Vim Clutch – A hardware pedal for improved text editing (2012)

Re:Vim Clutch – A hardware pedal for improved text editing (... by maltalex on Sunday March 11, 2018 @02:55PM (#16564237)

This was always my question too. What’s the point of a 300$ keyboard that minimizes movement when you have to move your entire hand every time you you need a mouse?

Completely avoiding the mouse isn’t an option for some workflows.

I wish there were more keyboards with IBM-style trackpoints.

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Re:Vim Clutch – A hardware pedal for improved text editing (... by shocks on Sunday March 11, 2018 @04:12PM (#16564541)

> What’s the point of a 300$ keyboard that minimizes movement when you have to move your entire hand every time you you need a mouse?

Because I rarely use the mouse (trackball in my case), and if I type on a 'regular' keyboard for any extended period of time I will experience discomfort; whereas on the Kinesis Advantage I don't experience any discomfort.

300$ seems like a steal to me!

(Not that I paid. My company did.)

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Re:Vim Clutch – A hardware pedal for improved text editing (... by hfdgiutdryg on Sunday March 11, 2018 @03:07PM (#16564290)

What’s the point of a 300$ keyboard that minimizes movement when you have to move your entire hand every time you you need a mouse?

The point is to reduce strain and fatigue of the fingers and wrists, not to reduce movement for the sake of reducing movement.

Mouse ergonomics is a completely separate can of worms.

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Re:Vim Clutch – A hardware pedal for improved text editing (... by maltalex on Sunday March 11, 2018 @03:42PM (#16564420)

I was talking about reducing strain and fatigue. Moving your whole hand over the mouse over and over again introduces quite a lot of fatigue. This is why the keyboard and mouse aren’t separate problems.

A keyboard that doesn’t have an integrated mouse solves only part of the problem. That’s why I like having a trackpoint for small mouse movements.

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Re:Vim Clutch – A hardware pedal for improved text editing (... by rovr138 on Monday March 12, 2018 @02:12AM (#16566473)

The Advantage in my case helped reduce the strain of the positioning of the hands. When I have to travel and switch back to the MBP's keyboard, the position of my hands on the keyboard definitely causes discomfort if I have to type for more than a few hours a day.

I don't mind having to switch to the mouse. It gives me time to take both hands of my keyboard and change their positions even if for a little bit.

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Re:Vim Clutch – A hardware pedal for improved text editing (... by yangyang on Sunday March 11, 2018 @03:32PM (#16564385)

I've been meaning to hack a trackpoint into my Kinesis. It's been done before, mounted where you can control with the thumb so you don't need to move your hand at all.

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Re:Vim Clutch – A hardware pedal for improved text editing (... by maltalex on Sunday March 11, 2018 @03:43PM (#16564426)

Are there trackpoint kits? Or do people disassemble old keyboards?

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Re:Vim Clutch – A hardware pedal for improved text editing (... by yangyang on Sunday March 11, 2018 @03:58PM (#16564488)

Only seen it done with ones removed from old keyboards. On at least some (including the IBM SpaceSaver IIs that I have), it's on a separate little board. I believe the outputs are pretty simple to decode.

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Re:Vim Clutch – A hardware pedal for improved text editing (... by lathiat on Tuesday March 13, 2018 @11:06PM (#16581966)

I miss using a macbook keyboard for exactly this -- could easily use the trackpad with my thumb with little hand movement. My ideal keyboard would be something similar to the current microsoft surface natural keyboard with a macbook trackpad below it.

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Re:Vim Clutch – A hardware pedal for improved text editing (... by roel_v on Sunday March 11, 2018 @04:40PM (#16564650)

Ultimate Hacking Ketboard willnhave trackball and trackpoint modules.

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Re:Vim Clutch – A hardware pedal for improved text editing (... by maltalex on Sunday March 11, 2018 @07:58PM (#16565385)

Right. There’s also tex yoda 2. Both of these cost about as much as the kinesis, but they don’t seem as well designed.

The ideal for me would be a two-in-one. An ergonomic, well designed keyboard like the kinesis, with the addition of a trackpoint to avoid lifting a hands for small mouse movements.

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Re:Vim Clutch – A hardware pedal for improved text editing (... by iflowfor8hours on Sunday March 18, 2018 @12:07AM (#16610420)

The TeX Yoda has a terrible built in mouse. Highly recommend steering clear. I've been a thinkpad guy for the past 15 years or so, and I jumped on the opportunity to buy one when it came out. The sensitivity on the trackpoint has a really weird velocity curve and I never managed to get it to feel even close to right on any platform.

Building keyboards has been a hobby for a minute, I've settled on an HHKB that I've gutted and replaced the controller with a Teensy 2 so I can program all my mouse keys and shortcuts in hardware, therefore avoiding the inevitable discussion on who's mappings to use when pairing. You can often find good offerings for sale/trade on reddit/r/mechmarket.

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