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This sorta ties in with my new years' resolution, to learn to touch type after 20+ years as a professional programmer!

I have a couple of the HHKII one for home one for work. But this and every other normal keyboard is too small for my hands and requires me to move my hands when typing.

So I'm looking to change, my new standard keyboard should arrive today and then I'm looking to change it to dvorak layout. Big keys plenty of space and most importantly the keys are all staggered the way my hands lay on the keyboard on a normal keyboard the Q,W,E and R keys require my left hand to move to the left off the home keys.

I've also picked up a dual BAT keyboard on ebay just to try.

If all of the above fails, unlikely, I'll be buying a large number of cherry mechanical switches and building my own keyboard with a dvorak layout.

Does anyboard have supply for individual buckling spring switches?

We've been using these for years:

http://www.infogrip.com/product_view.asp?RecordNum ber=12

Had a clerk who was unable to type with both hands bring in one of her own. She did just fine in a demanding, fast paced environment (ER Patient Registration).

For what it's worth, I could never get the hang of it. Would certainly take some time to learn. Perhaps as much time (if not more) than learning an alternate full sized KB layout.

"If someone could figure out how to do one handed typing"...

How about the BAT keyboard, CyKey or other chorded keyboards?

BAT Keyboard I used these for a while but gave them up in favor of a dvorak kinesis contour. They are great if you do a lot of CAD, diagramming, or anything else that requires lots of mousing and typing since you can keep one hand on the keyboard and one on the mouse. I suppose they would be awesome for games but I'm not much of a gamer.

Downsides: The idiots STILL have not figured out how to generate the Mac command key and that is a large reason why I gave them up. The travel of the keys is too far so you hands bounce too much, causing undue stress. Less importantly, I couldn't really get over 50wpm, though that means I could type at 25wpm with one hand. The firmware is also somewhat buggy.

Learning the letters is easy. Symbols are harder. Getting a smooth alternating left/right technique was very hard for me.

I was going to post the same, but did the rational thing and stopped to look to see if someone beat me to it. You did. You just didn't link to any. So here:

http://www.infogrip.com/product_view.asp?RecordNum ber=82&sbcolor=%23FF9966&option=&subcategory=&CatT xt=&optiontxt=Keyboard

And the google search :

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie =UTF-8&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2005-08,GGLD:en&q=keyboard+sk in

In the work place, these things should be mandatory. And mice should be issued new when you start, especially given the fact that a basic two-button PS/2-style mouse can be had for as little as $10 ea (less when purchased in bulk for sure). That, or let people do like I did and go out and purchase their own Trackball Opticals and bring 'em in.

Infogrip has a few alternatives.

when douglas englebart invented the mouse (and windows, and networking, and hypertext, etc.), he made the first machines to use a mouse and a one-handed keyboard so that both hands would be utilized.

then xerox parc had the alto, but their mouse didn't have a mouse ball -- it was apple that invented the mouse ball, and shipped the first commercial computer that came with a mouse as standard.

one of the devices that came out in the late 1980's was a device called 'the bat' -- a one-handed keyboard -- you can still by this device here.

regards,
j

The devices control the position of on-screen objects in design programs

Makes sense to me; in fact I proposed such a device to Infogrip about 10 years ago.

This is not to claim that I'm some sort of genius, it just seems to be an obvious progression for someone that needs to access a lot of variable-level commands regularly.

For example, all the variations of copy, rotate, extend, offset, and the most important one: undo.

When working in 3D design, you need at least 2 views of everything since it's easy to lose perspective while you're thinking about the next move. Big, dual monitors are pretty much required becauseyou have to be able to see fine detail, and flipping screens tends to disorient the designer.

A two-handed control device is a good idea for this type of work.

Sorry if this doesn't make sense, I can draw it for you if you want.

If all you need is a big trackball, there are two products that come to mind:

* Microsoft Easyball
* Crayola Kids PC Trackball
* Infogrip BigTrack

The Easyball would have been most suitable (as it was huge - I remember seeing one in the store, there are a few pictures here), but that and the Crayola trackball are no longer being sold as far as I know. From pictures, the BigTrack looks like the exact same model as the Crayola one. Although both are smaller than the Microsoft trackball, you can still buy the BigTrack direct from the manufacturer for $80 (link above, although I think that's at least $30 more than the crayola trackball was selling for).

Of course, you might still be able to find an Easyball on Ebay or Froogle

However - neither of these might be suitable for the purposes you're thinking about. They're plastic devices made for kids, not necessarily designed to be smashed around by grown adults as the arcade devices are.

Look down at your fingertips. That UI hasn't changed in years .

Sure, there are other options, but have you ever seen one?

In the final analysis, people hate change, even if it's good for them.

grnbrg.

Look down at your fingertips. That UI hasn't changed in years .

Sure, there are other options, but have you ever seen one?

In the final analysis, people hate change, even if it's good for them.

grnbrg.

You should look into the BAT Personal keyboard. They have different models for right and left hands. Fairly easy to use, I was able to type about 40WPM in less than a week on a MEDUSA workstation. I still prefer my Model M at home...

I always wanted to mount a bat one one arm of a chair and a trackball to the other.

Combine with a pair of one-handed keyboards like the BAT and you are well on your way to increased productivity with vastly lower stress on your wrists and arms.

Burris

The keyboard design you mention fashioning "out of bits of brass" reminds me a bit of the Twiddler chording keyboard ... Have you ever worked with a Twiddler, BAT Personal Keyboard, Bellaire CyKey, or other "nonstandard" PC input device before?

A company called Infogrip makes a keyboard similiar to this. It has seven keys, four cording and three meta. It looks kinda cool, but runs about $200, so out of my price range to get one for playing with.

There is a wonderful FAQ at www.tifaq.com which has a lot of info about alternative keyboards and such. There are lots to choose from, including chording keyboards (a la Infogrip's BAT) and split keyboards etc. One thing to keep in mid is that the keyboard alone is not a solution. You need to practice good overall ergonomics, and this includes a good desk and chair, as well as taking breaks and repositioning yourself.

I am surprised that this hasn't been mentioned yet.

Check out the Infogrip BAT. It's a cording keyboard. It can be used one-handed or in a pair. I used one of the prototypes 10 years ago in college. Looks like they've made it even better.

There is a company, Bilbo Innvoations that makes foot controllers similar to those used for an organ or sewing machine. They mainly are used as meta keys (shift, alt, control), but I am sure they could be mapped to other things inside of a game. Links and pictures here . If you are looking for a directional syste, then Infogrips No-Hands Mouse may be a better choice. Info and pics here . I am not sure how this would work in a game though. I know that the Hacker's Dictionary mentions that the original 'space cadet' keyboard at MIT was supposed to have foot pedals, but in the end it was opted out. I think that was a bad decision, made prior to the GUI revolution, and that the mouse was a poor choice. Picking your hand up from the keyboard is a waste of time. Future interface devices need to include a mixture of hand, feet, maybe some sort of head mounted directional stuff (like the things in airplanes that monitor where your are looking for targetting) and perhaps a little bit of voice recognition.

yes, take a look at http://infogrip.com, they have various foot-operated devices such as mice and switches. I used to use the "no hands mouse" myself.

I'd be interested in hearing comments and personal experience stories about these three different input devices/methods:

1. Kinesis contoured keyboard ( www.kinesis-ergo.com)
2. BAT keyboard ( www.infogrip.com)
3. The DVORAK layout (info at www.thisistrue.com/dvorak.html)

Think about it, just because the QWERTY standard is familiar (well, it is a standard after all), doesn't mean that it is the best for every circumstance.

I would not mind learning a new typing convention if it's learning curve isn't too steep and if it fits the use.

I keep thinking about the one-handed keyboard. Wouldn't something similar to this be of great use as opposed to a 40 key (absolute minimal punctuation, numbers and letters) pad? Key combination pads are the way that I would like to see miniature communication in the immediate future.

Speech recognition is a long way off in this size that would make a 65,000 word vocab small enough to carry around.

Rami James
Guy with a cellphone.
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Anyone try out the BAT keyboard? It looks really interesting -- keep one hand on the keyboard and one on the mouse, not moving back and forth. Mounts readily on a chair arm, that kind of thing.

I'm still trying to get the IT bunch here to get one for eval. Comments really appreciated.

BTW: I've been using Infogrip's mice for quite a while and love 'em -- reliable, feel good in an odd-sized hand.

Have you messed with Chord keyboards? How about the Bat Keyboard? I found some research here as well.

The thing about it is that learning Dvorak and keeping your QWERTY skills must be weird. After a while, you would probably make lots of mistakes when you went back to a QWERTY, which you will find almost everywhere.

I'd rather get a BAT keyboardInfogrip. Sure you only get around 30-50 wpm, but you can use your mouse at the same time with your other hand(actually, I got a trackball a while ago and it works great!) and it can be linked to a regular keyboard when you really need the speed (I would assume copying something?). Since all your fingers are always in the same place, you reduce risk of RSI and stuff like that. Their FAQ says that BAT skills are proven to be different than keyboard skills, so it won't interfere with your regular QWERTY typing. I can type 80 wpm at max, but I rarely do when I'm doing something for school, because I'm thinking at the same time. I don't think I could think up an essay as fast as I can type.

Of course, you could always get the insanely priced Datahand. They use a QWERTY layout, but you probably can't tell from the picture. Basically, everything is right beside your fingers.

Check out the BAT keyboard. One-handed, never take the other off of the mouse.

Infogrip Inc. has some products specifically for one handed use. I'm not an employee, etc.

Mike
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I think a much more elegant design is the BAT Keyboard. It's a chord keyboard design that does everything with seven standard pushbutton keys (not twiddly things like the twiddler).

If someone could take the BAT design, convert it into a high-quality membrane keyboard, and put it on an arm sleeve, that would be a great step forward for wearables.