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gregnavison OpenBSD 7.9

My wife and I are building a wedding rentals company. I'm responsible for the digital part and building a Ruby on Rails app deployed to OpenBSD. The entire thing runs on a cheap Supermirco U1 server in a rack at our home. :-)

gregnavison They See Your Photos

The results were laughable. AI certainly has useful applications, but it also became astrology combined with slot machines for many tech-inclined folks.

gregnavison A beginner's guide to split keyboards

Intensive keyboard used caused me two problems: soft tissue overload in my palms and elbow pain. After trying Microsoft Natural 4000, Kinesis Advantage 2, I finally settled on ErgoDox EZ with Kailh Silver switches.

These switches don't require much force to activate, and I retrained myself to type lightly. This made the palm issue go away. For my elbows, physical therapy and foam rolling made the pain go away. I keep it away by ensuring proper posture when sitting: bending my elbows without turning my forearms inside (like the person pictured on the right in the article) and tilting the keyboard to minimize wrist rotation. I believe this helps minimize tension in the ulnar nerve. If you want to feel that tension then try a few reps of ulnar nerve flossing!

I optimized my typing further with a custom keyboard layout (see https://configure.zsa.io/ergodox-ez/layouts/60Q7r/pjzqDd/0):

1. Colemak as middle ground between QWERTY and Dvorak.

2. Command, Shift, Alt, and Control keys on both sides of the keyboard. I'm Polish and a standard keyboard layout forces you to use the right alt + letter to type diacritical characters (for example ą is Right Alt + a). This prevents you from typing with proper technique, but having two equivalent Alts solved the problem.

3. Hyper (Command + Shift + Alt + Control) and Meh (Shift + Alt + Control) on both sides of the keyboard. I use Hyper for system-level shortcuts (e.g. Hyper + A is Sublime Text; Hyper + Q is Sublime Merge; Hyper + Z is Ghostty) and Meh for application-level shortcuts (e.g. Meh + 2 is a two column layout in Sublime).

4. I have dedicated keys for (), [], and _, so that I can type them without modifiers.

5. There's a function layer with function keys from F1 to F24 - useful for switching panes in tmux!

6. A dedicated mouse layer helps me reduce my mouse use.

If you want to improve your workplace ergonomics I suggest taking an iterative approach and making full use of customization abilities in the software and hardware you own.

I also made a special belt for my keyboard: each half had it's holster and I was able to type standing with my arms and wrists completely straight. This helped a lot with alleviating elbow pain.

gregnavison Ask HN: Freelancer? Seeking freelancer? (September 2025)

SEEKING WORK | LOCATION: EU (BUT WORKING EASTERN TIME HOURS) | REMOTE ONLY

I'm a fractional CTO and hands-on product engineer with over 17 years of startup experience. I help non-technical founders turn ideas into reality - working products and teams that provide a solid foundation for profitability, fundraising, and growth.

I offer the following services:

1. Product design - design a product that users want, investors back, and engineers can actually build.

2. Product development - build a quality product quickly and start gathering feedback from customers and potential investors as early as possible.

3. Engineering management - hire, onboard, and lead a lean engineering team to accelerate product development and optimize cost.

4. Technical consulting - pick a tech stack and processes appropriate for the current stage without putting future growth at risk.

5. Project rescues - get your project back on track, understand why it went off the rails, and ensure it'll stay on the right track.

If that sounds like what you need then let's chat: contact@gregnavis.com

I've worked across many stacks, but prefer tried and true tech: React + TypeScript or Hotwire on the frontend; Ruby on Rails on the backend. I also have significant experience with Elixir (+ Phoenix) and Python (+ Flask).