5 ms·

It's a shame that trackpoints never caught on outside of the thinkpad crowd. I rarely see them get used for custom keyboards, even though they are IMO the perfe

It's a shame that trackpoints never caught on outside of the thinkpad crowd. I rarely see them get used for custom keyboards, even though they are IMO the perfect fit for a use case like this.

neilv 10mo ago
I wonder whether the modern ThinkPad enthusiasts are actually only TrackPoint enthusiasts. (Previously, the keyboard, durability, and repairability were also ThinkPad selling points for enthusiasts.)
- genter 10mo ago
  Yes. Although the keyboard is decent, until you get a grain of salt under a key. The durability is mediocre, and repairability is only better than an iPhone.
garciansmith 10mo ago
Yes, I'd love more custom keyboards with a trackpoints. There are the Tex ones, but that's pretty much it. And there are many layouts these days that would easily allow for one to fit and still be able to use keycap sets that don't need to have specialized keys carved out of them like the Tex boards. Every time I see an Alice layout I just dream about a nubbin stuck in the open space between the G and the H.
stephen 10mo ago
The UHK80 has a trackpoint module that works great!
- jwpapi 10mo ago
  Thank you so much you might’ve saved my life. I‘ve been having issues with my pinkies for a while now, but I couldn’t leave trackpoint. Will try this out, if its still possible to buy
- jwpapi 10mo ago
  One question, is it weird when the trackpoint is used with the thumb instead of the pointing finger?
  - stephen 10mo ago
    I still use my index finger; I've just gotten used to moving my hand ~slightly over from j to the nub. I would definitely prefer their trackpoint module be "flipped upside down" so the nub was on top, directly next to the H key, so I could move "just the index finger", and not my palm, but it's really not a big deal now that I'm used to it. They seem to get this feedback a lot, b/c they have an FAQ entry about (nub location), which asserts the current thumb location is due to space/engineering constraints. But, dunno, I kinda wonder if that was for the smaller UHK60? B/c just looking at my UHK80, it really seems like the nub could be by the H if they wanted it to. :-) So not "perfect perfect" but still really amazing imo, and so glad I switched over -- I'm like 10 years late to split keyboards, custom layers for movement / programming binds, everything the cool kids have been doing forever, but I couldn't give up a trackpoint. But here we are, finally! :-) (Also fwiw I held off on the UHK80 for about a year b/c they were having firmware issues on initial release, repeated/missed keys, that sort of thing, but its been rock solid for me; literally zero issues.)
leejoramo 10mo ago
Beyond the UHK keyboards there are others with trackpoints TEX had a whole line https://tex.com.tw/products/shura https://tex.com.tw/products/shura The classic Happy Hackers Keyboard has one. https://hhkeyboard.us/hhkb-studio/product https://hhkeyboard.us/hhkb-studio/product And Lenovo itself offers several usb keyboards with TrackPoint https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F3U4TQS https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F3U4TQS
- yencabulator 10mo ago
  I've had two of those Lenovo keyboards, beware the USB connector gets damaged ridiculously easily.
evanjrowley 10mo ago
The Datahand-inspired Svalboard provides up to two trackpoints for those who are open to something radical: https://svalboard.com/ https://svalboard.com/ Also available with up to two trackballs or touchpads.

It's a shame that trackpoints never caught on outside of the thinkpad crowd. I rarely see them get used for custom keyboards, even though they are IMO the perfect fit for a use case like this.

neilv 10mo ago

I wonder whether the modern ThinkPad enthusiasts are actually only TrackPoint enthusiasts. (Previously, the keyboard, durability, and repairability were also ThinkPad selling points for enthusiasts.)

genter 10mo ago
Yes. Although the keyboard is decent, until you get a grain of salt under a key. The durability is mediocre, and repairability is only better than an iPhone.

garciansmith 10mo ago

Yes, I'd love more custom keyboards with a trackpoints. There are the Tex ones, but that's pretty much it. And there are many layouts these days that would easily allow for one to fit and still be able to use keycap sets that don't need to have specialized keys carved out of them like the Tex boards. Every time I see an Alice layout I just dream about a nubbin stuck in the open space between the G and the H.

stephen 10mo ago

The UHK80 has a trackpoint module that works great!

jwpapi 10mo ago
Thank you so much you might’ve saved my life. I‘ve been having issues with my pinkies for a while now, but I couldn’t leave trackpoint. Will try this out, if its still possible to buy
jwpapi 10mo ago
One question, is it weird when the trackpoint is used with the thumb instead of the pointing finger?
- stephen 10mo ago
  I still use my index finger; I've just gotten used to moving my hand ~slightly over from j to the nub. I would definitely prefer their trackpoint module be "flipped upside down" so the nub was on top, directly next to the H key, so I could move "just the index finger", and not my palm, but it's really not a big deal now that I'm used to it. They seem to get this feedback a lot, b/c they have an FAQ entry about (nub location), which asserts the current thumb location is due to space/engineering constraints. But, dunno, I kinda wonder if that was for the smaller UHK60? B/c just looking at my UHK80, it really seems like the nub could be by the H if they wanted it to. :-) So not "perfect perfect" but still really amazing imo, and so glad I switched over -- I'm like 10 years late to split keyboards, custom layers for movement / programming binds, everything the cool kids have been doing forever, but I couldn't give up a trackpoint. But here we are, finally! :-) (Also fwiw I held off on the UHK80 for about a year b/c they were having firmware issues on initial release, repeated/missed keys, that sort of thing, but its been rock solid for me; literally zero issues.)

leejoramo 10mo ago

Beyond the UHK keyboards there are others with trackpoints TEX had a whole line https://tex.com.tw/products/shura https://tex.com.tw/products/shura The classic Happy Hackers Keyboard has one. https://hhkeyboard.us/hhkb-studio/product https://hhkeyboard.us/hhkb-studio/product And Lenovo itself offers several usb keyboards with TrackPoint https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F3U4TQS https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F3U4TQS

yencabulator 10mo ago
I've had two of those Lenovo keyboards, beware the USB connector gets damaged ridiculously easily.

evanjrowley 10mo ago

The Datahand-inspired Svalboard provides up to two trackpoints for those who are open to something radical: https://svalboard.com/ https://svalboard.com/ Also available with up to two trackballs or touchpads.