Microsoft Wired Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000, Retail

Dvorak: been using it for a few years. i switched to it cold turkey. one thing that can screw you up is touching qwerty after switching, something you don't really need to do. dvorak is implemented as a language and comes standard in most OS's, so the excuse that "it will be difficult when using someone else's computer" is a poor one. some people can probably learn to use both layouts without too much trouble... i'm not one of those people, and i would advise against trying to use both, as learning dvorak will be much more difficult

qwerty is simply atrocious. the semicolon key says it all. who the fuck puts a semicolon key on the home row? i've heard various explanations for the retarded layout but i think it's just retardation. even the story of how it was to balance the hammers for typewriters to minimize collision seems retarded since the manufacturers could have switched around the letters on the hammers themselves

something that people miss is that dvorak is about comfort, not speed. sure, someone who is good at typing will probably be substantially faster on dvorak then on qwerty, but for me at least it's all about comfort. though i do type quite a bit faster than i did on qwerty

re: Vi, it wasn't hard switching at all. one thing i learned to do was use 'ce' (replace to end of word) rather than 'cw' (replace word) since c and w are on the same finger in dvorak

specifically i use programmer dvorak http://www.kaufmann.no/roland/dvorak/ which leaves the basic dvorak alphabet unchanged but switches around the symbols. instead of `1234567890-= the top row is $&[{}(=* )+]!#. the numbers are shifted

i took things a step further and started using a program called AutoHotkey: http://www.autohotkey.com/ i have LAlt + C mapped to Esc, LAlt + H to Backspace, LAlt + T to Enter, Caps and Enter to Ctrl, and RAlt to Caps. these are global, not just for Vim

Ergonomic Keyboard: i use a microsoft ergonomic: http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Natural-Ergo-Keyboard-4000/d... i'm surprised these aren't much more popular. it's probably because of patents or something, or people don't realize how much better they are. they are as much an improvement over regular keyboards as dvorak is over qwerty. dvorak + ergonomic keyboard will get you FAR in terms of comfort

i also use a wacom tablet instead of a mouse. i've never had any wrist pain or anything with this setup. i'm anal about comfort for the same reason i use Vim rather than a silly IDE. i figure if i'm going to be typing and using a computer so much, generally hours a day for the rest of my life, then the tools i use are extremely important and it's worth it to invest in the best ones

Exercise is very important. So is prevention.

Learn and use Dvorak. Get an ergonomic keyboard.

Non-affiliate links, ordered by increasing price. I have the 4000 and the Sculpt ergonomic for more than 5 years each. I've just started using the Ergodox.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000A6PPOK/

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CYX26BC/

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CYX54C0/

https://ergodox-ez.com/

The post strongly recommends two different split keyboards to prevent RSI: the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic 4000 [0] and the Kinesis Advantage [1].

I'm curious how these would compare with the Keyboardio Atreus [2], which I've been considering for a while. The Atreus isn't tented, but it's also significantly smaller, which seems like something that might be helpful in reducing RSI

[0]:https://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Natural-Ergonomic-Keyboard-...

[1]: https://www.amazon.com/Kinesis-Advantage2-Ergonomic-Keyboard...

[2]: https://shop.keyboard.io/products/keyboardio-atreus