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better link, the author's is too general Not a karma whore!

This would be a good time to mention the Interfaces Keyboard from Cramer. It's a split keyboard, each half attaching to the arms of your chair and having six degrees of freedom. I've been using one for over a year. Sweet! My wrist and, surprisingly, back problems have decreased by an order of magnitude.

I only have two complaints -- One, the integrated trackpad sucks rocks. It's as good as any other trackpad I've ever used, but I think they all suck rocks. I ignore it and still use my ancient Mouse Systems optical rodent. The other is that the function keys and obscure punctuation keys are a far reach. I have to move my whole arm to get to F12, and I find myself hittting backslash instead of backspace if my arms are a little out of position.

The other complaint is price. It ain't cheap! But I got my company to shell out for it, so I can't complain too much...

A great side-benefit is that the IS people refuse to touch my computer now, since they don't grok my keyboard. This is a Good Thing! :-)

This would be a good time to mention the Interfaces Keyboard from Cramer. It's a split keyboard, each half attaching to the arms of your chair and having six degrees of freedom. I've been using one for over a year. Sweet! My wrist and, surprisingly, back problems have decreased by an order of magnitude.

I only have two complaints -- One, the integrated trackpad sucks rocks. It's as good as any other trackpad I've ever used, but I think they all suck rocks. I ignore it and still use my ancient Mouse Systems optical rodent. The other is that the function keys and obscure punctuation keys are a far reach. I have to move my whole arm to get to F12, and I find myself hittting backslash instead of backspace if my arms are a little out of position.

The other complaint is price. It ain't cheap! But I got my company to shell out for it, so I can't complain too much...

A great side-benefit is that the IS people refuse to touch my computer now, since they don't grok my keyboard. This is a Good Thing! :-)

You may be thinking of the Floating Arms Keyboard from Workplace Designs. It uses two keyboard sections, one attached to each armrest, and includes a trackpad and numeric keypad for the right hand. It can be purchased with a chair or separately.

Now called the Interfaces Keyboard, it is currently available from Interfaces by Cramer. Even with the chair, it's not the $8 to $10 thousand you remember, but at up to $965 it's not cheap either.

I've never used one, but it looks like a more practical solution, even if it's obviously not something that can be used one-handed!
--
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.

I have the Interfaces Chair & Keyboard System at home and at work. I can now type / code for 14 hours straight without pain.

Unfortunately, I don't like the company (Interfaces by Cramer) and I see a lot of room for improvement in the keyboards.

I had a lot of trouble with the customer service taking a long time and screwing up. For example, I use a PS/2 type keyboard and mouse, so IbC sent me a crappy converter. My mouse was totally flaky, so I called tech support and they told me it was the converter. They said the converter they sent me supposed to be used and then sent me a good one. It was very odd.

The keyboards are way too big - sometimes I want to get close to my desk to eat a sandwich or read over some papers, but the keyboard bangs against the desk... Also in regards to size - I would prefer to get rid of the keypad. The keypad adds a lot of size to the keyboards. Lastly, the left keyboard (in my right-handed systems) is built to swivel. The swivel is a nice idea for flat boarders, but since mine is vertical it is a big pain in the butt.

I have determined that the best way to use this keyboard is with each half of the keyboard turned vertical. Numbers are way harder, so I had some password troubles initially. In general, with the keys turned vertical, I feel more like the keyboard is my interface to the computer rather than a hurdle.

I have the Interfaces Chair & Keyboard System at home and at work. I can now type / code for 14 hours straight without pain.

Unfortunately, I don't like the company (Interfaces by Cramer) and I see a lot of room for improvement in the keyboards.

I had a lot of trouble with the customer service taking a long time and screwing up. For example, I use a PS/2 type keyboard and mouse, so IbC sent me a crappy converter. My mouse was totally flaky, so I called tech support and they told me it was the converter. They said the converter they sent me supposed to be used and then sent me a good one. It was very odd.

The keyboards are way too big - sometimes I want to get close to my desk to eat a sandwich or read over some papers, but the keyboard bangs against the desk... Also in regards to size - I would prefer to get rid of the keypad. The keypad adds a lot of size to the keyboards. Lastly, the left keyboard (in my right-handed systems) is built to swivel. The swivel is a nice idea for flat boarders, but since mine is vertical it is a big pain in the butt.

I have determined that the best way to use this keyboard is with each half of the keyboard turned vertical. Numbers are way harder, so I had some password troubles initially. In general, with the keys turned vertical, I feel more like the keyboard is my interface to the computer rather than a hurdle.

For those of you not too finicky about the feel of the keypresses (they're a bit clicky), I'd recommend the "Floating Arms" split keyboard (they attach to each arm of your chair), available here and here. I'll second the lackluster reviews of the Aeron -- it's a good general purpose, one-size-almost-fits-all chair, but if you want that last 30% of comfort and ergonomics, you'll have to shop around. I have a Neutral Posture chair at work (w/the floating arms keyboard) and a Hag Capisco at home (along with a standing workstation). It's hard to beat the Neutral Posture chairs for a sit-all-day kind of work chair (unfortunately, you'll have to find a place to try them -- one size does not fit all).

The Interfaces Chair and Keyboard System is a great way to get the chair/ smaller keyboard combo, but it takes some getting used to.

Also, I really like MouseMitt Keyboarders. I don't use them all the time, but when my wrists start to ache they help alleviate the pain, plus they are very portable.

Hope this helps.

"one thing I really *would* like is a completely split keyboard, *completely* so I can put one hand somewhere, and the other completely somewhere else..."

I recently had symptoms of some kind of RSI: numbness and tingling in my forearm and upper arm, shooting pain along nerves, etc. I had an industrial safety technician take a look at my workspace. He suggested all sorts of changes (including getting the cool black chair :-)

One of the changes that he said would be good to do is get a new keyboard. I splurged and got myself an Interfaces Keyboard by Cramer. This thing is wonderful! It's one of those completely split keyboards, where each half sits at the end of your chair arms. It's completely adjustable in terms of placement, tilt, etc. There's a glidepoint built into one of the sides, so my mouse comes with me, too. I currently have the keyboard hooked up to my SGI O2, and I'm never going back.

The story has a happy ending, too. With all of the changes I've made, my symptoms have gone away. It took several weeks, but rather than getting progressively worse, they got progressively better. Until now, I'm typing without pain or numbness at all, at the speeds that I'm used to typing at.

I'd rather go with a split keyboard (really split) from these guys. Yeah it's made for a chair, but I think it could be attached to a layzboy pretty easily. :)

Has anyone tried one of these? It's called the Interfaces keyboard but used to be called the floating arms keyboard.

Two half keyboards clip to the ends of the armrests of your chair...

It sounds like a dream come true for me, but the hefty price tag($500 last time I checked as far as I recall) kept me away. Well, that and the fact that this thing really should be cordless.

www.ergointerfaces.com - go to the products section (I hate frames).