] https://www.reddit.com/r/ergomechkeyboards [4] https://www.reddit.com/r/olkb/ [5] https://kinesis-ergo.com/shop/advantage2/ [6] https://michael.stapelberg.ch/posts/2020-07-09-kint-kinesis-... [7] https://qmk.fm/ [8] https://twitter.com/kinesisergo/status/1397335511694381058 [9] https://github.com/adereth/dactyl-keyboard [10] https://github.com/abstracthat/dactyl-manuform [11] https://ohkeycaps.com/products/built-to-order-dactyl-manufor... [12] https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/
In ZSA Planck EZ: A Powerful, Backlit, Open-Source, 40% Mechanical Keyboard
I wonder if circuits printed on paper would yield themselves to the same specialized applications as flexible PCBs. For example, there are many variations of custom-made Dactyl keyboards, most of which require hand-wiring to accommodate for the curved shape of the design: https://github.com/adereth/dactyl-keyboard Innovative designers have come up with alternatives that rely of flexible PCBs. The most recent example I recall is the Bastyl keyboard: https://www.reddit.com/r/mechmarket/comments/jvacs6/gb_basty... I don't know how to even begin prototyping with flex PCBs, but that barrier to entry may be lessened with paper circuits like these.
In Rapid Prototyping with a $100 Inkjet Printer
I'm using UHK for almost a year and can share with my experience. It really depends on a keyboard - if it is similar to regular one or not. The UHK is pretty similar to regular keyboard - keys are staggered (not ortholinear), there are no additional thumb keys which are also not available on a regular laptop keyboard. After a year with UHK I'm still able to jump between laptop and UHK when needed. Somehow muscle memory "detects" when my hands are on UHK and I start using additional shortcuts which are not available on laptop. Meanwhile if you'd pick something like Dactyl https://github.com/adereth/dactyl-keyboard, I believe it would be more difficult to jump arround. P.S. After a year my typing speed on split keyboard is higher compared to laptop.
In Split Keyboard for Professionals
> Remap your "capslock" key to "escape." I hear this recommendation a lot. You can do that, but much better is to get a keyboard with a proper thumb cluster like a kinesis[1], maltron[2], dactyl[3], ... Much better to put such a common key on the thumb than stress out a pinky. I have a kinesis, and have esc mapped to the 'end' key there; similar positioning is possible on other keyboards. The keyboards I linked are also much more ergonomic than most flat keyboards—important, if you rely on your hands and wrists for your livelihood. Bit expensive, but well worth it. 1. https://kinesis-ergo.com/shop/advantage2/ 2. https://www.maltron.com/ 3. https://github.com/adereth/dactyl-keyboard
In Learn Vim (the Smart Way): a book to learn the good parts of Vim
I've followed the Keyboard.io Model 01 crowdfunding campaign (they have the best writeups!) with a lot of interest. I'd probably buy two of their keyboards if they'd offer a German keyboard layout. They are $329 each. For that price, I expect a perfect product. A keyboard that looks equally tempting (but involves a lot of soldering and other work) is the Dactyl keyboard (https://github.com/adereth/dactyl-keyboard ).
In Pricing niche products

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