From: kfogel@occs.cs.oberlin.edu (Karl Fogel) Subject: Re: hand injuries from EMACS -- SOLUTION: Maltron Keyboard!! Organization: Oberlin College Computer Science Date: Sun, 7 Feb 1993 06:57:57 GMT In article carlton@husc11.harvard.edu (david carlton) writes: > In article <1993Jan27.181411.9154@smos.com>, david@smos.com (David Tornheim) writes: > > > 4) "See if you can re-map the keys to ones that use less reach " > > and "stop using any key combinations that hurt your hands." > > Dvorak was recommended. (3x) > > I use a dvorak keyboard layout, and I think it's great - it speeds up > my typing a lot, and makes my hands feel somewhat more relaxed. It > doesn't work all that well with the standard Emacs key mappings, > though - in particular, C-x is as big a stretch as is possible. (It's > like C-b on a qwerty keyboard.) So if you do switch to dvorak, you'll > have to remap even more commands to make them comfortable. > > david carlton > carlton@husc.harvard.edu Hi Dave :-) I use a Maltron keyboard, which is even better than Dvorak layout, because Dvorak still happens on a flat keyboard. The Maltron is actually curved to fit the hands (your fingers do not lie flat naturally), and it has a much improved letter layout too. Here is a little text file I keep around, describing the pleasures of a real keyboard :-) It amazes me how much time and money we all spend on faster machines, more memory, bigger drives, etc, without any attention to an element of the computer that affects productivity and comfort in virtually all applications: the keyboard. Anyway, please feel free to write me for more info, anyone... Maltron has been swamped with orders lately, they tell me, but I am always happy to send customers their way! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Okay. Here is a little description of the keyboard situation in the world today and the alternatives: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Maltron is a keyboard designed from the ground up, so as to avoid the problems of standard keyboards. Those problems are twofold: first of all, Ian Shoales, the inventor of the typewriter, had to make a letter arrangement that would slow down typists *on* *purpose*, so that the mechanical levers of the typerwriter wouldn't jam. They still jammed if a typist got too good at the "bad" arrangement, but not as much as they would if the keys were arranged in an efficient fashion. Needless to say, now that keyboards do not depend on levers, there is no point to this, but his arrangement has persisted. This problem has been partly alleviated by the Dvorak arrangement, although I hear it has problems too. The other problem goes deeper, and also has its origin in early mechanical typewriters. Keyboards are flat. This was necessary on mechanical keyboards, but is just positively criminal now that we have electronic keyboards (okay, perhaps I do lay it on a bit thick). Human hands do not fall flat when relaxed! Why has it persisted? I can't figure it out. Anyway, the maltron keyboard is curved to fit the contours of the hands (two concave dishes laying into the keyboard, with keypads for the thumbs and palm rests. The left thumb has "e" and a few other things, and the right thumb has enter and space and other stuff -- nice innovations). It can operate in QWERTY mode if you want, but I recommend their arrangement highly. They actually analyzed lots of text with a computer, or so I heard, and came up with a truly efficient arrangement that avoids "single-finger hurdles", and gives you unshifted "?", "!", and "*", among other things. I can touch type for paragraphs without errors (in both text and programming jobs) -- which means I don't have to look at the screen either, and half the time I don't, which is *really* nice. I know that I type faster than my father does on QWERTY from watching him type (he is an 80 wpm typist), although I am not sure of my exact speed. The drawback of the Maltron is that because they don't sell enough to mass-produce (my serial number is, get this, 948!), it's way too expensive. Mine cost me $700 (it's a british company, it was 295 pounds, I think). Sigh. I could have had a 486 and a flat keyboard... If you are still interested, or would be at a lower price, write back to me. I'm thinking of compiling a list of people and the maximum prices they would pay for one, and giving the list to the company when the list is long enough. Maybe they can give lower prices on mass orders (?). Do you want their address? -- Karl Fogel ("Leg of Lark") <> Any opinions disclaimed kfogel@cs.oberlin.edu <> are entirely my own. fogel@antares.mcs.anl.gov <> <> Linux, the copylefted Unix for the 386/486 PC!!! <> Ask me more!!! <> <> Linux FAQ: tsx-11.mit.edu:/pub/linux or sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/Linux <>