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A beginner's guide to split keyboards

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Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards

#131

Post by jimbob45 »

waynesonfire wrote: post #93
Marsymars wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Also don’t bother with dvorak, qwerty is 80/20 pareto stuff. Just isn’t worth it compared to returns. I wouldn't specifically recommend other people learn Dvorak, but I switched to it when I was in my early teens (~25 years ago) and I feel pretty great about the returns I got from that. My kid sure isn't getting qwerty as their default keyboard.

I had the same experience, I learned it early too. My thinking was, if I'm going to be typing my whole life, I might as well do it with the bee's knees. I also swap ctrl+caps. That caps key real estate is just too good. It's pretty wild, I can _ONLY_ touch type dvorak. I couldn't tell you which keys are which looking down at the keyboard. And I'm fast. I'm so fast I don't even need to vibecode.

I can push 130WPM with some serious warmup on QWERTY. Even still…I can feel its inadequacy. The semicolon sitting unused under my pinky is just such a massive waste. The period there instead would be a game-changer.

Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards

#132

Post by vim-guru »

I switched to a split keyboard about four months ago and decided to change layouts at the same time. Adapting to the split itself wasn’t particularly difficult, but switching layouts definitely takes some getting used to. After all this time I’m still only at around 30–40 WPM, so it’s not something I’d recommend to everyone.

That said, I do believe the change will add a few more good years to my career, so I’m committed to seeing it through. I went with a relatively inexpensive keyboard and a modified Engram 2 layout. The reduced finger travel and more natural arm positioning have already made a noticeable difference.

Give it another year and I expect to reach an acceptable speed as well. All in all, I’m happy with the switch.

Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards

#133

Post by pvillano »

harperlee wrote: post #123

I'm mildly interested in keyboard ergonomics and efficiency, but every time I read threads like this I can't really see me spending $200+ on a keyboard when there are quite functional versions at $10 (and I know that the vast majority of the world is typing on either those or a laptop keyboard). To me it reads too much like an audiophile discussion about whether the materials of the cable affect sound, or just people…

It's very much a hobby, like audiophiles, but also like tricking out your car. It can be expensive. It's more than the average person needs. It's fun picking out parts and being part of a community.

There's also a perspective bias that most mechanical keyboard content you see is not made by people who found a keyboard that made the wrists stop hurting and then went on with their life. The people enthusiastic enough to make content are also the people that have a bunch of tricked out keyboards.

Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards

#135

Post by napo »

cduzz wrote: post #75

I'm not sure why nobody mentions this, but for windows and linux, you can fiddle with a "split keyboard" by using two keyboards. You can put your right hand over the right part of the right keyboard, the left and over the left part of left keyboard, and ... type away. It just works, and usually it is free, almost everyone I know has a pile of keyboards somewhere. Irritatingly, this doesn't work by default on the mac…

I do that with my mac. I have two keyboards and have to use Karabiner-elements for them to share modifier keys (like shift). Works well.

I did that because I was interested in split keyboards but they are all more expensive than what buying another keyboard.

Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards

#136

Post by shiroiuma »

RupertSalt wrote: post #118
urikaduri wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The guy on the right side doesn't even have elbows.

The person on the right side is sitting in a more elevated position, and so with their shoulders relaxed and upper arms at their sides, they only need to extend the forearms to reach the keyboard. The "numeric keypad" hazard also illustrates why I was motivated to switch my Sun mouse to the left-hand side, and I reversed the buttons in my X11 mappings. This was a reliable way to perplex my coworkers.

There are a few keyboards out there that move the numeric keypad to the left side of the keyboard, so that right-handed people don't have to move their right hand quite so far to use the mouse. Basically, like a tenkeyless (TKL) keyboard, but keeping the keypad.

I'd love to try one of these for a while.

Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards

#137

Post by xoxolian »

bsmith wrote: post #113
theYipster wrote: post #97

There really is no going back when you go split and tented. I've was on a Kenesis Freestyle for years, then upgraded to a Dygma Raise (V1) about three years ago. It's served me well, but I've been eyeing a CyBoard Imprint, which is like a Dactyl or Charbydis, but has hot swap-able switches (a rarity for curved key-well boards.) Can't give up my holy panda switches. :)

I've been rocking the Dygma Defy since it came out and it's been amazing. Their software has been buggy though, and left me rebuilding key maps more than once. I just wished it had a rotary dial

Have you upgraded recently? Dygma's software is nowadays much more solid.

Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards

#138

Post by ihateolives »

RupertSalt wrote: post #118
urikaduri wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The guy on the right side doesn't even have elbows.

The person on the right side is sitting in a more elevated position, and so with their shoulders relaxed and upper arms at their sides, they only need to extend the forearms to reach the keyboard. The "numeric keypad" hazard also illustrates why I was motivated to switch my Sun mouse to the left-hand side, and I reversed the buttons in my X11 mappings. This was a reliable way to perplex my coworkers.

Many-many moons ago I moved my mouse to the left side because I didn't have enough room on my desk on the right side. I became equally good with both hands and this has been paying dividends for years. Except I didn't reverse buttons, my brain just adapted and I never confuse which button to press.

Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards

#139

Post by unfixed »

I am an owner of a Glove 80 and I cannot overstate how benefitial it was for me. It improved my typing speed and overall comfort. Also, it forced me to type correctly, using all my fingers and place them in the correct keys.

To this day I think this is one of the best pieces of hardware that I bought.

Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards

#140

Post by Symbiote »

Marsymars wrote: post #66
piskov wrote: post #14

The issue with kinesis and all those nice small symmetrical keyboards is that not every alphabet is as short as English. Russian, for example, has 33 letters. So if you’re someone like that, you really want that ordinary macbook-like number of keys = larger non-symmetrical right half. — As for the ortholinear keyboards, I spent a few months with the latest kinesis but sold it eventually: not that comfortable. Just cl…

> Also don’t bother with dvorak, qwerty is 80/20 pareto stuff. Just isn’t worth it compared to returns. I wouldn't specifically recommend other people learn Dvorak, but I switched to it when I was in my early teens (~25 years ago) and I feel pretty great about the returns I got from that. My kid sure isn't getting qwerty as their default keyboard.

I switched when I was 18, and have no regrets at all. It's so much more comfortable!
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