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Hitting the spacebar with the left thumb.

  • Started by simonh
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I've seen in a few places Shai recommending to use the left thumb to hit the spacebar if the right hand is feeling tired or strained. I have tried this a few times, most recently tonight on my laptop, and I can't get used to it at all. It really freaks me out in fact. It must be a left/right brain thing that leaves me feeling a bit disoriented.

I've found that the only time I feel strained is when using a laptop, as my left thumb hovers above the keyboard. On a normal desktop keyboard my left thumb rests on the edge of the 'board below the spacebar quite happily.

Has anyone else had this? Maybe it's just me as I rarely use my laptop now.

"It is an undoubted truth, that the less one has to do, the less time one finds to do it in." - Earl of Chesterfield

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  • From: Viken, Norway
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It's struck me too: I never seem to use the left thumb. I don't feel tired in the right thumb though.

It's a shame that such a nice strong finger sees no use. I'm thinking what to do about it. Tomlu's use of dual AltGr keys could be of interest, or another modifier altogether. I wish I could split my space bar!

Hmmm... I wonder whether a keyboard like the Siemens KBPC-E could be hacked to send different scan codes for the two halves of the split space bar? That'd be interesting!

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I have always used the left thumb for space. I'm the only person I know who is that weird. For a time, I tried to learn to use either thumb depending on which hand pressed the most recent key, but that died off and I'm back to left-thumbing only. For the record, I really am right-handed. Weird.

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Dreymar: I am as you may know from other threads evaluating a Kinesis Freestyle, which is almost the same keyboard as that Siemens. I too have been thinking really hard about a way to remap the left space bar. The scan codes that come from the keyboard are unsurprisingly indistinguishable between the left and right keys, so I don't think you can do it in software.

I emailed Kinesis about any way to do it in hardware but am yet to receive a reply. I can't think of anything save reprogram the keyboard rom, which would almost be feasible, but I am not sure how one would find the one byte to replace in the rom image since it will hardly be unique (the scan code is 29 hex).

If you can think of anything or know anyone that might be of help I would be grateful.

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Yes, the Siemens board was indeed intended as a cheaper competitor to the Kinesis Freestyle from what I've heard. Probably cheaper in both senses of the term.  ;)

I shouldn't think that either Siemens or Kinesis are likely to give us the time of day, little inconsequential geeks we are. What might save us would be if some local beard already has dabbled in this kind of magic for his own purposes and the others have heard of him. But our chances do appear somewhat on the slim side, as I see it.

It might be possible to make a connection and break a connection on the board itself, as a really dirty hack involving a soldering iron and a non-negligible risk of hardware loss. I've actually seen non-split keyboards with what seemed like dual contacts under the space bar; it might be feasible to do a trick on one of those as well. Fortuna favet fortibus. I'll see what I have lying about. Such a hack would only remap one key onto another so I guess that a board with "surplus" media keys would be best suited; I wouldn't want to suddenly need my ScrollLock for something after all and find it MIA.

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ChessWhiz said:

I have always used the left thumb for space. I'm the only person I know who is that weird. For a time, I tried to learn to use either thumb depending on which hand pressed the most recent key, but that died off and I'm back to left-thumbing only. For the record, I really am right-handed. Weird.

Was this a deliberate decision? How long have you been typing and what is your speed? Cheers.

I'm going to have a try at using the left thumb exclusively for a few days. My speed has dropped from 55-60wpm to about 35! If I can build a bit of speed, this might prove useful for laptop use.

"It is an undoubted truth, that the less one has to do, the less time one finds to do it in." - Earl of Chesterfield

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It might be possible to make a connection and break a connection on the board itself, as a really dirty hack involving a soldering iron and a non-negligible risk of hardware loss.

I haven't opened my Freestyle up yet since I might yet return it, but since it has normal dome switches I would think it has molar sheets as the contact medium. I don't see how you could make new connections on those but perhaps it is possible.

If the switches were mechanical I think I would give it a go with reasonable chance of success.

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The guy from Kinesis tech support emailed back, and check this out: They offered to replace the firmware for a modest charge. I would have to send it in which will prove expensive as it would have to make a return trip across the Atlantic. I'll see if they are willing to just send me a few reprogrammed eeproms.

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Who'd have thought that a question about switching thumbs on the spacebar would (maybe) lead to a much more useful spacebar + something else?

Good luck guys with your quest.

"It is an undoubted truth, that the less one has to do, the less time one finds to do it in." - Earl of Chesterfield

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simonh said:
ChessWhiz said:

I have always used the left thumb for space. I'm the only person I know who is that weird. For a time, I tried to learn to use either thumb depending on which hand pressed the most recent key, but that died off and I'm back to left-thumbing only. For the record, I really am right-handed. Weird.

Was this a deliberate decision? How long have you been typing and what is your speed? Cheers.

I'm going to have a try at using the left thumb exclusively for a few days. My speed has dropped from 55-60wpm to about 35! If I can build a bit of speed, this might prove useful for laptop use.

No, it wasn't a deliberate decision. By the time I realized it wasn't normal, I'd been doing it that was for years, and I tried switching but it wasn't comfortable.

I've been typing for about 12 years, probably. I currently type QWERTY at about 85-90 WPM, and Colemak between 90 and 100. In the past, I typed Dvorak at 90-100 and Arensito around 75, but I've now dropped those in favor of Colemak at home and work, and QWERTY anywhere that I really have to use it.

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I also tried the alternation method, so left thumb if the last key was pressed by the right hand. In fact, in used that method when I was learning to touch type, because the text I read about touch typing advised it that way. Well, different texts advise different things, I learned. Some say you should use the left if you're left handed, or pick any side and stick to it. Most say you should use the right thumb though, and this is what I'm doing now. It had its advantages, in a Dvorak kind of way (which was what I was using at the time). I had to think I little more when typing, and when I switched I found it easier to use the right side consistently. That said, muscle memory was getting better, so sometimes I wonder where it would have taken me if I would have persisted. I'm considering buying a Japanese keyboard to experiment putting to left thumb to more use. These keyboards sport a smaller space bar and extra modifier keys.

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As you say webwit, it does get easier, even after just a few days there is much less of a thinking delay, but I'm not sure if it will ever feel completely natural. I am going to continue practice using the left thumb for a few minutes each day though.

Has anyone heard from Shai lately? It'd be nice to have his thoughts on the subject...

Last edited by simonh (07-Nov-2008 12:44:01)

"It is an undoubted truth, that the less one has to do, the less time one finds to do it in." - Earl of Chesterfield

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Simonh: I haven't heard from Shai in a while and he didn't answer an email a while back; I think he may be busy these days.

Webwit: Brilliant idea about the Japanese board! Four more keys, isn't it (so-called "106-key layout" vs. the US 101-key and the Euro 102-key; +3 for the PrtSc/ScrLk/Brk keys)?

Does anyone know whether there are unmarked Japanese boards to be found, "DAS Keyboard"-style? And/or good clicky boards? Not that a lot of Kanji on the board wouldn't have its' charm and geek factor...

Speaking of which: Oo lotsa-clicky-thingy-baby! Shame about the board-to-mouse distance though.

   buffalo-skype-keyboard1.jpg

Last edited by DreymaR (13-Nov-2008 23:54:36)

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Update on the experiment:

It has been one and a half weeks since I started experimenting using my left thumb to hit the spacebar. To be honest, I have spent very little time practising; probably an hour or two at most. The surprising thing for me is that it already feels a lot more natural. There is still a slightly longer pause than using my right thumb, but my brain and hands have adapted very well.

At first it felt really alien. It still does a little, but I'm sure with practice it would become less and less so. Every day or two I would think, "Oh yeah, I'm supposed to be using the other thumb as well." I'd practice for a couple of minutes and then go back to normal. It's nice to know that if I ever feel strain, I can just switch thumbs.

As the spacebar is approximately used 18% of the time, it's probably beneficial to give your dominant thumb a break, every once in a while.

Last edited by simonh (13-Nov-2008 19:25:24)

"It is an undoubted truth, that the less one has to do, the less time one finds to do it in." - Earl of Chesterfield

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Hey Dreymar, Japan is the home land of quality clicky keyboards, so there is a lot of choice. On geekhack.org a number of them are discussed right now, for the same reasons.  Topre is a top producer (see http://www.topre.co.jp/products/comp/), among others, such as Filco or strongman. PFU just released a Japanese version of the irresistible HHKB pro, my favorite, but that layout has some disadvantages. See benippon.com, geekstuff4u.com or crescent-shop.com if you want to  buy one. Note that these keyboards tend to be extremely expensive.

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As a Dvorak typist, as soon as I learned that with this layout the right hand does more work, I started hitting the space bar with my left thumb. That is: it was a reasoned switch. It required a couple of days to feel natural. Now I find that way comfortable.

For those who are curious about trying a Japanese keyboard, here is one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?VI … 0373646656

Yes, seller is USA based, but I don't think that worldwide shipping would be much, since membrane keyboards are not that heavy. I'm not interested in membrane keyboard, otherwise I would have grabbed it.

Directly from Japan:

http://74.125.43.132/translate_c?hl=de& … 8Z1yHrnn4A

http://74.125.43.132/translate_c?hl=de& … AezfN1BQ4Q

Last edited by spremino (04-Sep-2009 21:29:32)

Dvorak typist here.  Please take my comments with a grain of salt.

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almost perfect if not the staggered rows...

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I was thinking about this as it relates to the Dvorak keyboard, and how it may offset the right hand; but does it actually balance the workload in practice?

Last edited by L8FAN (12-Jul-2013 06:35:14)
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I am left handed and therefore type space bar with the left thumb exclusively.

When I was still typing in Qwerty my left hand sometimes feel pain, but since I switched to Colemak I feel so much balance work between hands. I also try to use Backspace with my left pinky too, to further give more workload to the left hand.

Some people suggest that you should alternate between thumbs, i.e. press space bar with the right thumb when the last key is typed with the left hand and vice versa. I find it hard to do so.

Last edited by Tony_VN (12-Jul-2013 09:45:35)
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I have a lot of trouble with right arm / hand pain due to years of mouse use and I exclusively use my left hand for the space bar to balance things out.

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This is all very encouraging.

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I've tried this.  But I used to have a keyboard which had the spacebar split into space and backspace.  So it was hard for me to get into!

If you think about it though, it might not actually help.

If your word ends with a vowel (Dvorak that means the left hand), you might think  hitting with the right thumb is then a good idea, but it's quite likely that you'll then have a new word start with a consonant.  Which is probably going to be on the right hand (under Dvorak).  So I don't really see many gains to be had by alternating the space.

You'll need to do text analysis for your layout to see if it's worth it.

If however you find it more comfortable using one over the other, when you are pre-empting the next motion, there could be gains there.

I'd suggest trying exclusive left, and exclusive right, then you might start to find afterwards that you'll naturally reach for what feels more comfortable, depending on what you are typing.

I miss my backspace on the left thumb...  On my Thinkpad it gets the left click (above the touchpad).

Last edited by pinkyache (07-Nov-2013 20:43:38)

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I actually have a kinesis advantage and I eventually switched my right thumb to backspace and my left thumb to space. Then on my laptop at home I converted my right command (apple) key to backspace (which is very nice, especially if you're using something like the extend layer on your capslock key.

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I guess there are worse ways to use an apple key.  In general, however, keys that can ought to be mapped to modifiers; that way they add 8 new home row keys and up to 20 others rather than just that one.

This would allow you to put symbols, for example, as RightApple+[home row or easily reachable], while keeping all the extend mappings as they are.

I regret that I have only one altgr and reserve my caps for ctrl.

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Yeah, I am definitely missing the use of my caps lock as control, and I may end up actually switching it back. I have a much better range of choices on my kinesis advantage because of the thumb clusters. In general the extend mapping gives me access to enough keys.

That said, when you first mentioned symbols, I figured that I have no need for them (nor for non english characters). However, it might be useful to move the symbols on 0-9 to the home row, as I use them all the time when I program.

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