Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

My favorite keyboards

fabiensanglard.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 151 posts

Re: My favorite keyboards

#41

Post by rutierut »

gwerbin wrote: post #24
Normal_gaussian wrote: post #18

My ErgodoxEZ: - nearly made me cry. - solved my back pain. When you didn't learn to type properly, relearning to type can be a very difficult task; re-learning on a split keyboard is particularly unforgiving. Around three weeks into re-learning I was convinced I would never learn properly and that I'd wasted a lot of time and money (I was freelancing at the time) on something that wouldn't help me eat, never mind sle…

Countervailing story: the Ergodox (EZ specifically but that's less important) gave me permanent RSI in my thumbs, because it was too big for my hands, and to this day I pretty much can't use a keyboard layout that relies on lots of thumb involvement. Even just hitting the spacebar throughout the day or using my thumbs to type on a smartphone is enough to flare it up, almost a decade after I stopped using that keyboar…

Any other tips, I have basically the same thing.

Re: My favorite keyboards

#42

Post by CarVac »

rutierut wrote: post #41
gwerbin wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Countervailing story: the Ergodox (EZ specifically but that's less important) gave me permanent RSI in my thumbs, because it was too big for my hands, and to this day I pretty much can't use a keyboard layout that relies on lots of thumb involvement. Even just hitting the spacebar throughout the day or using my thumbs to type on a smartphone is enough to flare it up, almost a decade after I stopped using that keyboar…

Any other tips, I have basically the same thing.

Mitosis is the layout that I like, it doesn't require a huge thumb stretch.

Re: My favorite keyboards

#44

Post by mtlmtlmtlmtl »

Normal_gaussian wrote: post #18

My ErgodoxEZ: - nearly made me cry. - solved my back pain. When you didn't learn to type properly, relearning to type can be a very difficult task; re-learning on a split keyboard is particularly unforgiving. Around three weeks into re-learning I was convinced I would never learn properly and that I'd wasted a lot of time and money (I was freelancing at the time) on something that wouldn't help me eat, never mind sle…

I actually found going from non-split to split surprising easy, simply because none of my old muscle memory worked anymore, and I had never touch typed up until then, so I wasn't able to go back to the old way out of frustration. A few hours of doing touch typing drills on some free online thing, and I could type at 30wpm, and then it only took about a week of doing my usual coding, IRC chatting etc to get back up to my usual 100wpm.

Also surprising was that after I got there, I could also touch type pretty easily on a normal keyboard. But my old ad hoc 5 finger typing had somehow disappeared entirely.

Re: My favorite keyboards

#45

Post by dofm »

aa-jv wrote: post #36
dofm wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never actually owned one but I loved playing one. Just the fact that a synth thing was so (relatively) affordable and accessible and also made music we heard all the time. I should probably make a Dexed thing. Ultimately I don't even play an instrument with frets, let alone keys, so it would only be for tinkering.

>Dexed Get a Zynthian and dive right in to all the FM synthesis you can possibly imagine, and more. Its pretty freakin' powerful. Plus, you can do all kinds of mad things with it, vis a vis oddball controllers and such.

I'm interested to make a Dexed thing more for the fun/process of it.

At the moment I am mostly playing lap steel but it's early days as an electric player so I am trying to not spend much money :-)

For lap steel which is continuous pitch I feel I'm more likely to settle on a Boss SY synth pedal or something signal-processing-based like it, rather than MIDI. But these days audio-based midi-tracking like MIDI Guitar 2/3 seems to work quite well. I know of at least one player using a Fishman Triple Play on a lap steel but that's an expensive experiment.

Re: My favorite keyboards

#46

Post by utopiah »

Went also through ErgoDox EZ and MoonLander but down-sized to a Corne-ish Zen. Happier since.

Less keys (3x6) and lower profile is even nicer for ergonomics, for me at least, but does require a bit more of mental gymnastics for layers. well worth it IMHO.

Re: My favorite keyboards

#47

Post by yonaguska »

lycopodiopsida wrote: post #38

Glove80 for me (even have 2 of them) with Kinesis Advantage 2 being a close second.

Do you just buy more of the footpads online or have you figured out a more permanent solution? I pack mine up and travel with it frequently, and the rubber feet are always coming off.

Re: My favorite keyboards

#48

Post by ryan_n »

frou_dh wrote: post #8

IMHO the persistence of Model M (now Unicomp) worship is a meme. Yes a chunky Buckling Spring mechanism is a very unique and "fun" feel, but that doesn't mean it's actually good to do a lot of typing on in terms of ergonomics or speed. So what of it? It's a novelty item, not the ultimate keyboard.

I'm big into the custom mechanical keyboard hobby (not that that makes my opinion special or anything, ha) and I definitely agree. It's funny, cus a lot of people in the hobby see the Model M as their "holy grail" keyboard. But the more modern keyboards are just so much more comfortable to type on for extended periods of time (whether they are 'ergo' keyboards or not). It's all personal preference, but I think a lot of the love for the Model M is just nostalgia.

Re: My favorite keyboards

#49

Post by yonaguska »

dgroshev wrote: post #13

That list really misses Glove80! It's an incredible keyboard, and imo is better than the Moonlander at practically everything. Edit: on second thought, I guess some people might not like the low switches?

I switched from the moonlander to the glove80, and the low switches are nothing compared to the much more intuitive ergonomics.

Re: My favorite keyboards

#50

Post by tmach32 »

eimrine wrote: post #2

Any QWERTY or QWERTY-inspired keyboard (layout) is silly. Switching to orto without solving a real bottleneck is like changing Opel to Porshe but keep using a set of square wheels. Of course the car will run better, but...

This opinion is so quaint that it makes me smile.

For me, the #1 feature of the Advantage2 is ortho. Everything else is a distant second. I don't understand how anyone can use anything but ortho.

Yes, another layout would make your fingers travel even less, but ortho lets you reduce a lot of seeking/travel without learning anything new.

Post reply on HN