Path: utzoo!censor!geac!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!lll-winken!unixhub!shelby!portia.stanford.edu!baroque!jim From: jim@baroque.Stanford.EDU (James Helman) Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi Subject: Re: Desk sized optical mouse pads. Message-ID: Date: 7 Dec 90 19:08:44 GMT References: <9012070217.AA11301@karron.med.nyu.edu> Sender: news@portia.Stanford.EDU Organization: Stanford University Lines: 43 In-Reply-To: Dan Karron@UCBVAX.BERKELEY.EDU's message of 7 Dec 90 02:17:14 GMT Your idea of a split ergo keyboard sounds really interesting. You might want to contact Keytronics of Spokane, Washington. They make all sorts of keyboards, and have the parts to make specials. Neither the thumb roller nor the split, hinged keyboard are my ideas. Tony Hodges has a patent on the keyboard. I believe someone else has a patent on the thumb roller. I am not clear how your idea for a roller ball mouse is better. The big advantage of the thumb roller (it uses a cylinder, not a ball), if it really works as advertised, would be that you could keep your fingers on the home keys while moving the cursor, no more going back and forth to the mouse, at least for most things. Finger keys could replace the mouse buttons. You'd probably still want a mouse and trackball for some things. The entire keyboard industry is based on the QWERTY concept: Keep the keys in the most difficult positions so the user does not jam up the mechanism by typing too fast. As for QWERTY, it may not be the best, but just like X, it's workable, it's a standard, and it's here to stay. ;-} In fact, QWERTY will probably be around for quite a lot longer. Adapting users from QWERTY to Dvorjak is enough disincentive to kill the idea. But having to go back and forth between the two (since even if manufacture of QWERTY keyboards were banned tomorrow, they would still be around us for years) would be shear hell. The performance difference between Dvorjak and QWERTY will never be enough to drive a transition. But Hodges' keyboard is fairly easy to adapt to. It's QWERTY and the two rotations (out and up) can be varied independently. If you wanted to, you could use it as a plain, flat keyboard. Disclaimer: I have no association with Hodges except wanting one of his keyboards. I just think it's a good idea. Also, personally, I'd like to see enough of them made so they won't cost $695 a piece. Jim Helman Department of Applied Physics Durand 012 Stanford University FAX: (415) 725-3377 (jim@KAOS.stanford.edu) Work: (415) 723-9127