1y ago

How do you use your keyboard on your lap?

I'm quite tall and have rather long arms. As a consequence, I rarely find myself sitting at the desk with the elbows bent at a proper angle while typing. I figured out it would be more comfortable for me to work with the keyboard sitting on my lap, tented if possible, but I couldn't find a stable configuration with my split 34-keys board. Is there anybody that came up with a smart solution to this?

I'm also considering building a small unibody like the hummingbird, but I guess it may be too small to comfortably sit on the lap.

27 comments

May not be what you are looking for, but I'd look into either a chair mount or an under-the-desk keyboard tray.
- That's probably what I'll end up doing in the long run (since it would allow to keep the mouse closer too). I'm just entering the mechanical keyboard rabbit hole tho, and I want to figure out my pseudo-endgame keyboard and layout before investing in mounts and similar.

Corne-ish Zen with “magfrotto” tenting. Rests surprisingly comfortably and stable. Have had a few long sessions on the couch and a poang chair. Technically I could attach it magnetically to my pants as described here https://evantravers.com/articles/2023/04/06/magsafe-tenting-and-wearable-keyboards/ , but haven’t needed to.
- Okay this is very exciting. And is so happening. 😍

Here’s my setup! The Moonlander and trackpad are stuck to a bamboo board with little Velcro dots, and the board sits on my lap sometimes and on an under-mount keyboard tray other times. The Moonlander is tented with an OEM kit from ZSA (The Platform).
https://imgur.com/a/b2Y5DvY
- That's an interesting setup and probably what I'll end up doing - at least at home - until I pull the trigger on some smallrig arms.

I just bought an oak board about 1/4 inch thick and 6 inches wide, sawed it off about two feet long, and made sure my keyboard was rubberized on the bottom

I find that something with more texture on my lap helps, like a towel of some kind, or a board with an exposed PCB helps a lot. I've also heard the Atreus works really well on the lap.
- The exposed PCB and towel could be a neat trick when I work from home, but I'd like to find a slightly more refined solution, possibly portable. At some point, the endgame will probably be a set of clamped mounts at home and one at work, to which magnetically attach the keyboard I carry around. The Atreus is an interesting option in the meanwhile, but I have a few concerns. First and foremost, too little pinky stagger. I don't even find the one of my chocofi to be enough and operate the upper pinky key with my ring finger instead. Not a big deal tho, I could ignore the additional keys and I will probably move to a 30 keys layout someday. Next, there's the software: I'm not sure moving away from zmk is worth it. And lastly, I have no experience with mechanical switches apart from the keychron bananas (which I hate) and linear chocs. But I don't like long travels, so MX style switches is probably not my cup of tea (and honestly I'd like a shorter travel for chocs too). Actually I'm on the look for a way to reproduce the feeling of the latest MacBook Pros. I've never used an apple keyboard before (fortunately, it seems), but I really enjoy the tactility and short travel of the one on my laptop. I've heard good things about kailh speed switches, but I never tried them.
  
  I'm interested in something like this that allows something like split keyboard tray mount. The Glove80 also has a pretty elegant tripod mounting option, since you mentioned low profile switches. The Ferris Sweep also has a greater pinky stagger, and you may also consider using Ergogen in the future to make something that properly matches your hand curvature!

I'm using a non-ergo keyboard, but to note I still use this setup on the lap: https://www.reddit.com/r/ErgoMobileComputers/comments/tcwep0/raised_tablet_setup_weight_comparison/ - Someday want to switch to a monoblock ergo keyboard.
You may want to consider the folding tentable keyboard design btrfld: https://www.reddit.com/r/ErgoMobileComputers/comments/119b5gi/v2_of_the_btrfld_a_foldable_low_profile_tenting/ -> https://www.reddit.com/r/ErgoMechKeyboards/comments/118nzbs/v2_of_the_btrfld_a_foldable_low_profile_tenting/
- Super interesting setup you have there! And thank you for bringing back to my attention the btrfld, I had forgotten about it. Far too many keys for me, but that's a design idea I should look into if I'll ever try to design my own keyboard.

Stenography keyboards sometimes come with a camera tripod screw in the base. That allows you to mount the keyboard at lap height in a stable way.
For example: https://docs.stenokeyboards.com/customize/tripod.html
- I need a more commute-friendly solution, but that’s an interesting approach nonetheless. Thank you for sharing!

Ben Vallack made a video really close to your question. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOupyi-lQZM annnnd of course ~14 months later he found a better way. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT3TToFqqEU
My keyboard designs are unibody with a slight split, very similar to the lumberjack. when I break it apart , a slight angle really makes it comfortable to use. but nothing really beats having your arms shoulder width apart, as it helps put the shoulder blades sit in a more natural placement.
- I think I've seen every single video by Ben Vallack, he's actually the one that got me into the hobby. And the idea of the magnetic clamps I mentioned in another comment partly comes from his ideas. Strapping the keyboard to my legs didn't work well for me instead, too wobbly. I'd be curious to have a look at your designs.
  
  New to Lemmy, so I'll link to my single post "blog".
  I have since gone back and made another board. It is 17mm spacing and removed the number row as I didn't use it much.

27 comments