Nice job! Moving the home rows apart is such a game changer on a small keyboard like the Planck.

What correlation is there between being "successful" and layout size? I'd guess that most jobs only need the bare minimum keyboard that works. Everything past that is mostly preference.

The part that rubs me the wrong way is how the preference is qualified by the job (net admin). Truth is, there'll be other net admins out there who prefer smaller layouts. Even within the same job function, there's going to be a spectrum of preference.

Pretty much any keyboard that's compatible with the nice!nano microcontroller (most boards with a pro micro/elite C footprint). Unfortunately, not sure of many conventional premium boards that let you just socket in your own microcontroller, but there's a ton in the ergo space.

Integrating the battery is easy since you just get taller standoffs for the nice!nano and place the battery underneath. Then, there's the nice!view which is an e-ink screen (great for showing battery level).

As for firmware, ZMK is built with wireless first in mind. It plays very nicely with the nice!nano. Here's a list of supported hardware: https://zmk.dev/docs/hardware#pro_micro.

Here's a low profile Corne that I built recently: https://i.imgur.com/euoETk7.jpg. It's fully wireless with both halves even communicating over BLE!

Now I'm finding excuses to buy new boards because it supports ZMK + Bluetooth 😔

Not all clip in stabs are plate mount though. There's clip in PCB mount stabs, like TX stabs which arguably have the best performance at the moment.

Which one in particular? Their mechanical keyboard reviews seem fair (e.g. rightfully calling out the Drop Sense75 as overpriced). Of course they don't cover the more niche enthusiast boards, but their takes on mainstream boards are about in line with the community's sentiments.

Their glowing Keychron Q2 review is what got me into mechanical keyboards so I'd argue that they're doing more or less the opposite of gatekeeping.

Edit: are you talking about the PCMag article? https://www.pcmag.com/opinions/buying-a-mechanical-keyboard-broke-me (whew this one was wild)

Wow that sounds intense! I can't imagine an entire class typing at 75+. Most people I know type around 40-50 wpm.

The piano analogy really makes sense though. Because I learned piano before I learned typing, float typing was the default position for me. Never needed wrist rests.

In Elementary school (mid-2000s), we had a computer literacy class where most of it was just using the Mavis Beacon typing program. God I hated it so much, but looking back, it was super effective in teaching me to type properly with the home row and whatnot.

They didn't explicitly cover our hands like the other commenter, but touch typing came pretty naturally when drilling in the "correct" finger for each key. The bar for passing was pretty low too, only 35 wpm haha.