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Comment by xupybd | Hacker News Reader

I use a Kinesis advantage keyboard. It's expensive and ugly but comfortable. I would not go back to another keyboard ever again.

Have a look at this review https://www.anandtech.com/show/7125/kinesis-advantage-review...

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I came from using two Microsoft Natural keyboards at once, as my "split" keyboard. I eventually upgraded to a Kinesis FreeStyle 2. I've tried some ortholinear keyboards but hated hated hated every minute of it. I'm back on the FreeStyle 2 at work and a newer FreeStyle Edge at home.

Look at the cloud nine split mechanical ergo keyboard. Feels just like a microsoft ergo snd I was able to type full speed immediately. I had to shelve my ergodox ez - just too foreign with moved keys.

it makes me very sad that I can't get a microsoft natural ergo keyboard in mechanical switches

I have a Freestyle Edge as well and highly recommend it.

While great, the Kinesis Advantage is perhaps the most famous keyboard in the tech world, so I wouldn't say it's lesser known.

Also Kinesis Advantage, but with the KinT mod to run QMK, the default firmware is pretty limited.

Tried to use it for 3 months, couldn’t adapt, had to sell it.

Also, it has Cherry MX brown switches, which are not my favorite to say the least, with their middle-of-the-ground sort-of bumpiness. I much prefer either fully clicky or fully linear ones.

They do cherry red versions too for linear switches.

I used to have awful RSI and switching to the Kinesis Advantage for a year fixed it. I don't use it anymore but I don't use the apple keyboard either which I think caused the RSI in the first place, or maybe it was just how I was banging away on it.

Yeah it was RSI that caused me to use the Advantage too. The learning curve was brutal but now I love typing on it. Also I added o rings. I like the fact that I can bottom out and have a soft impact.

upgrade keyboards (company name) will replace kinesis switches with ultralight ones that can cut fatigue in half. they have several options down to 25g or so activation force

And now with the Kinesis Advantage 360, if you opt for the “professional” model, you can use it wirelessly and with QMK firmware by default.

The "Pro" model uses the ZMK firmware. And it's squarely aimed at programmers; the primary way to configure the keyboard is to edit the configuration files and rebuild the firmware- and their documented way of doing this is to fork the configuration files in GitHub and use the included GitHub Actions to actually run the build and generate the firmware blobs.

You can do it locally with Docker or Podman, if you don't want to be tethered to GitHub.

The keyboardio Model 100 is also worth a look.

As a long time RSI-sufferer that has tried everything I can confirm the KeyboardIO was also very nice... but nothing beats Kinesis Advantage. I think it's the domed arrangement as I did feel the thumb arrangement on the KeyboardIO was superior.

I've bought a Kinesis Advantage about every three years since 2003 (I think). Still the best keyboard out there despite being USB-A and the lack of bluetooth. I really want to like the Kinesis 360, but the lack of a function key row keeps me from buying one.

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