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Comment by icefox | Hacker News Reader

Does it fix the shift bug that plagues the model 1? Every user I have talked has had the issue but the company denies it is an issue even though we can reproduce it on many different keyboards, different hardware, and os's.

I am very interested in getting this, but I don't want to do it if this issue hasn't been resolved.

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> ...but the company denies it is an issue...

It sounds like the person you spoke with wasn't familiar with the product. They've been aware of the problem for years. It's mentioned in the manual [1] and on their website [2].

[1] http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/conto... - Page 28.

[2] http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/support/technical-support/troubl... - "Weird behavior with Advantage keyboard".

Ah! Thank you! I've had this issue from time to time. I thought it is probably a software thing, not the keyboard.

Thanks to the link you've sent I now have a simple solution - tap both shift keys at once.. Great!

No problem. :)

You can also use <Stuck Key> + <Program> in cases where you only have instance of the stuck key. Alt or super in the default layout, for example.

I was a beta tester of the Advantage 2 and the problem is completely gone with the new firmware.

What is different with the Advantage 2?

(I did take a look at the website and I'm wondering about your personal experience -- what makes a difference in daily use?)

The biggest difference was never having the shift or modifier keys get stuck on. The mechanical f keys were really nice as well, though being that I'm already a advantage user my standard layout has the ones I use regularly (especially esc) mapped elsewhere. Programming new key combinations and being able to use the .txt files made remapping a bit easier. It also made it easier to see what I had done in case a mapping didn't look right.

If you do a lot of remapping with multiple layouts or macros the new one is a must. If the occasional modifier's getting stuck really bothers you, or you are a heavy user of the f keys and can't remap for whatever reason you will benefit from the advantage 2.

If, on the other hand, you only do a small amount of remapping and have already mapped away f-keys that are used a lot AND the modifier freezing is not a big deal for you it might not be worth it to upgrade to the new model until your current one bites the dust. If you are looking at getting an Advantage for the first time I would buy this one instead of the previous model.

Thank you. I have the old one and am not experiencing stuck modifiers so I'll hold off.

What's the problem with the shift button? I'm using the first model for several years now and never noticed a problem with the shift button.

Not just shift but modifiers in general get stuck.

Just to be clear they don't get physically stuck. The most common issue reported is that the keyboard behaves as though the shift key is being pressed even though it is not (aka stuck). The way to fix it is to first recognize that the keyboard is in this mode and then hit the shift key to turn on/off the shift modifier. I have reports of this issues going back to many different kinesis keyboards from at at least 2001 onward.

Weird. I have not had this issue. I'll ask my co-worker on Monday if he has; he's been using this keyboard for like 8 years.

I have 2 Advantage keyboards and both exhibit this issue. Back when I first got them (about 9 years ago) I called Kinesis about it, but they claimed they had never heard of the problem. While it seems to happen most often with modifier keys, I've had it happen with regular keys, too (including the delete key, which is always exciting :-).

I reported it several times between 2002-2005 as I got new keyboards and each time was told they were unaware of the issue. Heard the same thing from others that reported it between 2005-2010.

I've been using an Advantage at work for about a year, and this happens to me once or twice a week, usually with the Shift key, but sometimes with the Alt key, which is even more disorienting. It goes back to normal after tapping one or more modifiers.

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