(not my image)

Why the switch

I have been working in tech (working, as in no study period counted with it) for about 1,5 years. I have been noticing a lot of pain in the back, in the neck and what have been really the tip that got me into a ergo keyboard; the pain in my fingers.

The pain I got in my fingers was a quite irritating feeling, it was like a uncomfortable pitching feeling in my finger sockets and joints. This got me upset, and was really thinking about what I should do next, I am in my early 20's anyway!

How did I get on the path of the Glove 80

When I first noticed the pain, I was really getting bothered by it, so I instantly bought the "keychron q8" which is a keyboard with an alice layout. This keyboard worked for quite some time, but didn't resolve any back problems. My finger joints started to hurt less. After about a year I started noticing the pain again, and started looking around what could possibly resolve it.

So I got on the hunt for a keyboard that could possible resolve my RSI issues, which made me get on the Primeagen. I was watching his video's mostly for Neovim configurations and the fun projects he does, but later on I noticed he had the same issues as me! So I noticed he had a Kinesis Advantage 360, which has a steep price. While I was trying to get that keyboard, the local prices of it only were even higher then their own website. A steep price of 609 euros. So I started to look further, and here we found it the more "affordable" hallowed layout, where my fingers can hit every key without making huge hurting adjustments, the Glove 80 from "moergo".

The shipping process

First of all, they only support creditcard, which is a bummer. That out of the way, I ordered the keyboard, which then I started questioning my purchase... Did I just spend 400 bucks on a piece of plastic, which is just a keyboard? Am I just being dramatic for buying such an strange keyboard? Why can everyone just type normally on a normal layout qwerty keyboard......

So after hours of doubting myself, the item got shipped.
Since the company is based in New Zealand, they made the choice of shipping straight from the manufacturer, which is fine. But when you have a lot of pain, the shipping might not be "it" :).

After about a month, I received the keyboard..

Getting used to it

First of all, if you are right now, learning to type on the keyboard; just click the article away, because you are gonna doubt yourself.

The first day

The day I received it, I had a very hard time getting used to it. First I hit about 10wpm, getting used to the keys etc. I do have to note that the keys are quite near each other, so if you got fat fingers, you'd be fat fingering the shit out of this thing.
Anyway, the first halve day getting used to it I went from 10wpm to 30wpm.

The second day

The second day I woke up and choice violence. I switched the keys out, putting space on the left, replacing the right first thumb key with SHIFT and placing CTRL more in reach for the shortcuts.

So I did a monkey type, and here comes the part that makes everyone lose faith in them selves.. I hit 100wpm, with a accuracy from about 98%. I am sorry that I'm just a keyboard warrior.

The aftermath

So I got quite some speed back, I used to type 120WPM, which is fair. But I am still learning how to operate the thumb clusters a bit better, switching keys to layouts and placing the non reachable closer to reachable. It has quite some tweaking, but we are totally getting there. A tip to get your poweruser skills back, just use "keybr" and select the "shell code" part, so that your (GNU/)Linux commands just go as smooth as before.

Is it worth it

Yes. It is totally worth it, it has been 3 days with the keyboard, and I am feeling so much better sitting straight, and not having backpain each time I stand up. The same for my fingers, it feels like a bit of a workout at start of learning the keyboard, but it is totally worth the ride.

How could you get used to it? My tips are:
- Before receiving the keyboard, learn how to type with 10 fingers.
- Don't be a pussy, just keep grinding.
- Put keys back to where they belong, which is in your muscle memory, you got enough to get used to in 1 go, so just take it step by step.

I can't recommend anything more, since I got quite used to it in a day.

the end

thnx for reading, leave a comment if you got anything to comment on. leave a like if you liked it, and sorry for the bad language, english aint my first language brother. thnx have a great day.

btw you are a cool guy if you read this article from 1l.rocks