Xah Keyboard Blog Archive 2020-03

How to Avoid Mouse Hand Pain
updated.

updated or new pages

Hyper 7 Keyboard

reddit, confusion of touch typing, typing speed, and ergonomics

this idiot, am about to address https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/g8b055/change_my_mind_touch_typing_is_the_main_cause_for/

lol. what a idiocy. though, thanks for citing my site.

Put a bath towel over your hands. If you can work like that for 10 min, yeah, you touchtype. That's the proper definition.

most people who claim that they touch type but not in the standard fingering, simply cannot do that.

i didn't get rsi because i touch type. i touch typed for 15 years before i got rsi. and i got it because i was using a laptop exclusively for 2 years, in 2004.

you can see this documented here How to Avoid Emacs Pinky

later on i had more bouts of RSI , because i type more than Sean Wrona and your mom combined, for 10 years.

those people who had rsi are mostly because they type much more. similar to pro athletes get more injury than couch potato gamers.

Sean Wrona does not do standard finger, nor dvork, nor consider keyboard important, because, he's a typing savant. He touch type since he's 3 years old.

Barbara Blackburn, world record holder, touch type on dvorak back in 1980s on IBM Selectric.

Also, don't mix hand health with typing speed with keyboard physical layout like noodle. Not sure what you trying to claim. Ortholinear is slightly better for hand health than traditional. Split is critical for hand health if you actually type a lot. (as by a key log, not what you feel) Key letter layout is not critical in speed improvement nor hand health, in general. Lastly, espousing idiosyncratic typing method is idiotic, unless you are a typing prodigy like Sean. AND, ergonomics keyboard means comfort and means no RSI.

if you can cover your hands with bath towel and work for 10 min, yes you touch type.

That is interesting. Did you use an ergo keyboard during the 15 years before you got rsi? Once you got RSI from your keyboard, it transfered over to regular non-split keyboards? Even today? Or is it merely a preference by now?

i started touch typing (standard fingering) since 1987 on electric typewriter. Started to use computer in 1989. Hated ergo keyboards. Till 2004, i had rsi, cuz i was typing on laptop exclusively for 2 years. Got myself Microsoft Natural. Adopted it. Since, never want to type on a flat normal keyboard. After 2 min, feel uncomfortable.

Tons of articles i've detailed, start at Xah Lee's Typing Experience and RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury)

I think it's funny that you always talk about how much you type and how everyone who disagrees with you just simply doesn't type as much as you do. It's funny, because you seem to miss the irony: your advice would be irrelevant if it is only relevant to people who type as much as you do, which you claim no one does :D

Many questions about hand health depends on how much you really type. This is important: as measured by a keylog, not what you think how much you type. How Many Words Do You Type a Day?

Since 2010, i type more than vast majority of programers or writers, to such extreme that i'd say, many things i do does not apply to average programers. For example, is split keyboard important? well, if you are average programer, then maybe not. So what is “average”? This comes back to your keylog.

when you want the best methods about hand health, it is with regards to heavy typists, not “average” keyboard users. For example, professional ram ball players have professional training to avoid injury as much as possible. Sports training, sport science. Do average person need to follow them just to run a mile? no. Does it mean sport training are all bullshit?

I recommend ergonomic keyboard, mechanical keys, split/tented, and even with curved surface such as kinesis advantage, and dvorak, and proper touch typing, and i recommend lots thumb keys, ban key chords, and in emacs, use modal such as xah fly keys or evil mode, and i recommend dual mouse.

are these tips great for your mom? No. Rubber dom is fine. But don't say it's better.

Sean Wrona, one of the fastest typist

He does not follow standard touch typing fingering.

Keyboards and Layouts:

I am frequently asked which keyboard layout I use. I have only ever used the traditional QWERTY layout. I recognize that Dvorak and Colemak may be better on the hands, but it would be too much of a loss of speed in my case to justify switching. I used a Das Keyboard Professional Silent until it wore out but have since switched to a Logitech Illuminated Keyboard k740. I do not particularly feel much of a speed difference between the two keyboards, although the Das Keyboard probably did feel better to type with.

Typing Tips:

I am also frequently asked for tips on typing faster. I believe my biggest advantage in typing is that I do not necessarily use the same finger to type the same key. I use whichever finger is most comfortable, which can vary based on the context of the letters in the word. I cannot completely explain what I'm doing since I have been doing it since my childhood and it comes naturally, but I do tend to use whichever finger is closest based on the positioning of my hands typing the other letters in the word. Additionally, if you want to increase your speed, do not type each word at uniform speed. Speed through the easier words and take a little more time on the harder words to ensure accuracy. Always focus on the word after the word you are currently typing so there are no unnatural pauses in your typing. I recommend using caps lock instead of shift to type capital letters to allow more flexibility in the hand that you would normally use shift with. Finally, with regard to online typing games, for whatever reason my scores seem to register higher in Google Chrome. Although this won't actually improve your speed, it could improve your nominal scores on certain typing sites.

http://seanwrona.com/typing.php

Lisp Machine Keyboards

working in past 5 hours, on apl and unicode. Following updated.

random articles of the day.

@Takom#1480 my global keybinding ... that'd be Emacs: Xah Fly Keys then perhaps this article captures the overall picture: Why Tiling Window Manager Sucks (xmonad, ratpoison, dwm, etc)

these links are usually from xahlee discord chats. join.

X-Bows Knight Keyboard
new photo.

updated.
Kaihua Kailh Switch

splitkbcompare 2020-04-19 xvhs6
keyboard comparison app https://jhelvy.shinyapps.io/splitkbcompare/

random articles.

Gergo Keyboard
added a video, of the creator typing on gergo, with ultra light switches.

Windows: Single-click Open File
updated.

Windows: Mouse Hover to Activate Window
new page.

See also:

new navigation panel.

Linux: Accelerated Scroll and AutoScroll

Plum Keyboard

new photo. Georgi keyboard.

Georgi Keyboard for Steno

Apple Adjustable Keyboard 1993, for sale. contact hectort256@gmail.com , only if you are serious

Apple Adjustable Keyboard 1993

Kinesis Advantage2 Keyboard Layouts
major rewrite.

Space Cadet Keycaps
repost.

random old articles.

added a video. trackball that spins forever. air bearing.
Trackballs That Can Spin

ve.a keyboard 59g42-s389x161
VE.A 96

added a where to buy, on aliexpress

Keyboardio Atreus

Keyboardio recently worked with technomancy to produce the Atreus keyboard.

Am quite disappointed. Of all great DIY keyboards, they chose to do this 42 keys ultra mini keyboard. Keyboards with less than 60 keys are hand pain inducing, because they force you to use key chords, even for numbers and basic punctuations.

Anyway, here's the unboxing by key switch expert Chyrosran22 at Atreus Keyboard. also, link to their kickstart at bottom of the page.

and here's my review of keyboardio:

keyboardio m1 rgb 44488-s306x204
Keyboardio

linux kernel now supports Elecom's trackballs Fn buttons

xah thx sleepnir nope 2020-03-21 ybt3p
xah thanks sleepnir nope 2020-03-21
https://twitter.com/brrzap/status/1228845253052051456

updated:

Ban Key Chords
minor update

How to Avoid Mouse Hand Pain

Ultimate Hacking vs Kinesis Advantage2

in past 2 months, and now, been typing on UHK. it's excellent. but this week been also back to Kinesis Advantage2 now and then. I must say, Kinesis is GOOD, even better. If it has red switches, i absolutely prefer Kinesis. (i have red switches on UHK)

New Firmware and Model of Kinesis Advantage2 Keyboard

Kinesis Advantage2 Keyboard

installed new firmware. my kinesis advantage2 is dated 2016-08, when it came out. apparently, they have newer version. New version has 4M memory. Mine has 2M. New version has visual keyboard programing software called SmartSet, bundled in the memory. (so, no install required) For mine model, you have to download it.

todo

logitech's new keyboard, G815/G915

xah on discord on keyboard

xah on keyboard discord 2020-03-10 cjbqy
xah on keyboard discord 2020-03-10
xah on keyboard discord 2020-03-10 wz4wk
xah on keyboard discord 2020-03-10

for emacs stuff, read Emacs Keys

and read this for a comprehensive overview on the keyboard software side emacs and vi: Science of Command Efficiency

Is Keyboard Tenting Important (Wrist Pronation)

new model of X-Bows, the Knight

Bat Chording Keyboard
added a user review. plus other update.

remove 【lenticular brackets】 for keyboard shortcut notation

updated articles. removed 【lenticular brackets】 for keyboard shortcut notation. For example, i used to write 【Ctrl+c】 now it's just Ctrl+c