This keyboard broke my brain - XPLUS VickyBoard
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- čas přidán 3. 06. 2024
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I'm no stranger to odd keyboards, whether it be unique layouts, cramped netbooks, iPad touchscreens, I've daily driven them all. Which is why I'm so frustrated by the XPLUS VickyBoard and its Alice layout... it combines the split-design of an ergonomic keyboard, but compromises it in every way with wild key spacing and aligned columns. Not all split keyboards are terrible to use... just this one.
But first... What am I drinking???
Level Beer (Portland, OR) Game On IPA
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I'm an Ergodox guy. It really gives you more for your thumbs to do and puts those keys where your thumbs can actually reach them without having to move so much of your hand. But I understand that split keyboards aren't everyone's cup of tea. That said, I've been using some type of ergonomic keyboard since the 90s.
As a guy with a 48in chest, if i don't go for a deep desk a standard slab keyboard does involve some wrist issues, even with a deep desk the only reason my wrists are even remotely in line is because my keyboard is 1.5' away from my torso
11:00 "LOL, still missed it" = LOL, I love your self deprecation! Huge props!
so glad companies are trying out ortholinear layouts. I've had to build my own to avoid the inconsistent stagger of more traditional keyboards.
10:20 there's actually a rename button both at the top in the explorer ribbon and at the top of the Win11 right click menu, it just uses an icon of a text entry field rather than having the "rename" written out. You even moused over it, paused for a split second as if you were going to click it, and then made things harder on yourself to prove a point. Still less efficient than having F keys, but not as bad as you're making it out to be
OR slow double click a file name and it goes to rename mode.
Two years ago I bought myself a moonlander. With the main intention to be able to customize it. Suffice to say, I did really not use the QMK functions very often. The adjustments are nearly all just to access layer 2 more easily and add useful stuff like SysRq, AltGr and Home to the main Layer. The biggest benefit for me is the better location of the delete and backspace key, which nearly always irritates me while writing on my laptop. Another benefit is that it's split apart. Since I'm one of those who has the mouse diagonal in front of the screen this gives me more space to move around.
Microsoft Nat Keyboard 3000 with 70% of the keycap printing entirely eroded away, so it looks like some sort of MS/DasKeyboard illegitimate offspring.
oh I need that trackball shirt
Thanks for the thorough review! Hope your brain recovers! :)
i want one of the "nucleated pint glasses" but it would need to be a double walled glass for it's insulation qualities.
A keyboard that will give me braindamage? Made by braindamaged people!? I Want It.
I recently got the K15. Love this layout. Needs and end key. Good thing I can get rid of insert and remap.
LMAO Ortholinear Alice layouts are a wild ride. I also don't like those stock keycaps at all, side-print legends never did it for me.
Also, the lack of the key to the right of the up arrow is a common aesthetic decision made for visual balance. There's no pleasing everyone with that; I'd say the right side of the board would look a bit busy with the extra key.
With that layout, I'd relocate the backspace key to the pipe key, Delete to the far right side of where Backspace usually goes, and the pipe key to the left of that... which is how that layout is supposed to go in the first place (very much like my Sneakbox AVA). Those center keys need to be Nav/Macro/Fn keys, for sure. but with the board having QMK/VIA, you can make those changes and then it becomes a non-issue unless the wrong legends being there bothers you.
Bring back the ergoboard!
Used a Microsoft ergonomic split at work and it being the keyboard I used at work has tainted ALL split and ergo keyboards for me. So that makes this keyboard an automatic no go even with the beautiful retro clear nature. It also being an Indiegogo that's not a GPD is a no go for me.
Plus, one thought on the acrylic clear. I know what my keyboard looked like last week when I cleaned it out and swapped the keycaps. Clear might not be a good thing?
Sorry but your explanation of why keys are staggered on the traditional keyboard is wrong. They're not staggered to help you find the keys, it's more historical in nature.
I learned that in school too. It doesn't mean he's wrong. Two things can be true, it could be an accidental benefit, or *gasp* standardized education can be wrong.
They are staggered because they were staggered on typewriters, because they had levers attached to them.
this is a great product for the 0 people who want a weird split keyboard but also no F keys
Yeah the lack of F-keys and the weird placement of keys too high for your thumb to reach that you're supposed to use your thumb for basically kill the idea for anyone who isn't a keyboard snob posting pics of their latest $350 keycap set on reddit for the other snobs. Real people need access to their keys.
your pinky is stronger than your thumb.
Thanks for the video.
I miss my Microsoft ergo. Is there a mech copy of it?
I was going to recommend the ergodox but it seems it's ortholinear. Dammit. Little hard to do a mechanical MSNatural/AddessoTruForm because of the curve to the deck. Kinesis Freestyle 2 is a mech, but I dunno what switches they're using. Topre would make sense for Kinesis and their more twin-bowl keybaords and might be what they used actually. Topre and that's probably not hat you want if you want a mech board for mech board reasons.
The only time my pinkie finger hurt with a keyboard is playing some role playing game. The left shift key (sprinting) is sometimes held down for 1-2 minutes, in total over an hour during a whole session. It is also responsible for the left ctrl key (crouching).
I'm still daily driving a Microsoft Ergo 4000 which is on its last presses... Would love to find a replacement that equals the ergo.
I probably wouldn't be able to do an Alice keyboard without the number pad. I never drilled on number row numeric entry. I was already faster at numpad drills than my school required, so I just used that while typing. It's usually quicker for me to move my hand over to the numpad, enter a digit or two, and move back to the home position than it is for me to reach up past the qwerty row and hit the numbers.
How about holding a key with your left thumb and the right side of the board just turns into the numpad right under your hand?
I can type on almost anything. I've had lots of different jobs with all sorts of hardware.
The keyboard I miss the most is the ADB one that came with my Mac SE/30. Modern Mac keyboards aren't for me.
I've got an IBM model M I sometimes use. I like it but it doesn't play nicely with my primary KVM and certain machines.
I type with just my right hand. Various reasons but one important one is that I smashed my left wrist and have limited movement and a fair amount of pain. I can manage 45wpm but a lot of the time I don't need to go that fast.
Split keyboards don't work for me full stop. I've long slender hands but anything that increases the distance that my hand/arm has to travel is not good.
I got my first alice style board a keychron q8 last week and the transition hasn't been hard. But it uses a traditional staggered layout and not an orthonilear one so I can see how it can be way harder.
Cool keyboard. 👍
You may want to have a look at the Dygma offering. I think it mitigates most of your complains, but it's expensive. I have been running a Dygma Raise for about a year and love it. Thanks to the layers, I CAN press F2 :) Not being able to have the F-keys would be an instant return for me as well.
I tried a split layout for all of 10 seconds. The problem is, I type 'b' with my right index finger (about 30% of the population). So unless they put it on both sides, like the alice layout, I'm going to immediately pass on it.
I'm not crazy. This is not a real alice layout. Plenty of example boards and images include right hand 'b'.
I recently bought a Keychron V10, which is an alice keyboard that has a B-key at both sides. I absolutely love it and would recommend it to anyone that what to get into ergonomical mechanical keyboards on a budget. It's not gaskets mounted (but their more expensive Q10 is, but it does have QMK support, solid quality and is hot swappable.
The palm rest is a must, though. Really makes the board that much better.
I thought “I have the same key cap set!” then I remembered I bought them after seeing your build video 😅
I had a Microsoft Ergonomic keyboard at work for years. TBH, I don't remember getting rid of it, but I've had various keyboards since, with a wired Apple keyboard now (I know they aren't great keyboards, but I've got used to it, and quite like it now), so while I don't remember getting rid of it, I clearly did.
I kind of want to try an ortholinear again but feel like the result would be the same in that I just can't get used to it. My old man hands just too used to TKL but maybe I'll give it another shot.
I have a Feker Alice 80% keyboard, all I have to say is thankfully Alice layouts aren't all the same. Your typing style might enjoy the two B keys.
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I wonder how many people will clean it with chemicals and make that clear plastic go cloudy.
I do think there might be something to an ortho-linear layout, but maybe not with that curved design. I feel my left wrist has to bend back more on a traditional layout, and ortho-linear might resolve that singular issue.
I'm sorry for being "that guy", but the fact that every key in the main four rows are never aligned in a column has more to do with the lineage of the layout going back to typewriters needing the mechanical arm that went from the key to the hammer not to cross or be aligned on top of another key than the ergonomic advantages.
Brain hemorrhage concavity. lol. Flatscreen vein bulge out of my face. lol
I wait for the day some one makes a Microsoft sculpt but with hot swap mechanical keys.
Microsoft Ergo Gang till I die... or preferably until someone makes an exact replica but with mechanical switches and precision keys.
I agree, can't live without my F Keys and for my job I NEED my numberpad.
Laughing at all the Windows users who arent using AHK to create application/context specific hotkeys and macros. ;P
still daily driving a Microsoft Sculpt Keyboard
Good damn! This is such a horrible keyboard just to look at! I´m using the black wireless extended Apple Magic Keyboard for years and it is perfect! I really love the flat keys we have these days. I am so glad we finally got over '80s style keyboards... Just my 2 cents. 😆
However, thanks for your great content!
Well I LOVE split keyboards - this one won't go on my list to try.....
They botched the ortholinear layout by making splay at the top. The enter and backspace keys are way to far to reach and I don’t even see the point of an arrow cluster on a board like that.
Yeah, the top spacing was bizarre!
If I was going to spend that much for an ergo I would go with a glove80 or a dactyl.
Or even a Dygma Defy!
Yup. That’s a hard no for me.
So just a couple of pointers from a big keeb nerd here. Firstly the frosted keyboard you have is most likely Poly Carbonate (PC) and not acryllic. While acryllic is used, it's more often stacked acryllic and not CNC'd as PC is a lot better for this task. For the Vicky I can't really tell without having it myself, but that does look to be CNC acryllic, which is interesting. For the alice layout, this is not really alice. At best I'd call this a "alice like keyboard". It is closer to arisu, but that is still not quite this as both alice and arisu don't have buttons in the middle of the alphas. This is also a ortholinear keyboard, and not a traditional staggered layout that you see on a alice/arisu. So I'd highly recommend trying a actual alice or arisu layout before completely dissmissing it. As for what to buy I would highly recommend keychron V-series for a decently cheap option for beginners, as customs can often get expensive fast, a few of my alice boards are 500+ for just the chassis and pcb. It can also be nice to get a wrist rest with alice, I find myself being a lot more relaxed using one. Lastly I think it would be nice to mention what software it's compatible with other than QMK, since most QMK boards are either VIA or VIAL compatible as well, and both are a lot better to use to reprogram keys.
Nah you won't get me to drop my 100% keyboards. Numpad for IP addresses or accounting is mandatory and page up down home end are just too practical. Be careful on linux without the function row as you may not be able to switch tty depending on the keyboards.
Dvorak FTW.
Think Geek used to have the best space saving keyboard for Windows. It just had Ctrl, Alt, and Del.
Getting used to a columnar layout takes some time, and it might not be for everybody. But a split layout is always benefitial; it's not only about the wrists, but also about the elbows. With a split layout your elbows are naturally more open, leading to an open chest and better overal posture.
@CraftComputing
Jeff, great review, bad keyboard. With no "F" keys there is a solid functionality loss that, in my personal and professional opinion, is completely unacceptable. There are some systems the need the "F" keys in the BIOS. The absence of them is mindbogglingly stupid. For that reason alone this keyboard is a hard pass. But you touched on a few others that make me ask: What the heck were they thinking? Pretty or not, well built or not, the mantra "Function over Fashion" rings true here. This could have been so epic and much better but instead is an epic fail.
Interestingly, this video lost me at “acrylic.”
This keyboard isn't really representative of most Alice keyboard layouts. I couldn't find any mention of the Alice layout anywhere in XPLUS's marketing. The fact this board has columnar stagger and has extra keys in the middle makes it much more similar to the X-Bows keyboard. If you want to experience the Alice layout or one of its derivatives please consider buying one like the Keychron Q8.
Alice-derivative boards are usually staggered in a mostly-standard way, and much easier to adjust to as a result. Some keyboards (the Meridian for example), have an even shallower V-angle. That easier adjustment is kind of the whole point; a lot of non-Alice ergonomic keyboards do not include a second "B" key. The Alice and Alice-derivatives do have a second B since people commonly hit that key with either their left or the right hand, compared to a lot of the other alphanumeric keys which are typically used by only one hand.
I get that this sort of thing gets to be "into the weeds" territory really quickly, but it would be nice to see deeper research on topics like keyboards, especially when we're talking about an Indiegogo campaign from a company that few people have heard of.
Eh. Looks like a half baked X-Bows ripoff in a really, really nice case.
lol, r.i.p. my comment that I was going to edit which is gone. :sus:
The one with 3 likes that calls this out as an X-bows clone?
@@RubyRoks No, the one where I point out that this is an ortholinear Alice (which has all the learning curve Jeff describes) and not a traditional Alice (where the keys ARE staggered).
This keyboard looks like a X-bows Crystal keyboard and much more expensive..
The X-plus keyboard is nothing more than the "X-bows CRYSTAL", but with a different case/keycap set.
X-bows verified this in a reddit thread.
The problem why it wasn't funded at all might be because of this exact reason, and people being a bit suspicious of that sort of listings