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Comment by mycat | Hacker News Reader

What is the best way to reduce pain from using ctrl with pinky finger? (emacs pinky?)

For me, it's been keyboards with ctl and alt on both sides. Thanks to Xah Lee [1]. This rules out Macbooks (and most laptops) and favors Thinkpads, though currently I have a Dell Precision laptop and it has ctl and alt on both sides but the ctl's are not symmetrically placed and it is a bit annoying and not as good as the Thinkpad it replaced but it is workable.

On my desktop, I have a Microsoft Natural Ergonomic 4000, which is an awesome keyboard and cheap and robust. The major compromise is that it is corded to USB, but for me it is worth it.

That said, it takes practice to develop muscle memory to use both ctl keys and both alts and key bindings that require switching ctl keys to touch type feel strange.

[1]: http://ergoemacs.org/emacs/emacs_pinky.html

Good points. I also swap Ctrl and Alt on both sides, using my thumbs for Ctrl. Using the opposite hand to press the modifier is analogous to how a touch typist uses the shift keys. For desktop use, I now use a Kinesis keyboard, again with symmetrical modifiers but all as thumb keys.

I read from somewhere saying that Emacs was invented at a time where the control key reside at where the caps lock key resides now.

One day, my pinky genuinely hurt from stabbing the control key of my work-issued keyboard. I remapped the control key to caps and never looked back.

I remapped Ctrl to SPC (like spacemacs) and swapped CAPS with ESC.

lol how do enter spaces then? I use alt as my meta key, just like how it is on Linux iirc. It's hard to remember what the default behavior is when I conveniently clone my dotfiles wherever I go.

Caps lock as control still caused pinky strain for me. I use xah lee's Ctrl palming method and it is amazing. I recommend anyone try it for at least an hour to get used to it, you'll never switch back.

Unfortunately it only works with physical keyboards. Still use caps lock on my laptop.

For me, god-mode has been a life-changing discovery. It solves C- and M-. I use sticky keys for shift, but that's less of a home run

https://github.com/chrisdone/god-mode

I press left ctrl with my pinky curled, so I actually press with the upside of the finger (just above the nail). It puts my wrist at a very small angle and no effort on the pinky finger itself.

I used to think "emacs pinky" was a joke, until I got my first programming job and I suddenly used emacs eight hours a day. :-|

Then I read somewhere that the Ctrl key used to be at the location now occupied by Caps Lock on PC keyboards. So now, on every computer I use regularly, I remap Caps Lock to be an additional Ctrl key. My pinky has thanked me for it ever since. ;-)

Also, I cannot remember having used Caps Lock ever, except by accident.

Actually the machines Emacs was developed on had rubout where caps lock is today. Control and meta were next to the space bar (control on the inside) and they were also wide keys like shift is.

Sun put control where caps lock goes; i don't know if they originated that or if it copied someone else's existing practice.

Huh. Thanks for the info.

I just press the control key with the part of the palm of my hand that's right below my pinky finger. That way my pinky finger always stays on the home row, and never gets tired.

I don't like to remap control, alt, escape, or caps-lock because I don't want to be hobbled when I use another computer that I don't control to type on. This method has worked well for me for decades.

In my experience - buy a good mechanical keyboard, and remap Control and Caps Lock.

I don't understand how remapping Caps Lock to Control is supposed to improve things, considering that there's already a Control key in the vicinity of Caps Lock. For me the bigger problem is the right control key.

Try it and you'll see. Control is usually two keys lower than Caps Lock, forcing you to bend your pinky in a weird way.

As for Right Control - I don't think I ever pressed that key in my life...

I used to basically think it was insane that people would recommend changing the layout of my keyboard in order to accommodate the inefficient default key bindings of Emacs.

However, even though I long ago stopped using Emacs, to this day I still swap Caps Lock with Ctrl because it's a much more natural position for the control key once you get used to it.

The difference between "in the vicinity of" and "on the same row as the home keys" proved immense for me. YMMV I guess, depending on your typing habits.

At least on MacBook Pros, there is not a control key anywhere in the same pinky area as the caps lock key. A solid inch or two is quite a big deal.

Press control with the opposite hand (so C-A uses the right control), and swap caps lock and control.

Use a keyboard with thumb key clusters for Ctrl, Alt, and other modifiers. If you cannot use such a keyboard (e.g. on a laptop) I suggest remapping CapsLock to Ctrl or using `god-mode`.

Build a keyboard that puts Ctrl and Alt under your thumbs, or have one built for you.

Or, more easily, you could just buy one: https://www.kinesis-ergo.com/shop/advantage2/. I've used a Kinesis Advantage at home and at work for 10 years now.

I swapped ctrl with caps lock and it had helped me immensely. Would highly recommend that.

What really worked for me was switching to Sublime, and nowadays Vscode. :(

Alternate between the left and right Ctrl keys...

evil-mode

Use your thumb.

Specifically your right thumb if you're not a touch typist.

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