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+Earlier this month, I decided that I would laugh at Indian
+customs in the face by building a split-ergo mechanical
+keyboard from scratch rather than purchasing a Moonlander.
+
+![The finished product](https://u.peppe.rs/i8k.jpg)
+
+## Sourcing the parts
+
+If you, like me, live in India, you might find this section
+useful. My approach to finding parts:
+
+ - Check reputed, local online stores
+ - Check physical hardware stores
+ - Import the part
+
+### PCBs
+
+This was by far the hardest component to procure.
+Fabrication services have certain _capabilities_.
+Capabilities are the limitations of a fabrication service.
+For example, a service may be capable of drilling holes no
+smaller than 0.3mm in diameter. Most sites have a
+verification process to check if their capabilities meet
+your design's requirements. I tried a few local PCB
+fabrication services:
+
+ - Lion PCB: Capabilities did not meet my requirements
+ - PCBPower: Capabilities did not meet my requirements
+ - Circuitwala: Capabilities did not meet my requirements
+
+I settled for JLCPCB, a Chinese service. PCBs themselves
+were 16 USD, shipping was another 35 USD, and customs was
+another 3.5K INR (ouch).
+
+
+### Case material
+
+I don't really have a case for the Lotus58, it is more of a
+"plastic sandwich". I purchased acrylic plates from Robu.
+Cheap, fast, solid, and customizable. I cannot recommend
+Robu enough. A full set of plates (2 top plates and 2 bottom
+plates) cost me about 500 INR. I also bought a pair of
+laptop height raisers on Amazon to create a budget tenting
+setup.
+
+### Electronics
+
+You'll need a few rather specific electronic components such
+as hotswap sockets and TRRS mounts, the rest are commonly
+available:
+
+- Hotswap sockets: StacksKB
+- TRRS mounts (PJ 320A): StacksKB
+- Diodes (1N4841): StacksKB
+- M2 screws: StacksKB
+- M2 spacers: ThinkRobotics
+- Arduino Pro Micro: Robu
+
+I skimped out on optional components such as OLEDs and
+rotary encoders.
+
+### Switches and Keycaps
+
+Arguably the most fun part of the build:
+
+- Gateron Oil King switches: Rectangles
+- DSA blanks: Meckeys
+
+## Building the keyboard
+
+The the build is extremely straightforward. Through hole
+components are easy to solder. Be wary of component
+placement and orientation. Check thrice, solder once. Few
+debugging tips:
+
+- if a single key does not actuate, check the hotswap for
+  poor soldering (reflow the joint), and the switch pins for
+  deformation during installation
+- if an entire column or row activates on a single
+  key-press, a connection has been shorted
+- if only some of the keys on a given row actuate, a diode
+  has been soldered on the wrong way
+
+## The typing experience
+
+I decidede to give QWERTY the boot and learn Colemak along
+with the new keyboard. The first few weeks were terrible
+because I could neither type QWERTY nor Colemak, but I got
+the hang of it pretty quickly. Typing websites do help, but
+it is best to simply use it in your daily workflow. No site
+can help you get accustomed to the various things you use
+your keyboard for such as switching windows or navigating
+vim/tmux.
+
+### Colemak
+
+Alt layouts such as Colemak are definitely worth it. I find
+that Colemak reduces finger movement a lot, a good portion
+of the keys on the left hand are the same as QWERTY, it
+is fairly easy to pick up as well.
+
+### Vim
+
+Using an alt layout means most programs with keyboard
+shortcuts are not going to work as expected, `HJKL` on vim for
+movements being one of them. I took the short route out by
+creating a new layer with arrow keys on the home row:
+
+```
+default homerow:
+H N E I
+
+"nav" layer:
+< v ^ >
+```
+
+The remaining commands in vim are largely mnemonics.
+Navigating with home-row arrow keys also means that I can
+use "HJKL" globally, to scroll a website, for example.
+
+### Cutting down to 34 keys
+
+A couple months into my ergo journey, I realized that I
+could get away by moving my fingers even lesser. I moved
+modifiers such as `Super`, `Ctrl`, `Alt` and `Shift` to the
+home-row as QMK Mod Taps. The rest of the keys are cleverly
+placed in layers, not too much unlike the Miryoku layout.
+Even for someone that writes Rust (a symbol-heavy grammar),
+I find 34-keys to be sufficient.
+
+## Conclusion
+
+I have been bitten by the ergomech bug.
+
+![The Lotus58 in action](https://u.peppe.rs/XM3.jpg)