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I went down this rabbit hole and I now: - use 30 keys - control the mouse from my keyboard - never have to move my palms in the slightest all day - get far

I went down this rabbit hole and I now: - use 30 keys - control the mouse from my keyboard - never have to move my palms in the slightest all day - get far more control and (Emacs) keybindings It was a very painful process though deciding on my custom key layout. I would make myself re-learn new layouts on an daily or hourly basis for 6 months until I was satisfied. I have a Moonlander but my long term plan is to move to Tightyl: https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/glfyki/the_tightyl_a_tight_tiny_dactyl_manuform/ https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/glfyki...

jmnicolas 5y ago
> - never have to move my palm in the slightest all day Isn't it bad for RSI?
- emacs28 5y ago
  Hm not sure, it feels fine to me at least. I think having fewer keys to hit makes it seem unnecessary to move the palms. Some people are really specific on never resting the palms on anything to reduce RSI, which I do sometimes to make typing faster, but my layout allows me to also rest my palms all day too if I want. It works for me at least.
fouronnes3 5y ago
Can you expand on controlling the mouse with the keyboard? How does that work?
- emacs28 5y ago
  Certainly! I have 4 keys for mouse movement (left, right, up, down) in my "mouse" layer. If you tap them it moves the mouse a little bit in that direction, if you hold the keys then the mouse moves slow at first, then starts to speed up (that is more controlled at the OS level though). You can also add keys to change the acceleration. I have these 4 direction keys on my middle and index fingers of each hand. There are also keys for clicking which I have on my ring fingers, and on my palm for when I need to click down and drag. It takes getting used to obviously but I don't mind it now. It works for 95% of my uses but I'll admit if I need really fine control, I'll use my trackpad for a couple of seconds.
- vgalin 5y ago
  As for how you can enable such a feature on Windows, you can find the instructions here (first section of the page): https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/make-your-mouse-keyboard-and-other-input-devices-easier-to-use-10733da7-fa82-88be-0672-f123d4b3dcfe https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/make-your-mouse-...

jmnicolas 5y ago

> - never have to move my palm in the slightest all day Isn't it bad for RSI?

emacs28 5y ago
Hm not sure, it feels fine to me at least. I think having fewer keys to hit makes it seem unnecessary to move the palms. Some people are really specific on never resting the palms on anything to reduce RSI, which I do sometimes to make typing faster, but my layout allows me to also rest my palms all day too if I want. It works for me at least.

fouronnes3 5y ago

Can you expand on controlling the mouse with the keyboard? How does that work?

emacs28 5y ago
Certainly! I have 4 keys for mouse movement (left, right, up, down) in my "mouse" layer. If you tap them it moves the mouse a little bit in that direction, if you hold the keys then the mouse moves slow at first, then starts to speed up (that is more controlled at the OS level though). You can also add keys to change the acceleration. I have these 4 direction keys on my middle and index fingers of each hand. There are also keys for clicking which I have on my ring fingers, and on my palm for when I need to click down and drag. It takes getting used to obviously but I don't mind it now. It works for 95% of my uses but I'll admit if I need really fine control, I'll use my trackpad for a couple of seconds.
vgalin 5y ago
As for how you can enable such a feature on Windows, you can find the instructions here (first section of the page): https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/make-your-mouse-keyboard-and-other-input-devices-easier-to-use-10733da7-fa82-88be-0672-f123d4b3dcfe https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/make-your-mouse-...