3 ms·

I purchased a late-model Datahand in 2007. I was living in Phoenix at the time, and picked it up in-person. I paid around $700 for it. What a waste of money.

I purchased a late-model Datahand in 2007. I was living in Phoenix at the time, and picked it up in-person. I paid around $700 for it. What a waste of money. It was impossible to learn how to use. Even the employee who gave me a demo could only type slowly with it. I'm sure some people mastered it, but for me, it just wasn't worth the effort. But it sure looked cool. I wanted so bad to learn how to use it, but I also had to get work done. I ended up selling it on eBay a couple years later to (I think) a Google employee. I took it apart a few times. The switches were simple, but novel - optical beam (if memory serves) that broke when you pushed the switch away from the central mount (one "mount" per finger, four side switches one center switch.) If I remember correctly, the switches were magnetic, so that when you relaxed your finger, they'd snap back to the mount. You could easily 3D print the switches nowadays. The device is a lot simpler than you'd think.

melling 11y ago
With good auto-completion and predictive typing, fast typing shouldn't be necessary. Throw in precision editing, like you might see in vim or emacs, and the need to bang away like a code monkey drops to zero. vim - precision editing at the speed of thought: https://vimeo.com/53144573 https://vimeo.com/53144573 Emacs' Ace Jump: http://emacsrocks.com/e10.html http://emacsrocks.com/e10.html
hliyan 11y ago
Were you a touch typist? AFAIK the device only helps if you already know how to touch type.
duked 11y ago
I also got one for a small fortune, $500 (at the time I was a student) of ebay. I tried to use it but it felt unnatural, especially since I have small hands it required some effort to my fingers to hit the north switch. I kept it as it looks very cool but I guess I'll probably sell it since I have no use for it.
efnx 11y ago
OP author here. My source at the now defunct Datahand company had told me that at the end of the company's life they produced very low-quality units. 50% of the units did not function properly, so it's possible that was a factor in your trouble learning. More likely though is that you gave up too soon. I know it's hard at first but like most things worth doing it takes practice. Maybe I'm biased by my special situation though. When buying my Datahand I was very lucky. Someone was selling a pair in Sunnyvale for $30. It was in Dvorak (still is) and I had just decided to switch from SublimeText to vim. So for the next three weeks I plowed through using the Datahand (which was easy) on top of learning a new keyboard layout (which was hard) and all the vim movement/editing commands (which was annoying). It was a big chunk of effort. The hardest part by far was __not cheating and switching back to my normal habits when the going got tough__. If you already know how to accomplish a task and you're trying to learn a new method - it's very, very hard not to fall back to your proven method under the pressure of frustration. I fought that pressure many times over those three weeks but it's been one of the easiest and most rewarding investments. There's always time to save time, and their's always time for your health.
- brandonmenc 11y ago
  > More likely though is that you gave up too soon. I definitely gave up too soon, but it also wasn't worth me doing it in the first place. The mild wrist/finger pain/numbness I had went away once I started typing with my forearms in line with my hands i.e., no radial flexion.

melling 11y ago

With good auto-completion and predictive typing, fast typing shouldn't be necessary. Throw in precision editing, like you might see in vim or emacs, and the need to bang away like a code monkey drops to zero. vim - precision editing at the speed of thought: https://vimeo.com/53144573 https://vimeo.com/53144573 Emacs' Ace Jump: http://emacsrocks.com/e10.html http://emacsrocks.com/e10.html

hliyan 11y ago

Were you a touch typist? AFAIK the device only helps if you already know how to touch type.

duked 11y ago

I also got one for a small fortune, $500 (at the time I was a student) of ebay. I tried to use it but it felt unnatural, especially since I have small hands it required some effort to my fingers to hit the north switch. I kept it as it looks very cool but I guess I'll probably sell it since I have no use for it.

efnx 11y ago

OP author here. My source at the now defunct Datahand company had told me that at the end of the company's life they produced very low-quality units. 50% of the units did not function properly, so it's possible that was a factor in your trouble learning. More likely though is that you gave up too soon. I know it's hard at first but like most things worth doing it takes practice. Maybe I'm biased by my special situation though. When buying my Datahand I was very lucky. Someone was selling a pair in Sunnyvale for $30. It was in Dvorak (still is) and I had just decided to switch from SublimeText to vim. So for the next three weeks I plowed through using the Datahand (which was easy) on top of learning a new keyboard layout (which was hard) and all the vim movement/editing commands (which was annoying). It was a big chunk of effort. The hardest part by far was __not cheating and switching back to my normal habits when the going got tough__. If you already know how to accomplish a task and you're trying to learn a new method - it's very, very hard not to fall back to your proven method under the pressure of frustration. I fought that pressure many times over those three weeks but it's been one of the easiest and most rewarding investments. There's always time to save time, and their's always time for your health.

brandonmenc 11y ago
> More likely though is that you gave up too soon. I definitely gave up too soon, but it also wasn't worth me doing it in the first place. The mild wrist/finger pain/numbness I had went away once I started typing with my forearms in line with my hands i.e., no radial flexion.