20 Jun 2022

In early 2021 I saw Lex Fridman on Youtube talking about his Kinesis Advantage being his favourite keyboard, and I was intrigued:

When I saw it I was immediately struck - it does not look good, to say the least, but so unusual (and I love different) and so... obvious.

I usually aim for products with beauty in my life. This one doesn't - but its clear productivity & experience benefits outweighed the design considerations for once.

At that time, I was typing fairly quickly, but in "hunt and peck" style - looking at my keyboard often (most of the time?).

Going for this split keyboard would mean learning touch typing - and I'm always up to learn new skills. So...

!learning/touch-typing

Since then, I'm fully touch typing and I feel "connected" with this keyboard. It's a weird feeling. I can't see myself using any other kind of keyboard anymore.

I believe the unique layout of the keyboard also helped me go to 100% touch typing fairly quickly, as it is designed for it - see below.

Kinesis Advantage 2

The Advantage was first introduced in 1992.

what makes it so good

User Manual

Kinesis Advantage 2 Quick Start Guide

Kinesis Advantage 2 User Manual

Resources

Next buy: Kinesis Advantage 360 Pro

Coming out soon.

Buy

02 Sep 2022 available for sale in the US only. International to follow later this year or next.

Reseller in Germany: https://ergotrading.com/

29 Sep 2022 will drop in 3 weeks at 712 EUR!! 😅 🤯

04 Oct 2022

Bueroleben (DE):
5OO EUR ex VAT
Free shipping
+ VAT 113 EUR
Total 712 EUR

Backshop (NL):
469 EUR ex VAT
+ Shipping 10 EUR
+ VAT 91 EUR
Total 570 EUR

Ergowerken (NL) - currently shows out of stock:
461 EUR ex VAT
Free shipping
+ VAT 87 EUR
Total 549 EUR

Quick Start Guide

Kinesis Advantage360 - Quick Start Guide

User Manual

https://kinesis-ergo/wp-content/uploads/Advantage360-ZMK-KB360-PRO-Users-Manual-v10-7-22.pdf

Keymap examples

ZMK

list of codes

&trans = transparent.
The transparent behavior simply ignores key position presses/releases, so they will be passed down to the next active layer in the stack.

Setup

GUI available at https://kinesiscorporation.github.io/Adv360-Pro-GUI

To flash firmware:

• download updated keymap file firmware from https://github/ndeville/Adv360-Pro-ZMK/actions/runs/XXXXXXXXXXXXX
• connect via USB
• Mod 1 to enter bootloader mode on left keyboard. Copy left keymap file.
• Mod 3 to enter bootloader mode on right keyboard. Copy right keymap file.

My keyboard layout

See:

Main changes:

• inverted left Esc and Shift keys (less pinky pain)
• End and PdDn keys are Enter (typed a lot and easy to find, at the edge of the thumb clusters)
• Home on left keyboard is Space (so one on each side)

Typing speed

18 Oct 2022

Slowly regaining typing speed:

Battery monitoring

date	%
16 Nov 2022	71%

Keycaps

Official home row keyset:

PBT keycaps are much higher quality than than ABS plastic.

PBT Keycap Set:

Resources

Reviews