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

Split Keyboard for Professionals

ultimatehackingkeyboard.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

161–170 of 331 posts

Re: Split Keyboard for Professionals

#161

Post by kule »

sjy wrote: post #22
Waterluvian wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was told by one friend that they made it really hard to use a normal keyboard effectively after a few years. Did you find that?

I’ve been using an Atreus split ortholinear keyboard with the Colemak layout for more than a year now, and I have no difficulty switching back to a standard Qwerty staggered keyboard when I use my laptop or someone else’s computer.

Yeah funnily enough I found something similar when my normal Mac keyboard died and I had to use a old dell one. Despite 10 years of Mac usage my subconscious felt the Dell keyboard, remembered my windows usage and started using ctrl instead of cmd automatically!

How did you find switching to Atreus& colemak? I was thinking of doing something similar and going to Corne/Colemak...

Re: Split Keyboard for Professionals

#162

Post by jjkaczor »

chrisBob wrote: post #160
jjkaczor wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>One of the reasons is overlap. Your hands do occasionally >hit keys on the other side. That has been my biggest re-learning curve - but with only the 6/7 numeric keys (which, apparently I use often) - the one thing that I would have loved with the Kinesis RGB Edge, would have been a dedicated number pad on the right-side. >Another is key action. You want proper mechanical keys. Kinesis RGB Edge allows you to choose…

Kinesis Freestyle Pro has Cherry mx brown or silent red and shaves a little money compared to the RGB version

Does it have backlighting? (frankly, I didn't need or use all of the "RGB" features, so that was overkill - not a gamer)

Re: Split Keyboard for Professionals

#163

Post by coldpie »

sethammons wrote: post #12

I have a cloud nine split mechanical keyboard. I really enjoy it. It is the closest I’ve found to the Microsoft Ergo 4000. I use it primarily for working on my MacBook. Pros: very similar to ergo 4000. No immediate drop in typing speed like with an ergo dox ez. Cons: easy to workaround: left alt is too left due the spacebar and the strange dial button in the middle. I ignore the dial and mapped the cmd key to ctrl an…

Oooh! This might be the one! I've been looking for a replacement for when my old mid-00s MS Naturals finally die, and this might be it. It even has a number pad, which none of these other ergo keyboards do. Might go order one of these right now...

Re: Split Keyboard for Professionals

#164

Post by jjkaczor »

bradly wrote: post #149
jjkaczor wrote: post #79

Myself, I have been using a Kinesis RGB Edge with the "lift-kit" for about a month. Have never been a perfect, trained touch-typist - so there has been a learning curve, but it is worth it. My wrists feel so much better, and I am almost back to full speed. (Previously, I would just use laptop KB's). The only complaints... Not from me, but when I am on web meetings, I have to be on mute, because everyone finds the KB…

> when I am on web meetings, I have to be on mute, because everyone finds the KB noise too loud when I am typing Have you looked into swapping out the switches? It looks like they aren't hot-swappable, but de-soldering switches isn't too difficult and there are a ton of amazing silent switches out right now. Check out Zealios for a great silent tactile switch.

My solution will be to use a headset, or separate microphone that is further away from the KB.

Re: Split Keyboard for Professionals

#165

Post by Kaze404 »

boterock wrote: post #158

If you're looking for keyboards, you may also be interested in keyboard layouts. I've been using Colemak for 5 years now, and I recommend everyone to try it out. https://colemak.com/

I tried learning Colemak at least 3 times now. What is your recommended approach? Grinding online exercises didn't really seem to do much for me.

Re: Split Keyboard for Professionals

#166

Post by Kaze404 »

Purchasing an Ergodox last year was probably the best purchase I've made so far. It was incredibly expensive (around 4x minimum wage due to import taxes and shipping) but it's been such an improvement to my wrists that I'd easily pay triple that if I had to.

It's also fun to see people's reactions when take a look at it on my desk :p

Re: Split Keyboard for Professionals

#167

Post by ScoutOrgo »

I've was using my 13" MBP keyboard for awhile, but ended up getting a little bit of wrist cramps from using it plus the trackpad. I got this keyboard ~2 years ago after seeing a link here and I have had 0 regrets since purchasing it.

The wrist cramps went away almost immediately (which I would assume would have worked for any split keyboard with a better wrist resting angle). The learning curve took a little as the UHK has a Mod key on one side where the space bar is supposed to be and I would also sometimes try to hit keys with one hand that are on the other side of the keyboard. The UHK agent app makes it super easy to map any key from any layer (fn or mod) to something else or even a combination of keys. I pair this with Better Touch Tool app which helps me map keyboard combinations to other things like switching to apps. The last part is using the mouse with the "mouse button" in place of capslock key, which I feel has cut the need to take my hands off the keyboard by ~70%.

It was a little pricey purchase, but the quality is phenomenal and 100% worth the money. If mine broke for whatever reason today, I would buy another in a heartbeat.

Re: Split Keyboard for Professionals

#168

Post by treeman79 »

bradly wrote: post #149
jjkaczor wrote: post #79

Myself, I have been using a Kinesis RGB Edge with the "lift-kit" for about a month. Have never been a perfect, trained touch-typist - so there has been a learning curve, but it is worth it. My wrists feel so much better, and I am almost back to full speed. (Previously, I would just use laptop KB's). The only complaints... Not from me, but when I am on web meetings, I have to be on mute, because everyone finds the KB…

> when I am on web meetings, I have to be on mute, because everyone finds the KB noise too loud when I am typing Have you looked into swapping out the switches? It looks like they aren't hot-swappable, but de-soldering switches isn't too difficult and there are a ton of amazing silent switches out right now. Check out Zealios for a great silent tactile switch.

I got the brown switches. They are quiet and mushy and I don’t like them.

But they are quit.

Also the arrow keys are mushed up with other keys and it’s hard to differentiate

Re: Split Keyboard for Professionals

#169

Post by mavsman »

I'd like to try a split keyboard but I can't give up a bluetooth keyboard. It doesn't _seem_ like a major technical challenge to have a split bluetooth keyboard but I'm surprised one doesn't exist yet so maybe there's some challenge there.

Being able to split the keyboard wirelessly would give you freedom to put your hands wherever the heck you want. It would be interesting to play with different hand placements.

Re: Split Keyboard for Professionals

#170

Post by ianhowson »

mavsman wrote: post #169

I'd like to try a split keyboard but I can't give up a bluetooth keyboard. It doesn't _seem_ like a major technical challenge to have a split bluetooth keyboard but I'm surprised one doesn't exist yet so maybe there's some challenge there. Being able to split the keyboard wirelessly would give you freedom to put your hands wherever the heck you want. It would be interesting to play with different hand placements.

There are a bunch of BLE splits at https://zmkfirmware.dev/docs/hardware
Post reply on HN