I've been interested in ergonomic keyboards for over 20 years now, because of RSI problems. I started out with a Microsoft Natural keyboard, and then about 15 years ago I got my first Kinesis keyboard - a used Kinesis Classic PS/2. I soon wanted to cut it in half so I could move the halves apart, but before I got around to doing that, I discovered the Dactyl project by Matt Adereth.
Since I was already going to generate a board, I then took the next couple of years tweaking the shape of the board and making various other modifications. I found that my thumbs are much more comfortable with a flexing motion than with pressing keys with the side of the thumb, so I rotated the thumb clusters so they are almost vertical. I then had to do a decent amount of shifting things around so the corner didn't dig into my index finger. I then added support for Kailh MX hot-swap sockets, and made a detour into making a single-piece skirt base for the board, until I realized that I had the pieces too close to be able to solder the hot-swap sockets in the corners.
I also took a detour to make a switch tester using SolidPython2, and liked it so much that I decided to port my Dactyl variant to Python. I used my switch tester project as the basis for a keyboard-building library (spkb), and then used that as a basis for rewriting what was now called the Dactyl Lynx.
As part of this, I also removed the skirt base, and replaced it with some plastic nuts for M6 bolts, so I could adjust the tenting angles, the thumb attachment, etc. Since then, I've redesigned the bottom again, now adding magnetically-attached bottom covers with multiple variants: a blank one, one with fixed feet, one with the M6 nuts for adjustable tenting, and one with a 1/4"-20 camera stand mount.
One of the other new features that has been a long time coming is my new single-keyswitch hot-swap PCBs, the Snowshoe MX and Snowshoe Choc. The latest version of the keyboard supports these boards, which greatly simplifyies wiring the board.
I've been typing on the Dactyl Lynx as my daily driver for almost a year now, and it's been the most comfortable typing experience I've ever had. I'm continuing to make improvements to the design, and I'll keep posting updates here as I go. For now, the design is in a place where it should be printable and usable by others, though I'm going to start adding things like easier parametrization for finger length and switch type.
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