One handed keyboard

[sp00062]

Hi,

Anyone using keyboards one handed? Any idea which keyboard layouts would be best for a one handed user?

Recently I had a bike accident and damaged my right arm/wrist/fingers. I have recovered most movement, but using mouse/keyboard hurts and it will not get better. So need to find a way to start typing with left hand only. I've been reading some really good threads about alternative keyboards on this forum and I am inclined to start on Colemak.

Any suggestions?
Stan

[CPTBadAss]

I think Matias has something right up your alley called a Half Keyboard:

http://half-qwerty.com/demo/

http://matias.ca/products/

[jonathanyu]

I think Matias has something right up your alley called a Half Keyboard:

http://half-qwerty.com/demo/

http://matias.ca/products/

  the price of that half keyboard is crazy

[xmagusx]

Hi,

Anyone using keyboards one handed? Any idea which keyboard layouts would be best for a one handed user?

Recently I had a bike accident and damaged my right arm/wrist/fingers. I have recovered most movement, but using mouse/keyboard hurts and it will not get better. So need to find a way to start typing with left hand only. I've been reading some really good threads about alternative keyboards on this forum and I am inclined to start on Colemak.

Any suggestions?
Stan

I would suggest you take a look at a Maltron one handed keyboard, especially if you are open to the idea of an alternate keyboard layout. They are expensive new directly through the site, but I have seen them pop up on ebay in the 50-200 range, just search for "Maltron".

[sp00062]

I think Matias has something right up your alley called a Half Keyboard:

http://half-qwerty.com/demo/

http://matias.ca/products/

  the price of that half keyboard is crazy

Looks really nice actually. Read about "half qwerty" keyboard, actually I prefer this to Maltron. Cost not really an issue as I am PhD student and uni will pay for it. Tried Maltron, but they are not really nice and are huge. Actually I am not looking for speed, as much as convenience.

There are people typing with one arm, but could not find good documentations about what they are using. One is the "half qwerty" that is mentioned.

Thanks for the quick replies by the way!

[FuriousGeorge]

You don't necessarily need to buy a new keyboard. You can use something like autohotkey to map spacebar to the letters on the right side.

As far as layouts go, I've recently switched to colemak and really like it. I know that colemak is slightly biased to the right hand while qwerty is rather strongly biased to the left hand.

[CPTBadAss]

Thanks for the quick replies by the way!

No worries, and welcome to GeekHack!

[hoggy]

I'll second the Maltron.

You might however, want to take a look at the twiddler - at least for completeness sake.  It can be used in either hand and has a built in mouse pointer.  http://www.handykey.com/  It will take a while to get used to - much like the maltron.

You could also look at text expansion software - you type a 'trigger phrase', and a lot of pre-prepared text just appears.  Macro express, and autohotkey will do the job.

You could make some use of the right arm using buttons.  This site might give you some ideas - http://www.oneswitch.org.uk/2/I/JoyToKey/JoyToKey.htm

The makey-makey thing might be an idea...

[Tarzan]

I have a friend who does medical record entry as a side job, and she swears by foot switches.  Having Shift and Control as foot switches (for example) might help out with typing asymmetrically. 

[xmagusx]

Looks really nice actually. Read about "half qwerty" keyboard, actually I prefer this to Maltron. Cost not really an issue as I am PhD student and uni will pay for it. Tried Maltron, but they are not really nice and are huge. Actually I am not looking for speed, as much as convenience.

There are people typing with one arm, but could not find good documentations about what they are using. One is the "half qwerty" that is mentioned.

Thanks for the quick replies by the way!

Part of the "hugeness" of the Maltron is the fact that it's a full 104+ keyboard with the ergonomic bowl shape to it, which you may want to consider strongly, as your risk of RSI effectively doubles when doing all of the typing with a single hand. Convenience over speed makes sense, but I'd still prioritize ergonomics over both -- that's just me though, as my career involves a considerable amount of typing. This may not be a huge deal if you're not spending a lot of time typing, but then if that's the case I'd suggest you may be better off just going with a software solution rather than hardware, mapping capslock to be a "mirror" function key or something similar.

I also second the idea of a foot switch or a foot mouse to help spread out the input workload. The more stress you can offload from your hand and arm, the better it will (hopefully) feel at the end of the day.

All that said, a good friend of mine was born with just one arm and her solution is to just do everything through her smartphone. So I say try it all out and run with what works for you.

[hoggy]

It sounds obvious, but speech recognition.  I keep hearing how much better it is these days.

[wendell]

I asked around about this once. In general, one-handed typists seem to prefer learning to use a standard keyboard, so they don't have to carry a special one around with them. Speech recognition is also good, but you still have to be prepared to use a computer that doesn't have it.

This guy's opinions seem typical.

I myself have been recently wondering whether a high-profile mechanical keyboard or a low-profile scissor-switch would be more comfortable for one-handed typing.

[hoggy]

Should have thought of this one before.

fitaly layout + xkeys.




Doesn't have to be xkeys - access-is or tipro will work well.

Fitaly is a layout designed for 'hunt and peck' with one finger.  As you get used to it, it becomes more peck, less hunt.

[bitbang3r]

I've always had a major soft spot for the Halfkeyboard, even if its actual implementation was kind of a disappointment (too light, too laptop-keyboard-like, and some of the outer keys just weren't quite "right" due to the need to make a perfect rectangle instead of having a more "ragged" perimeter with oddly-shaped modifier keys that were easier to hit with less gymnastics).

I've ALWAYS thought it was something Microsoft should have licensed from him & made a standard part of Windows (at the driver level).

Deficiencies aside, my halfkeyboard is a gift from ${deity} for CAD work, because it lets me work with one hand on the keyboard, and my other hand on the mouse. I don't use it a lot for "general-purpose" typing, but I couldn't live without it when I'm laying out circuit boards and have to constantly enter one-letter commands, or type label names & numeric values.

Someday, when I have a few months to spare, I'm going to take an Arduino Leonardo & build myself a PS2 to USB adapter that implements inline halfkeyboard logic, so I can have "always available" halfkeyboard functionality with my Model M13... after I get around to implementing a two-button Morse'ish input method for blindly typing with one hand while driving ;-)

[jonathanyu]

I think Matias has something right up your alley called a Half Keyboard:

http://half-qwerty.com/demo/

http://matias.ca/products/

  the price of that half keyboard is crazy

Looks really nice actually. Read about "half qwerty" keyboard, actually I prefer this to Maltron. Cost not really an issue as I am PhD student and uni will pay for it. Tried Maltron, but they are not really nice and are huge. Actually I am not looking for speed, as much as convenience.

There are people typing with one arm, but could not find good documentations about what they are using. One is the "half qwerty" that is mentioned.

Thanks for the quick replies by the way!

if the cost isn't a issue, i think this is a good choice for you. But i think there is programme that can do the same thing.

[bitbang3r]

I myself have been recently wondering whether a high-profile mechanical keyboard or a low-profile scissor-switch would be more comfortable for one-handed typing.

IMHO, an ideal reimplementation of the original halfkeyboard would use tactile Cherry mechanical switches of varying actuation force... high-force for homerow ASDF/space, low-force for "pinky modifier keys", and medium-force for the rest... all highly-tactile, with a fairly short pre-actuation distance, but moderately long travel after the actuation snap. For the layout itself, I'd curve the layout slightly & vary the height & orientation a bit, kind of like the original Microsoft Natural Keyboard. Although I generally despise chiclet keys, I might make an exception for the modifier keys... preserving deep throw, but reducing the keycap size and adding empty space between them to make it easier to hit the correct outer modifier key by touch... especially combos that are a major gymnastic feat with one hand, like ctrl-shift-alt-{anything}.

[yasuo]

Dvorak one handed layout with Maltron single hand