Updates : I’ll update this post periodically as I get more familiar with the keyboard


I find the curvy, ungainly shape really beautiful. Click to enlarge

If you follow me on the fediverse, you’ve already read most of this.

Long story short, my wrists (and now, my elbows and arms) are killing me.
So, I saved up and got me a new, split, ergonomic keyboard: The Kinesis Advantage 360
It’s available in the US at around 500USD. I paid close to twice that to import it home, to India (via a seller on the Amazon India site)
Lots of bullet points after a day of use.

  • All of its ergonomic and software power is QWERTY first and Windows/Mac first. A Dvorak, Linux user like me, will need to adjust quite a bit1
  • Everything’s slowed to a crawl as I get used to the new key placements.
  • The Dvorak layout seems to work better on this than on my old keyboard
  • The key layout and spacing is throwing everything off
  • Realised some of my keyboard shortcuts were that way, because of the old keyboard layout. They are terrible on the new keyboard. Need to find new shortcuts for ulauncher, minimising windows, and the gpaste clipboard manager
  • My caps lock is the compose key and i need to see if the new position will help or hinder me
  • totally gotten used to the new space, return and backspace keys
  • totally not used to the placement of esc. will try a week to see if i can get used to it.
  • new ways of chording keys in emacs. seem to be easier on the wrists. (because of the new place for the ctrl and alt keys)
  • my wrists feel much better. no idea how much of this is placebo. will know for sure only after a while
  • bottom row keys are tough right now
  • got used to the compose key
  • the question mark and slash has moved below and to the right (dvorak), so will need to see if i adjust
  • i miss my numpad so much!
  • learned how to mount the onboard flash storage and eject it properly
  • updated firmware to the latest version.
  • also note to self, switch to querty before you do this. status reports are typed out wonky other wise
  • I have brown switches

The one thing I confidently say, even after a single day of use, is that this is a lovely keyboard.
I will get used to all its quirks, because the scalloped, split design suits me really well.
Most of it, is just changing muscle memory, not learning new painful maneuvers.
And the design also ensures, every single key is in reach of my fingers. This is the magical part for me.
If it lasts me five years, I’ll consider it money well spent.

Updates

2024-07-02

Gotten used to the layout for the most part. The arrow keys are still very troublesome and trip me up all the time. Realise how deep muscle memory actually is.
The only reason I don’t want to change them, is that they (the new keys) are easy on my fingers and when I’m intentional about them, are easy to use.
The Compose key and the : keys will still take a while getting used to.
Have gotten the hang of /, ?, = and + though.
Have gotten back to my old speed. My error rate is still really high. Most of my friends have now gotten used to my typos 😂

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  1. for e.g., the [ key finds itself at the top right, while the ] key finds itself top left 😂 ↩︎