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10 Strange Computer Keyboards
DirectedImpact noted an amusing little compilation of
10 strange keyboards. Some of them you've probably seen before (the laser keyboard, the optimus OLED keyboard) and others are quite real (I actually had one of those split keyboards for awhile) and others are pretty out there: like the keyboard built into the lacy doily placemat thingee.
My personal fav weird keyboard is the ErgoDex DX1 Keyboard. Completely moveable keys, macros, etc. Recognfigure it however you like. Runs about $150.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
http://www.handykey.com/
the twiddler, I even still have one in the basement somewhere from 1993 when I was into Wearable computing. when you got used to it you could type really fast, it was fun writing C code when you were walking from the bust stop to your EE classes while looking in the LED alphanumeric hud.
Cool part it was a mouse as well.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
A similar article, with a couple of other--even weirder, IMHO--classics can be found here.
The Orbitouch FTW!
"Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not tried it." -- Donald Knuth
I have one and it's great.
The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination
- Douglas Adams
There's also the Flexible Rubber Keyboard, which is not only easy to roll up and carry around with you, but is also waterproof (for shallow depths, anyways) and resistant to strong acid and alkaline environments. (But disintegrates fast with organic solvents like acetone, potentially leaving nothing but a few strands of copper wiring and gooey sludge.) I've never tried using mine underwater, but at least one of the reviews I've seen of them mentions using them in the bath. They're more resistant to being smashed by heavy-handed typists, and it's impossible to get crap-buildup underneath the keys since it's a sealed silicon unit.
They also come in a variety of colors and styles. My sister wants the pink one. she needs it considering how much pop my niece has dumped on their old keyboards, and the fact that they both type like they're trying to leave finger-shaped dents in the floor underneath the desk.
This one should have made the list... it was one of the first adjustable ergonomic keyboards to come from a computer manufacturer. It also came with a disclaimer about RSI that was almost as heavy as the keyboard itself.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Adjustable_Keyboard
What the wikipedia article's photo fails to show you are the giant wrist rests that are attached to the main keyboard and number keyboard. A small ADB cable attached the external number keyboard to the main qwerty board and could be arranged on either side. It also provided audio controls and a full compliment of F keys.
I miss that keyboard... I had one and enjoyed it up until the point I no longer could use an ADB keyboard.
You can't forget about Kinesis's Contour. The weirdest yet most comfortable keyboard I've ever used. (Looked weird enough that MIB used it as Zed's keyboard at the office.) Saved me from carpel tunnel surgery about 5 years ago and I"m pain free to this day. http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/contoured.htm A little pricy ($300) but much cheaper than surgery.
I've tried most of the keyboards shown (I like input devices). I'd rate them as follows, where '10' is a regular keyboard.
Combimouse -- 0/10. This is the one I haven't tried, but I simply don't see how it can possibly work.
Evolution -- 11/10. This was intended to be used in conjunction with an entire ergonomic environment. It's like a regular keyboard but with touchpads. Yay.
Wearable -- 1/10. This is nothing like as good as a chording keyboard such as the Twiddler.
Optimus Maximus -- 12/10. I've only ever used it very briefly and since it's exactly like having a regular keyboard (except that you can put pictures on the function keys) I'd say it has mainly coolness value. But a *lot* of coolness value.
Virtual Keyboard -- 3/10. Lack of tactile feedback renders this horrible to use.
SafeType -- 6/10. This is one of the many easy-to-make, hard-to-use ergonomic keyboards that came out around the time RSI got to be big news. It's a pain. I think it used to come with little mirrors so you could see what you were doing.
Tidy Tippist -- 1/10. I've never seen this before but *look* at it.
AlphaGrip -- 9/10. It's nice to use, but there are two problems; first, it's fussier and slower than the Twiddler. Second, the keys can't be remapped or assigned macros at all.
ElekTex -- 3/10. No tactile feedback, and easy to rumple it up inadvertently.
TouchStream -- 16/10. This is fascinating to use. As a keyboard, it sucks because you can't tell what key you pressed (if any). However, the gesture system is fascinating, intuitive, and extendable. The small version of the TouchStream, used in conjunction with a regulare keyboard, is fun; but if you do that you can't type and gesture in the same place which takes away most of the fluidity of the full sized TouchStream.
I'd say people have had a lot of trouble coming up with designs that really improve on the IBM-style keyboard. The Kinesis Advantage I'm using is the only unusual keyboard I've ever had that I thought it was worth switching to, and it must be about 12 years old by now; since then almost every 'advance' has involved either not having keys (no tactile feedback, impossible to know where your hands are and whether you pressed a key) or else cutting a keyboard up and bolting junk to it (a la Evolution and Combimouse).
The Kinesis Advantage is remappable, programmable, pedal-compatible for those who just have to be like that, it saves my fingers a few miles of movement a day and it lets me use the cursor keys and backspace without having to drag my whole hand off the home row and over to some other part of the keyboard. But I note that the Evolution (also from Kinesis) outsells the Advantage, because it's got gadgets and rounded edges and looks space-agey when bolted to your executive chair. That's the trouble with keyboards as a market -- since flat keyboards are pretty much good enough, any extra money that gets spent tends to go on bells and whistles rather than on advancing the basic design.
The Kinesis Advantage is the king of keyboards, by the way.
Whence? Hence. Whither? Thither.
They also missed the Goldtouch adjustable keyboard:
http://www.keyovation.com/pc-65-2-goldtouch-ergonomic-adjustable-keyboard-white.aspx
Been happily using one since 2004 and it's the best investment ever. For some pretty horrible time I thought I was going to have to leave IT in search of some other profession - not particularly comforting as I'd only graduated two years earlier.
It's expensive, but a lot cheaper than learning a new job - particularly when the NHS's attitude was "Oh, your wrists hurt. That's a shame. Spend the rest of your life taking ibuprofen and give us a shout if you develop a stomach ulcer."
ars played with the full keyboard recently, complete with full color keys. seems like it is real, but freakin' expensive.
I've got a BAT keyboard, I've found it's totally useless unless you don't mind fiddling about with rebooting and unplugging/replugging until the keyboard actually works correctly each time you want to use it.