Background

I had some spare keyboard switches and keycaps lying around, so I decided to buy a barebone keyboard. Not just any keyboard, but a split one. The split keyboard that I am using is the Lily58 Pro.

Something you should know

I only realized after receiving the barebones keyboard, that split keyboards require some special keycaps. For example, 1u - 1.75u spacebar, 1u - 1.75u enter, 1u backspakce, 1u tab, etc. Thankfully I found an online store that offers custom keycap printing service, so I just made the keycap design myself and asked them to make the keycaps for me.

Configuring

Configuring it can be done without any driver, just head towards VIA and set the layers & keys to whatever you want. These are my layer configurations:

l0 Layer 0, the layout without holding any of the layer change button

l1 Layer 1, triggered if the MO(1) (which can be found at the down arrow key keycap’s location) key is held.

l2 Layer 2, triggeres if the MO(2) (which can be found at the up arrow key keycap’s location) key is held.

Adapting

Buying a split keyboard really highlighted my bad typing habits. For example, I type the letter ‘Y’ using my left hand, but since it is split, the ‘Y’ is on the right side of the split. I also noticed that I don’t use my thumbs, pinky finger, and ring finger. My typing style was only using 4 fingers all along.

Since the split keyboard was at my home & I am mostly at the office on weekdays, I only did typing tests before actually bringing it to work. The typing tests that I used were these:

Below is a chart of my WPM using the Lily58 Pro, after 2 weeks of typing tests. wpmchart

After the first week, I find it hard to improve, especially considering I still haven’t used 10 fingers, even with a split keyboard.

I ended up using the split keyboard at work to get some more typing done using it.

Closing thoughts

If you don’t have any wrist problems, I don’t see a good reason to buy a split keyboard. Otherwise, go for it.

My next post will be about a website that I have been working on, but it is taking quite a long time, so I expect to post a part 1 soon. Until then, see you!