ThumbsUp! Keyboards

  VIA and REMAP are great online visual tools to re-define QMK-based keyboards. All current ThumbsUp! keyboard support both tools by default.   Configuration File Download JSON file for your board from here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/2s8vz5tq5lffmpjuqbz2c/h?rlkey=71amow1mhhwfe54c0ywx59bfc&dl=0   v2 Atmega: rev2_atmega_via.json v2 RP2040: rev2_rp2040_via.json v3, v4: rev3_rp2040_via.json v5, v8: rev5_promicro_unibody_5x12_via.json v6: rev6_rp2040_5x6_via.json v7: rev7_rp2040_5x6_via.json     How to use VIA   In web-browser navigate to https://usevia.app/ :   Click on Settings icon:             Click on "Show Design Tab" toggle, so it is moved to the right: "Design" icon should be visible on top of the screen:       Click on it, this screen should appear:     Move "Use v2 definition" toggle to OFF (left) position. ...

In this post I will quickly go through the major design milestones which lead to the current ThumbsUp! keyboard design.   For years I used ThinkPad laptops and external ThinkPad Travel keyboards like the one below. I even used them together, i.e. as a split keyboard. The laptop was on the right and the external keyboard on the left, with a display between then. So my left hand used the left side of the external board, and the   right one - the right side of the laptop. A bit excessive, but otherwise quite comfortable, especially with the original version of Travel keyboard, with its trackpad and trackpoint, so either hand could use the mouse navigation.       There were some issues with the cursor control, and I rather refer to my article on All Things Ergo for details. So I started to look for other options.   There was some generic mechanical 60% keyboard, a Mistel Barocco, a Ergodox EZ, and an Ergodox Infinity (the group buy arrive...