My split keyboard journey

23. March 2026

In January 2025 I got my first split keyboard. After seeing so many Vim/Neovim video content creators use them, I also wanted to try. Now more than a year later, I'm happy to share my experience with it.

corne v4

I just wanted to try if split keyboards work for me. My first attempt was to buy a corne v4. It seemed one of the most popular split keyboards I found online.

I bought a pre-built version, so I could just plug it in and use it. This one even has RGB lights under the switches, but I never really used them. I actually ordered it without RGB, to save money, but somehow I got it anyways.

Sometimes one half of the corne randomly stops working. I assume this is related to electromagnetic inference. I just have to reconnect to fix the problem, so it is not a big deal. But this shows what complex issues hardware can face (and why I love writing software instead).

I bought it with empty key-caps, because my goal was to learn touch typing. I never really tried that before and I wanted to write without looking at the keyboard. It worked! Now I can type without looking and my current words per minute record is 95.

For what I saw online, split keyboards normally cost from 100€ to 300€. But it highly depends on the amount of keys and the materials used. Sometimes only the case made of aluminium, can cost more than 100€.

Alternative layouts

Changing to a split keyboard is already a big change to get used to. Also changing the layout makes it even harder to make the switch. But I had to learn to touch type qwerty anyways from scratch, so why not try something better? So after a few days with qwerty, I decided to try colemak-dh.

I really like colemak-dh and it makes writing English a real joy. So many words can be written with never leaving the home row. On the long run, it should also my increase typing speed and reduce finger movements.

I even tried to change layout on my smartphone to memorize the letter positions faster. But a quick web search revealed that is makes not much sense for two reasons:

1. A different (thumbs) muscle memory is used with touch screens
2. On small screens having more space between frequent used keys actually makes

Train everyday

Training is needed to overcome the first really frustrating days. Writing at 10 words per minute is not fun and my productivity dropped a lot. There are tons of websites and tools that can help with that.

I did all my training on keybr.com. This site is really great and starts with the home row first. New keys unlock when a set writing speed is reached and so the muscle memory builds up consistently.

In my opinion there are two ways to learn to touch type on a new keyboard/layout

1. Only use the new keyboard/layout and hope that you don't give up/get too frustrated
2. Train only 30 minutes a day and keep working with the old keyboard/layout

The second one might be the most reasonable and allows to improve slowly without loosing sanity. Once a certain speed is reached, you can try to use it everywhere.

I personally did both by always using the new keyboard and train at least 30 mins a day. The first days where hard and I kept a normal keyboard close for critical situations. But overall this is the fastest way to do the switch.

Yes, I still can use normal keyboards

Many that saw my split keyboard had the question if I still can type on normal keyboards. I built up new muscle memory for split keyboards, so the other remained untouched. I still write the same way and speed on normal keyboards as I used before. Of course quite slow and by looking while typing, but nothing changed there.

Probably it gets more difficult if you want to change layout on the same keyboard. There the old muscle memory needs to be "re-wired" and that can be more tricky. And the old muscle memory will partially be erased.

DASBOB

After 9 months of using the corne, I decided to try another split keyboard. I wanted less keys, a more aggressive pinky stagger and a more outwards positioned thumb cluster.

I was undecided between the Sweep and DASBOB. In the end I bought DASBOB to keep the 3 thumb keys. DASBOB even has a buzzer that can make sounds!

This time I bought a DIY kit, so I had to solder the switches and micro controller myself. While this takes more time, it was a nice feeling to have built it myself. For a moment I even considered to print the PCB and the case from a PCB manufacturer. But import and shipping costs are too high for a single PCB and case. This is possible because most split keyboards are open source and open hardware. The pcb layouts and firmware are shared and therefore can be printed and modified by anyone. Maybe for my next keyboard I will try that :-)

Vial

To configure my keyboards I use Vial. This allows to configure everything in real-time with a nice GUI.

Currently I use 6 layers, but I plan to reduce the layer amount soon.

Layer 1 with the colemak-dh layout letters.

Layer 2 with numbers and navigation.

Layer 3 with symbols and navigation.

Layer 4 has turns on DASBOB's buzzer and some mouse clicks. I have this layer just for fun and rarely use it.

Layer 5 has all F-keys, volume and brightness control.

Layer 6 instead is my sway-wm layer, that allows me to change workspace with one hand.

I guess one day I will try QMK, simply to see what the differences are. For now it seems to me, that QMK is much more powerful and allows to code a custom firmware in C. That sounds really cool!

Tenting

Around the time I bought DASBOB, I also started tenting the keyboard, for a natural hand position. Since I got used to tenting, writing on a flat keyboard just feels wrong

There are many ways to do tenting. First, I simply used an open book in the center, to feel if tenting works for me. Then I bought two phone stands that have magnetic rings on both sides and attached jar lids. At the bottom of the jar lids I attached some rubber feet to prevent slipping.

For some time I even had metal rings attached on my laptop. Here you can get really creative and I saw a lot of unique setups on the web.

Switches

The corne has Kailh Choc v1 brown switches. I would say it was a good choice, for my first mechanical switches. They are not too loud and the key press feels good and not too heavy.

For the DASBOB instead, I bought Kailh Low Ambients Silent Twilight switches and I really like them. They are more silent, linear of course and much lighter to press. Sometimes even too light. For example in the train I accidentally pressed keys when the train bumped. But aside from this, they are awesome and now the browns feel too heavy for me.

My keyboard wishlist

While I'm really happy with my DASBOB, out of curiosity I want to explore more variations. I would love to try concave shapes like the Kinesis Advantage, the Glove80 or the Dactyl have. This keyboards also have a tilted thumb cluster where thumb key presses movements are more natural. With normal thumb clusters the thumbs need to make a side wards movement to press keys.

Another cool thing would be a laptop with an integrated split keyboard. Framework has now a one key module, that allows to build custom keyboards. The Reform Next has a cool prototype that would be nearly perfect. Projects like this show why and how open hardware is so interesting and important.

Every feedback is welcome

Feel free to write me an email at info@simondalvai.org and comment on Mastodon.