10 Strange Computer Keyboards 181
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.
No ErgoDex DX1? (Score:5, Informative)
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http://www.maltron.com/ [maltron.com]
Re:No ErgoDex DX1? (Score:4, Informative)
I have nasty RSI or something like it, and the Kinesis just seemed the best balance of bang for the buck -- the Safetype was more for wrist than finger problems, split keyboards and basic ergonomics didn't do enough, and the Datahand (mentioned below) was too spendy for me to try unless the Kinesis wasn't good enough.
Seriously young geeks -- if your fingers start hurting, do something before you do permanent harm. Switch mice (vertical mouse, trackball or tablet), switch keyboards, try Dvorak or Colemak, talk to your doctor -- it just gets worse over time if you don't.
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But what the other guy said about if the pain goes away, it worked. That's the way to tell.
Which letter do you like least? (Score:4, Funny)
So with only 25 keys, which of the 26 letters of the alphabet do you like least? You could go Roman and use "V" for "U"'s, or drop F and use "PH" instead.
Or, you can be really revolutionary and go with the Decabet [wikipedia.org], which will even leave you enough keys for all 0-9 numerals and some punctuation too!
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Errrr, wait...
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SNL? (Score:2)
DataHand (Score:3, Interesting)
I have to grant you that the DX1 is pretty neat, however my personal favorite is the DataHand [wikipedia.org]. The idea is to place each finger in a little well with buttons in four directions and one at the bottom so your fingers never move more than a half inch in any direction. Using the mouse is handled by switching modes which then enables each index finger to control the mouse, one finger controls slow movement and the other fast movement. One of my coworkers picked it up to help deal with his Carpal Tunnel and swe
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The keyboard sits very comfortably on my lap, allowing my elbows and shoulders to relax, and I can kinda twist it so that it will fit better to my natural
I'll stick with my Model M, thanks... (Score:2)
http://pckeyboards.stores.yahoo.net/en104bl.html [yahoo.net]
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FTW! Mine's supposed to get here Thursday. My work machines have Model Ms (one IBM, one Lexmark) plugged in; the new one's for home use.
The forgot one of the oldest and best.... (Score:5, Informative)
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.
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Hmmm, I don't recall ever visiting that club...
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Not possible.
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There's more where those came from (Score:5, Informative)
The Orbitouch FTW!
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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 [newstandardkeyboards.com] 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 o
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I seriously doubt I'll use it more than a handful of times before selling it on.
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I didn't know it was possible to type in Dvorak AND have friends.
Twiddler? (Score:5, Informative)
I have one and it's great.
Rubber (Score:5, Informative)
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.
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Re:Rubber (Score:4, Insightful)
With the computer in the kitchen (so she can make sure that my 12 year old niece isn't doing anything inappropriate on the internet - she's one of those rare people who believe in parental supervision instead of using the computer as a babysitter) most of the pop spills (that my niece admits to anyway) have been while bringing things to the table for dinner. Not allowing pop near the computer would probably be better for both of them health-wise, but it's not likely to happen.
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Huh? The kitchen is generally considered (when doing renovations, etc.) to be one of the rooms where people spend most of their waking time in a house. In many modern houses the kitchens are built specifically to serve as large, multipurpose 'family spaces' rather than as small, specialized food-prep areas.
As I kid, I and my siblings did most of my homework at the kitchen counter while one of my parents made dinner. I
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Okay, I don't remember if this was in some remodeling magazine or one of those "when we have the money I want to design this!" things but I remember seeing plans for a computer built into a kitchen islan
Re:Rubber (Score:5, Interesting)
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Still infinite keys short. (Score:5, Funny)
The SafeType (Score:5, Funny)
ROVER! Come back here! I was typing, darn you!
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RVER! Ce bac ere! ws tg dar !
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My keyboard: TypeMatrix dvorak (Score:3, Interesting)
I use TypeMatrix [typematrix.com] keyboards with Dvorak skins and I love them! I also have Plum keyboards [www.plum.bz] but I don't really like them much. I also have laser projection virtual keyboards (their error rate isn't low though). From the article I liked the wearable keyboard, though. I will probably buy it, because I think it will be useful for as I use laptops while standing or walking. I have also seen AlphaGrip at shops and they are also interesting. Another company with interesting products is Maltron [maltron.com]. Data hands look nice too. However, I have found my TypeMatrix a very good choice and I like it for its small size and a design which is comfortable while maintaining compatibility with Qwerty. This is important for me as I know to type fast in Dvorak only in English. For other languages I am still stuck with Qwerty for fast typing as I didn't bother to learn Dvorak for non-English languages. TypeMatrix has built-in Qwerty and Dvorak modes so I don't need any changes in software to make it switch between the two depending on which language I type.
my personal stempunk favourite.. (Score:2, Interesting)
Apple Adjustable Keyboard (Score:4, Informative)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Adjustable_Keyboard [wikipedia.org]
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.
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A long while ago I found an ADB->USB adaptor, for using it on newer systems, which runs about $40 from http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/imate [griffintechnology.com]
Unfortunatly due to the nature of ADB, the response time will be quite low, and although there may have been some improvements in the driver software since then, at the time it was very hard to map all of the keys correctly to use with windows.
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Unfortunatly due to the nature of ADB, the response time will be quite low, and although there may have been some improvements in the driver software since then, at the time it was very hard to map all of the keys correctly to use with windows.
You had me excited until you mentioned response time. So much for fragging UT players with my AAK.
Not really; it's pretty fast. (Score:2)
I use the iMate with an Apple Extended Keyboard II (which itself has been in daily use since 1994 or so); I got the iMate in 2001 or th
Kinesis Contour (Score:3, Informative)
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keyboards, shmeyboards (Score:2)
Misleading article (Score:2, Interesting)
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Given that the "Wearable Keyboard" looks as though it's a cross between the NES Power Glove (1989) and the original Commodore PET keyboard (1977), I would HOPE that it's not being sold as a contemporary device in 2008...
As time goes on (Score:4, Insightful)
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Bingo. They need to stop with this keyboard bullshit and get on with developing that Simlink. According to my Shadowrun time line we should be well under way to being there.
Ahhh, downloading full sim porn right to the brain.
Re:As time goes on (Score:4, Insightful)
I've tried most of these... (Score:3, Informative)
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 [kinesis-ergo.com] is the king of keyboards, by the way.
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It's a Bluetooth, battery powered device that allows you use a keyboard to enter data into your PDA (or phone I suppose). Relevant comparisons would be folding keyboards, but then you would need to judge on portability and convenience.
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I completely agree about the TouchStream being a wonderful device.
It's so configurable that you can chuck out the standard keyboard layout and build your own; I've been using a TouchStream with my own system for nearly three years now. As an example of what's possible, I use two-finger combinations for punctuation and four-finger chords for modifier keys ... with the result that I never have to reach more than one key width from the home keys.
And in fact I've moved the rows closer together, so the maxim
Missed a lot of stuff out (Score:3, Informative)
http://www.keyovation.com/pc-65-2-goldtouch-ergonomic-adjustable-keyboard-white.aspx [keyovation.com]
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."
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Is this an invite to sell my Dvorak touchstream LP (Score:2)
Much stranger keyboards (Score:2)
It's a keyboard which places the keys surrounding your fingers. Each finger will have a home-row key under it, and then a vertical key placed directly to the left, right, forward, and back.
I can't see myself actually learning it, but it's got to be the most ergonomic keyboard that still lets you type as fast as a standard 108-key. The way he describes it, when you start m
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The only thing that's really slow when compared to its counterpart is the mouse. You can't really draw with it and it moves without much precision (or too slow).
See also: 10 worst keyboards (Score:2)
I get weirder keyboards in my breakfast cereal (Score:2)
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Kinesis, not weird enough? (Score:2)
Of course, I double the weirdness by typing Dvorak on mine. What's really weird, though, is the mental programming. I simply cannot type QWERTY on a Kinesis. I can, with a little zenning-out, type in Dvorak on a flat or laptop keyboard, though I type in QWERTY just fine on those.
The only problem with the Kinesis is the little rubber keys for F1-F12 and Escape. I really hated the Esc
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Datahand (Score:2)
I don't think they sell many of these things, and they cost too much, but people with RSIs swear by them.
Here's their webpage. [datahand.com]
How about the Macbooks? (Score:2)
The MacBook Pro keyboard [google.com] is weird enough to qualify. Backspace is called delete, there's two enter keys, and no delete key. Less odd, but still strange, are the eject button, missing print screen, and swapped "apple/windows" and alt keys. And this isn't an anti-mac rant or anything (since I am typing on my Macbook Pro now) but this keyboard is neither Macintosh "standard" or Windows "standard" - It's just odd.
WEHT the dish-shaped keybord? (Score:2)
TouchStream (Score:2)
The TouchStream wasn't just a "keyboard plus mouse". It didn't have mouse buttons, instead recognizing up to 3 mouse buttons by tapping (different number of fingers). It could also do mouse-gestures, again with multiple fingers.
Very nifty device. Only disadvantage: If you can't touch-type, it's hard to use.
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I love my MacBookPro trackpad but at work I can't stand not being able to stroll, move, double click etc. I'd hate to buy a touchstream just for this feature but I'd love to have a 4x4 'trackpad' that I could plug into my workstation at work and use.
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Fingerworks made one, it's called the iGesture NumPad and it's basically half a TouchStream:
http://www.fingerworks.com/igesture_numpad.html [fingerworks.com]
Sadly as with the TouchStream the only way to get these now is second hand.
How could they have passed this one up? (Score:2)
And they SOLD these, man. Yeah!
Acer! Harrr....!
Ok, Ok... (Score:2)
http://www.dansdata.com/fkeyboard.htm [dansdata.com]
slashes. sheesh.
A strange (but clever) 'saddle-bag keyboard' ... (Score:2)
Quote from his site (including pictures of the process): "Part of my symptoms were pains in my elbows from being constantly bent, and pains in my wrists from being held rotated, in the plane of the keyboard. I wanted a keyboard which allowed my wrists and arms to be in their relaxed positions, i.e. at my sides. What I imagined was, basically, a saddle-bag keyboard."
CC.
I, for one... (Score:2)
They forgot this one (Score:2)
This suppose to allow for one hand typing. If you need a letter that's on the other side of the keyboard, hold down the space key and press the corresponding finger placement. For example
My strange request is a keyboard/touchpad (Score:2)
Instead, virtually all laptops with touchpads have the mouse buttons below the touchpad, making it very awkward and error prone (like accidentally hitting the touchpad itself) if I try to stretch my thumb down to press them, unless my hand leaves the keyboard thus interrupting my flow.
Does anyone know the
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A trackpoint is infinitely better than a touch pad (but it still has one if you want it). I wish they made a full size keyboard (with numkeys) with this style of keys and mouse input, but you can always add a 10 key to the right of it via usb.
Useless (Score:2, Funny)
frogpad (Score:2)
Anyone fancy a Twiddler? (Score:2)
I'm surprised this was not mentioned, yet a full-qwerty layout on-wrist keyboard was.
And the Twiddler has a TrackPoint, which is IMHO better than a trackball in a mobileesque application (a hit on the game pad chording 'keyboard').
FingerWorks TouchStream LP out of business (Score:2)
They don't retail anymore. Fingerworks went out of business a couple years ago. (The creators apparently got hired by apple to make the iphone touch interface.)
Typing normal text with zero force is indeed a bit awkward and having the ability mouse without moving hands away from positi
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!France but French (Score:2)
Now. If you know how these keyboard configurations originally came into being (remember typewriters?), then it's quite normal for a different language to have a different layout of keys.
The layout was meant to be such that 2 letters often being used in conjunction with each other are spaced apart on the keyboard, thus avoiding the problem of getting your typewriter hammers
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Aah, the amazing AZERTY keyboard layout, it's a bit wonky but when you've been there for a couple of months QWERTY ends up feeling odd. It's really not that different from QWERTY, it just takes some getting used to.
/Mikael
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Anybody ever tried this?
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GP is a troll (Score:2)
Furthermore it is hardly a long-time vaporware product, considering the fact that the before last year there were no displays available on the market that could do what they wanted for the optimus. On just two years they created a functional keyboard, and have been completely open in the development process, even if that would inform competition how far they were, I would dare any other company to do the same.
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Maybe that's because they wanted too much. The concept of tiny displays on each key is a brilliant and fairly obvious application, but did they NEED to use 48x48 RGB OLEDs for the first pass? A bunch of 8x8 monochrome LCDs could more easily have been used to demonstrate the keyboard's potential, and with far lower development and materials costs.
But then, Art Lebedev
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Yes, too bad the article doesn't show the Evolution chair-mount, which was the coolest. I have two of them, one >7 years old -- they seem quite sturdy to me. I think if they could have gotten the price down a little, they could have sold 10 times as many.
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Oh, I should have added, I hate the built-in trackpad (the buttons are stiff with too little travel, and you can't turn off tap-to-click, which I've always hated). So what I did was use double-sided foam tape to mount a Logitech Marble Mouse (which, despite the name, is a trackball) right on top of the trackpad. It fits great. Two stacks of three adhesive rubber bumpers (from any hardware store) support the other end, so it doesn't press on the space bar.
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How did you mount it to the Aeron? Doesn't the Aeron use nonstandard armrest mounts? On a chair that uses the standard armrest mounts, the Evolution, along with the custom armrest pads it comes with, bolts on in place of the original armrest pads. In this arrangement, the failure mode you describe is not an issue.
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