What does HackerNews think of lalboard?

A 3D-printed keyboard inspired by the DataHand

Language: Python

This is the only keyboard I've been interested in: DataHand

Original: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DataHand

DIY: https://github.com/JesusFreke/lalboard

Using a single direction for activation, requiring massive movements in 2d space, seems so silly. I haven't been able to find one, to purchase.

Related, I'm still learning how to use this one, since it's the only non-DIY equivalent I could find (great founder btw): https://www.charachorder.com/products/charachorder-one

It supports sequential and non-standard chords, mostly with x-y plane activation. Pushing down actually isn't used often.

jesusfreke has a 3d printed version of this on github: https://github.com/JesusFreke/lalboard
Yeah, hard to get them nowadays. They never made very many of them and the remaining ones are 20 years old now. There have been attempts to re-create it over the years, getting the switches to feel as good as the originals is probably the most difficult part.

These might be the closest ones yet: https://github.com/JesusFreke/lalboard

and the v2: https://hackaday.io/project/178232-lalboard-ergonomic-keyboa...

I would love to have an ergonomic split keyboard.

But they are (almost) only available with those bulky, loud, (imho) hard to use, "clicky" mechanical keys.

It's a pity nobody is building such a thing like https://github.com/JesusFreke/lalboard with keys like https://www.r-go-tools.com/products/ergonomic-keyboards/r-go...

It was definitely ahead of it's time and it's a shame there's no commercially available product like it today.

The Azeron gaming keypad [1] has a similar design but it's mainly intended for gaming so you'd have to get two of them and do some remapping to use it as a proper keyboard.

I think the lalboard [2] and the other DIY efforts in this thread [3] are probably the closest thing to a modern DataHand right now.

Here's someone typing at 120 WPM on a lalboard [4]. It looks so effortless when compared to QWERTY [5].

I do wish we'd start to see some more mass produced DataHand-like designs. I've never used one myself but it does seem like it'd be comfortable to use.

[1] https://www.azeron.eu/

[2] https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=41422.800

[3] https://github.com/JesusFreke/lalboard

[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMhOIgrdeE0

[5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96Ukh74gJYo

It honestly surprises me that the evolution of ergonomic keyboards has been so slow. Sure, we have plenty of split keyboards now, but we don't have any commercially available DataHand-like designs [1]. Watch someone type with a DataHand you'll see that they barely need to move their fingers at all [2]!

The best similarly ergonomic designs we have at the moment are a gaming keypad [3] and some DYI projects [4].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DataHand

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrRWTeJ0-Ow

[3] https://www.azeron.eu/

[4] https://github.com/JesusFreke/lalboard see also https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=41422.800

----

On another note, does anybody know how good steno keyboards tend to be for RSI issues in the long run?

I've practiced some steno with a regular keyboard (thanks to plover [5] and Typey Type [6]), but I'd need an actual steno keyboard to continue since I don't have N-key rollover on my current keyboard.

The Georgi [7] seems like a good option and I'd imagine that it would be pretty good for ergonomics since it's a split design and also rather small. The only problem is that I'd have to learn steno which will likely take quite some time.

Here's a demo of someone writing code with a steno keyboard (54 keystrokes needed vs 143 if you were using QWERTY) [8].

[5] http://www.openstenoproject.org/plover/

[6] https://didoesdigital.com/typey-type/

[7] https://www.gboards.ca/product/georgi

[8] https://youtu.be/Wpv-Qb-dB6g?t=380

There actually is a modern (almost) equivalent of the DataHand called the Azeron gamepad [1], and there are some DIY 3D printed DataHand replicas too [2][3].

If you want to type really fast (>200 WPM) and don't mind a VERY steep learning curve, then getting a $95 Georgi keyboard [4] and learning steno [5] is probably the way to go.

[1]: https://www.azeron.eu/

[2]: https://github.com/JesusFreke/lalboard

[3]: https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=41422.0

[4]: https://www.gboards.ca/product/georgi

[5]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wpv-Qb-dB6g

There’s an open source DataHand project:

https://github.com/JesusFreke/lalboard

At CES Samsung demo’ed a “keyboard” using the Selfie camera.

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/technology-51057261/ces-2020-sam...

Once we use a camera to track our hands, we can invent other motions to augment a traditional keyboard.

Also, this keyboard reminds me of DataHand:

https://www.charachorder.com/

Check out this 3D-printed recreation of a DataHand.

https://github.com/JesusFreke/lalboard