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Comment by Bedon292 | Hacker News Reader

I love having a split keyboard. It feels far more ergonomic than a single piece keyboard. Just relax your arms and put each half where your hands are. No having to bring your hands together and angle your wrists to get your hands in position.

The other piece of the puzzle for me is curvature. On a flat keyboard there is more stretching or physically moving but adding in a bit of curvature helps cut down on that.

For a few years now I have been using a hand wired Dactyl-ManuForm [1] and it has been great. At least for writing / programming. I go back to a regular keyboard for gaming purposes.

[1] https://github.com/tshort/dactyl-keyboard

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The split and relaxed shoulders are amazing. I really wish more tech would try this approach. The Wii controller (Wiimote + Nunchuck) was my favorite controller for this reason and I have yet to find anything as ergonomic.

The ASCII Gamecube Controller is very relaxing for this reason too.

TIL there was a GameCube controller with a keyboard on it: https://nintendo.fandom.com/wiki/ASCII_Keyboard_Controller

You can do the same thing with the Nintendo Switch controllers. It's my favourite way to play.

Yes! I always use the Joycons like this. Just rest them however I'm comfortable. Although the rectangular shape makes them uncomfortable to hold in the hand for too long which is a shame.

I use a (variant of) the Dactyl too and it's been life changing for me. I've always struggled with RSI and used to only be able to code for an hour or 2 at a time, but these days can spend all day/night typing (with small breaks to stretch) without any issues at all.

I 3D printed adapters for my chair arm rests so the keyboards sit at the front of each rest, right where my hands naturally want to be. I can then recline my chair a bit and type for hours without sitting forward/hunched over the desk.

I use MS ergo keyboards for exactly this reason. My entire career has been on those keyboards to the point that I struggle with straight keyboards.

I don't know that I'm a fan of the complete split like this, but I definitely agree with your overarching point.

Same for the split. I'm not fussed about curvature but mine is more elevated towards middle.

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