Another happy Svalboard user is crushing it on day 1! I’m really amazed at how quickly most folks are adapting, users of split ergo boards seem to be getting the hang in a week or so, and transitioning to full-time use after 2-3 weeks!
Took me way longer twenty years ago on Datahand, but I had atrocious touch-typing form ;P
Context: Svalboard is my evolution of Datahand and lalboard into a production device. I build them myself here in Pacifica, CA.
It surrounds the fingers with magnetically actuated keys in 5 directions, with total anatomical customizability through novel fitment mechanisms that can suit any hand size and finger anatomy.
20g force is standard, and the profile is insanely tactile/clicky, with instant actuation and very fast breakaway of forces (1/x^2).
It runs QMK-Vial, and is totally modular. Replacement parts can be printed on a Prusa MK3S or equivalent.
Lots more detail at https://www.svalboard.com
Come join the Discord, it’s pretty lively and I post lots of the day-to-day design and fabrication experiments as I evolve things! :D
Used to live in Pacifica myself! Hell ya Rosalind bakery and the surfing!
Love the board as well, good work
Pass by Rosalind every day on my way to fly at Mussel Rock!
20g force is standard, and the profile is insanely tactile/clicky, with instant actuation and very fast breakaway of forces (1/x^2).
So, closer to mouse switches than keyboard switches?
Mouse switches have substantially more movement and force buildup before the click, these are instant. I think a mouse switch with this profile would be awesome though… Magnets are amazing.
Using this and Azeron (very mousy microswitches) side by side, it’s like night and day. Totally different sensation.
Mousier than mouse? Wow.
Sooooo clicky! Where are you located? I can direct you to a user near you if there is someone, or I can just drop you a prototype cluster in the mail so you can feel it for yourself :D
At first glance they look like a funky mouse for each hand. That’s cool. Too bad I don’t have the technique to be able to use something like that.
You’d be surprised – resting the palms fully makes the finger much more capable of controlled small motions 🙃
Did you know the original Datahand prototypes included the ability to slide for mousing? Just learned that recently from the original inventor! It’s a little weird, I think the modern alternatives are probably better, but he has a working version of it somewhere.
I don’t have that fine of motor control to do that. Hell have the time with my mouse I click the wrong thing because I accidentally jerk the mouse during clicking
Fair enough! Svalboard isn’t really suited for folks with generalized fine-motor problems in the fingers. But I can heartily recommend using Tobii gaze trackers to simplify and speed up your mousing – really amazing tech and not that expensive. Check out Talon too, for voice+gaze combinations that will blow your mind.
Cool project, seems like something that I would like to try out, but that price point just isn’t realistic for something so niche. It may well be fantastic, but a nearly $800 gamble is too risky when the market is flooded with keyboard alternatives I can build for an eighth of the cost.
Why not sell the hardware kit for something more reasonable and then let us print our own casing?
I offer a pretty generous return policy for a built-to-order device – returns are honored up to 6mo with a $100/mo refurb fee assuming good condition – you pay return shipping. So yeah, there’s the upfront cost which pays for my time, but you still get the white-glove service I offer because I’m so confident that you’ll fall in love with it :D
But… if you can build something for an eighth of the cost that works for you and makes you happy, you should definitely do that! I hope you DON’T need a Svalboard! Nobody should have to struggle to do their job pain-free, and the proliferation of cheap Cornes and rad BKB kits and everything else is totally amazing and warms my heart 😍
Niche products are expensive for precisely the reasons you note – they serve a narrow market with specific needs, and they generally cost a lot to build, or can only make the business work with higher margins due to modest volume. And when they’re from outer space, like Svalboard, that is extra true. Maybe the business model doesn’t work, but me and about 10,000 other people thought Datahand was good enough to pay 3X this much in inflation-adjusted terms ;)
That said, I love self-builders, and there is a beta self-print kit coming in the next month or two ;) Join the Discord to follow along, the build guide is still totally WIP and mostly in my head, so it’s gonna take some time. I’m hoping the community will contribute to that aspect since I’m trying to focus on core dev right now.
Beware, though – this is not an easy print or a simple assembly. ~275 parts if you count all the hardware, tiny-ass magnets – super tight single-wall tolerances, etc. It’s 100% doable on an MK3S but it’s not the best FDM starter project.
![Svalboard, 41wpm on day 1? Wowza! [vendor]-ish](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/16753f2a-f372-4fd5-bfd6-5b2d631c9023.png){kind=link}