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More Ergonomic Keyboards
tve writes "Back when moderators were real moderators, karma whores were real karma whores and small, furry creatures living in the mould deep down in your keyboard were real small, furry creatures living in the mould deep down in your keyboard, Slashdot ran a story about ergonomic keyboards. Popular keyboards back then appeared to be the MS Natural keyboard, the famous prehistoric IBM keyboards and for the lucky few who had their company buy it for them, the Maltron keyboard. However, times have changed, keyboards have decayed and new purchases need to be made. So I submit to the Slashdot community: what is the current holy grail of ergonomic typing pleasure, where can I get it and is it affordable for a student on a budget?" Actually we've done a couple of stories on ergonomic keyboards, but since this is asked so frequently I suppose it won't hurt to do another.
I have the Kinesis Classic ergo 'board (actually two, one for work and one for home), and it has made a huge difference for me. I can type without having to fear that my wrists are going to start burning.
That said, a keyboard is like a monitor; be sure to try one out in person before you drop $250 on one.
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Goldtouch has not only several versions of Ergonomic keyboards but also an Ergonomic Mouse and mouse pad.
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When I bought my first MSDOS PC (a GW2K 386-25) in December of 1990, I used the crappy $20 Chicony keyboard for about 10 minutes before I called NORTHGATE and ordered one of their $110.00 Northgate OmniKey 101 Keyboards WITH THE FUNCTION KEYS ON THE LEFT SIDE LIKE GOD INTENDED! (ERGONOMICS?!?! Ain't no 'membranes' here - them are MECHANICAL switches!).
It's still my main KB at home - Subspace Continuum wouldn't be the same without it! My only gripe is the placement of the '\' key NOT being above ENTER, but right side of R-SHIFT, and no "Flying Windows" keys. Oh well, CTRL+ESC still works.
Interestingly, it came with a groovy keycap puller tool and every year or two, I have to pull all the keycaps off and clean them in alcohol and chip the crust off the underpanel.
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I emphasize the word "real". Cheap, useless knockoffs are the curse of ergonomic products. Not that hard to make something that looks ergonomic. Raise your hand if you've ever tried to use one of those $50 "back chairs" that are guaranteed to destroy your leg muscles. These are imitations of some Swedish item that might actually be pretty good, but nobody sells.
Anyway, here's a plug: I'm profoundly satisfied with the Goldtouch keyboard. What caught my eye was its small footprint. (The theory is that this reduces mouse-related RSI.) To make this work, they put a lot of thought into rearranging the keys. I'm impressed with the result, even though it took me a while to get used to the layout. The design makes it much harder to hit the wrong cursor key, something I used to do a lot.
Other good features I won't go into. But not cheap: $160.
I have had mild carpal tunnel for a few years now. I discovered after much trial and error that which keyboard I used made much less difference than what mouse I used. Some of the "ergonomic" keyboards (particularly one of the MS ones) actually made the problem worse and put my hands in wierd and uncomfortable positions. So I use a generic, straight keyboard, but got particular about the mouse. Mice are very try-before-you-buy though, everyone finds something different comfortable. Since I have small hands the Logitech Wheel Mouse (IR) works perfect for me, but it's too small for some people.
What made the biggest difference for me, actually, was learning to mouse with my left hand (suggested by the ergo guy at my last job). That way the mouse is closer to center when you are seated at the keyboard, since it's right next to the keys rather than off past the numberpad. Thus, your arm isn't reaching out so far to mouse. Also, the stresses are better balanced between the left (mousing) and right (writing) hands.
Not exactly an answer to your question, just something to consider.
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They're cheap, too. Look around flea markets for old models. My first was $5 US, the other three $2.50 each. Or if you must have new ones, check Unicomp, and look at the Customizer.
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The datahand is awesome! Best keyboard I've ever used, by far. I douldn't do my job without it. I've listed some pros and cons below:
PROS:
Integral keyboard and mouse. The key-operated mouse function is clumsy and slow, but having a single hand position for both is a big plus, ergonomically.
Also, after the learning curve, I can type much faster on the datahand than I ever could on any other keyboard. It enables you (or rather, forces you) to touch type not only the alphabet, but also the numbers and punctuation. And it's FAST.
Best of all, my experience (YMMV) was that that my RSI problems have gone away totally. No more wrist, finger, elbow and shoulder pain!
CONS:
As supplied, it's useless unless you happen to like the pronated angle. I happen to like the hands suparnated about 60 degrees, and had to modify the keyboard. Buy two swivelling camera mounts, bolt them to the table at the right spacing, and attach the hand units. Voila! Ugly but very effective.
It's available only in PS2, not USB. This can be a problem with some workstations (e.g. HP). A Y-mouse PS2/USB adaptor can fix this problem, but it took a lot of fiddling to find one that works right.
The learning curve is a little steep. It took almost a week to become productive, and perhaps 3 months before my typing speed had caught up with my original flat keyboard speed.
The key spacings are just a little too far apart. For people with large hands, that's great. I have one large and one small hand, and for the small one, it's a stretch.
The quality is a little dicey. I've had to return it for repair 3 times in the 3 years I've used it.
Despite all these problems, it's still the best thing since sliced bread.