Sooooo clicky!
Where are you located? I can direct you to a user near you if there is someone, or I can just drop you a prototype cluster in the mail so you can feel it for yourself :D
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Fair enough! Svalboard isn’t really suited for folks with generalized fine-motor problems in the fingers. But I can heartily recommend using Tobii gaze trackers to simplify and speed up your mousing – really amazing tech and not that expensive. Check out Talon too, for voice+gaze combinations that will blow your mind.
Pass by Rosalind every day on my way to fly at Mussel Rock!
Did you know the original Datahand prototypes included the ability to slide for mousing? Just learned that recently from the original inventor! It’s a little weird, I think the modern alternatives are probably better, but he has a working version of it somewhere.
You’d be surprised – resting the palms fully makes the finger much more capable of controlled small motions 🙃
Mouse switches have substantially more movement and force buildup before the click, these are instant. I think a mouse switch with this profile would be awesome though… Magnets are amazing.
Using this and Azeron (very mousy microswitches) side by side, it’s like night and day. Totally different sensation.
Svalboard, 41wpm on day 1? Wowza!
Svalboard, 41wpm on day 1? Wowza! - Lemmy.world
Another happy Svalboard user is crushing it on day 1! I’m really amazed at how quickly most folks are adapting, users of split ergo boards seem to be getting the hang in a week or so, and transitioning to full-time use after 2-3 weeks! Took me way longer twenty years ago on Datahand, but I had atrocious touch-typing form ;P Context: Svalboard is my evolution of Datahand and lalboard into a production device. I build them myself here in Pacifica, CA. It surrounds the fingers with magnetically actuated keys in 5 directions, with total anatomical customizability through novel fitment mechanisms that can suit any hand size and finger anatomy. 20g force is standard, and the profile is insanely tactile/clicky, with instant actuation and very fast breakaway of forces (1/x^2). It runs QMK-Vial, and is totally modular. Replacement parts can be printed on a Prusa MK3S or equivalent. Lots more detail at https://www.svalboard.com [https://www.svalboard.com] Come join the Discord, it’s pretty lively and I post lots of the day-to-day design and fabrication experiments as I evolve things! :D https://discord.gg/DnGcHM4Rg8 [https://discord.gg/DnGcHM4Rg8] [https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/dbe5bd04-a8e5-47d9-94e6-87eca0409681.png]
I’d love to see some macropad users play with Svalboard. If you want to order one, I’ll sell you a half for half price 😆 but obviously I’d prefer to build you a full rig 😜
I can guarantee you that Svalboard will last as long as you want to type, with anything that breaks also being easily replaceable. The lack of springs and electromechanical contacts is incredible for long term reliability – my Datahand rigs are 20+ years old and all still basically work perfectly aside from one which I stupidly broke some keys on during travel, and some grunginess in one or two mechanisms probably due to dirt intrusion.
But with Svalboard the keys just drop right in and pull right out (in the right orientation), there’s no mechanism to assemble – so cleaning is as easy as popping the key out and blowing out the keywell with compressed air. And you can replace individual key clusters and PCBAs individually if needed. And print your own keys, etc. Suuuuuper maintainable. 😀 Tearing down an original Datahand for cleaning is a lot more involved and annoying, and can only be done to a limited extent.
Cool! Join the discord and ping @_claussen I’ll keep you posted on the kit situation. Waiting on a new finger cluster PCBA rev to improve some assembly yield issues from the factory.