Quote:
Originally Posted by gmw
Thanks for the info.
Hmmm... I wonder how many sales we just made for Microsoft.  It's a shame, because the main keyboard is, other other than the top line of keys and palm-wrest, a reasonable compromise between between the current fad for paper-thin keyboards and something usable - along with being more reasonably priced than these other options we are talking about.
I see Matias make the same mistake (for my use) as most others, of dedicating keys to cut, copy and paste - I never use them (my fingers are already programmed for Ctrl+x etc.) - so they are a complete waste for me. I'd say the home/end/page keys could take some getting used to, but that goes for pretty much any keyboard that's not completely standard. That Ctrl key next to the N is a bit odd.
What about this cable between the two halves? It looks a bit flimsy - but unlike the Kinesis it looks like it unplugs, and maybe that will make it less likely to break if something knocks half the keyboard off the desk? |
The nice thing about those keys is that they're easily remap-able. I use Karabiner to handle various keybind conveniences on OS X but I imagine something like AutoHotKey would be able to do do some cool stuff with them.
I promptly remapped thosekeys, made Caps Lock into a Control key, and loaded a profile to let me activate one-handed mode —*Matias makes a *very expensive* one-handed keyboard that is quite nice but I wasn't about to drop that much coin on something when I don't require it for usability purposes. So I made my Matias Ergo work like one (holding down Space activates a flipped QWERTY in a mirror image of the other side, which sounds really daunting until you use it and realize it's pretty simple to figure out. won't win any speed records but I have a 2 month old and I'm on partial parental leave and working part time from home remotely so one-handed ANYTHING is a productivity boost for me
)
The control key near the 'N' is amazing. I mapped it to 'Esc' because, again, UNIX dork and I use vim a lot and having access to control on Caps Lock and that aux Escape key is a life saver. The Matias Ergo's native Escape key is parked high to the left and it's a long trip that sometimes involves me hitting '`' instead.
The connecting cord is retractable and similar to a headphone cord. It is secure when plugged in but would likely pull out in a knocking-sht-off-my-desk incident but really it's designed to be easy to take with you when you pack up the keyboard. The main interface is a standard micro USB and the USB ports on the keyboard are all on the right-half. The little tether doesn't impact n-key rollover or any other critical functions either and like I said before it's adjustable. I don't know anything about the pinout or how it's wired, it's entirely possible you could make your own that was more suitable or rigid. The cable itself is flattened and spools via the retractor. Max length is probably 12" on either side. I usually have my keyboard halves about 4-6 inches apart but if I'm doing photo editing I sometimes put a tablet between the halves or a notebook when writing, so I really like having the option of closer together or further apart —*I don't have any medical conditions that mandate certain distance or wrist placement.
I leave the gels attached and I type tented forward or completely flat. I raise the front of the keyboard up for comfort when tenting it like that but find it comfortable even when the tent levers are retracted.
The gel pad wrist rests are screwed to the halves but are built to be removed or added back on. Pardon my smartphone illustration:
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