Comment by adrian_b

For me, what has solved definitively the pointing device problem, after experimenting for many years with various mice, trackballs, trackpoints or touchpads, is switching to the use of a stylus on a small Wacom tablet as the pointing device (under Linux).

I use the tablet configured in the "Relative" mode, where it behaves identically to a mouse. The tablet has about the same size or somewhat smaller than a traditional mouse pad.

In comparison with a mouse, holding and moving the very light stylus requires much less force than with a mouse, the hand position is much more comfortable and the speed and accuracy of the movements are much higher.

Because the stylus is extremely light, I can keep it between the fingers while touch-typing with all fingers on the keyboard. Therefore when I alternate between typing and pointing the transitions are faster and more comfortable than with a mouse, because I do not have to grasp the mouse every time.

When I type longer texts, I drop the stylus on the tablet. I configure the stylus so that touching the tablet causes left mouse click and the 2 buttons that are on the stylus cause respectively right mouse click and double left click.

Regarding your complaint about key shapes, many decades ago I had used a high-quality keyboard, with Hall sensors for the keys, and where each key had a different shape and height.

Unfortunately, after assembling my first IBM PC/AT compatible computer, I had to abandon that keyboard, because it was incompatible (it came from some kind of DEC-compatible video terminal). Otherwise, I have no doubt that this keyboard would have still worked finely even today, as it did not have any parts sensitive to wear, unlike modern keyboards.