Welcome to the UHK family! 
I just posted this on Twitter, maybe I should slow down a bit nowā¦ https://twitter.com/AmNicd/status/1106258566288207872
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I canāt wait to buy new key caps. Iām also excited about the modules the uhk has to offer.
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ErgoDox announced the Planck EZ today. Iāve pre-ordered one to make my MacBook more usable and Iām waiting to hear if it works with the iPad Pro too (the this thread on Twitter).
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ok so today i got my ergodox ez shine with the blank keys. God it is hard ahah. I was pretty fast before on my sculpt but clearly knew nothing of touch typing. Typing this is like giving birth. So iām doing some exercises on typing club, planning to do some every day to learn to proper touch type and become productive with the EZ. Still I though Iād ask ergodox users if they have any tips/ tricks or just words of encouragement 
I honestly didnāt expect it to be this hard.
Also anyone has some good sites to buy sculpted key caps or just keycaps? Iām based in the UK.
Thank you 
P.S.
Half an hour laterā¦ finished typing
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I donāt have an ergodox, but I do touch type. Iām not a good touch typist, but simply being able to confidently hit the right letters with the right fingers without looking is a massive boon, and it works out faster and better in the long run. Well worth sticking with the exercises and through the slow period. 
Iām still bad at the number row, and I donāt like the amount of movement required to get to it. Iām hoping I can configure the home row to be numbers with a modifier key. (Any advice on how to achieve this with a standard keyboard in Linux welcome.)
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Ergodox EZ, Cherry MX Browns, Dvorak layout.
The thing I like most about having a programmable keyboard is that I can put {}[]() and | near the home row (the āAā key is also a modifier that switches to that layer when you hold it down). It is by far the most productive keyboard I have ever typed on.
I love it that you can set the Auto Shift Timeout on the keyboard through the configurator.
This controls how long you have to hold a key before you get the shifted state. Obviously, this is different for everyone. For most people, a setting of 135 to 150 works great. However, one should start with a value of at least 175, which is the default value. Then work down from there. The idea is to have the shortest time required to get the shifted state without having false positives.
My configuration: Oryx: The ZSA Keyboard Configurator
Edit: The only āissueā for me is that the wires make it a little troublesome at work because we switch pairs regularly.
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The best thing I can probably say is that it does get easier and in addition to learning to touch type properly a lot of it is to do with muscle memory and retraining your hands where keys are. There are lots of shortcuts I use where I couldnāt tell you the keys I press and replied completely on memory and re-learning those was the hardest.
Also play with the configurator and make lots of incremental changes. If a keyās position isnāt working for you change it and keep changing them until you get comfortable.
Itās not an easy process and itās not fast (it took me several weeks before typing on a ānormalā keyboard felt strange) but it is worth it. I persevered on the basis that Iās spent a lot on the keyboard so I wasnāt going to give up easily.
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Realforce 87U Tenkeyless 55g (Black) rockz my office.
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Well if you run X and want it changed there then xmodmap makes that trivial. Or if you want to change it in a given virtterm then dumpkeys/showkeys/loadkeys works. In a GUI you can also define your own keyboard mapping (like dvorak or so, but your own). Otherwise a kernel driver to do it system-wide isnāt too hard to write though definitely non-trivial?
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Touch typing will make all the difference when learning to type on the ergodox. IMO any ortholinear layout is easier to learn than the staggered layout that is the mainstay on keyboards today, just because the layout is consistent where a staggered keyboard makes it a little difficult to reach the top and bottom row keys that further away from the fingers. I would say practice no longer than 15 minute blocks. I didnāt have to relearn to touch type on my ergodox when I got since I touch type, but I remember that 15 minute blocks were really effective for muscle memory.
Since you are based in the UK, https://candykeys.com/category:keycaps is probably you best bet. I have not ordered from them since Iām in the US, but they seem to be solid.
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Just an update, I am using Ultimate Hacking Keyboard too now. I donāt think thereās ever coming back from this one. I am super happy, although itās my first month in only.
Works great in my summer office!
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Iāve been using Kinesis Ergo Advantage keyboards for over 15 years now.
Pros (for me):
- split keyboard ā ulnar deviation was crushing my wrists
- orthogonal keys ā I can still use staggered but itās frustrating
- thumb keys
- key remap ā Iām a lefty on the spacebar
- palm pads
Cons:
- the rubberized function keys can be touchy and register multiple presses
- kinda pricey
EDIT: I failed to mention that there are lots of cool keyboard ideas over on https://geekhack.org .
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I canāt be the only one whoās curious about your summer office - please tell us more - looks like a unique setup 
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Ah thatās very cool - nice to see you getting plenty of fresh air 
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Woo! Another portrait screen user!! ^.^
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Elixir Forum on the leftā¦
but C++ on the rightā¦
Cāmon man!!
Just kidding, that is a neat setup. 
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I find it so much better for the type of work i do! Plus on this setup i donāt consume any media so why not
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Worse it is c++, Qt, and OpenGL. 
Unfortunately at the moment my research is in volume rendering so no elixir for a while, but since I have no social media, I do check the elixir forum daily as my first thing, even before emails, for a fix :)
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