Author Topic: Combine Maltron Left-Hand and Right-Hand  (Read 12268 times)

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Offline skop

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Combine Maltron Left-Hand and Right-Hand
« on: Fri, 18 March 2022, 07:27:41 »
Anyone had the idea of combining two Maltron Single-Hand Keyboards, resulting in total ~214 keys? See pics of David Cole's project at http://xahlee.info/kbd/keyboard_monster.html. After over 10 years of ruminating on keebs, that's what I want.



Why?

First, I like "battleships" with lots of keys. If you don't, you'll hate this idea, but it's a separate discussion (and you can read some whys at http://xahlee.info/kbd/keyboard_function_keys.html and http://xahlee.info/kbd/40percent_keyboard_bad.html).

Second, it enables an interesting experiment: to see what happens if we leave the layout identical in both "bowls". Could you type faster? If the whole alphabet is present on both halves, you'd always be able to choose which hand should type the next letter/bigram/trigram, so if one hand just did a complicated maneuver, the other can get into position and act while the first is "returning to base". And I mean, in practice they wouldn't be identical if say, your right hand always rests one row lower than your left hand - then you still get 8 unique home keys, not 4. 

In addition, you could keep one hand on the mouse/trackpad a lot longer, since the other hand would be enough to type shorter chunks of text and press any hotkey combination. Using both hands adds brute speed, but isn't necessary to let you function. The sheer accessibility may feel similar to using a pair of KeyMouses (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1666150716/keymousetm-the-keyboard-and-mouse-re-invented). 

That said, we needn't do the experiment, use a normal split QWERTY layout as if it was a Kinesis Advantage, and enjoy the cornucopia of extra keys around the edges.

Third, it makes sense. In retrospect, nothing else does. As pointed out by the guys behind Glove80, you can add more keys when the board is sculpted, they'll still be fairly comfortable. Why not add as many as possible?

For me, the alternative is an "orthoship" of 128+ keys (a grid of 8 rows and 16-20 columns), and in comparison, using both a Maltron Left-Hand and Right-Hand, you gain two benefits: it's easier to reach many of these keys, and it's trivial to identify which keys these are by touch, completely solving an issue that otherwise afflicts orthoships.
« Last Edit: Sun, 20 March 2022, 15:31:28 by skop »

Offline hoggy

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Re: Combine Maltron Left-Hand and Right-Hand
« Reply #1 on: Mon, 21 March 2022, 17:09:28 »
From memory, Proword tried it and found using two single handed maltrons to be a bit slower.

(It's possible I'm misremembering.)

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Offline skop

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Re: Combine Maltron Left-Hand and Right-Hand
« Reply #2 on: Wed, 23 March 2022, 02:31:22 »
From memory, Proword tried it and found using two single handed maltrons to be a bit slower.

Fascinating! I respect Joe. I have to find that thread.

Offline YayItsKate

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Re: Combine Maltron Left-Hand and Right-Hand
« Reply #3 on: Tue, 12 April 2022, 10:37:44 »
This is amazing and I want to build one  :eek:

Offline hoggy

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Re: Combine Maltron Left-Hand and Right-Hand
« Reply #4 on: Fri, 15 April 2022, 04:46:48 »
You can buy an empty shell from Maltron if that helps

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