4 ms·

Kudos to the maker here. This looks gorgeous, and very close to the datahand ads I remember. The datahand was a keyboard fetish of mine, although I always wond

Kudos to the maker here. This looks gorgeous, and very close to the datahand ads I remember. The datahand was a keyboard fetish of mine, although I always wondered of actually usable it would be, especially considering the learning experience. Keep in mind this keyboard requires chording to obtain all normally usable symbols readily available on a traditional keyboard. Making a clone of my advantage pro (my current and favorite keyboard) is somewhere in my todo list. I'm still trying all sorts of weird keyboard/mice configurations. I have probably at least 10 really exotic keyboards in my collection. Years ago I strapped the two sections of the split ergomagic keyboard section to the armrests of my chair, for a startrek-like experience. At least for me, it didn't turn out to be a great ergonomic experience. At home I'm using a foot mouse.

adolph 6y ago
Have you tried eye control of the cursor? The below link is software that came up in internet search to check if eye tracking was in fact a thing: https://precisiongazemouse.org/ https://precisiongazemouse.org/
- bsdubernerd 6y ago
  Not yet, gaze tracking HW was always beyond my economical reach in the past. But this project is super-interesting! Thanks for point this out
  - greggturkington 6y ago
    MacOS has a "head pointer" built in to their a11y preferences
JesusFreke 6y ago
Thanks! :) It does technically require chording, but honestly not much more than a normal keyboard. Just a few extra "shift" keys, more or less. And normal textual input is pretty much all non-chorded. I'm a tiny bit biased, of course, but I do find it quite usable. Even (or especially!) for gaming. But yeah, I've been using a datahand, and then later my lalboard as my primary keyboard at home and work for probably going on 15 years now.
- bsdubernerd 6y ago
  What about the general experience writing code, or performing some seemingly mundane tasks such as ctrl/shift combinations for selections and commands? I would guess this would still work pretty fine with a modal editor such as vi, but become potentially annoying in most other places where editing happens.
  - jesusfreke 6y ago
    It takes a while to relearn that. Just normal typing isn't too hard to pick up - the muscle memory generally transfers reasonably well from a normal keyboard. But the cursor control stuff has to be completely relearned. But it's only annoying during that transition period. You do eventually develop the muscle memory for it, and it all becomes just as easy/automatic as on a normal keyboard. I don't use vi unless I have to, so I can't comment on usability there, but I don't have any issues in normal text editors. And for gaming... it seriously freakin' rocks :). As long as you're okay with a straight across "asdf" (or aoeu in my case) -- (back/left/right/forward) movement scheme, instead of the wasd cross. Having 20 keys right at your fingertips and all 3 modifiers available on the thumb is pretty much ideal for gaming. I generally customize the key mapping in the firmware per-game, and I'll usually have 2 or 3 modifiers mapped to the thumb, and often some "synthetic" modifier keys for even more combinations. It's also great for numeric input - I find I have much much better muscle memory for that on this than I even did on a normal keyboard, since the numbers are such a long reach from the home row.

adolph 6y ago

Have you tried eye control of the cursor? The below link is software that came up in internet search to check if eye tracking was in fact a thing: https://precisiongazemouse.org/ https://precisiongazemouse.org/

bsdubernerd 6y ago
Not yet, gaze tracking HW was always beyond my economical reach in the past. But this project is super-interesting! Thanks for point this out
- greggturkington 6y ago
  MacOS has a "head pointer" built in to their a11y preferences

JesusFreke 6y ago

Thanks! :) It does technically require chording, but honestly not much more than a normal keyboard. Just a few extra "shift" keys, more or less. And normal textual input is pretty much all non-chorded. I'm a tiny bit biased, of course, but I do find it quite usable. Even (or especially!) for gaming. But yeah, I've been using a datahand, and then later my lalboard as my primary keyboard at home and work for probably going on 15 years now.

bsdubernerd 6y ago
What about the general experience writing code, or performing some seemingly mundane tasks such as ctrl/shift combinations for selections and commands? I would guess this would still work pretty fine with a modal editor such as vi, but become potentially annoying in most other places where editing happens.
- jesusfreke 6y ago
  It takes a while to relearn that. Just normal typing isn't too hard to pick up - the muscle memory generally transfers reasonably well from a normal keyboard. But the cursor control stuff has to be completely relearned. But it's only annoying during that transition period. You do eventually develop the muscle memory for it, and it all becomes just as easy/automatic as on a normal keyboard. I don't use vi unless I have to, so I can't comment on usability there, but I don't have any issues in normal text editors. And for gaming... it seriously freakin' rocks :). As long as you're okay with a straight across "asdf" (or aoeu in my case) -- (back/left/right/forward) movement scheme, instead of the wasd cross. Having 20 keys right at your fingertips and all 3 modifiers available on the thumb is pretty much ideal for gaming. I generally customize the key mapping in the firmware per-game, and I'll usually have 2 or 3 modifiers mapped to the thumb, and often some "synthetic" modifier keys for even more combinations. It's also great for numeric input - I find I have much much better muscle memory for that on this than I even did on a normal keyboard, since the numbers are such a long reach from the home row.