It's Twenty Three

Lily58 left half

Posted

I cut my keyboard in half

Finally took a plunge into split keyboard world, and built myself Lily58.

This post will be super short as my typing speed is still atrocious, and it will take a while to get used to:

  1. Blank keycaps
  2. Four layers
  3. Home row mods
  4. DSA profile keycaps

At this point I am not sure if the DSA keycaps are not the biggest problem. Especially after decades of low profile laptop keyboards. Rather than have fingers glide I have to raise them with each click.

Specification

  1. PCB: MiFunny – AliExpres
  2. Case: sandwich with dark smoked/tinted acrylic base – AliExpress
  3. Controller: 0xCB Helios based on RP2040 – Keeb Supply
  4. Switches: Outemu Silent Cream Yellow – AliExpress
  5. Keycaps: blank DSA – Keycapsss
  6. Software: QMK with Vial
Lily58 sandwich case

Experience

Will report back once my typing speed is back to normal. 🤪

UPDATE 17/07/2025

Getting more comfortable with new layers. Dialed in certain special keys and typing improved significantly. It is still horrible though.

Vial - Layer 0
Layer 0

The keyboard as is suffers from two design issues that affect my typing experience. These are:

  1. Gaps between DSA keycaps are brutal for someone used to low profile, keyboard style keycaps. I feel my fingertips getting stuck between keys since they are used to gliding freely.
  2. The notches on homing keys are very subtle. Keep loosing home-row constantly.
Subtle homing notch and DSA keycaps gaps

A set of low profile Tai-Hao Thins (THT) are next keycaps I will be testing.

After two days of synthetic practice I reached 18 WPM. It is synthetic as I am doing only MonkeyType tests. I cannot yet imagine using it for work at this level of efficiency.

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Jarek Rozanski

Hi, I am Jarek, a seasoned Software Engineer with extensive experience in developing complex systems like search engines, web applications, and electronic trading platforms. I currently run my own consulting firm, Input Objects, and privacy-first web analytics, Wide Angle Analytics. When acting as a Functional Programmer, I primarily code in Scala but also have a strong interest in OCaml and F#. On a daily basis, I use various programming languages, including Java, C#, JavaScript, TypeScript, and Go.