Xref: utzoo comp.sys.mac:15205 comp.windows.misc:482
Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!cmcl2!rutgers!mtunx!whuts!homxb!homxc!lewisd
From: lewisd@homxc.UUCP (David Lewis)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac,comp.windows.misc
Subject: Re: 2 button mouse
Message-ID: <1974@homxc.UUCP>
Date: 19 Apr 88 16:57:08 GMT
References: <1694@bgsuvax.UUCP< <1469@husc2.UUCP> <2452@tekcrl.TEK.COM> <147@infmx.UUCP>
Distribution: na
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Red Hill Site, NJ
Lines: 41
Keywords: mouse buttons modifier keys
Summary: trackball

In article <147@infmx.UUCP<, greggy@infmx.UUCP (greg yachuk) writes:
< In article <2432@utah-gr.UUCP>, fish%kzin.utah.edu.uucp@utah-gr.UUCP (Russ Fish) writes:
< > 
< > The idea of putting a one-handed keyboard on a mouse has already occurred to
< > Sam Drake, a Mechanical Engineering professor here who works with our Alpha_1
< > geometric modeling system.  I saw him building prototype injection moulds last
< > year.  
< > 
< > Getting the human factors right is tough.  He was using 4 buttons for the
< > fingers and a pair of shift buttons for the thumb (I think) on a vaguely
< > hemispherical mouse housing.
< 
< About ten years ago (while I was still a student) I worked for a term at
< a Grad School for Educational Studies (OISE in Toronto).  One day, one of
< the researchers brought in a hemishperical device called a "Write-hander".
< It was a keyboard replacement for one-handed people.  It came in both left
< and right-handed models.  It had (I think) three buttons per finger plus
< two buttons for the thumb.  It used one-, two-, and three-button combinations
< to cover the entire keyboard character set.  It was an actual-honest-to-god
< commercial product, but I have never seen (nor heard of) it again.
< Greg Yachuk		Informix Software Inc., Menlo Park, CA	(415) 322-4100
A couple of comments: 
 There really is no reason for the two halves of the keyboard used
for two-handed people to be together.  In fact, use studies (sorry, no
references) have shown an increase in  productivity when the two halves
are separated by an inch or two.  In addition, demanding less turning of
the wrists reduces incidence of Karpal-Tunnel (sp?) syndrome.
 There is also a commercial 5-button keypad for one-handed people; keys
are entered as binary codes.  Proficient users are quite quick.
 I was thinking that the entire keyboard could act as a mouse; just push it,
locate it, etc.. One immediate problem is: how do you pull it back?
 What I would prefer to see: a trackball located under the spacebar, between
the thumbs (assuming a joined-half keyboard, of course).  This way, I would
be able to manipulate the mouse with either hand while keeping the fingers
on the keyboard.  Don't quite know what to do with the mouse buttons, though
if I'm on the keyboard than replacing them with keys wouldn't be too bad.  
No software would have to change, either.
 (This better for comp.cog-eng?)
-- 
David B. Lewis    {ihnp4,allegra,ulysses,rutgers!mtune}!homxc!lewisd
"Kenneth, the frequency! What's the frequency, Kenneth?!"