why is this weird keyboard so good?

i've typed with large keyboards small keyboards odd keyboards non-keyboards different layouts and different layouts but that thing it scares me the dactyl menu form even the name makes it sound nothing like a keyboard this thing is a 40 split ortholinear curved ergonomic keyboard what does all that even mean okay let's start with the most interesting one to me earth linear you may have never even thought about it but each row on the keyboard is slightly offset from each other they're staggered but why if you've been on this channel before you might remember that i learned another keyboard layout and the reason alternative layouts exist is because qwerty our standard layout is basically outdated it's popular because it was the first but in terms of efficiency and design it's not nice in your hands much like the origins of qwerty keys in the keyboard are staggered because of the design of the typewriter the bars leading from each key to the type hammer can't be in line with each other in a physical space so rows were staggered in order to allow for the bars to pass each other that's the only reason keys are staggered why do we still use it and again like qwerty despite its inefficiency everyone's already learned to type with staggered keys and staggered keyboards so redesigning all existing keyboards to this new standard would be impossible a lot of people in the past knew about my enjoyment of improving with niche alternatives and recommended me things like playing fps with swapped hands but it's not just the fact that it's unpopular that makes it interesting to me it's the fact that in theory it should be better than whatever is popular this is one such case the idea behind ortholinear layouts is that our fingers are better at moving up and down than left to right if the rows are on stagger then it should be more comfortable to move between rows but ortholinear on its own wasn't enough to really wow me the first time i tried it while it revealed a lot of interesting quirks about my typing style it didn't feel that much more comfortable or ergonomic despite its origins the stacker of the keys feels like it allows me to approach the keyboard from a more natural angle but with an ortho because your hand should be moving in line with the columns for the intended effect it felt almost cramped either i had to bring my elbows in or bend my wrists which felt like i was basically asking for carpal tunnel so what if we could angle the keys in whatever direction is most neutral for our wrists plenty of boys have tried this approach but the ultimate solution is to split the board in half this way your fingers will be in line with the columns no matter what angle is comfortable for you okay what about curvature well each finger is a different length and has a slightly different range of motion so the curve accommodates that the pinky column is further down and slightly higher than the column for the middle finger aside from that it also uses the same idea as those weird ergonomic mice that you hold vertically not having to rotate your wrist to be facing completely downwards is pretty comfy all right let's talk form factor when i was first interested in mechanical keyboards i fell in love with the aesthetic of a 60 and after i got one i sung the praises of function layers and how you don't lose any functionality from using a smaller keyboard but whenever i look through massdrop to see what was out there i was disgusted by the plank this keyboard can't have any real reason to exist it is purely a novelty item forty percent was just too far but here's the logic behind smaller keyboards of course there's the aesthetic appeal and now they take up less space in your desk but you don't have to move your hands as much to reach any specific key while there's an additional button you have to press to access these missing keys there's less physical movement you have to do to press say f5 now the question is how far can we take that how few keys can we have before it becomes more cumbersome than it's worth it's probably around 40 to be honest it seems like every keyboard in a smaller size is actually just a novelty item so how hard is it to learn to type on this ergonomic monstrosity okay i finally have the dactyl manuform it is fresh off the 3d printing presses from russia i'm kind of excited to be honest i think it won't be that hard i mean how hard could it be like they move the rose over a little bit it's going to take some retraining but i i imagine it won't take that long to get you know 100 ish wise per minute all right let's see you oh my god are you all tabbed you [Music] you oh my god wait where's the space bar this one this one this one is it on the right hand it's the furthest button from the cluster no way that's the default that's insanity for f asd f oh my god i'm actually maybe i should look at my hands the [Music] why is this so hard i feel like i'm typing in a different language right now or at least a different layout right five right now i think we can get ten i'm feeling a little better t after oops hit the windows key where all right speed and so close period i found it somewhere there it is the thermodynamics of pizza that was not that bad 12 words per minute peaked at a clean 15 as well we take this we take those i mean it's day one i don't know i actually thought this would be a much easier project than it was gonna be though or it currently looks like it's gonna be i wasn't really sure how hard it would actually be to pick up this kind of keyboard but i didn't expect it to be as difficult as learning an alternate layout but here i was barely able to scrape by with 20 words per minute on my default what's kind of interesting was that my brain and hands wanted to type in calmac of all things maybe some synaptic pathway went through the logic of oh we're in weird typing mode right now let's load up the command muscle memory another funny thing about typing quickly is that you never actually think about where any of the keys are you think about a word or a letter and your fingers do the rest but if i had to point out exactly where a specific key was in a diagram i probably couldn't and that was becoming a problem when all the keys weren't exactly where they should be everything being slightly offset made it so i couldn't use my muscle memory easily but i also couldn't actively tell you where any specific key was on the keyboard so it was a difficult and inaccurate typing experience at first all right i've been playing a bit of bomb party lately and i uh i want to try it with this new keyboard i think it'll be a good way to train a little bit of bursting a little bit of uh familiarity with this keyboard so let me just join let's join bug's domain oh perfect this one's about to start perfect perfect perfect all right i've been doing a little bit of type racer here and there so i'm kind of confident with my ability to uh to use this keyboard uh and i'm decent at this game usually usually i win so i think we'll be okay at least with answering prompts i'll be fine outsourced way these players are not bad i'll be fine i'll be fine um al jesus christ [Laughter] it happens i don't i don't know i guess typing boards that aren't really like the standard of what we uh we usually type in like you know typewriter things like that let's do uh under under on where's this words d d why why am i struggling so much um but it's fine i uh i'll join the next one i'll have another chance you know it just takes practice takes takes time to bro i you and her it was h well that was fast [Music] um major domo [Music] almost [Music] let's do equivocating [Music] come on come on [Music] uh complexer yes yes yes why does that work come on victoire let's go [Music] people are crazy benefactor wait are they dying that's one uh [Music] let's go [Music] dude that was like 28 minutes okay okay that that'll do that'll do i think uh but we think about recently okay maybe roguelikes aren't a good example actually because there are some good games like like hades uh what was it slay the spire is pretty recent too i think this one said kill him i think we got him okay gg now i go um how about let's try the heavies room okay oh i recognize one of these players um i i think i can beat them i'll try yeah i'll try i'll try it's been a while i've uh practiced a few times since then so i think we'll be okay i'm gonna i'm gonna focus a little so i might not talk too much but i want to win this one [Music] [Music] [Music] i got one i got one still sorry what how does that not work i could have sworn that was real [Music] well as long as he doesn't get into their life [Music] [Music] [Music] let's go we got we got him oh my gosh after all that no no no he already left couldn't i just left the building i don't even get to hit him with a snide gg but dude what a rush what a rush i feel like i just killed the final boss that was that was cathartic uh let's go so yeah i think the keyboard's pretty good it's hard for me to know what part of the keyboard really makes it so nice for me with all of its unique characteristics but i do think split and ortho is something that's worth trying split keyboards offer a lot of functionality aside from being able to put your hands wherever it can clear some space for your mouse if you're playing fps's or allow for some more creative applications with that space with a linear on its own didn't really wow me but i do think that feeling of everything being a little easier does come from it being ortholinear i kind of got that feeling on the other ortho board i have but since it wasn't split it wasn't really worth it [Music] as far as 40 goes i'm pretty decent at typing numbers and symbols that i use often but the real downside is that i have to change out my keyboard whenever i want to play games the curvature and layout is just a little weird for most control schemes not impossible but weird if minimizing a finger movement is what you care about most try 40 there's a learning curve with memorizing all your layers and developing the muscle memory but especially if you're someone who types cymbals a lot you could look into it but do i like the curvature for typing i do wish i had another split ortho keyboard to compare with but i think i do this keyboard does a lot in the pursuit of ergonomics but it's actually not the end game people who are really committed to keyboard ergonomics will print their own versions of this board and fit the specifications to their own hands despite that it is still very comfortable though there's definitely a learning curve so who should use an ergonomic keyboard the use case for an alternate layout is usually increased comfort ergonomics and a better chance of staving off rsi but this kind of keyboard fulfills a similar role without nearly as much time required to get used to it i don't know if the speed in which i picked up this keyboard is because of my experience but typing using unorthodox stuff or it's actually just not that hard to pick up but still being able to type at 80 of my normal speed within just a couple days is something no one is able to do with an alternate layout but definitely the primary audience is people who type constantly for work or otherwise and want to preserve their risk for as long as possible aside from that it would just be people who enjoy typing and want a new smoother experience i could see myself using this for everything if it worked well for games too depending on your use case there's definitely a keyboard out there that would most likely be pretty comfy to type on is there a use case for someone looking to type a little faster maybe it honestly does feel like i could potentially be faster with time everything is just so easy and fluid but in practice my recent averages are about the same some people will probably be curious what it's like to use an alternate layout and ergonomic keyboard at the same time switching from a normal keyboard with qwerty to an ergonomic keyboard with comac dh is kinda like going from an awful office keyboard to an expensive mechanical one i don't really type that much faster on an expensive keyboard but god it feels so much better to type on many people also talk about how another benefit of ergonomic keyboards is how they illuminate the quirks in their typing style and how they have habits that aren't the standard it is true i found myself hitting air while trying to press why with my left hand that i no longer have that issue but that said having buy the book touch typing technique it's not really all that it's cracked up to be especially in terms of speed so that's what i'll leave you with should you get an ergonomic keyboard probably not but i do enjoy typing a lot more than i used to i'm almost excited to type something extensive so i have an excuse to use this keyboard more to me it's almost always worth investing in your passions if time and budget allows and while this is just about typing i felt the same way about getting a nice mouse or a quality guitar this is stuff that takes things i love and makes them even more satisfying and i never have to worry about feeling limited by my equipment to me that's worth it but your mileage may vary thanks for watching [Music] you

Channel: pinguefy

Views: 6,797,364

Keywords:

Id: XScUYxLFt-U

Length: 18min 35sec (1115 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 25 2022

Reddit Comments

[u/Relic_Warchief]

Just finished watching the video. The presentation, audio is great. Loved it.

Wanted to get your thoughts on the thumb cluster. I got an Ergodox EZ a bit ago for programming. Honestly, I can only reach to the 2 closest keys. The second closest key is not something I use a lot either because of how far it is from my hand. I guess my hands are small. Curious about this.

[u/supertoughfrog]

Great video! “Should you get an ergonomic keyboard? Probably not.” I’d say if they can reduce the risk of rsi the answer should be yes, but I also get that the barrier to entry is too high for the majority. Maybe some day it will be mainstream enough and there will be more affordable nice looking options. Ergonomic keyboards helped me overcome rsi symptoms but it wasn’t the dactyl manuform that worked for me, so likely the same would be true for others where there isn’t one style of ergonomic keyboard that will work for everyone.

[u/joevinci]

Great video

[u/jimhoff]

What a coincidence. Just finished mine. Same gray and white keys. I suck at typing.

[u/[deleted]]

That was amazing. This made me feel both proud to have gone down this path, as well as comforted - accompanied by my fellow keyboard weirdos.

Earlier today at our nephew's birthday party, I just happened to have given my brother-in-law a quick overview of how I went from a standard QWERTY keybard and mouse, to daily driving a DXT mouse, a Deft Pro, and finding myself mid-process of designing my own keyboard from almost-scratch so I can type Dvorak in comfort.

Feeling really motivated to actually finish this build. Fusion 360/learning is kicking my butt.

[u/Luckylars]

Great video!

[u/atlantesque]

Hey, I recognize that dactyl...

:^)

[u/ohkeycaps]

I approve

[u/skibau]

What was the FPS?