Split Keyboards Are Superior And The Reason I’m The Writer I Am Today.
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You will encounter this man at work.
They will ask for your help with something on their workstation, and it would be faster for you to drive with them watching over your shoulder, but this cryptic thing is their keyboard.
Instead, you will be forced to sit behind them like Patrick Swayze guiding Demi Moore at a throwing wheel. You will eventually take your shirt off, launch Unchained Melody in Spotify, then slowly guide them through a system setting panel.
You will notice how soft their hands feel. The hyper-ergonomic keyboard has allowed their fingers to move with minimal effort, allowing the skin to remain as supple, smooth - almost unused.
You will ask yourself, “Is he right?” How could a keyboard be so aggressive and wrong, and yet, support something so gentile.
You try to deny the feeling. Your friends and family will mock you like your uncle Dvorak. Maybe you start with a trackball and see if being naughty feels right.
This is coiling my cable just thinking about it.
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There is a guy out there developing a mouse less solution so you never have to take your fingers off the keyboard too called www.mouseless.click I'm just waiting for him to release the Windows version. Only on apple atm
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I was the lucky owner of a rare FingerWorks Touchstream keyboard for many years. If you don't know it, it's the precursor to the keyboards used in Star Trek Enterprise.
It's a keyless keyboard. Two large flat mousepads with a keyboard layout printed on top, and you type by pure touch. There's no mouse; the surface just cleverly detects when you are doing mouse gestures. Or a lot of other gestures.
Trekkie joke aside, it's actually the magic tech that made the iPhone possible. Of course Apple didn't invent anything, they bought existing future tech.
I miss that keyboard. They still sell on ebay, for 1400$!
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There's a dude developing out a neat split keyboard that's ergo but you are typing in like chunks of words or something.
Looks like your fast af once used to it.
Each finger goes up down left right i believe. Can't remember the name!
It's quite refined looking.
Do you mean the CharaChorder? I thought about getting one in the past bit it looks like a super steep learn curve and I'm not sure if I'm willing to subject myself to it.
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Imagine playing Dwarf Fortress in a recliner with a pair of these.
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Do you mean the CharaChorder? I thought about getting one in the past bit it looks like a super steep learn curve and I'm not sure if I'm willing to subject myself to it.
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I was the lucky owner of a rare FingerWorks Touchstream keyboard for many years. If you don't know it, it's the precursor to the keyboards used in Star Trek Enterprise.
It's a keyless keyboard. Two large flat mousepads with a keyboard layout printed on top, and you type by pure touch. There's no mouse; the surface just cleverly detects when you are doing mouse gestures. Or a lot of other gestures.
Trekkie joke aside, it's actually the magic tech that made the iPhone possible. Of course Apple didn't invent anything, they bought existing future tech.
I miss that keyboard. They still sell on ebay, for 1400$!
Many, many moons ago (must have been around 2006?) I managed to procure a FingerWorks. It was magic, like holding a piece of computing history!
It allowed a lot of the gestures we take for granted, to switch applications or workspaces, to go back a page, etc. But it also had really cool stuff.
You could bind gestures like twisting your fingers clockwise to open a file (just like opening a jar!) or counterclockwise to close it. Pinch and zoom for copy and paste.I was only able to get a hold on a Dvorak copy. And because the key labels were printed on the board, you couldn't really change the layout. Getting used to a split layout, no keys and Dvorak at the same time was too much and I had to sell it again. But I've been using split keyboards ever since!
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There is a guy out there developing a mouse less solution so you never have to take your fingers off the keyboard too called www.mouseless.click I'm just waiting for him to release the Windows version. Only on apple atm
IDK, a mousetrapper (or similar) effectively does the same but doesn't require retraining your entire workflow and still allows for precision mouse work.
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Both of mine died lately and I want to get them working again, but qmk is a nightmare I don't want to have to touch again.
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IDK, a mousetrapper (or similar) effectively does the same but doesn't require retraining your entire workflow and still allows for precision mouse work.
I googled mousetrapper but dont understand what it is? Looks like an old school trackpad?
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I googled mousetrapper but dont understand what it is? Looks like an old school trackpad?
It's just a mouse-device that enables full regular mouse control without taking your hands off the keyboard as well. It's not actually a trackpad, it's a mechanical two dimensional scrolling plate (or bar) which is much nicer to use because it provides better feedback than a trackpad.
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I've used plenty of ergo keyboards and fancy layouts, but as soon as I try to use a regular keyboard I have to re-learn how to type and it really halts any productivity.
This sort of thing may be nice if you only ever use one computer or you're willing to pack around your keyboard.
Even still, I never liked ergo boards enough to think it's worth the effort, especially considering being useless on other keyboards once I'm used to ergo.
Now I just stick to a 75% or TKL. Keeps me versatile.
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I find the topic interesting and want to both experiment with the ortholinear and split concepts. But the main thing holding me back is the same reason I am using zsh and not fish: compatibility. I don’t want to confuse myself with two ways of typing when I need to work on another pc and I will not be using a split keyboard on my laptop for example.
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I googled mousetrapper but dont understand what it is? Looks like an old school trackpad?
I found this, looks interesting https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=q7kjtvNuaHs
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I was the lucky owner of a rare FingerWorks Touchstream keyboard for many years. If you don't know it, it's the precursor to the keyboards used in Star Trek Enterprise.
It's a keyless keyboard. Two large flat mousepads with a keyboard layout printed on top, and you type by pure touch. There's no mouse; the surface just cleverly detects when you are doing mouse gestures. Or a lot of other gestures.
Trekkie joke aside, it's actually the magic tech that made the iPhone possible. Of course Apple didn't invent anything, they bought existing future tech.
I miss that keyboard. They still sell on ebay, for 1400$!
That sounds awful though. There's a reason why touch pads are so unpopular in cars, there's no tactile feedback to the buttons. Part of learning to type is getting a feel for the keys.
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Hear me out, take the optic sensor from a mouse and put it on the bottom of one of those boards. Then you wouldn't have to move your hand to use a mouse.
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Where's the rest of the keys? Also these things give off Nintendo Power Glove vibes.
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I built and configured an Arkenswoop some time in 2023. It's really nice. However... I have gotten quite fast on a conventional keyboard just by using it over the years, and re-learning that is just so tedious. Every time I try, something with a deadline comes up, and I switch back "temporarily".
Anyone have experience overcoming this?
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