by fiziko on Monday May 27, @03:04PM (#3591669)

I've got to chime in on the Kinesis Classic keyboards. I've been diagnosed with bilateral elbow tendonitis, so both arms have problems. When I use the normal rectangular keyboard my employer put in my office, I can work for, at most, two hours a day before the pain gets to be too much. When I use the normal ergonomic keyboards (such as the first issue of the Microsoft model, which I used to have) I managed to get about three or four useful hours of work done. With the Kinesis keyboard, I can get eight or nine hours in each day, without a problem. I don't know how much is the keyboard itself, and how much is the fact that I can put my trackball where the numeric keypad used to be, but it's helped me a lot. (If I hadn't upgraded, I doubt I'd ever finish the thesis I'm polishing off.)

by GiorgioG (225675) on Monday May 27, @03:32PM (#3591795)

Kinesis Classic Keyboards are amazing. Definitely worth the $280 price tag (Professional Model) I paid for it. I used to come home from work (email tech support at the time) and my wrists would be completely numb. 3 weeks after getting my Kinesis keyboard, I felt no pain. www.kinesis-ergo.com

by Sludge (1234) on Monday May 27, @03:41PM (#3591847)

I use the Kinesis Professional model with 3-action footswitch in dvorak. (Yes, no one can type on my board but me.) I don't have any sort of wrist problems, but it certainly does make for faster typing when I'm feeling lazy, as I don't ever take my hands off home row. Ctrl and alt are done with my feet, and I relearned to use the proper shift key (the one on the opposite side of the keyboard from the key being depressed). To top it off, I'm a diehard emacs user. It works.

by BlueFall (141123) on Monday May 27, @05:18PM (#3592269)

The best thing about the Kinesis is that the designers realized that the thumb is our strongest digit and moved all of the most frequently used keys to be used by the thumbs. Enter, space, backspace, and delete are all at the thumbs. Escape is too small for us vi users, but that can be remapped.

by nzkoz (139612) on Monday May 27, @06:06PM (#3592444)

I have to second the Kinesis classic. It's what I'm using right now. The main benefit is that it forces correct posture, just like musicians' teachers do for them.

Anyone who tells you that keyboards are a replacement for physical therapy and rest is lying. But in combination with large amounts of physical therapy the kinesis keyboards have enabled me to return to work after 2 weeks in splints and 2 months at half time.

by Ian (980) on Monday May 27, @06:15PM (#3592472)

I absolutely love my Kinesis keyboard too. It's one of the few times I might write in with one of those dorky "Your Product Changed My Life" letters to Kinesis, but it's probably better that I write that letter here.

But you said all the stuff about how it helps RSI -- I'd add that it is also just a really good keyboard. It looks funny, and it'll bug anyone who casually tries to use your computer, but once you get used to the keyboard you'll like it for more than just ergonomics.

They keyboard only has the keys you really need, without the arrow pad and keypad hanging off the side -- this makes it usable on your lap, and much more compact than Natural keyboards (even a bit more compact than normal keyboards). It's a similar set of keys to the Happy Hacker keyboard. The two sides are separated a fare distance, which does make it a larger than the HH keyboard. I haven't heard good things about the touch pads you can put in the middle -- a nice idea, but perhaps poor implementation (or maybe touch pads just naturally suck).

I find I type with considerably more accuracy and speed using the keyboard. On both sides of the keyboard, the keys are in a little crater of sorts, so your hands sit naturally in the correct position -- you don't have to find the correct position, it's just natural. They home row keys also feel different, but not because of little nobs on them (which become irritating), they are just shaped slightly different. You are forced to touch-type properly, but that can be a good thing. It is, however, quite bad for hunting and pecking of any sort -- you can't type one-handed at all, even typing in one-key commands is annoying. Again, more casual computer users will be annoyed, serious programmers won't find this a big compromise -- you'll find you end up touch-typing even single key commands, and being able to fall directly into the home position makes this no big deal.

I can also touch-type numbers quite easily, because the keys are not staggered like on most keyboards. 4 is directly above F, 5 above G, etc. Since there's no keypad, this is nice (there's a keypad you can toggle on, but it's poorly implemented -- the toggle key is unreliable, there's no non-sticky toggle, and you can't type space while the keypad is turned on). On the subject of gripes, Escape is also a crappy little key (as is F1, Print Screen, and others, but that's okay because they are hardly ever used. Escape shouldn't be in that group). I imagine vi users might find this particularly unpleasant (though with xmodmap you can fix it -- maybe mapping Insert to Escape).

And, while gaming is not something someone with RSI should be doing much of ;), the keyboard can be both good and bad. For games with fixed key mappings (like most strategy games) you'll want a normal keyboard to swap in. For first-person shooters, the keyboard is great. You can reliably hit about 16 keys with one hand without any mistakes, and there's about five keys you can hit with your thumb while you are still completely free with the rest of you hand (for jumping, ducking, changing weapons, etc).

So, great keyboard, highly recommended even to people without very bad RSI (if they are serious typers, and other people don't use their computer). It has a few flaws, but you can probably fix them with xmodmap if they really bother you. It's expensive, but it's good quality and I've had mine for years with no problems.

by eison (56778) on Monday May 27, @08:35PM (#3592924)

Another vote for the Kinesis Classic. About 6 months ago my hand pain became unbearable. I visited a doctor, got drugs and (temporary use only) wrist splints, and was finally inspired to learn to use the Kinesis keyboard my co-workers were typing on. Spent two weeks of feeling like an idiot getting my typing speed back, and am thrilled that I did so - I still experience occasional pain, but it's nothing like I used to.

I doubt this sort of thing is necessary for the average user - I tended to work 8-12 hour days 6-7 days a week, then go home and play video games. It's not a particularly smart lifestyle, but if it's what you're doing, a Kinesis can make it a good bit less painful.

by frank 314159 (469671) on Tuesday May 28, @12:28AM (#3593543)

Kinesis keyboards rock! I got into one because the way the key bowls are positioned help to keep the shoulders spread (a normal keyboard pinches the shoulders together). That single change helped the herniated disc in my neck immensely. I credit this keyboard (and the egonomist who recommended it) with preventing a third surgical repair on my neck. If you need a REALLY good keyboard, the Kinesis ones are worth every penny...

by Average on Monday May 27, @02:40PM (#3591535)

When it comes down to a long-term typing run, either prose or code, I'm an addict to my Kinesis Ergo. Finally broke down and bought one for myself at work (couldn't get the office to buy one for me after years of polite requests).

When I got my first Kinesis, I also went Dvorak on it. I had used Dvorak back in the Apple II days, so I was somewhat familiar.

The interesting thing is how my mind has the two separated. If I sit down at a Kinesis, my fingers flow out Dvorak... QWERTY is impossible. I go to a flat, and Dvorak is nearly impossible. This is the perfect combination for a sysadmin/techie who needs to sit at everyone's machine every so often. Plus, no one can use my workstation.

It's not the speed. I type the same speed on either. It's the comfort. You simply don't move the fingers as much on a Dvorak layout. Also, I'm much more 'proper' about which fingers do what on the Kinesis Dvorak. It's not arbitrary, like I am on the flat QWERTY I learned at 4 years old.

by pez on Monday May 27, @02:56PM (#3591618)

The Kinesis changed my life, pure and simple. Before this keyboard I tried many alternatives, including the MS Natural keyboard, and none of them releived me of the constant pain in my hands. At one point in my career it got so bad that the pain at night prevented me from sleeping -- even if I spent a day or two away from the computer.

After trying the Kinesis, not only do I feel that my typing is faster (and ABSOLUTELY more comfortable), my pain is all but gone -- and this includes stretches of days with 20 hours of typing per day.

It's impossible for me to heap enough superlatives at this product. To say that it saved my career as a computer scientist is not overstating it. I can recommend it whole-heartedly, and urge anyone who has pain to at least give it a shot.

I'm in no way associated with Kineses (other than being a very satisfied customer) but I am so impressed with their keyboards that I actually offered to invest in the company (at the time they weren't soliciting outside investors)...