I laugh when I read this because the DataHand was so much better but inefficiently manufactured and badly-priced. Five motions per finger well, macros, and mouse control 20-something years ago.
Down the ergonomic keyboard rabbit hole
21–30 of 187 posts
Re: Down the ergonomic keyboard rabbit hole
#22Re: Down the ergonomic keyboard rabbit hole
#23But nope, it's dead, and the replacement isn't nearly as good.
Re: Down the ergonomic keyboard rabbit hole
#24The highs and lows, thinking that you've found the perfect layout, only to encounter an edge case which there's no solution for and giving up. The continual wishful thinking that "one more modification" and THEN I would have the perfect layout, without ever knowing if that's true. And then when do you stop? I couldn't find a point where I would ever stop, it was maddening. I used a Japanese keyboard for a while [1] to leverage the extra keys on either side of space bar, but then I realized that I probably wouldn't be able to use a laptop normally ever again, which was enough to snap me back to QWERTY.
In the end, I did end up going back to QWERTY, but with some modifications, which I really think improve the problems I have with the layout (sore pinkies) [2], most commonly from jupyter notebooks (hitting shift-enter). It also solves emacs pinky.
[1] - https://www.amazon.com/SolidTek-Keyboard-Languages-JAPANESE-...
Re: Down the ergonomic keyboard rabbit hole
#25I would have been perfectly happy if Microsoft had just kept making the Natural 4000 forever. Logitech has some 20+ year old designs they keep producing because for some people they're perfection, and I'd hoped Microsoft would continue likewise since it's been well over a decade with the 4000 too. But nope, it's dead, and the replacement isn't nearly as good.
Re: Down the ergonomic keyboard rabbit hole
#26I've been enjoying my ergodox, but have yet to venture out into the layout customization side of things. The default layout (mostly QWERTY, but split ortholinear) took a week or so to learn and has been totally fine. My only problem with it is that so many of the modifiers depend on my pinkies, which are my weakest finger. Luckily, the default layout maps control as "hold Z key" which means my pinky doesn't need to t…
Re: Down the ergonomic keyboard rabbit hole
#27https://www.logitech.com/en-us/products/keyboards/craft.920-...
Re: Down the ergonomic keyboard rabbit hole
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
My solution was a Theragun, trackball mouse and a Truly Ergonomic keyboard.
I keep getting advertised Theraguns and similar things almost non-stop on Instagram. Are they worth the expense? And how/where are you using it to improve carpal tunnel?
Re: Down the ergonomic keyboard rabbit hole
#29I would have been perfectly happy if Microsoft had just kept making the Natural 4000 forever. Logitech has some 20+ year old designs they keep producing because for some people they're perfection, and I'd hoped Microsoft would continue likewise since it's been well over a decade with the 4000 too. But nope, it's dead, and the replacement isn't nearly as good.
Re: Down the ergonomic keyboard rabbit hole
#30I use a slightly configured Kinesis Advantage 2 and colemak as my keyboard layout (I used to make the Kinesis do the colemak, but now its just qwerty and the OS handles colemak). I find typing on it extremely comfortable. I've also found these beneficial: https://www.mycarpaltunnel.com/ I like Ergodox, especially because of their super flexible configuration, but I dislike the flatness of the keyboard compared to the…
I looked into it as a potentially more mobile alternative to the Kinesis but decided to stick with the Kinesis.
I'm hoping if my current keyboard ever dies Kinesis will have a new QMK-based version that comes in two halves, or that the Dactyl Manuform becomes something that you can buy a solid transportable version of.