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Actually the one I am talking about is the "Evoluent" VerticalMouse 2: http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/pd-evoluent.htm

I bought it about 2 months back & it's really nice.

Kinesis

I use a Kinesis Countoured Programmable keyboard with a footswitch. Mine is in Dvorak layout, but they're switchable in hardware., so use whatever you like. Among other things, I use one of the footswitches as the shift key. That solves part one of your problem. In addition, most of the modifier keys are under your thumbs, which get six keys each instead of sharing just the spacebar.

Aside from the ergonomic benefits (this thing cured my tenosynovitis in college a decade ago and I've never looked back), the keyboard can program a macro to any key. And, it has an additional modifier key that lets you define a second meaning for every key - the idea being that you use this to emulate a keypad.

I use the second layer to define code macros. HTML macros on the left, C-style code macros on the right. I use one of the footswitches to activate the second layer. So, for example,[right foot][k], meaning the key under my middle finger, home row, gives me this:

for (*;;)
{
}

Where the * represents the location of the cursor after the macro runs, since the macros can include arrow keys. All that from a foot-tap and one non-pinkie homerow keystroke. I make new macros on the fly when I find I'm retyping something too often. Like an identifier, if I'm not in an IDE with auto-complete, or deleting the first character of every line, if i'm in an editor without rectangular selection.

Tapping the footswitch and hitting middle-homerow-left gives me:

<table>
*</table>

When I have to use my laptop, I feel pretty crippled. So I often carry the kinesis with me. Fortunately, all those macros are in hardware, so I can. And the USB keyboard is Mac/PC switchable: it's plugged into my KVM and I drive my windows, mac, and linux boxes all with the same macros. Great for cross-platform development and testing.

I use a kinesis essential keyboard: http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/contoured.htm. It seems a little cheaper than the one you have and it has made typing a lot nicer for me. I can't stand going back to flat keyboards now, it just doesn't feel right to be typing that way.

One of the things I first noticed after I started using it was that I could easily use the C-n, C-p, C-f, and C-b commands in emacs whereas I had to use the arrow keys in the past because it wasn't comfortable to use the control keys. Another nice feature is that my left thumb rests on the backspace key (and right is on the spacebar).

• Hardwired dvorak/us switch (I use Dvorak, but it'd be easier to share this way)
• Black or transparent (looks good), better when used with a mac
• Not only ergonomic, but Adjustably ergonomic This is what I use today.
• I'll take the blank keys from this one
• I'll also take the variable force springs
• Wireless
• Ability to add a separate numeric keypad for those rare times when I need to input lots of numbers
• A row of buttons for macros

I certainly haven't noticed any keyboards with individually weighted keys, but I've been using mainly the same keyboards since before that article was published. It seems like a good idea, and I'd think there would be less resistance than to a contour keyboard, like the Kinesis or Maltron.

A company called Evoluent http://www.evoluent.com/ has a "Vertical," or "handshake" mouse, that is a hell of a thing. There are pictures on the web page linked above. Anyone at risk for RSI should take a serious look at it. Basically, instead of turning your palm down to the desktop, you leave your hand in the handshake position, the position it is normally in when you are standing relaxed. In addition to the ergonomic shape, it happens to be a fantastic optical mouse. I moved from a regular mouse to a trackball, which was great until I started getting pain in the knuckle of the finger I used to move the ball. I then switched to the handshake designed and used it without problems for years. Actually what I'm using more recently is also noteworthy: the Kinesis Evolution keyboard http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/evol_desk.htm. They keyboard is fully split in half, so you can position it as you like. Plus it has a laptop-like touchpad on both sides of the keyboard. I don't use a conventional mouse anymore: I "mouse with two hands" by usually navigating with my right hand on the right touchpad and clicking the buttons with my left. For me that's meant even less strain than the Evoluent Verticalmouse, which I didn't think was possible!

I swear by my two kinesis keyboards

No hype just comfort...

Call me when one of them has broad market acceptance.

Why is that a prerequisite? I'm using a Kinesis keyboard. It doesn't bother me that other people use normal keyboards, and it doesn't seem to bother anyone that I use a funky keyboard.

Diversity is necessary for functional capitalism.

Regarding wasting thumbs, check out Kinesis's contoured keyboard.

Some friends and I were actually going to make a footboard once, not that long ago, to move all the modifier keys to the floor. We figure that, if a church organist can play scales with her feet, we could speed up our typing significantly by never having to use two finger simultaneously by way of our feet doing that part of the job.

I say:
I switched because less finger travel made my hands less tired at the same typing speed. I still use both layouts, but if I am typing a lot, I will use dvorak.

When I first thought about switching, I created an Excel macro to count finger reaches in QWERTY phrases and one for Dvorak. I also started making a list of common words that can be typed on the home row in each. In both of these endeavors, Dvorak won. roughly 25-30% less finger travel, more in some phrases. Many more common words on the home row.

Here http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/ is a company that makes ergo keyboards with vertical rows, QWERTY, Dvorak, or both.

History says:
The slant of the columns on the keyboard is an artifact left over from mechanical typewriters.
For those not acquainted with the story of the keyboards, here's a short version:
http://www.mit.edu:8001/people/jcb/Dvorak/

You can actually buy foot pedals for certain keyboards. My Kinesis Contour keyboard has 1- to 3-button foot pedals. I have the older 2-pedal variant, and being an Emacs user, I had them mapped to "control" and "meta". Was interesting, but my wrists aren't bad enough to put up with the learning curve of training my feet...

You can actually buy foot pedals for certain keyboards. My Kinesis Contour keyboard has 1- to 3-button foot pedals. I have the older 2-pedal variant, and being an Emacs user, I had them mapped to "control" and "meta". Was interesting, but my wrists aren't bad enough to put up with the learning curve of training my feet...

I'm not sure why you got a funny, but there are Keyboards with Foot switches and a super duper Keypad.

I'm not sure why you got a funny, but there are Keyboards with Foot switches and a super duper Keypad.

I'm not sure why you got a funny, but there are Keyboards with Foot switches and a super duper Keypad.

Such things exist, and people are using them as well:
http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/foot.htm

Remove the foot.htm bit for the whole site, it uses frames.

I used to work for a company with hundreds of programmers that was very ergo conscious. They would do anything to help the coders work easier.

Desks that would raise to standing height at the flip of a switch, gelpads, Herman Miller chairs, split keyboards, massages, whatever.

I had some pretty bad pain in my hands (still do since I left the company) and they got me a Kineses ergo keyboard. Honestly, within days I was used to the weird layout and my pain was gone. Simply gone.

I don't know why I haven't picked one up since, $300+ isn't too much for better wrist health. It even has foot pedals that can be configured for those keys that cause you to leave the home row, like Esc.

If my company takes off so I'm not living week to week, I'm getting one. For now I must suffer.

http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/advantage_pro.htm

What I don't get is why they still insist on forcing on users flat layouts? Do they WANT to give pain to their users? Flat (i.e. non-ergonomic) keyboards are a pain.

I use a Kinesis Maxim keyboard and you have no idea what a difference it can be, but even a Microsoft natural keyboard is a lot less painful than a flat layout

Oh, yeah, and to get a few mod points more... I also type Dvorak.

I realize I always plug these when an article on keyboards comes up, but... you can have what you want (subject to you writing a few macros for some keys) with one of these:

Kinesis

Customizable... programmable... pedals... and an exciting chunky shape! I use the pedals for ctrl and programming punctuation, though, not caps.

Use a Kinesis-Ergo keyboard. The contoured ones are great for people with big hands.

Hmm. I use a Kinesis-Ergo Advantage keyboard with a Dvorak layout and and I can still type fine on regular QWERTY flat boards. Sure, it's less comfortable, but the ease of use on my personal board is worth the price of learning different layouts.

The stuff I've tried that's kept my hands from relapsing over the past 8 years:

1. Take breaks often. Stretch your hands. No 10-hour IRC/MUD/Zork runs without a 5-minute coffee break each hour.
2. Think about your hand position. Keep the keyboard out of the lap, etc.
3. Get a comfortable chair and organize your desk to where you're in a healthy position.
4. Get a wrist-rest if your keyboard doesn't have one.
5. Don't type so hard.

In addition, I used a Kinesis Keyboard for quite a while that seemed to help, and I love ErgoRests, although they help more with the shoulders and mouse-hand than with keyboard-related issues.

Oh, and don't ignore it. I let mine get bad enough the first time that it was painful to open doors, drive a car, or do any basic stuff for a couple of months and I still have two fingers that *always* tingle on their tips due to nerve damage. If you're so inclined, talk to a doctor! They didn't help me much at the time ("here's some steroids, oh those didn't help? Have you tried advil? We could do surgery, but it probably wouldn't work....") but there's been a lot more research on RSI-related problems since then. Mine actually wasn't Carpal Tunnel, but rather inflammation on the outside edge of the wrist (rather than the central tunnel) pushing on the nerves. Also got spiffy tendonitis to boot.

During the recovery phase, I'd also suggest getting two different types of wrist-braces. First, get a good pair of roller-blading wristpads. They don't make you look like quite as much of an invalid and they are much more comfy than the medical ones, but they do have a solid metal restraining bar that works wonders. Then, get the medical version with the hot/cold gel pack inserts. Use hot ones before working, and cold ones afterwards.

1. Do google searches on 3 types of wrist deviation.

2. Get keyboard that help with deviations. Kinesis Keyboard

3. Get multiple pointing devices like this.

4. Switch among devices, using left and right hands.

5. Take a break to stretch every 20 minutes minimum.

6. Do a google search on stretches for CTS and wrists, arm, shoulder, back, chest.

I have to disagree with you there. OEM-supplied components *are* quite flimsy, since they compete on essentially nothing but price (well, perhaps extra volume buttons on the keyboard might be a selling point).

There are a number of manufacturers that produce more highly-price, nicer input devices. Among them, Logitech,
which sells a whole line of wireless keyboards, PCKeyboard, which has among its offerings modern versions of old-IBM-Model-M style buckling-spring mechanism keyboards (CLICK CLICK CLICK...), Fingerworks' unusual offerings, the expensive-but-ultimate-RSI-avoidance Kinesis keyboards, and Goldtouch's ergo products.

If you think your keyboard choice makes you a geek:

I use a modified Dvorak layout with the fabulous Kinesis keyboard. I say modified since I have remapped the Ctrl key to be where the Kinesis puts its backspace key, the Esc key to where Kinesis puts the delete key (both of these changes are for emacs, of course--it's nice to have ctrl and esc available w/o moving your hands :-), the backspace to the caps lock, moved the caps lock to one of the Alt keys and the delete to one of the ctrl keys.

They have bizarre looks (they appear in the Men In Black movie), but they feel great, use your thumbs for enter, space etc. and are fully programmable, so I switched Caps Lock and Escape, because I'm a vi user. And it doesn't have a numeric part, so it's quite small, which leaves your pointing device easily within reach.

You could try a set of programmable foot switches, such as Kinesis. You need to program the actions from a Windows machine, but the unit can then be used with other OSes. I used this together with a small programmable keypad a few years back.

Well, the Kinesis keyboards are fully programable/remapable. Very comfortable too.

I like, but they are expensive.

One of the things that the Kinesis ergo elan keyboard has done right (i'm typing this on one of those)

A year ago, I got myself a Kinesis Contoured keyboard. It took me two weeks and a couple of hours of TuxTyping to get used to it, but since then it's great. I've never had any real RSI, but the Kinesis makes you sit more comfortable. You sit with straight arms; horizontally as well as in a straight angle.

It's quite expensive, though. :-/

WRT the DIY version, you can set Linux up to merge inputs from multiple keyboards (actually, that's its default behaviour and dissuading it from doing that is one of the big traumas involved in making multiple independent X instances work), so you could plug two potentially mangled keyboards in and lay one to each side, and potentially also have another unmangled keyboard before you as well.

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong (I can certainly count on that around here...) but I thought it was pretty widely accepted that the Dvorak keyboard being faster or better is a myth.

Dvorak is not crap. When people watch me type they usually comment that my fingers hardly move. I watch people type on a qwerty and their fingers are all over the place for most words. Dvorak is optimized for the english language and most words can be typed on the home row. (~1600 to be specific).

About the military (lack of) adoption. The military found that learning dvorak took about 50 hours to reach proficiency while learing qwerty took several weeks. I believe the legend is that they would have switched but there was corporate pressure for the typewriter makers.

(Remember, qwerty was originally developed to prevent the typewriter from getting mechanically stuck... not efficiency for typing)

My only problems with dvorak is that it isn't optimized for c/java code because the brackets and some other characters are kinda a bitch to get at. for that there are emacs key bindings and kinesis keyboard macros. though typing in a language like lisp/scheme or a more verbal language (more reserved words, like vhdl/vb/) is a delight because most of the typing done is done typing words.

radical like one of those Logitech/MS 'natural' keyboards

natural keyboards are crap. check out a real ergonomic keyboard [kinesis-ergo.com]. Natural keyboards have positive wrist angle which is really bad for you. With the kinesis, not only do my fingers move less with dvorak, but the kinesis eliminates any need for wrist swivel.

Well, I can find a Kinesis for $191, around the same price as a regular high-end keyboard. Or for that matter I can switch a standard keyboard to Dvorak layout for free. Both of those options are better than a normal qwerty board.

Very few use either though. People don't think it is worth it: they think it is to hard to learn, or just too expensive when they get a keyboard free with the computer. ZERO would not be enough to get most of my family to try my Kinesis, and it is standard qwerty!

one of the supposed benefits of Dvorak is that it puts the most frequently used letters on the right, under the "dominant" hand. But that ain't my dominant hand :-)

So if the Dvorak proponents are correct, the layout would actually be an impediment to me ....

These statements are incorrect. Two of the significant benefits of Dvorak are:

• The most frequently used letters are on home row for both hands.
• Characters alternate about 50% left hand and 50% right hand on average.

Thus there is no disadvantage for either right-handed or left-handed typists. It doesn't matter that all of the vowels are on the left hand and most of the consonants are on the right. Most of the time when typing in English, letters of words alternate between the five vowels and all of the other letters. The layout could be mirrored horizontally without favoring either dominant hand.

Qwerty is garbage, plain and simple. I don't have kids yet, but if I do, they will learn to type efficiently from the beginning using Dvorak. That's one way to implant the superior standard more firmly.

Here is my ergonomic typing page, on which I chronicle my experiences with Dvorak and the Kinesis contoured keyboard.

If you use emacs, and get annoyed with CTRL and ALT, I highly recommend the Kinesis countoured keyboard.

It takes some getting used to, but you end up with having CRTL and ALT on both sides, and even better, they're on your thumbs. Emacs was driving me crazy before I switched to this.

I've modified mine too, but only by remapping and exchanging the keys accordingly. I've exchanged the arrow keys (up/down on the left, left/right on the right) - it feels much more natural, I don't know why. Further, I've exchanged space and backspace, so I can press space with my left hand. And I've exchanged the backslash key with the quote key, because I need \ much more often than ' when programming in (Objective) C.

The biggest con of the Kinesis keyboard IMO is that it doesn't have enough programmable keys, I'd need much more of them, without loosing the F-keys (or any other). Of course, this gadget would solve that problem, but it's very expensive. Oh, and an integrated touchpad would be nice (and easily possible with USB), but I like to rest my head on the middle of the keyboard when I'm tired :)

I'm typing this on a Kinesis Contour keyboard and it's a wonderful thing. It abandons the traditional 'staggered grid' layout (which is fine, because none of my keyboards relies on swinging a thin metal arm that has to be kept clear of all the other thin metal arms) and puts the keys in a bowl shape around the fingers. It feels so much more comfortable and natural to type on -- and it also fixed the tendons in my right hand, which were freaking out from having to reach over to the backspace and 'programming' keys so much.

It also has total programmability -- which means that finally I can do something with the scroll lock key (I use it to toggle Japanese/English input).

Mine is from the mid 90's and is still working perfectly.

N.B. I do not work for Kinesis. I merely plug their keyboard all the damn time because I like it.

BUT: it's not because of the strange design. It's nice, but after the adaption phase, I'm at about the same speed as before (albeit it feels better then before).
The real feature of the keyboard is its reprogrammability. I can remap all the keys, define macro commands, everything directly on the keyboard, without any drivers (it's a regular USB keyboard for the computer). It works fine for all OSes that support USB keyboards. You can plug it into another computer, and all your macros are still there.

It's really a great thing, especially if you want to scare visitors :) (that smilie is mapped to F1 btw, no need for shifting around)

Try the Kinesis keyboards. Enter is next to the space, under the right thumb. Control is just above it.

Kinesis programmable keyboards allow you to assign any keyboard combination to a series of keystrokes. For instance, you could assign Ctrl + F1 to type your password for you. Just don't let people see you doing it...

Sounds like a Kinesis Contoured keyboard with a foot switch.

It's great for programmers because you can actually remap any key to any other key and even program macros directly into the keyboard's memory, so if I have a particular repetitive sequence of commands that I use in my editor, I can temporarily map, say ALT+6 to that sequence of keys. Doing it at the hardware level is great because it works on every OS, etc.

And Dvorak is wonderful too. I don't have to wear wrist braces any more. I can touch type VERY fast. It's a good keyboard design for playing games.

Only thing that bothers me is that laptops still come with QWERTY. I want a Dvorak laptop. I don't want to be pulling keys off and trying to stick them in different places.

{
<cursor left here>
}

for (<cursor left here>;;)

Had to buy a PS/2 to USB converter so I could keep using my Kinesis keyboard. Bunches of people I work with swear by the Mac pro keyboards but they drive me nuts. I absolutely love my Kinesis I made it a requirement for employment when I started at my current job. My boss thought it was weird but didn't have a problem laying out the $300 or so for the keyboard to get me onboard.

Frankly, this is a career. I fuck my fingers/wrists up and I don't have a job. And I swear, that keyboard has saved my wrists. I had all sorts of problems after years of using a normal keyboard, but after taking the time to get used to the Kinesis I found my tendonitis receeding and the pain going away. I still have to take breaks while doing long keyboarding sessions, but that keyboard saved my career. I like it so much I bought one for home. I can't recommend it enough for the serious typist.

I would liken the keyboard to keys shaped along the inside of a bra... and that always helps when I'm typing away. :)

Cheers,
--Maynard

I've used a rigid, zero-feedback keyboard (a TouchStream prototype) quite a lot.

For typing tasks like programming and writing articles, it starts off mildly annoying and rapidly becomes agonizingly horrible. However, I was very impressed by the potential for non-typing input, e.g. gestures, dragging the mouse pointer without having to move your hand off the keyboard.

I think these boards would be great for the pda/cellphone market but for heavy workstation use it's just terrible ergonomics -- specially when the perfect keyboard already exists! That's the Kinesis Contour for those trapped in the land of flat keyboards.

Some years ago when I was in high school, I suffered a complete meltdown with my wrists. Since then, I have learned about the Dvorak layout and the Kinesis Contoured keyboard. Both have made a tremendous difference for me.

Quite simply, flat keyboards and the qwerty layout suck. Posture is not going to make much difference when the hands are doing so much extra work on keyboards which are not designed for the human hand and with an inefficient key layout.

The Kinesis Contoured keyboard is designed for the proportions of human fingers, and also takes advantage of the thumbs.

Naturally, if someone is in serious pain from typing, then he should stop everything immediately. After recovery is the time to think about switching to a better keyboard and better layout.

My ergonomic typing story is detailed on my Explorations in Ergonomic Typing page.

Well, I can't let a /. post about input devices go by without talking about my beloved Kinesis keyboard. If you have heard about it and are on the fence about trying one out -- don't hesitate!

From my journal:

The Kinesis keyboard has done nothing less than save my career. While starting a company in 1995 the long work days took a toll on my hands. After seeing doctor after doctor and specialist after specialist the best advice they could offer was "type less." Thank you very much, but I had deadlines to meet.

Everything changed when I splurged $300 for the Kinesis Contour keyboard. There are four major differences between this keyboard and the others out there, and together they make typing feel to me like I'm running down hill.

1. Separated "key wells" (you have to see the picture to understand) which allow a much more natural hand position.

2. Keys are lined up directly above each other (i.e. the T key is directly north of the G key, not up-to-the-left). This makes your fingers extend out and back, not out and back and side to side.

3. The key wells are curved, which brings the keys on the upper and lower parts of the keybard closer to your fingertips. This is probably the single largest factor contributing to the "running down hill" feeling.

4. Thumbs. Your thumbs are the two strongest digits on your hands. I don't know about you, but the way I used to type I would only use one of my thumbs, and only for one key (the space bar). My left thumb sat dormant. What a waste! Additionally, two of my most actively used fingers were my pinkeys due to the RET, Backspace and Control keys. Guess which fingers are your weakest? On the Kinesis, the thumbs get the most commonly used keys. I've got a couple of buttons re-mapped (due mostly to Emacs usage patterns) so the four major thumb buttons are Control, Alt, Return and Space. I couldn't live any other way.

Give it a try. You won't regret it.

Kinesis home page

-Pez

Well, I can't let a /. post about input devices go by without talking about my beloved Kinesis keyboard. If you have heard about it and are on the fence about trying one out -- don't hesitate!

From my journal:

The Kinesis keyboard has done nothing less than save my career. While starting a company in 1995 the long work days took a toll on my hands. After seeing doctor after doctor and specialist after specialist the best advice they could offer was "type less." Thank you very much, but I had deadlines to meet.

Everything changed when I splurged $300 for the Kinesis Contour keyboard. There are four major differences between this keyboard and the others out there, and together they make typing feel to me like I'm running down hill.

1. Separated "key wells" (you have to see the picture to understand) which allow a much more natural hand position.

2. Keys are lined up directly above each other (i.e. the T key is directly north of the G key, not up-to-the-left). This makes your fingers extend out and back, not out and back and side to side.

3. The key wells are curved, which brings the keys on the upper and lower parts of the keybard closer to your fingertips. This is probably the single largest factor contributing to the "running down hill" feeling.

4. Thumbs. Your thumbs are the two strongest digits on your hands. I don't know about you, but the way I used to type I would only use one of my thumbs, and only for one key (the space bar). My left thumb sat dormant. What a waste! Additionally, two of my most actively used fingers were my pinkeys due to the RET, Backspace and Control keys. Guess which fingers are your weakest? On the Kinesis, the thumbs get the most commonly used keys. I've got a couple of buttons re-mapped (due mostly to Emacs usage patterns) so the four major thumb buttons are Control, Alt, Return and Space. I couldn't live any other way.

Give it a try. You won't regret it.

Kinesis home page

-Pez