Hi Les,
I also have the MS4000, and am not really a fan; everything is too
far apart on the keyboard itself, i especially dont like the Fx keys
being far away and you have to angle your hand to do debugging which
kind of defeats the purpose (why am i still using this?!)
This is a not-so-serious recommendation but I didnt see the
'SafeType' Keyboard recommended (http://www.safetype.com/)
- i want someone to buy one so they can tell me what its like
On 6/07/2011 7:52 PM, Les Hughes wrote:
Hey All,
This is kind of long (eeep), but here goes:
Lately I've have been getting a little tense in my mid-right back
area and right wrist which I believe is been caused by a lot of
the mouse work I've been doing over the past few weeks in which my
right arm is constantly extended out around 30-40 centimetres from
the home position on the keyboard.
I thought here would be a good place to ask for advice in how
everyone else, whom, like me, spends upwards of 60 hours per week
behind their battlestations. (check:
http://www.reddit.com/r/battlestations for info on
'battlestations')
The main areas I am currently looking at are Keyboards, Mice, and
Keyboard Layouts.
Keyboards
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
I currently use a Microsoft Ergonomic 4000 Keyboard (
http://www.microsoft.com/australia/hardware/mouseandkeyboard/images/products/nek4k/mk_productdetails_nek4k.jpg
) and am starting to think that the space between the right
control key (below the right shift and enter keys) where the arrow
buttons and numeric pad are just get in the way.
So far I am thinking about moving to a smaller keyboard to limit
the space I need to move for the mouse, ideas so far are the
- Truly Ergonomic keyboard @
http://www.trulyergonomic.com/images/Truly_Ergonomic_Keyboard.jpg
& http://www.trulyergonomic.com )
- Kinesis Freestlye VIP @
http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/images/freestyle-vip_648x339.jpg -
http://www.kinesis-ergo.com
Mouses - mice, mices :P
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am leaning towards a trackball, but have also considered
something more vertical:
- Kensington Expert Trackball @
http://www.smartmadesimple.com.au/Products/images/Zoom/z64325%20Expert%20Mouse.jpg
(favourite so far)
- Logitec M570 @
http://www.logitech.com/assets/32954/4/logitech-wireless-trackball-m570.png
- EZ Vertical Mouse @
http://www.auzspec.com.au/media/274270427lMSEZ1L.jpg
Keyboard Layouts
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Perhaps a religious battle, but:
I was thinking if I am going to go along the whole self
improvement route with better devices, why not visit my keyboard
layouts? Most of us use QWERTY:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QWERTY
Much of my reading seems to point towards qwerty being a terrible
layout, and something that should have died with the typewriter
(it's keylayout is meant to slow you down, and has more to do with
stopping those thingies on the typewriter from getting stuck
together... those who have used typewriters will know what I mean)
Besides QWERTY, there are a few others that seem to be gaining
traction, they are:
DVORAK: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_layout#Dvorak
Colemak: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_layout#Colemak
Colemak so far looks the most appealing to me if I were to change,
http://colemak.com/ has a good explanation of the keyboard, but
seems to be down right now :/
The questions:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Has anyone gone down the ergonomic path, and what did end up
doing?
- Are there any recommended keyboard/mouse combinations that you
think are worthwhile?
- Does anyone think a smaller kayboard is better development with
a numeric pad on the left or a USB external one?
- Trackballs: yay or nay?
- Has anyone changed their keyboard layout, and if so, would you
recommend it?
-------------------------------------------------
Hopefully this isn't too early for the week (not friday), but I'd
be really interested in any feedback anyone has.
Thanks heaps :)
--
Les Hughes
l...@datarev.com.au
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