Tipy – One Hand Keyboard • Hacker News Board

Re: Tipy – One Hand Keyboard

#41

Post by jitl » Sat, Apr 16, 2022, 9:06 PM UTC

throwawayboise wrote: post #10

jitl wrote: post #5

This is a very cool tool - another case of disability features benefitting everyone. I would probably consider it seriously if it was available 5 years ago; I wish more keyboards also had mice sticks. These days I start feeling hand strain quickly on flat keyboards, even with a lot of stretching, and need to run home to my Kenisis Advantage. As an aside, doesn’t sound like Bluetooth work well with Mac: > TiPY is not…

> another case of disability features benefitting everyone What do you see as the benefit for a two-handed person using a computer in a normal desk job? Honest question, it's just not clear to me.

As another poster said, mouse and keyboard without moving hands around. Before I settled on the Kenisis, I tried a bunch of unusual input schemes to reduce the “switch time” from typing to pointing activities. Some of the stuff I tried:

- Trackpad between split keyboard. Difficult to use because of edge rejection; had to move hands too much to reach the live zone.

- Bluetooth ring mouse - tiny trackpad mounted on a finger or thumb wring. Surprisingly usable, but lacks fine controls for text selection/drawing, or takes too much effort to move around the screen. Not enough surface area for acceleration to kick in.

- Finger mouse - like strapping a desktop optical mouse sensor to the index finger. Too weird, still needs the hand to move to a mousepad away from the keyboard.

- Lenovo Thinkpad keyboard with trackpoint - decent, but keyboard not ergonomic enough. Missed mechanical keys

- tenkeyless mechanical keyboard with trackpoint - good, but not fantastic. Still not ergonomic enough. One or two keys needed re-soldering, and then another few started to fail later. Annoying.

Eventually I decided to commit to Kenisis advantage for typing input, and a normal mouse for pointing. But I still think about this sort of thing.

I never got around to trying a foot mouse or pedals though.

Re: Tipy – One Hand Keyboard

#42

Post by anotherevan » Sat, Apr 16, 2022, 10:54 PM UTC

powerbroker wrote: post #21

I did some patent research on alternative keyboards about 30 years ago. Frankly, even then, there was an unusual density of innovation in this technology. To be clear, there was about 5X more variants on the keyboard than I would have expected prior to my deep research. As a former patent attorney, working in various industries, a good rule of thumb is that only 1 in 3 inventions ever get implemented commercially. Ba…

> You have to break a lot of ingrained 'finger memory'

I'm a full ten finger touch typist, having learnt it in high school. In November last year I accidentally nicked the tip of my left index finger with a power saw - which then required a lot of swearing and a minor surgery to repair the nail bed.

All to say while the finger was out of commission due to being heavily bandaged or too painful to type with, I quickly became adept as a nine finger touch typist. Wasn't as fast but had to pay less attention to my typing than I thought I would have to.

(Finger is mostly pretty good now, if a little lop-sided. Still some numbness in the very end but overall I was very lucky.)

Re: Tipy – One Hand Keyboard

#43

Post by SamoyedFurFluff » Sun, Apr 17, 2022, 1:05 AM UTC

ARandomerDude wrote: post #14

SamoyedFurFluff wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean… I think it’s pretty obvious that being one handed is a disability in that it makes a wide variety of things harder. I could think of a bunch of things that would be much harder or more inefficient one handed… using my mouse and my keyboard at the same time for example. Or that typing itself gets more tiring with one hand to me. I mean I even still use two thumbs to text! Have you tried going one handed for a…

Parent was asking why a person with 2 hands would want to use a 1-handed keyboard.

If I can do all my things with one handed keyboard while sipping coffee, doodling, writing, eating…

Re: Tipy – One Hand Keyboard

#44

Post by antifa » Sun, Apr 17, 2022, 4:23 AM UTC

sandworm101 wrote: post #17

I new a guy in school with only one hand. He used the same keyboard at home as everyone else. Like most of us, he had taught himself to type as a kid and felt no need for special adaptations. Just like 99% of two-handed people, he would not want to invest the time re-learning how to type for a bespoke keyboard layout that won't always be available.

I actually got pretty proficient at typing on a standard keyboard with one hand. It really spoked my keyboard teacher in middle school. It was mostly about keeping my other hand on the mouse for video games.

I didn't find this device appealing.

Re: Tipy – One Hand Keyboard

#45

Post by salamandersauce » Sun, Apr 17, 2022, 11:48 AM UTC

infinity_user wrote: post #40

I love the idea and product. I would have bought one.... BUT then I saw the price... 350 EUR???? WTF ???? Excluding VAT and shipping ?? Who the fuck would want to fork 500 EUR for a damn keyboard ? What size is the market at that price ? This is ridiculous. Is there any cheaper alternative to this ? No fucking way that I spend that much cash for an unproven keyboard

Welcome to the world of ergo niche keyboards. Basically everything that isn't a Microsoft Ergo or clone is $200+ and it only gets more expensive as you get further from that. An alternative to this is building one yourself.

Re: Tipy – One Hand Keyboard

#46

Post by thomastjeffery » Mon, Apr 18, 2022, 4:25 AM UTC

schwap wrote: post #36

Etheryte wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would say that the thriving of the (mechanical) keyboard community is exactly a counterexample of the problem you pose. There's clearly a sizeable and well funded market segment for all kinds of keyboards, both traditional and unorthodox.

Even in the custom keyboard community the vast, vast majority don't require relearning typing. Whether it's 60%, 75%, split, ortholinear, typing is still basically the same.

Ortholinear definitely takes a non-trivial amount of practice that a lot of people aren't willing to do. So do layers.

The overwhelming majority of people I have talked to aren't interested in using a non-standard keyboard design, even if they are interested in the ergonomic benefits.

There are definitely a lot of us who want more esoteric designs, but we are a relative minority.

Re: Tipy – One Hand Keyboard

#47

Post by crazyjustin » Sat, Apr 23, 2022, 4:22 PM UTC

sandworm101 wrote: post #17

I new a guy in school with only one hand. He used the same keyboard at home as everyone else. Like most of us, he had taught himself to type as a kid and felt no need for special adaptations. Just like 99% of two-handed people, he would not want to invest the time re-learning how to type for a bespoke keyboard layout that won't always be available.

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