Feels like HTX blew up out of nowhere with a ton of long form content at once, but they were huge in Chinese social media already, and finally decided to start translating previous content to english and uploading to Youtube.
I recently learned that it's not just the switch, but also the gasket, so the switch plate material, the foam layers and even the keycap itself. I built two different split keyboards recently with the same simple Kailh box red v2 switch and they sound and feel completely different just because of the thickness of the switch plate and the type of keycaps I use.(check this for example https://www.youtube.com/shorts/HIldaxljpzc )
You can check if you find the switches colors here(it looks like an Akko purple pro, but not quite) https://keeb-finder.com/switches
Whereas rtings has a filtering list that also has sound profiles in the review pages.
You can get aula f75 for cheap, arround 50$, there are plenty of sound tests on youtube as it's very popular.
I got that version and I am happy, but if I was to buy a new one I would get the full size f108 because it's important for me to have distance between arrow keys and other keys. And tbh I would just get an apple keyboard or something similarly slim because it's more confortable for me. However for thicc (mechanical switch) keyboards, aula f75 has great specs and sound at a very good price.
I'm assuming it's too heavy and has too much contact surface (so more friction), making it too hard to glide smoothly.
There's probably something with the position of the hand when you move the mouse as well. At least I seem to be moving mostly the wrist when I use my mouse, meaning that my hand and forearm are not always aligned; without this alignment, I feel there's more strain on the wrist when typing.
I imagine it's uncomfortable to grip since you need to be careful to not press a key doing so. Since you can't rely on fingers much for grip, you could put more force pressing downward with your wrist but that would also add friction with the table. Mice are small enough that you can fit your hand around it, but a keyboard is large and flat.
These guys are quite well-known in China and have recently started uploading tto Youtube as well. Their videos are quite entertaining and have extremely high production value compared to many other creators.
If anyone's interested in something way faster that still lets you go one handed. Take a look at the charachorder. You can type one handed, or easily rip 200wpm with 2 hands. But it does take like a year to get fast. I was coming from a moonlander tho so I was ready
I want to pull the trigger on this so badly. I've had my eyes on it for years. It seems the best way to increase typing speed is to reduce finger movement via physical modifications to a keyboard.
Does charachorder support Dvorak-like layout mentally? Not a 1-1 but something similar? Like vowels on left hand?
The best way to speed up is to practice. Alternative layouts are a waste of time unless you're trying to fix an ergonomic / pain issue, and even then the board itself and your technique and lifestyle are more important. I type faster than any Dvorak user I've met and I did nothing make that happen except be impatient. But typing is basically over with now that Whisper is a single button press away.
every time I send an entire email template with one keystroke, it's worth it. Maybe not for everyone, but for people that are basically at their computer all day everyday, its great. Sentences, paragraphs, macros, templates, everything can be just 1 keystroke.
Granted, I used to be able to do this with custom firmware on the moonlander, but with the charachorder it feels more smooth
Mistel Barocco fully split Keyboard: Can (and unfortunately must) be programmed without software.
Right half is the main keyboard. Left side connects to it, works also in standalone mode but is not programmable then.
https://mistelkeyboard.com/products/bd20945a731491407807e80d...
I was maintaining [1] which might be useful to you, but it's become outdated. It doesn't have a filter for one handed keyboards, but some of the "two halves" ones might be appropriate.
(If someone is interested in taking the site over and bringing it up to date, please open an issue.)
On OS X you can achieve this with Keyb, Karabiner Elements, etc. It's also easy to do with a programmable keyboard with ZMK/QMK. I've set up my Kinesis 360 Pro this way, being symmetrical means I can access every key easily. Hardware support for sticky keys also helps quite a bit.
The mirror board is an interesting idea as it allows to start with a normal keyboard and one could then switch to a smaller board with the muscle memory trained. I would prefer a different switch key though. I use cap lock as a layer switch on my keyboards. But I will think about it and try out a few things.
It could already be useful in situation where I need to keep my hand over the mousepad.
Yes, having a special keyboard can be limiting in that it’s a pain to cart around to hook up to laptops, etc. and to get an extra in case it fails.
It still could be nice to have something optimized, though. If you ever design one, please share it, because I think you’d get more interest than you’d think.
I began to have interest in developing for everyone (primarily for differences for vision, though difference in hearing, memory, learning also) about 13 years ago, and got little support from the small company I worked for. We had a very color-specific interface, because we were space-limited. Then, wouldn’t you know it, our next manager was red-green colorblind, but it didn’t bother her.
I got jaded about it, learning that basically no one cared enough, and that people just get ignored and struggle with their adaptive devices. This still pisses me off, and I was once thinking heavily about applying a job where I could do something about it, but I don’t have the required background.
With AI, there’s beginning to be almost no excuse for someone not to add first-class support for all types of people into their interfaces and process, but people still continue to design like everyone is a twenty-something y.o. with full hearing, 20/15 full color vision, 130 IQ average, and no memory or learning differences or other modalities.
I saw the keyboard to be operated by the left hand only and here is my (totally personal and somewhoat adjacent) problem with it.
My left hand is the one which has suffered the most the many hours of using a keyboard over the last +-25 years. While the right hand has the occasional break from the keyboard when using the mouse, the left hand is constantly glued to the keyboard.
It also has a much tougher job - all the cmd, ctrl, alt and shift + combinations are mostly done using the left hand - e.g. on Mac you cannot cmd+shift+ select text with the arrows - you must use the left hand - so it ends up doing so much more work.
I wonder if there are other people with the same problem. My right hand never hurts after many hours of computer work - but the left hand does. It hurts even now that I am typing and I haven't even spent more than an hour doing it.
Please do your hands a favor and get yourself an ergonomic keyboard! Thumb keys especially alleviate the issues with modifiers that you're describing.
I use a Glove80 as my daily driver right now, although the price tag to build quality ratio is not amazing, so idk if I would recommend it particularly. But there's a massive world of ergo keyboards out there--surely the right one for you exists somewhere!
I'm at the point where I need to redefine cmd-z, x, c, v because my left thumb doesn't want to do that dance anymore. It's been painful for a year, and I finally got to the point of redefining it a couple weeks ago. And the muscle memory is so ingrained that I changed it to option ', 1, 2, 3 and never thought about the idea that my right hand could do it.
They started with the left hand as requested, but made right hand version as well.
I wish these were also commercially available... I'd love to pay for one of these... I know it's open sources, but I don't know the language nor do I have the skills to construct one myself.
I was getting hand pain, switched to a Totem keyboard. 38 keys, 6 thumb keys. Column splay & never reaching for number row has greatly helped. 20g actuation means little force needed
Like people trying to find new interfaces for music making [thank god touchscreens!], there are people trying to figure out new hardware for interacting with computers. Thank you dudes!
PS: the first step towards feeling why such research is so important is when you start customizing productivity shortcuts on your existing keyboard. Then you understand that the input device in front of you can be more than a stupid typewriter. From there you start interrogating your interaction with machines. [and then you are addict, and you end up designing your own device :)]
After a stroke I've been using a software version of the half qwerty keyboard, it works quite well and you dot need special hardware, but you don't have integrated mouse, you can achieve that using ahk on windows and Karabiner Elements on Mac. the big advantage is that you keep using the same qwerty layout but mirrored, this makes it easier to learn.
http://half-qwerty.com/
Matias has a neat one-handed keyboard. It's quite expensive for what it is, especially considering these days where it's so easy to get a keyboard with remappable keys. There's a simulator on the sidebar at the link, and IMO it's quite intuitive.
I tried that concept whith my ergodox when i had an arm in a splint, but i couldnt quite get my brain to wrap around it. I could type on the right key, but not press the mirror/switch key at the right moment.
What would have made it easier is if it could infer the right key like an autocorrect
Readit News
> Our goal is to create fun and engaging videos.
I wonder whether they are more into video-making or tech.
It's got a soft cheery non-intrusive sound that I really like compared to the usual louder mechanical keys/switches that I hear in videos.
You can check if you find the switches colors here(it looks like an Akko purple pro, but not quite) https://keeb-finder.com/switches
Whereas rtings has a filtering list that also has sound profiles in the review pages.
https://www.rtings.com/keyboard-switch/tools/compare
You can get aula f75 for cheap, arround 50$, there are plenty of sound tests on youtube as it's very popular.
I got that version and I am happy, but if I was to buy a new one I would get the full size f108 because it's important for me to have distance between arrow keys and other keys. And tbh I would just get an apple keyboard or something similarly slim because it's more confortable for me. However for thicc (mechanical switch) keyboards, aula f75 has great specs and sound at a very good price.
Also you have to keep a much bigger area clear for it.
There's probably something with the position of the hand when you move the mouse as well. At least I seem to be moving mostly the wrist when I use my mouse, meaning that my hand and forearm are not always aligned; without this alignment, I feel there's more strain on the wrist when typing.
Deleted Comment
https://www.youtube.com/@HTXStudio/videos
I love the one about the automated trash cans.
Essentially, hold down a thumb key and WASD (well, ESDF) moves the mouse.
Does charachorder support Dvorak-like layout mentally? Not a 1-1 but something similar? Like vowels on left hand?
Granted, I used to be able to do this with custom firmware on the moonlander, but with the charachorder it feels more smooth
(Definitely adding this to my list)
Frogpad: German language one handed keyboard. Unfortunately discontinued http://frogpad.com/
Mirrorboard (my favorite): Intruiging mirror solution that builds upon the assumption that it is easier to access muscle memory from the other hand when you've learned it before https://blog.xkcd.com/2007/08/14/mirrorboard-a-one-handed-ke...
Mistel Barocco fully split Keyboard: Can (and unfortunately must) be programmed without software. Right half is the main keyboard. Left side connects to it, works also in standalone mode but is not programmable then. https://mistelkeyboard.com/products/bd20945a731491407807e80d...
(If someone is interested in taking the site over and bringing it up to date, please open an issue.)
[1] https://aposymbiont.github.io/split-keyboards/
On OS X you can achieve this with Keyb, Karabiner Elements, etc. It's also easy to do with a programmable keyboard with ZMK/QMK. I've set up my Kinesis 360 Pro this way, being symmetrical means I can access every key easily. Hardware support for sticky keys also helps quite a bit.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacOS#macOS
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twiddler
https://www.mytwiddler.com/
It's amazing how quickly you adapt. I have to put my mouse to the left of my keyboard and whereas before I was a touch typist, I now have to look.
And I can use a standard keyboard without undue hassle.
It still could be nice to have something optimized, though. If you ever design one, please share it, because I think you’d get more interest than you’d think.
I began to have interest in developing for everyone (primarily for differences for vision, though difference in hearing, memory, learning also) about 13 years ago, and got little support from the small company I worked for. We had a very color-specific interface, because we were space-limited. Then, wouldn’t you know it, our next manager was red-green colorblind, but it didn’t bother her.
I got jaded about it, learning that basically no one cared enough, and that people just get ignored and struggle with their adaptive devices. This still pisses me off, and I was once thinking heavily about applying a job where I could do something about it, but I don’t have the required background.
With AI, there’s beginning to be almost no excuse for someone not to add first-class support for all types of people into their interfaces and process, but people still continue to design like everyone is a twenty-something y.o. with full hearing, 20/15 full color vision, 130 IQ average, and no memory or learning differences or other modalities.
My left hand is the one which has suffered the most the many hours of using a keyboard over the last +-25 years. While the right hand has the occasional break from the keyboard when using the mouse, the left hand is constantly glued to the keyboard.
It also has a much tougher job - all the cmd, ctrl, alt and shift + combinations are mostly done using the left hand - e.g. on Mac you cannot cmd+shift+ select text with the arrows - you must use the left hand - so it ends up doing so much more work.
I wonder if there are other people with the same problem. My right hand never hurts after many hours of computer work - but the left hand does. It hurts even now that I am typing and I haven't even spent more than an hour doing it.
I use a Glove80 as my daily driver right now, although the price tag to build quality ratio is not amazing, so idk if I would recommend it particularly. But there's a massive world of ergo keyboards out there--surely the right one for you exists somewhere!
I wish these were also commercially available... I'd love to pay for one of these... I know it's open sources, but I don't know the language nor do I have the skills to construct one myself.
https://github.com/Vonng/Capslock
PS: the first step towards feeling why such research is so important is when you start customizing productivity shortcuts on your existing keyboard. Then you understand that the input device in front of you can be more than a stupid typewriter. From there you start interrogating your interaction with machines. [and then you are addict, and you end up designing your own device :)]
https://matias.ca/halfkeyboard/
What would have made it easier is if it could infer the right key like an autocorrect