What is the best way to avoid getting “Emacs Pinky”? [closed]

Answer 1

I have a MS natural keyboard as well and it's awesome. I've managed to train myself to use the side of my left hand (below the pinky) to hit the Ctrl key.

Answer 2

Even after remapping capslock to become control, you still have to use your pinky to press it - at least I do, because my ring finger won't reach it for a command like C-g. Using your pinky at all is not recommended, right?

I'm on a MacBook Pro and I've just remapped the ⌘ on the right side of the keyboard to become control. So that way, for instance, C-g becomes a keystroke I execute with both hands, my right-hand thumb on ⌘ and my left forefinger on g.

We'll see if that helps with my RSI. Anyone else done this?

Answer 3

I can use the Control key in either the west or south-west positions without any trouble. Many Emacsers swear that the control key belongs in the west position and the west position only, and that anything else will ruin your pinky. The only thing we know for sure causes RSI from typing is too much typing. Try type-break-mode and see if a few regular breaks help.

Answer 4

Get a foot pedal! (I have a kinesis.) After you do, unmap control and capslock so you force yourself to use your feet.

(FYI, remapping capslock will help, but after enough emacsing in one day, will not be a total solution.)

Answer 5

Put the modifiers where they were meant to be: on either side of the space-bar, where they can be pressed by the thumb (or other digit of your choice) on the opposite hand from the digit pressing the modified letter (so that C-g is right-thumb on Ctrl and left index on 'g', and C-k is left-thumb on Ctrl and right middle on 'k'). You will note that the correct sequence, from inside out, is Ctrl Meta Super Hyper.

How you do this depends on your OS and your keyboard. For Windows, you might like to start here. In Mac OS X you can look in System Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse > Modifier Keys. For Linux, there are a thousand xmodmap and XKB tutorials.

Answer 6

to Chow,

yesterday i found a solution that we can have system wide ErgoEmacs keybinding on the mac.

The trick is to use mac os x's keybinding system so that you have system wide ErgoEmacs keybinding with the Control key. Then, in OS preference, swap the Control and Cmd key.

So that, you get ErgoEmacs keybinding system wide with the modifier beside the space bar. The draw back is of course that normal mac Cmd+key is now at the corner of keyboard. So, it's a trade off, about whether you use most apps for text editing, or the app's shortcuts.

might give it a shot here: http://code.google.com/p/ergoemacs/wiki/ErgoEmacs_keys_system_wide

also, few years back i tried the mac's os wide custome keybinding, some cocoa apps still doesn't support it. See bottom here

• How To Create Keybinding In Mac OS X

but perhaps things are better now.