Poor Man's Kinesis Keyboard: The K'nexis Keyboard

Jon_Aquino writes "For programmers like me with wrist pain (the dreaded Emacs Pinky syndrome), I have made a simple keyboard modification that lets you press the Ctrl, Alt, and Shift keys with your thumbs. Just like those expensive $240 Kinesis keyboards, but made using a $30 K'nex building toy. (K'nex is like Lego but uses rods instead of bricks)."

Comments

You take a block from the bottom

[conteXXt]

and put it on top.

You take a block from the middle and put it on top.

ooops. Soory. wrong permanently embedded jingle.

Such a sad choice of editor...

[Megane]

If he had simply used vi, none of this would have been necessary.

Just use vi

[m50d]

Seriously, if your tool gives you that serious problems it's time to use another one.

Re:Just use vi

[timmyd]

If he wanted emacs to act like vi, there's nothing stopping him from customizing it that way or using something like viper-mode.

On the other hand, he's losing some of the greatest benefits of a kinesis keyboard: the keys line up vertically, the right thumb can easily hit the space bar(it's over it) and the enter key, and the left thumb is right over the backspace. For people that enter numbers a lot, there is a foot pedal available that turns the right half of the keyboard into a numeric pad so you can type numbers without your right hand leaving the home row. The more expensive models also support key macros.

Buying a kinesis keyboard was probably one of the best hardware purchases I've ever made.

Pinky on the ctrl?

[mrjb]

I use the the 'ball' at the base of my pinky to press the ctrl-key. Leaves the pinky free for all the keys it was intended for: the q, a and z as well as capslock,tab and shift.

Kinesis Rocks

[healy]

As a long time (5+ years) user of a Kinesis Keyboard I can tell you that it's the best keyboard I have ever used. It took me about a week to get used to the new layout (I stayed away from root shells) but once I did, I've never looked back. It's the most comfortable keyboard I've ever tried. I own one for home & one for work. Combined with the Evoluent mouse, my hands are much, much happier now.

Errrr

[amulder]

I looked at the article, and saw the photo's, but it hardly looks comfortable. Seems to me that you'd get in trouble every time you let your wrists down.

Seriously... how many of us have good piano skills and always keep our wrists up? Not me, thats what wrist rests are for...

Personally...

[DarthVain]

The cheaper it is, and fewer options the better.

I would rather a 10 buck clickity clack than a 100$ wireless, usb, internet, media, programmable, glow in the dark, led indicators, blue tooth, ergonomic, natural, quiet, windows, etc...

So long as it interpretes typing. I am so sick of the varients. Wireless might be ok in some applications (media center for example), but is half this stuff ever needed or used.

The last two stupid ones I bought (they were the cheapest I coudl find in a pinch), were a media one and an Internet one.

They both sucked, half the time you would inadvertantly hit a button while doing something else. Let me tell you hitting the "internet" or "Media Player" button while playing a FPS online will make you curse.

It is also all the more screwy buttons my cat can walk over and activate. So the next morning I can see several dozen apps started, or the computer put into standby or shutdown.

Another positive with the cheapo keyboard is the ability to just toss it if you accidently spill crap on it.

I am really just writing this to see if I get first post... :)

It's obvious

[fiori]

Keyboard manufacturers are VI users...

nice

[ate50eggs]

I just wish pages for complicated mods had such detailed instructions with so many pictures. This one I think could have been described in a sentence or two.

Your hands are your career

[maynard]

I bought a Kinesis split bowl keyboard five years ago and haven't looked back since. It's still in use, and as sturdy as ever. While the article in question may offer a cheaper alternative, frankly I consider the ~$300 I spent on that keyboard worth every penny. It saved me from countless hours of finger and wrist pain while keeping me on the job when I might have been further injured. $300 is chump change compared to a career. I'd still gladly recommend the Kinesis, especially if you're beginning to feel keyboarding pain after a days work. --M

Once again: Bind CAPSLOCK to Control

[tezza]

1. Use Sharpkeys
2. Put a mapping from Caps Lock to Left Control
3. Use new capslock instead
4. No more Emacs wanky or whatever you said.

You won't remember life before this change. And no having to use vi ;)

emacs or xemacs?

[porky_pig_jr]

hey, he says 'emacs, emacs, emacs is the greatest editor', and then he shows up the display with --- God forbid --- XEmacs.

Bloody hypocrite.

Re:And you call yourself a geek!

[interstellar_donkey]

Actually, I'm pretty sure all of the moving parts inside a Lexmark are K'nex.