Dear Gordon The keyboard I have does have a mum pad. Ergonomic keyboards were developed in response to the problems of people developing muscle injury and posture problems through the use of conventional keyboards. They are qwerty keyboards but in nearly all other aspects are completely different to normal keyboards. The first time I used an ergonomic keyboard it felt very strange indeed. Within a few days I was a complete convert though. The main differences are 1. The keys are arranged in a split layout. This is more natural and allows a typist to hold their hands out naturally apart in line with their shoulders and and reduce strain on posture. So on an ergonomic keyboard there will be an empty space in the middle of the keyboard. On my old keyboard this space is taken up with recessed special function keys which I never used. 2. The keyboards are contoured. This is to minimise the amount of of hand and finger movement . . 3 There is an inbuilt wrist support. What this all means is that an ergonomic keyboard is a very substantial and large piece of kit. I still want to source one for the Mac if I can. They are typically much more expensive than a standard keyboard. One I saw which was specifically designed for the Mac was over £400. Some PC ergonomic PC keyboards which are far cheaper claim to be Mac compatible . However a Google search revealed Mac users having problems with them. I may just have to take a punt and buy one and see how I go. Regards
David Griffith d.griff...@btinternet.com On 29 Aug 2011, at 08:55, Gordon Smith wrote: > Hi David > > I actually still have one of those keyboard here, but I can't replicate your > problems with pairing. You describe the current keyboard as "toy-line". > Well, horses for courses I guess, but personally I really like them. The > typing action is nice and bouncy, the travel rate is just about right and I > find the low profile keys much much better than the old clunky things that we > used to use on PC. Even things like the "Cherry" keyboard which I used to > like, don't come close to the current Apple keyboard. Yes, it would be nice > with a number pad. But one can't have everything. Forgive my ignorance, but > I am not quite sure what you mean by an ergonomic keyboard? The standard > keyboard layout has been used as long as I've been using keyboards, and that > is since around 1966. Of course, in those days it was all clunky > typewriters, but the keyboard's layout was exactly the same as it is today. > > Are these "ergonomic" keyboards something produced for the visually impaired, > or are they main stream? I'm just curious as I haven't ever seen one. > > Gordon > > On 29 Aug 2011, at 00:59, David Griffith wrote: > > One of the unfortunate things for me with the new I-Mac was the small toy > like keyboard. > By friday night my left wrist was in agony and had to be strapped up with > tubular bandages. My right wrist was also in bad shape. > I had to do something urgently about this. After discussing this with the > Apple store they said that many people found the now discontinued A1016 a > better keyboard to use with the I-Mac. > > I found one of the first generation A1016 selling on Ebay for # > £12 with £4 delivery. > Whilst the A1016 is far from the ergonomic keyboard I am used to it is far > superior for my needs than the supplied small keyboard. > > For this who do not know the A1016 it is a bluetooth keyboard. It takes 4 AA > batteries I think. Pairing was not straightforward. I could not do it whilst > the original keyboard was still plugged into the Mac. I had to get sighted > help to paired the keyboard by using the Trackpad to navigate the pairing > dialogues. > Once paired the keyboard worked immediately and predictably. There are a few > small differences between this keyboard and the newer versions. There is no > FN key, instead in eht place where the FN key resides on the new keyboard is > a help key on this older version. > This keyboard is not dissimilar in dimensions to the newer models with one > significant exception. It is at least 3 times thicker than the newer > models. It is positively chunky by comparison. The keys therefore have a > far greater travel and there is a good positive feedback from the springs . > keys. The depth of the keys means the the different key groups on the are > easy to feel by touch. > Unfortunately the function keys and number row are again placed in an > unbroken single row. I placed a few tactile bumps to help me navigate these > rows quickly.. most importantly the keyboard is an appropriate height to > allow he use of a wrist support whilst typing. The pain in my left wrist has > been steadily reducing since yesterday. > All in all I would recommend this keyboard to anybody who is getting RSI > injury from using the new ultra thin Apple keyboards. > > <--- Mac Access At Mac Access Dot Net ---> > > To reply to this post, please address your message to > mac-access@mac-access.net > > You can find an archive of all messages posted to the Mac-Access forum at > either the list's own dedicated web archive: > <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/mac-access/index.html> > or at the public Mail Archive: > <http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-access@mac-access.net/>. > Subscribe to the list's RSS feed from: > <http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-access@mac-access.net/maillist.xml> > > The Mac-Access mailing list is guaranteed malware, spyware, Trojan, virus and > worm-free! > > Please remember to update your membership options periodically by visiting > the list website at: > <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/mac-access/options/> <--- Mac Access At Mac Access Dot Net ---> To reply to this post, please address your message to mac-access@mac-access.net You can find an archive of all messages posted to the Mac-Access forum at either the list's own dedicated web archive: <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/mac-access/index.html> or at the public Mail Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-access@mac-access.net/>. Subscribe to the list's RSS feed from: <http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-access@mac-access.net/maillist.xml> The Mac-Access mailing list is guaranteed malware, spyware, Trojan, virus and worm-free! Please remember to update your membership options periodically by visiting the list website at: <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/mac-access/options/>
