TypeMatrix 2030: Two weeks later

I promised a follow up after my initial review on the TypeMatrix 2030 and here it is.

First the bad. I am still not back up to my previous typing speed. I was previously in the 80-90 wpm range and now I'm stuck around the 50-60 range. It's not terrible, but it's not fast.

I still overshoot the b and y keys at times, but it occurs less often than my initial difficulty. Now my biggest problem is the symbols and the right shift key. I have trained myself to be careful reaching to the right, to make sure I hit shift instead of return. Because of this I have to force myself to reach directly right instead of going down and right where I end up on the Ctrl key.

I am also having issues with the difference in location of the |, /, \, and -. Pipe is above the enter key on most keyboards and, as a Linux user and programmer I tend to use that key a lot. As for the forward and backslash it's not so much the difference in placement as the fact that they are right next to each other. I think that's just a coordination thing that will work itself out.

The last key I have had trouble with but I think I am over now is the CAPS LOCK. While incredibly annoying for most typists, it's somewhat of a convention to use a lot of capitals when writing SQL and holding down the shift is a pain when typing more than 4 or 5 caps at a time. This key is on the entirely different side of the keyboard, all the way to the right instead of all the way to the left. If I was to redesign this keyboard, I would have put all the special keys on the left rather than the right since there is already an extra column of keys beyond the semi-colon. That would make this keyboard perfectly balanced and make some keys, like caps lock, easier to remember.

Now the good. For all that bad, the modularization of keys is awesome enough to make up for it. By putting all they navigation keys in the bottom right corner, I don't need to move my hand from top to bottom in order to go from the arrows to home/end or pg up/down. I still have to look for the keys at times, but it's worth the fact that once I am oriented to which is which, I can fly around a text file with those keys.

A key that I have grown to love is the window switcher key, although I wish it would send it's own key code rather than alt+tab. I realize that this prevents users from having to set up a key binding, but I would like alt+tab to open a different switcher. In any case, it works great to toggle the ring switcher in Compiz. I think if I had to use the hold-down functionality it would be brutal, but it works perfect for my needs when using compiz. I've also remapped the show desktop key to bring up my desktop wall. That works great as well.

Another, sort of sidebar. This keyboard is STURDY. I can put it in my backpack with my laptop without protection and carry it around without an issue. Normally I wouldn't dream of doing something like that with a 100 dollar keyboard, but this thing can take it. One thing I would like to see... if the TypeMatrix guys are listening, is to come up with a solution for laptops so I can set this keyboard inside the housing while I type without it hitting they keys on the internal keyboard. I really need that if I'm going to get the benefit of my laptop, otherwise I might as well just have a desktop.

Most importantly, the promised finger travel savings makes a difference at the end of the day. I love the key placement for the backspace and enter keys even if I sometimes hit them by accident.

I will give another update in a few weeks.

TypeMatrix 2030: Initial Review

If you've never taken a look at a TypeMatrix keyboard, you should. Go ahead, http://www.typematrix.com, I'll wait.

I first stumbled onto this keyboard about two years ago but never felt like I wanted to pony up the cash to try one out. For some reason, I finally pulled the trigger last week. After a full day of coding, here are my initial thoughts

Before I get too far, I have to take issue with one thing:

<RANT>

Today, my much anticipated package arrived in what can barely be described as "one piece" thanks to that fine example of government service, the US Postal Service. Rain, snow, and heat may not stop them, but Columbus Day sure can send them for a loop. Their package tracking was down from the time the keyboard was shipped to the time I received it today. That didn't have a huge effect on the reality of things except that I couldn't verify if anything had actually been sent... and I couldn't perform my usual ritual of clicking refresh on the tracking page to see if my package had arrived somewhere new in the last 20 seconds. Luckily I talked to Henry on the phone and he assured me that it should be in the mail and would get here today.

Additionally, as I took my new toy out of its wrapper I was greeted with a sticky residue from what I can only guess was an exploded can of coke or some type of cola and a nice little note with the bold text "WE CARE" at the top. To paraphrase the long note, it basically says, "We know it looks like this package has been a seat cushion for Newman from Seinfeld and we're really sorry. You are a nice person, you don't deserve this, but we ship a LOT of mail and things like this happen. If it's broken... sorry, we REALLY apologize... we aren't going to do anything for you even though we admit that the condition it is in is our fault but we are offering you a really sincere apology. Again, we really do care and we apologize that your package looks like crap. Have a nice day and thank you for supporting our antiquated service whether you actually use us or not."

There is really only one way to tell me that you care and that is, don't crush my package while you are delivering it to me. I don't care what your volume of traffic is, if you can't get me a package in good condition, you have the choice of replacing it or stop delivering packages and stick to snail mail. By the way, I'm missing a whole week of mail that is lost somewhere in your system too... thanks a lot. Luckily for me I've relieved you of your responsibility for anything really important because I get it online now, so you can rip the 75 credit card offers to shreds for all I care.
</RANT>

Ok, with that out of the way, on to the keyboard. Even with the damage to the packaging, the keyboard itself seems no worse for the wear. It was nicely packed and the keyboard itself seems very sturdy. And no, you don't get pictures. I'm not Jeff Atwood and I don't really want to deal with any licensing issues I would incur by stealing graphics from the TypeMatrix website. That's why I included the link at the beginning.

First impression, beyond the fact that this keyboard is probably sturdy enough to have survived it's trip without the packaging, is that it is smaller than I had imagined. The keyboard on my Thinkpad is bigger as far as the actual key space goes. I also ordered a black skin to go over it which has some nice additional features in that it marks the boundaries of the key spaces. I thought that would be a lot more beneficial than it is... more on that later.

So, I quickly unplugged the gigantic Natural keyboard on my desk, slipped the skin over the TypeMatrix and plugged it into my Thinkpad running Ubuntu 9.04. As I have come to expect, everything worked right away. The only minor point of concern was the fact that when I hit the eject button on the right side of the keyboard, it actually gives me a caps lock. I don't really care that it does that and I ordered the version with blank keys so I have no idea what that key is actually supposed to do. All I know is, it's a caps lock and I'm fine with that since I never use the keyboard to eject a disc anyway. Keys of note are the switcher key, the cut/copy/paste function keys, and the dvorak switch. On the switcher key, it does the equivalent of alt+tab in 1 key that doesn't force you to contort your hands. If you've been keyboard centric for a long time, it's probably not a big deal, but I find it actually very nice to be able to bring up the switcher like this even though I will likely remap it to bring up the compiz cover switcher and continue to use alt+tab for the default switcher.

Getting used to typing on it has been a little more difficult than expected. I go between keyboards a lot and purchasing the TypeMatrix is an attempt to quit doing that. However, after a day of typing on it I am probably about 5-10 wpm slower than with a conventional keyboard. However, I fully expect to exceed that as I get more accustomed to this one. I have two main issues. The two letter keys you stretch the greatest distance on are b and y. Because most keyboards are offset, the y and the b are a huge stretch and I find myself overreaching both unless I remain cognizant of what I am doing. When I overreach the y I end up on the delete key and overreaching the b hits the enter key. There have been quite a few errant IMs sent today because I accidentally hit enter when I was trying to hit b. I thought the bead on the keys would prevent me from doing that by giving me a frame of reference, but I am so far over that I go right over it. That said, I find that I am doing it less and less and expect that it won't happen much more after tomorrow.

What I couldn't understand in the marketing of this is, how can this little keyboard can relieve wrist pain? Isn't that what the split keyboards are about? What I discovered after about 20 minutes of using this is, I have developed some bad typing habits that my natural keyboard has been enabling. If you do not hold your hands correctly with this, you get pain. Wrists, arms, everything. What I discovered is that I have been resting my hands on their sides and typing with my hands nearly sideways. When I adjusted my hands so they were flat on the keyboard, all the pain went away and my speed and accuracy improved dramatically. So, if you are the kind of golfer who purchases custom clubs that correct deficiencies in your swing, this probably isn't the keyboard for you. However, if you are the type who would rather use blades, steel shafts, and develop your swing, then Mr Jones, this is the keyboard for you.

So I'm one day in and so far this keyboard has lived up to expectation. I am excited to take it on it's first trip tomorrow to see how it holds up to being tossed in my laptop bag. I'm sure there will be updates to this down the road. Maybe I'll get adventurous and purchase the Dvorak skin at some point but that's a crossroads I've decided I don't want to come to for a while. For now, this little guy is about all the adventure I have time for.