An extreme keyboard for special needs: The Atreus from Keyboardio takes a lot of getting used to, but rewards with a pleasant typing experience.

Keyboards are a very personal thing: tastes are different. What some consider unusable is a blessing to others. That explains why there is a market for rather inclined keyboards like the OLKB Planck, an ultra-compact, ortholinear 40 percent keyboard, or highly configurable ergo keyboards like the Matias Ergo Pro. Keyboardio’s Atreus shows that it can be even more extreme.

The Atreus is not only ultra-compact and has unusual buttons arranged in columns, it is also ergonomic. That makes it an exotic one that we had to get used to during our test. But if you get involved with the concept and accept the challenge, you can have fun with the Atreus. German-speaking users will not be able to do without an adaptation of the layout – and this is not entirely problem-free.

The design of the Atreus is simple, the workmanship is good: The housing is made of plastic and is 11 mm thin throughout. The switches are mounted on an aluminum base plate and, together with the 2 mm thick, laser-engraved caps, protrude a good 15 mm above the base plate. The basic dimensions of the keyboard are 24 x 10 cm, whereby the widest parts were measured. The Atreus is connected via a USB-C cable, Bluetooth is not supported.
Limited to the bare essentials

As a 40 percent keyboard, the Atreus has neither a number block nor function keys, number keys, arrow keys or other navigation keys. In addition, all keys have the same size of 1 x 1 units – the size of a conventional letter key. As a result, Keyboardio manages to accommodate 44 keys on the relatively small Atreus.

Due to the ergonomic layout, the Atreus keypad is separated in the middle, the two halves are at an angle of approx. 20 degrees to each other. Each side has 22 buttons divided into five rows of four buttons and one row of two buttons. In contrast to a conventional keyboard, the switches are not arranged offset in columns, but in rows.

However, the Atreus is not completely ortholinear like the OLKB Planck: As with other ergonomic keyboards, the rows are arranged slightly offset from one another, which benefits ergonomics. We noticed that it wasn’t as difficult to get used to the unusual key arrangement as with the Planck. In contrast to Microsoft’s ergonomic keyboard, for example, the momentum that the keys make from left to right seems to be more pronounced.

If we put our hands relaxed on the keyboard, our fingers in the basic position follow the angle and the lines of the keys more or less precisely. If you type with the ten-finger system, you can comfortably reach all keys. The Atreus cannot be angled: it has no fold-out feet, neither at the front nor at the back.

Typing on the Atreus takes time to get used to

Due to the significantly reduced number of keys compared to conventional keyboards, typing is initially a challenge even for experienced typists: For numbers we have to use the Fn key and an imaginary number pad on the right-hand side of the keyboard. Special characters such as exclamation marks etc. are located in the left area of the keyboard and can also be reached via the Fn key.

In the delivery state, for example, the brackets are placed on the letters A and G, in between there are the arrow keys as a second assignment on the E, D, S and F keys. Some functions such as the F keys or the home and end keys are only available after by pressing the Fn key and then the ESC key at the bottom left – users can even create and use up to nine layers in total.

Such multiple assignments are normal with ultra-compact keyboards and practically part of their use – anyone who buys such a keyboard has to accept this. With around 40 keys, it is not possible to accommodate all the necessary functions of a modern keyboard without multiple assignments. In order not to completely despair, especially at the beginning, Keyboardio from Atreus has included a laminated overview of the key assignments. The back shows a blank overview in which users can enter their own keyboard assignments. From experience with the OLKB Planck, we know how helpful such an overview can be at the beginning.

It will hardly work without personal adjustment

In our opinion, an adjustment is inevitable for German-speaking users: The Atreus is only supplied in the QWERTY layout, which is why umlauts are scattered across the keyboard when the keyboard is used on a PC in German. With such compact keyboards it generally helps to adapt the keys to suit your own needs, not just the umlauts.

For example, the author of this text is used to the fact that the back button is in the upper right corner of the keypad. In the original assignment, however, Backspace is placed in the bottom line as a button that can be reached with the left thumb. The author’s muscle memory does not take part and reliably flicks his little finger up to the right – and always hits the P key. The space bar is also a bit too far to the right, but the shift key is not at the edge as usual. So here we had to remodel something accordingly.

To reprogram the Atreus, we can either program a new layout using the QMK-compatible open source firmware Kaleidoscope or use a program with a graphical user interface. When programming the keyboard, quite extensive adjustments are possible; Atreus uses the well-known Atmega32U4 chip, which is also in the OLKB Planck. However, if you are not familiar enough with C ++, you can use the Chrysalis program, which does not require any programming knowledge.

Chrysalis depicts the Atreus. We can click on a key that we want to change and then set a new value – be it a different letter, a function key, a macro, a mouse function, media keys and much more. Some options cannot yet be fully implemented without self-programmed firmware, such as a tap dance sequence. This allows different inputs depending on how often a key is pressed. In Chrysalis we can only enter the number of necessary typers, but not which characters trigger them. The Keyboardio programmers are still working on a complete implementation of the function in Chrysalis.

Chrysalis doesn’t make it easy for German-speaking users

German-speaking users are also faced with the challenge of placing umlauts and the ß sensibly on the compact keyboard. The problem arises that Chrysalis only allows the input of the alphabet, as it is used in English-speaking countries. Accordingly, there are no umlauts in the selection of available characters, and the program does not recognize that we are using the keyboard under Windows with a German layout.

The keyboard will take time to get used to

The unusual assignment should lead to a sometimes difficult and possibly frustrating period of getting used to it, especially for users who have not yet used ultra-compact keyboards. Some letters are not where they normally are, and many characters are only available on the second or even third level. With the Atreus, this is made even more difficult by the ergonomic arrangement of the keys, especially for users who have not yet used ergo keyboards.

As soon as you have got used to the new handgrips, however, the Atreus can be typed very comfortably. With longer text entries, our wrists tire far less, especially if we use an additional palm rest. Over time, it also feels more natural to navigate through the various levels and sometimes even to combine them – for example when combining control and arrow keys.

The compact design also means that our fingers have to travel much shorter distances. The following applies to the Atreus: the longer you use it, the easier it is to type on it. For an even better hand posture, feet in the lower area would have been useful, but the position of our wrist and fingers is always better than on a conventional keyboard.

At the same time, we have to point out at this point that the Atreus can be an impertinence, especially for users who type with six fingers or less. With the Atreus, we find it even more important to type with eight fingers or more than with other ergonomic keyboards – otherwise, entering text is more like a search game.
Good selection of switches

We ordered our Atreus with white box switches from Kailh, which require 50 cN release force, release at 1.8 mm and click. Alternatively, the keyboard is also available with Kailh’s tactile speed copper switches, the tactile Box Brown switches or the linear Box Red switches. If you don’t like the selectable switches, you can simply replace them with others: The switches are hot swappable, so they can be easily pulled out of the keyboard with the help of a suitable tool.

Keyboardio Atreus: availability and conclusion

The Atreus costs 150 US dollars on Keyboardio’s website, plus shipping costs and, if applicable, other import costs. In addition to the various switch options, buyers can also choose between QWERTY keyboard caps or keycaps without lettering.

Conclusion

The Keyboardio Atreus is an extremely unusual keyboard that will probably take a certain amount of time to get used to from every new user. Anyone who has already used ultra-compact keyboards will have to get used to the ergonomic layout. If you are familiar with ergonomic keyboards, you may have to get used to the compact format.

The basic idea is that the hands move as little as possible while typing – and those who type with the ten-finger system will hardly ever do this with the Atreus. Since all functions are located on the 22 keys on each side, sometimes in different layers, we only need to know when to press which function key.

As with all 40 percent keyboards that are to be used in German, users also have to reprogram the Atreus and make compromises. The Chrysalis software does not make this easy for German special characters. We hope that the developers will soon make it possible to program umlauts more easily.

All the effort is rewarded with a very relaxed typing experience, which is especially gentle on the wrists. Once you have internalized all the keyboard combinations, you can type it very quickly on the Atreus. The Kailh switches used by Keyboardio are of the usual high quality, there should be a suitable switch for every taste.

However, the Atreus will probably not be a product for the mass market. As convinced as users of ultra-compact keyboards are of their devices: For the vast majority of users, it will be difficult to understand why you should take the effort to learn all the layers and keyboard combinations just to have a space advantage on the table. The Atreus should also be too cumbersome for the average ergo keyboard user.

This applies even more to the Atreus, which is also ergonomic and therefore a little more complex. However, if you have a soft spot for programmable, ultra-compact keyboards and type with more than six fingers, the Atreus could be of interest. A smaller ergonomic keyboard is unlikely to exist.