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The unix69 keyboard layout: nerdy and nice

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Re: The unix69 keyboard layout: nerdy and nice

#101
post #17

I am continually baffled by how keyboard enthusiasts almost never have ergonomic layouts. If you care this much about typing, surely the first thing you do is get an ergo layout. The rectangle layout is really bad, people! How can you spend this much time and energy and money on keyboards, and keep using the awful rectangle layout?

Because its about looks.

They also use stupid "aviation" connectors on USB cables and all sorts of things, its just aesthetics.

Re: The unix69 keyboard layout: nerdy and nice

#102
post #17

I am continually baffled by how keyboard enthusiasts almost never have ergonomic layouts. If you care this much about typing, surely the first thing you do is get an ergo layout. The rectangle layout is really bad, people! How can you spend this much time and energy and money on keyboards, and keep using the awful rectangle layout?

In my personal experience, you avoid repetitive stress injuries by shaking up how you type. Reaching for the mouse, moving where you hold your hands. It's the old way of teaching typing with a rigid posture that causes carpal tunnel, not the rectangle frame in itself. Ergo layouts are nice in theory but they make it harder to touch type. The modern keyboard layout is an example of a standard that works: everyone can…

> Ergo layouts are nice in theory but they make it harder to touch type.

Because they're the exception? That's a bad rule. The only way we improve things is by creating exceptions and adopting them.

Personally, I switched to ergo keyboards 20+ years ago and I'm much happier for it. I've had to change models over the years and there was always a brief adjustment, but it was minor -- and my hands rest is such a more natural position!

Re: The unix69 keyboard layout: nerdy and nice

#103
post #17

I am continually baffled by how keyboard enthusiasts almost never have ergonomic layouts. If you care this much about typing, surely the first thing you do is get an ergo layout. The rectangle layout is really bad, people! How can you spend this much time and energy and money on keyboards, and keep using the awful rectangle layout?

I think that most people use more than one keyboard, at home, work, public computers, on a laptop etc. Many of them will have a QWERTY (or the local variant) layout. In that case you can use your super duper specialised layout on one keyboard, but every time you change to a different system you have to use the old layout again. For me that was more hassle than benefit.

Also, most people don’t even touch type, does not mean they don’t like a nice keyboard.

Re: The unix69 keyboard layout: nerdy and nice

#104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my personal experience, you avoid repetitive stress injuries by shaking up how you type. Reaching for the mouse, moving where you hold your hands. It's the old way of teaching typing with a rigid posture that causes carpal tunnel, not the rectangle frame in itself. Ergo layouts are nice in theory but they make it harder to touch type. The modern keyboard layout is an example of a standard that works: everyone can…

> Ergo layouts are nice in theory but they make it harder to touch type. Because they're the exception? That's a bad rule. The only way we improve things is by creating exceptions and adopting them. Personally, I switched to ergo keyboards 20+ years ago and I'm much happier for it. I've had to change models over the years and there was always a brief adjustment, but it was minor -- and my hands rest is such a more na…

See, you are demonstrating what I mean right here. I would like to switch just once. The Microsoft ergo model is the closest to a standard, it seems.

Re: The unix69 keyboard layout: nerdy and nice

#105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The rectangle layout is only bad if you are a home-row typist. The problem with home-row typing is that your wrists are bent. It's possible to learn to type without bending your wrists. I am self-taught and have typed this way for three decades with no wrist issues due to keyboard use. My fingers rest naturally on "QWERF" and "JIOP". I actually cannot type on "ergo" keyboards due to the angles being wrong, and not be…

I played piano long before I learned to type, and it's natural for me to move my hands all over the place. I've never contorted my fingers the way "correct" typists do.

Oh, so that is why my own no-rules typing method is working so well! I never made that connection.

Re: The unix69 keyboard layout: nerdy and nice

#107
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

75% (84 key) is definitely your friend then. It's similar to a lot of laptop layouts as well, so if you find yourself often switching between a laptop and desktop it feels quite natural. I use a budget Keycool 84 (MX browns) and love it.

The Vortex Race3 is amazing too, plus it can be reprogrammed without a computer.

Do note that at least some Race3 batches have a rust issue on the plate standoffs:

https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/irmbqr...

Re: The unix69 keyboard layout: nerdy and nice

#108
post #21
post #17

I am continually baffled by how keyboard enthusiasts almost never have ergonomic layouts. If you care this much about typing, surely the first thing you do is get an ergo layout. The rectangle layout is really bad, people! How can you spend this much time and energy and money on keyboards, and keep using the awful rectangle layout?

Keyboard enthusiasts can never get carpal tunnel because they spend too much time switching keyboards to actually type .

I've been a touch typist since I was a boy, and a programmer for more than four decades (started out on teletypes), and I've never had any kind of hand or wrist problems with normal keyboards ever. I'm choosy when it comes to keyboards though, for where I do most of my programming. Never liked the clicky ones, but what one likes is individual choice.

Looking at my hands as I write this, my wrists are not bent, or at least so little that I don't notice it. My hands are still in the normal touch type positions. Tried split keyboards (like so many other people did) but they don't do anything for me. "Normal" keyboards have the huge advantage that wherever I am (at customers, home, work, computer rooms, everywhere), there's a keyboard I can use.

Re: The unix69 keyboard layout: nerdy and nice

#109
post #17

I am continually baffled by how keyboard enthusiasts almost never have ergonomic layouts. If you care this much about typing, surely the first thing you do is get an ergo layout. The rectangle layout is really bad, people! How can you spend this much time and energy and money on keyboards, and keep using the awful rectangle layout?

In my personal experience, you avoid repetitive stress injuries by shaking up how you type. Reaching for the mouse, moving where you hold your hands. It's the old way of teaching typing with a rigid posture that causes carpal tunnel, not the rectangle frame in itself. Ergo layouts are nice in theory but they make it harder to touch type. The modern keyboard layout is an example of a standard that works: everyone can…

How do Ergo layouts make it harder to touch type? I learnt touch typing after getting my first ergo keyboard, but I found it a transferrable skill to normal qwerty staggered keyboards with little need for adjustment. My error rate might be 1% higher on none-ergo keyboards, but otherwise I don't notice much difference.

For reference, I use a ZSA Moonlander.

Re: The unix69 keyboard layout: nerdy and nice

#110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my personal experience, you avoid repetitive stress injuries by shaking up how you type. Reaching for the mouse, moving where you hold your hands. It's the old way of teaching typing with a rigid posture that causes carpal tunnel, not the rectangle frame in itself. Ergo layouts are nice in theory but they make it harder to touch type. The modern keyboard layout is an example of a standard that works: everyone can…

How do Ergo layouts make it harder to touch type? I learnt touch typing after getting my first ergo keyboard, but I found it a transferrable skill to normal qwerty staggered keyboards with little need for adjustment. My error rate might be 1% higher on none-ergo keyboards, but otherwise I don't notice much difference. For reference, I use a ZSA Moonlander.

Personally, the split is a big problem. I don't keep a strict separation of left-hand and right-hand during typing.
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