Dvorak Kinesis Keyboard for MAC Layout

This is probably as dangerous as bringing up politics or the topic of religious conversion at a dry wedding, but I've decided to trade in my laptop for a Macbook and while I'm at it I might as well complicate things further by investing in a Kinesis ergonomic contour keyboard set to the Dvorak Keytouch system. I probably can't afford this, but I'm considering this a long term investment for 1) my sanity and B) my left hand (more on that later).


I'm switching to Mac because I'm tired of baby sitting the temperamental child which is every windows machine that I've ever had to pleasure of running. Sure I know "how" to keep my laptop/PC up and running. I've had the benefit of living with a string of technologically inclined room mates over the years -- mostly due to time in the Army Signal Corp (technical communications units), so I picked up a few tricks over the years. That and some C+ training, which is the most basic of "Howdy Partner, welcome to the wonderful world of digital guts" classes out there.

Windows is a chore, and if I wanted to suffer for my work, I'd start applying again for MFA programs in Poetry (long story). And I figure my ten or so years trial on Windows was nice, but now it's time to try something new. A system that not only works, but whose productivity time does not neccesary require me to spend at least five times as much effort trying too figure out, "Now what went horribly wrong, this time." Maybe the Macbook won't work out, and well if it doesn't I'm sure with it's relative resale value I could always flip it for a halfway decent Dell or HP. Better the devil you know and all that.

Linux and FreeBSD users, don't even think about trying to convert me. If I can't handle the minor bugs on Windows anymore, there's no way I'll be graduating to compiling my own kernels. I affirm the worth and dignity of the more open Unix deride systems out there as well as D.O.S based ones, but I'm thirty people and it's time I learn to accept that. So forgive me for indulging myself in yet another step towards a self actualized hyped up digital nirvana that I know can never truly be, yet I find a small measure of comfort in as I enter into my dotage.

Regard keyboards, I'm switching to the Kinesis because my left hand is crying out for relief after years and years of persistent injuries won from the Army, Capoeira, bad keyboards, and well frankly being left handed in a right handed world (It's actually bothering me as I type this, but my Natural keyboard [didn't have access to it in Thailand] combined with a fairly elaborate thumb brace paid for my medical insurance / tax write offs is providing some relief). I know the Kinesis keyboard is just a knock off the Maltron, which happened to be invented by the dewy English Rose, Lillian Malt, back in the 1970s, but the Malt keyboard could run you anywhere from 700 to 1000 dollars U.S. (The English Pound so kicks the dollars butt). Sorry, I'm willing to spend a little outside my comfort zone for quality vs. quantity in our throw-everything-away based economy, but I have my limits. Still it's a lovely idea. The Maltron even has it's own touch key method -- Malt -- designed specifically for computers as opposed to the typewriter based QWERTY and DVORAK methods.

At first, I wanted to learn Malt, but the problem with Malt is that the "E" key is located under your thumb, so that means once you go Malt, you're stuck with it. Where as with QWERTY and DVORAK you can theoretically switch back and forth between the two on any key board, but Malt only works on a Maltron. After doing more research, I concluded DVORAK is probably more suited to my needs, since DVORAK favors the right hand (64% key load) where as Malt and QWERTY go about 50/50 between each hand. This is due to DVORAK assigning all the vowels on the left hand and all the consonants to the right. That and the Kinease provide dual legends for the both DVORAK and QWERTY, so at least for now this looks to be the better buy.

Still if anyone after reading this does have their heart set learning Malt, but can't afford splurging on an outrageously overpriced keyboard. It seems Maltron is aware of the Kinesis' gains into, I guess,what had been "their" market, so has made a discount version of their contour for only $175 (Ergo-comp makes them, but Maltron lists them as one of their U.S. distributors on the UK website)

One problem though, according to the blogs, the first model was not exactly ready for prime time. It appears that it had enough bugs in it to justify them halting all sales until the next model comes out. I wrote Ergo-comp to ask when they think that might be because if they fix the flaws, it could save you almost $150 over the Kinesis model. They're response:

Hi Sean,
Sorry, no date is yet known.
We are working on an upgrade,
but it is slow going.

Regards,
Dick Tryon for Ergo-comp.com

* * *

Honesty, I like that.

Well, if you're still reading this you're probably wondering what any of this has to do with my seminary aspirations (only 20 days away!!!). Well I figure, I'll be doing a vast amount of writing there. I hear I'll have a never ending litany of responce papers to write. I've never taken a religion class before, but my liberal arts mind currently conceives of them as kissing cousins to comparative literature classes, and I remember writing a lot of papers for those type of classes. That and I've picked up a job as an online ghost writer, which once I get started would probably require at least 1000 words of finished work a day from me, so I figure now's as good as any to invest in keeping my hands in good working order.

cheers,

Sean