Oh yeah that’s definitely a challenge. I had to tweak it some, but luckily I found Miryoku so I can get all the special characters without reaching too far. Even bound a key to :: for Rust. It does take quite a while to get used to though and I had to switch off with a normal keyboard at the beginning when I needed to get something done quickly.
My first split was a Moonlander which I still have and use, and I love it. Then I got a Rollow and a Waterfowl (both on group buys) and I absolutely adore them.
It does take some reprogramming the muscle memory to get used to a split ortho, but it’s been worth it. I can type longer without my wrists hurting, and the freedom in key customisation is awesome.
Using a split lets me keep my hands further apart, so my shoulders are back in a more natural position. That has helped quite a bit with upper back pain.
I tent the Moonlander, but not my other two. Tenting is really comfortable, but I’d recommend starting flat and increasing angle gradually since the split ortho is already a lot to get used to.
Switching to a split is also a good time to switch to another layout like colemak if you have any interest. Your fingers will be slightly confused anyway. Doing that helped me keep my QWERTY muscle memory for normal keyboards.
Same! I was always Boost on Android, Apollo on the iPad. So excited to hear about Boost for Lemmy!