A little update on this. I'm using the Kinesis regularly (typing this post on it right now!); it has completely replaced the Microsoft Natural PS/2 keyboard I was using on my office machine. Can't tell for certain yet but I think my wrists are feeling a little better, maybe just from the changed position if nothing else.

There is a learning curve. A big one.

I've actually been using a typing tutor program with both its default lessons and some custom lessons from Kinesis, trying to re-map 30 years of muscle memory on short notice. It's hard. This thing demands proper finger placement on the home row. I quickly discovered my usual position of my left hand was displaced by one key (hjkl instead of jkl; ). THAT took some sorting out.

At this point I can get bursts of freakishly fast typing if I'm just writing text and not doing any special characters or key commands. Then I make a mistake or have to cut/paste or something and everything g_r_i_n_d_s to a halt while my brain catches up and logics out what finger needs to go where to do what I want. (Frequently it tells me the correct action should be both middle fingers, extended, but I digress.)

The hardest things to deal with are getting space and backspace/enter right (right and left thumbs, respectively - no, you can't make a space with your left hand), the loss of the traditional arrow key diamond, and just about anything that's supposed to be pressed by my left pinkie or ring fingers. The error rate on those is about 10% higher than any of the others, according to the typing tutor.

Anyway so while that's ongoing, today I paid a visit to the SAME recycle pile again and look what I found:

A freaking brand-new one, in box. Yep, after all the effort I put into the first one, this shows up. It's MINT.

All good though, now I have one for at home too. 😀 This one is a bit newer - it's USB and has switchable Mac/Linux/Windows layouts in firmware.

I think someone must have been using the white one, got a computer without a PS/2 port, ordered this one to replace it, and then quit or retired or something. They were likely sitting derelict in someone's office for ages (we have SO much stuff like that around my department!) These are NOT cheap.

Here's what else comes in the box if you're curious (big bags the keyboard & cord were wrapped in removed.)

Palm rest pads, user manual, printed typing tutorial, keycap puller, and some extra caps to switch between Mac / Linux / Windows configs.

I sure wish I'd had that keycap puller a couple weeks ago...

Incidentally I brought the black one home and set it up in Mac mode, so now I have a Ctrl key left over that can sub for the missing one on the white one. Yeah it's the wrong color but still, that worked out quite nicely.

Anyway I expect to get HUGELY fast on this thing in short order now that I've got one at home to practice on, and don't have to keep switching back and forth. I should be back up to my original ~60 WPM reliably in a couple weeks (already faster than that in burst mode) and then who knows from there. I'll keep you guys posted 😜

Thanks for sharing. It was actually a rather interesting read! Saw couple of those keyboard in the wild myself but never touched them in person.