this post was submitted on 02 Aug 2025
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ErgoMechKeyboards

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Ergonomic, split and other weird keyboards

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Posts must be of/about keyboards that have a clear delineation between the left and right halves of the keyboard, column stagger, or both. This includes one-handed (one half doesn't exist, what clearer delineation is that!?)

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¹ split meaning a separation of the halves, whether fixed in place or entirely separate, both are fine.
² ortholinear meaning keys layed out in a grid

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Pictured: current TKL below, split ergomech above

Background

So I recently got my first ergomech keyboard: a used BastardKB TBKMini, 3x6+3 layout.

It came with the default keymap.

I have been crafting my own initial keymap, using some vim-based heuristics and Callum style one-shot mods.

Followed BastardKB's instructions and got my keymap to compile.

Then onto flashing. This is where the problem is.

The problem: flashing the board

Instructions: https://docs.bastardkb.com/fw/flashing.html

I managed to put the device into bootloader mode with both layer keys and the top-left key. Verified that it is in bootloader mode by checking that typing has no effect. Also lsusb shows "Atmega32u4 bootloader" instead of "BastardKB TBKMini keyboard".

But I don't get a disk device.

Things I tried

udev

I tried adding the udev rules that QMK docs recommend: https://docs.qmk.fm/faq_build#can-t-program-on-linux

But it still won't work.

OS

I even tried another pc with other OSes: same behavior on

  • Fedora
  • CachyOS
  • and even Windows 10

Help me please! 😥

Any ideas on what is going wrong here or what I could try to work around this? I really want to start using my split ergomech with a proper keymap.

Looking forward to reading your suggestions tomorrow morning (in about 9 hours for me, I'm in Europe). I wanted to post this now because I hope the Americans will be able to help me.


EDIT: Thanks, with your help and the help of some kind volunteers on the bastardkb discord I figured out that I have the old v1 elitec version and I managed to flash it with an old version of the bastardkb firmware. I got the layers working, as well as the combo, but callum’s oneshot modifiers aren’t working yet: https://github.com/fhoekstra/bastardkb-qmk/tree/main/keyboards/bastardkb/tbkmini/keymaps/fhoekstra


EDIT2: I finally listened and just followed the upstream QMK instructions, and it all just works, with Callum-style modifiers, combos, and a custom caps word:

https://github.com/fhoekstra/qmk_userspace

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[–] frostbyte@lemdro.id 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I don't think Atmega-based keyboards can show up as usb storage (like an rp2040-based keyboard). You probably need to flash using QMK Toolbox or the command line (after entering bootloader mode again).

[–] F04118F@feddit.nl 1 points 1 day ago

Thanks, this was indeed the issue!