alt Hacker NewsThe 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.
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As for the ortholinear keyboards, I spent a few months with the latest kinesis but sold it eventually: not that comfortable.
Just clench your fist and you will see that not all your fingers are moving in straight parallel lines. I don’t buy the ortho logic at all. I would argue that left half of the ordinary keyboard is even more ergonomic in this sense.
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Also don’t bother with dvorak, qwerty is 80/20 pareto stuff. Just isn’t worth it compared to returns.
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Tdlr; split, traditional layout https://uhk.io/ is my best purchase: use it for almost 5(?) years. Modded it for swappable switches, lubed, what have you.
Don’t waste money for uhk riser, not worth it. Small plastic built-in legs are more than enough.
Wooden palm rest is a must though.
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Previously was a big fan of microsoft split ergonomics (2nd gen and sculpt later)
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BTW if you use multiple OS, map the ctrl key on windows/linux to the same place where command is on mac. Shortcuts will be the same physical keys, also it is much more comfortable to have this pressed with a thumb instead of a pinky.
Though you would want to buy a rounded key cap (like a spacebar) of you use a mechanical keyboard — it is painful to press the keycap corner with a thumb if it is not rounded.
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Dvorak works really well for me. (Though you might want to pick Colemak or Neo2 these days.) I use Dvorak on both my Kinesis Advantage and on 'normal' keyboards like on a laptop.
It's not so much about speed, as about comfort.
I'm a native speaker of Russian, using Ergodox as my only keyboard for over 5 years. Here is my layout: https://configure.zsa.io/ergodox-ez/layouts/XEYyW/latest/0
I've been inputting Devanagari with a 30% ortho keyboard lately using QMK. ऐसे अति मुश्किल नहीं है । I have an extra layer for nicher inputs just as I do with my usual Roman text. I'm not aware of any writing systems that normally require multiple layers. The most complex I can think of is Hangul, and they all should translate pretty directly to a smaller keyboard.
I think there's something to the ortholinear thing, I find it quite uncomfortable to hit z, x, and c on a standard row-staggered keyboard.
Also It's nice to have a 10-key at home row (5 goes with k).
love the microsoft ergonomic kb, I have the surface grey one as my main kb (I need the full layout for various 3d program shortcuts annoyingly) but it really does feel great to type on despite not being "mechanical"
> 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.
Ironically, the biggest enthusiast of these splits I know in real life (he owns a kinesis) is a slavic guy, speaks both Ukranian and Russian, but I suppose he's typing in English for most of the day at his job, however I know he uses layering for the cyrillic.
My caps lock key is swapped with the left control key as God intended.
the uhk looks fairly close to what I've been looking for, just wish it had ortholinear keys.
how's the build quality? I got a split keyboard a while ago from a small producer, and the case was completely built out of 3d printed plastic which caused it to be pretty flimsy and kept sliding around due to the light weight.
On mac I just use settings to Map it so alt is still alt on nix but on mac it cmd
I love my uhk, I really wish the 60v2 had bluetooth. I really don't wanna fork over the money for a 80v2. :(
> 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.