What the heck is a Corne keyboard?!

- My keymap: github.com/Adam13531/qmk_firm...
- My bill of materials: github.com/Adam13531/crkbd/bl...
- Video about my keyboard journey: • My keyboard journey
Hello, and welcome to hour number 417 of me talking about keyboards. The Corne is a 36-key, split keyboard that I've been using for over two years. We'll talk about how this thing works and the big features that make it usable despite having so few keys.
Twitch: / adamlearnslive
Official site: adamlearns.live/
Chapters
0:00 - Intro
1:32 - Dealing with 36 keys
3:06 - Layers
4:25 - Modifier keys
7:38 - Various forms
8:26 - Downsides
9:17 - Getting into this

[@RemyRmGaming]

0:10 Adam trying to fool us into thinking the keyboard is small, rather than that he has comically large hands

[@aarrayy]

This was an awesome breakdown! good job on demostrating your workspace

[@noahmilliken4259]

Sweet vid man.

[@Excalibaard]

Great showcase! I've been using a dygma defy for 3 months now, and adjusting was easier than I thought because I kept using qwerty. In terms of gaming, a 36 key corne is going to be tricky, but definitrly doable with something like a lily. Instead of remapping I have another base layer that puts WASD and often used keys like Tab, modifiers and some numbers on the right keys.

[@health_doc]

very nice video. when starting modding there are so many things you have to learn so I like the slow pase. Not sure I can convince myself reducing so many characters since I use so many symbols and parenthesis all day long. But it was a nice inspiring video none the less

[@pushin5500]

I recently got a ZSA Voyager and absolutely love it, but want to go even smaller. I think the Corne is going to be my choice and I can’t wait. The keyboard looks so nice and I can’t wait to have a fully custom build. Good video too btw!

[@AdamLearns]

The Voyager looks great, and it's probably what I would have picked instead of the Moonlander if it had existed back when I made the decision to buy. One thing that I've heard online is that it may take some time getting used to having _three_ thumb buttons, which is something you can't easily test with the Voyager since it would involve _adding_ a key. I hope you like the Corne if you do end up getting one! (and thanks for watching my video 😁)

[@norm1124]

Haha - Microsoft to Corne, that was excatly my way. Only difference: I built a to case to fix the position of both halfes and derived my "corne42" from a "lotus58" to practice KiCAD designing. An amazing journey, but as written: with a HUGE learning curve.

[@voidmachines]

Always nice to see a fellow corne user 😄

[@bcfuerst]

If you have acess to a 3D printer, soldering iron etc. you can build a handwired version extremly cheap. Thats what I did. Cost me 13 Euros in switches and 15 in controllers. Plus diodes, filament, TRRS cable etc. it came out to like 40 Euros. The RP2040 boards pretty cheap and amazon has sometimes really good deals on switches. The real cost is in relearnig to type. But the minimal movement is nice.

[@apiratchai]

The add up to this, PCB from Chinese manufacturer are quite cheap too. You can have 2.5 pairs of split keyboard PCB for under 15$ shipping included.

[@Jacob-ny2ve]

I’ve logged a few years on 40s and 30s; this is a really solid explainer! Subscribed, and bookmarking this to share with people who ask why my keyboard doesn’t look like a regular one. Also gained inspiration for a couple of things to try out in my keymap 🤓 Might be nice to pair this with a video about a few other options in this space, bearing in mind the way you’ve mentioned ergonomics (so, for example, a little explainer around column stagger and a few examples of related boards, like the Fifi/Choco-fi)…

[@AdamLearns]

Thank you for watching and subscribing! I think the best thing I did for my keymap was to add shortcuts to my NAV layer that made sense specifically for my own workflows. I talk about this a bit in the latter half of this unlisted video (kzbin.info/www/bejne/poW7p4ZnaNCUptk) (but I kind of want to make a video talking _only_ about this in a more polished way). To save you from having to watch another video, the short summary is that I don't want to keep bouncing between layers, so tasks like focusing an application, making a new tab, and going to my browser's homepage are all in my NAV layer. This lets me do something like: - Select text - Copy that text - Switch to Chrome - Open a new tab - Paste - Press enter ...all without leaving the NAV layer, which greatly speeds up such a common workflow for me. Regarding other keyboard options, this is the only tiny keyboard that I own, so I don't think I'd be able to give much insight into how they _feel_ to use, just in the theory behind them.

[@Jacob-ny2ve]

@@AdamLearns That's pretty much my current state, now that I know life with 36 keys suits me best- refining shortcuts and key combos that are tailored to my experience and workflows. And yeah: totally appreciate that you probably want to focus more on what you've actually worked with. I went from a Lily58 to a Corne to a smaller Corne; the stagger's pretty similar between those options. It's only recently that I started to experiment with others and figured out that the board I have now actually suits my hands better. Took me a while to figure out that there were those other options out there!

[@joaoleite3433]

I absolutely love my corne! I got the 42 key, but just cause I'm too coward to snap the last columns (I don't use them, currently using miryoku layout).

[@anon_y_mousse]

Upir did a video on custom displays that I think would work perfectly for a project such as this. Flat LCD panels that could be sized specifically for each key and display what key is currently available to be pressed. It would add to the expense and complexity, but would make the keyboard more friendly for the user. If I ever get free time again I'd like to try that.

[@AdamLearns]

That sounds like a cool project to work on! I feel like the keyboard space in general has a lot of neat hardware stuff that people have done. That particular project would require a decent bit of software, too (more than just the firmware on the keyboard).

[@vinapocalypse]

This would be a nightmare with emacs key combos

[@deepankarchakraborty236]

I've been using an ergonomic keyboard for a while now, and it helped reducing strain on my wrists and hands. But it still causes some shoulder pain. Might want to give Corne keyboard a try. Thanks for your insight.

[@AdamLearns]

A split keyboard might help, and it doesn't have to be the Corne if you can find a cheaper one somewhere. Do you do any shoulder exercises? I've heard from a couple of people with shoulder pain who had tried everything that some strength training helped.

[@kurushimee]

I got myself a Piantor half a year back, but recently went back to my mechanical keyboard. I'm now waiting to gather up more money and get myself a corne instead, with MX switches and MX keycaps, because pretty much the main issue is that I don't like the low profile switches, and keycaps for them are noticeably of lower quality than those I have on my MX mech keeb. Now besides that, I really hope I can find a good case for corne in the future, because a good case would severely change how the keyboard sounds when typing

[@AdamLearns]

Sorry to hear about your experience with low-profile switches. 😢 At least the Corne has the option for both kinds of switches! My case was designed/produced by devildogdotgames; feel free to reach out to him if you want to get a similar one.

[@EverSoJoe]

For me the reason why I got down the rabbit hole of split ergo keyboards was actually gaming. I have a full fat tenkey keyboard and noticed how bad my fatigue was after gaming due to my hands being so far apart and after some consideration and no half gaming keyboard really cought my eye, I began sourcing parts and now I'm the proud owner of 42 key corne and trying to learn it. And gaming on it is actually quite enjoyable, given I only play games where I only need the letters until R. Also with modifiers I went the homerow mods route. It's taking a big toll to actually retrain muscle memory, but I really like it that I basically never have to leave my homerow and don't have to think about layers in that moment.

[@AdamLearns]

(sorry for the delayed response; was on vacation) Yeah, gaming is definitely _possible_ on smaller keyboards, but I found that some games were just too difficult to play. I'm using a Colemak layout, so I would either need to rebind all of the keys (WASD is obnoxious in Colemak! 😅) or switch back to QWERTY just for gaming, at which point chatting or browsing while gaming would be a little bit harder. It's great that it's working for you with the games you play, that way you don't need a second keyboard.

[@easylite376]

I would add "corne keyboard" in the title. I can't find the video in the search even if I search "Adam corne keyboard"

[@AdamLearns]

Good call! I'll change the title now. 🙏

[@chri-k]

The adding a nav layer to your keyboard test can also be substituted with "do you like vim"?

[@mateusza737]

It's corn!

[@Michi-ny7py]

I'm not sure if this really works but wouldn't this type of keyboard be really cool consisting of keys like the steam deck? So you could map any image to the keys that align with the "layers" so it would be easier to pick up cause you see all the time which "function" the key has

[@Michi-ny7py]

Also in a lot of games (mostly competitive) you actually don't need many different keys So you could like use only one half of the keyboard + mouse And of course map the keyboard really efficiently for ur game

[@AdamLearns]

It's totally reasonable to have a "Stream Deck" layer, but the keys don't have dynamic screens on them like the Stream Deck does, so you'd just have to memorize what does what (or print out physical images to put on each keycap). Also, it's probably more cost-effective and user-friendly to get a Stream Deck. Regarding gaming, I agree that there are some games that work fine on the Corne. Other games are... rough, to say the least. Plus, I happen to use a non-standard layout (Colemak-DH), so I would need to remap WASD in every game I play. 😢 P.S. thanks for watching! 😁

[@mikelochman16]

Great video! I am currently trying to order parts and I am so confused on how to buy the parts for the top and bottom plates? I'm assuming this is necessary for the build, correct? first time builder here, sorry!

[@AdamLearns]

Thanks! I've also only ever done this one build, and figuring out the case seemed like too much of a challenge for me, so I decided to just skip that step and ended up putting the bare PCB directly on my desk mat. I don't think that was a good idea since the PCB flexed enough to essentially break my LEDs over the course of a few months. The gray case you see in the video is from DevilDogDotGames a couple of months ago. They kindly offered to design/create the case for me. You can contact them to see if they'll sell you a case if you want to go that route. Hope you have a great time on your keyboard journey! 😁

[@mikelochman16]

@@AdamLearns AHHH! so its not just me banging my head against the wall trying to figure this case situation out.. Is the gray casing just a 3D printed case? and I'm assuming its attached somehow correct? REALLY want to get into making a Corne and I feel like this whole case thing is making me go crazy lol. Thanks for the quick reply though

[@AdamLearns]

Yes, the gray case is just 3D-printed from resin. It's not attached by anything other than tension, but that's been good enough for me. I _think_ that people who can't print a 3D case usually end up printing more copies of the PCB and using them with stand-offs, so that's another route you can try. When I ordered through JLCPCB, I got five full keyboard PCBs and only used one set for my Corne. I just didn't feel like figuring out which sizes to buy for stand-offs and screws, but that information should be online somewhere. Sorry I can't be of more help there! 😢

[@moorederodeo]

I know you've probably considered home row mods, why did you opt for one shot modifiers over them? I find HRM much simpler to think about (and was easier to implement), but I know it slows me down when typing (specifically shifted keys).

[@AdamLearns]

Hi! Yeah, I had used home-row mods for some number of months, but I always ran into issues either with not holding a modifier long enough (and thus typing something like "jhi" instead of "Hi") or holding it for too long and accidentally modifying a key (typing something like "Ob" instead of "job"). I played around with various options like permissive hold, etc., but nothing "just worked" without having to really pause on each modifier. Maybe this is a bad analogy, but imagine typing out a phone number on your phone using the _QWERTY_ keyboard (as opposed to using the _number layer_ like I show in this video). To type "555-1234", I have to hold "T" for the 5, then "T" twice more, then "h" for the hyphen, "Q" for 1, etc. It starts feeling tedious _very_ quickly. That's sort of how I feel using home-row mods. I know what I want to type, but executing the motions just feels like I'm walking through molasses. One small problem with one-shot mods is that the modifiers don't get consumed by mouse movements. For example, in FL Studio, you can hold alt and right-click to preview the music that you're making. On my keyboard, that means I press alt and then take my hand off my keyboard entirely as I right-click. However, the alt isn't consumed since I never did anything on my keyboard, so the next action I do ends up having alt applied. I don't tend to expect this since my muscle memory still hasn't adjusted for video- or music-editing on the Corne. One last thing: switching from home-row mods to one-shot mods felt more natural than switching from a regular keyboard to home-row mods, so it could be worth trying for a week or so to see how you feel about it. However, my keymap is certainly more complicated as a result of the OSM code that I added. :( (hope this comment is helpful; I'm typing it from my phone and I can't read it in its entirety here 👀)

[@combatLaCarie]

It's certainly interesting.... I danno though. I think I'd at least need the extra modifiers. If I have ctrl+crazy_stuff already in vim, then I bind ctrl to some some other crazy stuff, then I have other_crazy_stuff+crazy_stuff

[@AdamLearns]

Honestly, it's not _too_ bad, and you can always put custom key combinations into a layer if you want (e.g. I have a key that types out three backticks at once, and another key that sends ⌘⇧E). The nice thing is that you can just get a keyboard with 40-50 keys and then have more than enough (hopefully) to do whatever you need!

[@chri-k]

Another thing you can do is just have control as an actual modifier key if you need it that frequently

[@nabilaldhaleai5213]

thank you for sharing this post, would you pls share the gerber file for this one please or if possible how to compile these files to be uploaded to jlcpcb ... thank you

[@AdamLearns]

Hey, you can generate the gerber files with these instructions: jlcpcb.com/help/article/4-How-to-generate-Gerber-files-in-different-software The files you need for that are located here: github.com/Adam13531/crkbd/tree/choc-v3/corne-chocolate/v3/pcb

[@nabilaldhaleai5213]

@@AdamLearnsthank you so much

[@tete0148]

After two years of using this keyboard, are you still able to type on normal one ? Because the problem I see is when you have to use a portable computer: at work when moving, on the train, etc

[@AdamLearns]

If you're using the same layout on two different keyboards, then it's very easy to swap between them. However, I use Colemak-DH on the Corne and QWERTY on my laptop or while gaming, and _that_ adds a bit more difficulty, but it's still not too bad. I just occasionally forget which layout I'm on and my muscle memory makes me type nonsense for a word or two before I remember. 🫠

[@leafotc]

Something is happening where my messages get delayed can the mods take a look

[@AdamLearns]

The mods told me that they would leave every other message in the holding cell until your comments have been posted. Please post "first" and then "done" on every subsequent video. 👍

[@bogorad]

or use KMONAD/Kanata to emulate the whole thing.

[@AdamLearns]

Yeah, I haven't tried them myself, but I think that's a good way of seeing whether someone would like custom firmware (although from searching quickly, it seems like not all QMK features are supported [well] like combos).

[@bogorad]

​ @AdamLearns they are in Kanata

[@CarlosBallena]

I def recommend 42-key corne, it makes the key combos MUCH less awkward.

[@leafotc]

First