Emacs 23.2 released

Posted May 11, 2010 12:07 UTC (Tue) by nix (subscriber, #2304)
In reply to: Emacs 23.2 released by mpr22
Parent article: Emacs 23.2 released

On ordinary QWERTY keyboards, I'd be stunned to find anyone using ctrl for anything else (other than ctrl-cursor-key movement perhaps). With properly ergonomic (contoured) keyboards it's much nicer, and you use both ctrls for much the same reason as you use both shifts... :)

Emacs 23.2 released

Posted May 11, 2010 13:51 UTC (Tue) by mpr22 (subscriber, #60784) [Link] (2 responses)

I'm a little bemused - where exactly do contoured keyboards put right-Shift and right-Control to make them ergonomically viable for use with anything except the cursor keys?

Emacs 23.2 released

Posted May 11, 2010 22:52 UTC (Tue) by dododge (guest, #2870) [Link] (1 responses)

Under the right thumb.

Emacs 23.2 released

Posted May 12, 2010 12:52 UTC (Wed) by nix (subscriber, #2304) [Link]

The contoured keyboard I use (the Maltron) has very nearly the same layout. Right alt, ctrl, and del are under the right thumb there, as are one enter key, end, space, and the down and right cursor keys. Hitting right-ctrl and left-ctrl is exactly as easy on this keyboard, and almost exactly as easy as hitting enter, backspace, or space.

Emacs 23.2 released

Posted May 11, 2010 21:01 UTC (Tue) by alecs1 (guest, #46699) [Link] (3 responses)

Could you give a link to such a keyboard (where right-Control is nicely placed?). On my Natural 4000 it is bad, on other keyboards is horrific, however, on the notebook keyboard the right-Control is quite nicely placed.

Emacs 23.2 released

Posted May 11, 2010 22:55 UTC (Tue) by dododge (guest, #2870) [Link] (1 responses)

Kinesis Contoured. It's a great keyboard design but it's not cheap.

Emacs 23.2 released

Posted May 12, 2010 12:55 UTC (Wed) by nix (subscriber, #2304) [Link]

The Maltron is another one: more expensive still, but the keyboards are nigh indestructible if you don't spill anything in them (I've had mine for five or six years now and they have no signs of wear other than that the space bar's keycap is fading).

Emacs 23.2 released

Posted May 12, 2010 13:25 UTC (Wed) by nix (subscriber, #2304) [Link]

Ow. I just had a look at the Microsoft Natural 4000, and that keyboard is barely better than a QWERTY. The keyboard is not contoured at all and the key columns are still staggered and make no allowances for finger length, so your wrists will still have to twist and your fingers bend a lot; there are pointlessly oversized keys for the sake of looking cool (why is 'N' enlarged? Is it a particularly common letter? Not more common than 'E' and it is not enlarged: the only thing I can think of is the position on the keyboard layout), and there's no change in the position of critical heavily-used keys such as backspace, so large hand movements are still required.

This appears to be a slightly-better-than-no-contouring-at-all keyboard for people who'd be frightened by real ergonomic keyboards and who aren't actually experiencing severe RSI symptoms (if they were, they'd know in a few minutes that this keyboard isn't going to help). (Maltron do two keyboards with similar don't-frighten-the-newbies goals in mind.)

(Disclaimer: I bought an original Natural once, which looked very much like this. It didn't help with my RSI at all: it kept getting worse at pretty much the same rate it did on a totally-uncontoured QWERTY.)

But at $60 it is a lot cheaper than a Kinesis or Maltron. I'll give it that.