Basically someone got a few promotions and realized he didn't want to get promoted any more as it moved him farther and farther from the work he liked (think, someone that likes programming that keeps getting promotions into management). So, one day he bought a big feather quill pen and started using that instead of a regular pen and never got promoted again...
I'd say it's well worth the price for people that need it!
- Lose your career as a computer user.
- Surgery.
- Try funky expensive keyboard with lots of research behind it, and tons of testimonials.
The funky expensive keyboard suddenly looks like the cheap option.
If you don't value your time, or enjoy 3d printing and assembling stuff, kits get shipped every few months, with all the electronics, and access to the files needed to 3d print the board.
I'm typing this on a board I printed. If I valued my time at my hourly rate, the price listed is dirt cheap. But I enjoyed doing it :)
Also, sadly, the salaries in my country aren't that high that it makes it look cheap compared to do it yourself.
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0: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41711437Datahands are amazing. With mere twitches of the finger you can hit any key on the keyboard.
I saved up for months while in college and bought a used one. 25 yrs ago they were $1,200... minimum wage was like $4/hr... so... it was "intended for insurance companies to pay" level of money.
If you have either RSI or just love experiencing new ways to do things, Datahand is amazing, and Svalboard looks every bit as good...
and... it's cheaper than it was 25 years ago... with two trackballs added on!
Really excited to see this project!
You really just never take your hands off the keyboard, everything is in nice close range, etc. :)
Aside...
Datahand moved RSI pain from my wrist to my knuckles. These keyboards don't magically prevent all RSI, which is ... only obvious if you actually think on it, which i didn't back then.
I know I personally found mouse keys unusable for day to day use, and another local DH users thought much the same, we had other pointers we used. (I used a fingerworks trackpad back when, clamped onto the side of the laplander, the other guy used a mouse, if I remember right.)
__BUT__ say I wanted to ditch a KVM switch for some reason, and set up a second workstation at home...
My one complaint for the glove80 is it feels like it was made for someone's hands that are __a little__ larger than mine (I do have some sausage stubbs), so the adjustable clusters are interesting to me! However, I do also have an Azeron Cyborg II at home, which uses a similar idea, the clusters on that __do__ adjust, but at the smallest adjustment its still kind of uncomfortable for me; any small-small-hand users have experience reports with this one?
Cut half your right thumb off on a table saw? Ah, OK, enjoy your conventional keyboard :)
But as with all things adaptive and ergo, it depends on the nature of the injury, etc, etc, etc.
I'm currently sitting at around 90 WPM on the Svalboard - slower than I was on a normal keyboard but now pain-free.
Giving people back pain free use of their hands, and pain free computer is much more important IMHO.
Now, I help out with their firmware updates, as a volunteer, just keeping things somewhat sane and debugged. Adding features as needed, to support new pointers, etc etc.
Disclaimer: My views are my own, I get provided hardware to do firmware work, and that's it. I do not work for Svalboard, etc.
morganvenable•4d ago
Svalboard combines the amazing magnetic key action of Datahand with a unique anatomical fitment system and integrated pointing devices to give the most customizable, lowest-effort keyboard and mouse solution ever built.
There's a super friendly Discord community, too: www.svalboard.com/discord