From: Dan Wallach,dwallach@cs.princeton.edu Newsgroup: comp.answers,sci.answers,news.answers,sci.med,sci.med.occupational,comp.human-factors Receive-Date: Donnerstag, 23-Mär-95 18:06:02 Creation-Date: Freitag, 17-Mär-95 05:57:39 Message-ID: typing-injury-faq/changes_795423452@cs.princeton.edu Date: Fri, 17 Mar 1995 05:57:39 +0000 Subject: Typing Injury FAQ (1/6): Recent Changes [monthly posting] Attributes: MIME Organization: Princeton University Followup-To: sci.med.occupational UserFlags: Old ReadAccess GlobalFlags: Exported Link HardLink Archive-name: typing-injury-faq/changes Version: $Revision: 2.18 $ $Date: 1995/03/17 06:36:21 $ URL: http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~dwallach/tifaq/changes.html Introduction The Typing Injury FAQ (frequently asked questions) is a multipart document targetted at computer users suffering at the hands of their equipment. You'll find pointers to resources all across the net, general information on injuries, and detailed information on numerous adaptive products. The full documents are posted on a number of newsgroups such as sci.med.occupational as well as available via FTP and WWW servers across the globe. This document cites recent changes to the Typing Injury FAQ as well as other online information. Due to its (hopefully) shorter length, this document gets a much wider audience of mailing lists and such. This document may be cited as: * Wallach, Dan S. (1995) "Typing Injury FAQ: Recent Changes" Usenet news.answers. Available via anonymous ftp from rtfm.mit.edu in pub/usenet/news.answers/typing-injury-faq/changes. 2 pages. World-Wide-Web users will find this available as hypertext: * http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~dwallach/tifaq/changes.html * (Dan Wallach's page) http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~dwallach/ To find all the information below, and much much more, you can use: E-Mail - you can access an ftp server via e-mail by sending a message to any of the following servers with `help' on a line by itself in the body. You will receive instructions. + ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com + ftpmail@src.doc.ic.ac.uk + ftpmail@cs.uow.edu.au + ftpmail@grasp.insa-lyon.fr Anonymous FTP The typing injury archive is available from a number of mirrors. + (the original site) ftp://ftp.csua.berkeley.edu/pub/typing-injury + ftp://ftp.demon.co.uk/pub/mirrors/csua/typing-injury + (currently six months out of date) ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/docs/typing-injury/ World Wide Web - make sure you're using the current address! http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~dwallach/tifaq/ _________________________________________________________________ Changes to the Typing Injury FAQ and ftp.csua.berkeley.edu archive, this month NEW FILES IN THE TYPING-INJURY ARCHIVE xwrits.tar X-Windows program which pops up and tells you to take a break. vitamin-b6 possible links between vitamins and RSI's adapting-at-home some simple ways to make things like moping and tooth brushing less painful kinesis-vs-maltron a comparison of two similar keyboard alternatives physical-therapy explanations of different types of physical therapy biofeedback learning to listen to your body ansi-standards a note about ANSI/ISO, EC, and MIL-STD "standards" It's all available at ftp://ftp.csua.berkeley.edu/pub/typing-injury NEW INFORMATION IN THE KEYBOARD FAQ * Turns out, newer HP workstations use PC-compatible keyboards and mice! I found this out because they shipped us a bunch of HP's and forgot keyboards. Our admin plugged in keyboard and mouse from a Silicon Graphics Indy (also PC-compatible) and everything worked. On the amusement front, the new HP pizza box looks astoundingly like the SGI Indy pizza box, including vague attempt to not be a squarish box. * The original news posting for the Keyboard FAQ crossed a magic length such that the Princeton news server decided it was too big. Unfortunately, it always told me it was successful. As you might imagine, it's annoying and embarrasing to find this out. From now on, the keyboard FAQ is being split in two parts for net posting, but is still one document for WWW users. Sigh. * The Keytronic FlexPro turns out to have lighter touch keys available than the default. Also, I'm told you can get it via mail order for $183 instead of the usual $400 or so. Details in the FAQ. * I've now got some pictures of the Genovation ErgoMaster * Various updates to the Health Care Keyboard Company, including some new phone numbers, the most recent address, etc. OTHER NEW INFORMATION New WWW link: Medical Matrix - A Guide to Internet Medical Resources http://kuhttp.cc.ukans.edu/cwis/units/medcntr/Lee/HOMEPAGE.HTML New WWW link: ErgoWeb - lots of information for designers of ergonomic tools http://ergoweb.mech.utah.edu/ New WWW link: Oversensitivity to Electricity http://www.isy.liu.se/~tegen/febost.html Info about the Furniture FAQ The original author is retiring from the FAQ business. Do you you want to inherit the fun and excitement of managing a FAQ? Here's your chance. Send me mail! -- Dan Wallach // dwallach@cs.princeton.edu // Phone#: 609-683-4673 http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~dwallach/ PGP 2.6.2 fingerprint: A7 FC 33 D0 99 B5 2D DE E6 F8 8F 5A 6D D5 FE B8 From: Dan Wallach,dwallach@cs.princeton.edu Newsgroup: comp.answers,sci.answers,news.answers,sci.med,sci.med.occupational,comp.human-factors Receive-Date: Donnerstag, 23-Mär-95 18:06:02 Creation-Date: Freitag, 17-Mär-95 05:58:31 Message-ID: typing-injury-faq/changes_795423507@cs.princeton.edu Date: Fri, 17 Mar 1995 05:58:31 +0000 Subject: Typing Injury FAQ (1/6): Recent Changes [monthly posting] Attributes: MIME Organization: Princeton University Followup-To: sci.med.occupational UserFlags: Old ReadAccess GlobalFlags: Exported Link HardLink Archive-name: typing-injury-faq/changes Version: $Revision: 2.18 $ $Date: 1995/03/17 06:36:21 $ URL: http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~dwallach/tifaq/changes.html Introduction The Typing Injury FAQ (frequently asked questions) is a multipart document targetted at computer users suffering at the hands of their equipment. You'll find pointers to resources all across the net, general information on injuries, and detailed information on numerous adaptive products. The full documents are posted on a number of newsgroups such as sci.med.occupational as well as available via FTP and WWW servers across the globe. This document cites recent changes to the Typing Injury FAQ as well as other online information. Due to its (hopefully) shorter length, this document gets a much wider audience of mailing lists and such. This document may be cited as: * Wallach, Dan S. (1995) "Typing Injury FAQ: Recent Changes" Usenet news.answers. Available via anonymous ftp from rtfm.mit.edu in pub/usenet/news.answers/typing-injury-faq/changes. 2 pages. World-Wide-Web users will find this available as hypertext: * http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~dwallach/tifaq/changes.html * (Dan Wallach's page) http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~dwallach/ To find all the information below, and much much more, you can use: E-Mail - you can access an ftp server via e-mail by sending a message to any of the following servers with `help' on a line by itself in the body. You will receive instructions. + ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com + ftpmail@src.doc.ic.ac.uk + ftpmail@cs.uow.edu.au + ftpmail@grasp.insa-lyon.fr Anonymous FTP The typing injury archive is available from a number of mirrors. + (the original site) ftp://ftp.csua.berkeley.edu/pub/typing-injury + ftp://ftp.demon.co.uk/pub/mirrors/csua/typing-injury + (currently six months out of date) ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/docs/typing-injury/ World Wide Web - make sure you're using the current address! http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~dwallach/tifaq/ _________________________________________________________________ Changes to the Typing Injury FAQ and ftp.csua.berkeley.edu archive, this month NEW FILES IN THE TYPING-INJURY ARCHIVE xwrits.tar X-Windows program which pops up and tells you to take a break. vitamin-b6 possible links between vitamins and RSI's adapting-at-home some simple ways to make things like moping and tooth brushing less painful kinesis-vs-maltron a comparison of two similar keyboard alternatives physical-therapy explanations of different types of physical therapy biofeedback learning to listen to your body ansi-standards a note about ANSI/ISO, EC, and MIL-STD "standards" It's all available at ftp://ftp.csua.berkeley.edu/pub/typing-injury NEW INFORMATION IN THE KEYBOARD FAQ * Turns out, newer HP workstations use PC-compatible keyboards and mice! I found this out because they shipped us a bunch of HP's and forgot keyboards. Our admin plugged in keyboard and mouse from a Silicon Graphics Indy (also PC-compatible) and everything worked. On the amusement front, the new HP pizza box looks astoundingly like the SGI Indy pizza box, including vague attempt to not be a squarish box. * The original news posting for the Keyboard FAQ crossed a magic length such that the Princeton news server decided it was too big. Unfortunately, it always told me it was successful. As you might imagine, it's annoying and embarrasing to find this out. From now on, the keyboard FAQ is being split in two parts for net posting, but is still one document for WWW users. Sigh. * The Keytronic FlexPro turns out to have lighter touch keys available than the default. Also, I'm told you can get it via mail order for $183 instead of the usual $400 or so. Details in the FAQ. * I've now got some pictures of the Genovation ErgoMaster * Various updates to the Health Care Keyboard Company, including some new phone numbers, the most recent address, etc. OTHER NEW INFORMATION New WWW link: Medical Matrix - A Guide to Internet Medical Resources http://kuhttp.cc.ukans.edu/cwis/units/medcntr/Lee/HOMEPAGE.HTML New WWW link: ErgoWeb - lots of information for designers of ergonomic tools http://ergoweb.mech.utah.edu/ New WWW link: Oversensitivity to Electricity http://www.isy.liu.se/~tegen/febost.html Info about the Furniture FAQ The original author is retiring from the FAQ business. Do you you want to inherit the fun and excitement of managing a FAQ? Here's your chance. Send me mail! -- Dan Wallach // dwallach@cs.princeton.edu // Phone#: 609-683-4673 http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~dwallach/ PGP 2.6.2 fingerprint: A7 FC 33 D0 99 B5 2D DE E6 F8 8F 5A 6D D5 FE B8 From: Dan Wallach,dwallach@CS.Princeton.EDU Newsgroup: comp.answers,sci.answers,news.answers,sci.med,sci.med.occupational,comp.human-factors Receive-Date: Donnerstag, 23-Mär-95 18:06:03 Creation-Date: Freitag, 17-Mär-95 05:59:06 Message-ID: typing-injury-faq/general_795423507@cs.princeton.edu Date: Fri, 17 Mar 1995 05:59:06 +0000 References: typing-injury-faq/changes_795423507@cs.princeton.edu Subject: Typing Injury FAQ (2/6): General Info [monthly posting] Attributes: MIME Organization: Princeton University Followup-To: sci.med.occupational UserFlags: Old ReadAccess GlobalFlags: Exported Link HardLink Archive-name: typing-injury-faq/general Version: $Revision: 5.20 $ $Date: 1995/03/17 06:36:21 $ URL: http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~dwallach/tifaq/general.html Prologue This FAQ may be cited as: * Wallach, Dan S. (1995) "Typing Injury FAQ: General Information" Usenet news.answers. Available via anonymous ftp from rtfm.mit.edu in pub/usenet/news.answers/typing-injury-faq/general. 20 pages. World-Wide-Web users will find this available as hypertext: * http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~dwallach/tifaq/general.html * (Dan Wallach's page) http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~dwallach/ Answers To Frequently Asked Questions about Typing Injuries The Typing Injury FAQ - sources of information for people with typing injuries, repetitive stress injuries, carpal tunnel syndrome, etc. Copyright (C) 1992-1995 Dan Wallach [Current distribution: sci.med.occupational, sci.med, comp.human-factors, {news,sci,comp}.answers, and e-mail to c+health@iubvm.ucs.indiana.edu, sorehand@vm.ucsf.edu, and cstg-L@vtvm1.cc.vt.edu] Table of Contents: 1. Publications, mailing lists, newsgroups, WWW pointers, etc. 2. The ftp.csua.berkeley.edu archive 3. General info on injuries 4. Typing posture, ergonomics, prevention, treatment 5. FAQ's About Computer Ergonomics and Workstation Injuries 6. Requests for more info 7. References _________________________________________________________________ Publications, mailing lists, newsgroups, WWW pointers, etc. (thanks to Rik Ahlberg for parts of this info) 1. Publications CTDNews is a monthly newsletter that covers cumulative trauma disorder. It's a bit pricey ($146/year) but fairly concise. They'll send you your first issue free, so you can look it over. CTDNews PO Box 239 Haverford, PA 10941 Phone: 215 896 4902, or 800-554-4CTD to order Fax: 215 896 1488 2. FTP & Gopher & WWW sites world.std.com The home of the Boston RSI Archive ftp://ftp.std.com/pub/boston-rsi gopher://gopher.std.com/11/FTP/world/pub/boston-rsi Boston RSI changed its name to RSI-East, and the new archives are at sjuvm.stjohns.edu (detailed below) The RSI Network Newsletter is a bi-monthly online newsletter produced by Caroline Rose and distributed online by Craig O'Donnell ftp://ftp.std.com/pub/rsi gopher://gopher.std.com/11/FTP/world/pub/rsi ftp.csua.berkeley.edu Extensive anonymous ftp archive, including the typing injury FAQ (frequently asked questions), alternative input device information (descriptions, reviews, and GIF images), and some software. Maintained by Dan Wallach . ftp://ftp.csua.berkeley.edu/pub/typing-injury (more info below...) sjuvm.stjohns.edu A gopher site containing the Electronic Rehabilitation Resource Center. Lots of disability information, including a searchable database of national disability resources and access to other gopher sites with geographically local disability information. Also home to RSI-East, its message archive, and an archive of the RSI Network Newsletter. gopher://sjuvm.stjohns.edu/11/disabled ftp.demon.co.uk An ftp site containing the archives of RSI-UK. ftp://ftp.demon.co.uk/pub/rsi Also, Demon now mirrors the typing-injury archive: ftp://ftp.demon.co.uk/pub/mirrors/csua/typing-injury engr-www.unl.edu A World-Wide-Web page with some good pictures of how to hold your hands, MPEG videos of various exercises, and more. http://engr-www.unl.edu/ee/eeshop/rsi.html Other WWW sites: Medical Matrix - A Guide to Internet Medical Resources - NEW! http://kuhttp.cc.ukans.edu/cwis/units/medcntr/Lee/H OMEPAGE.HTML ErgoWeb - lots of information for designers of ergonomic tools - NEW! http://ergoweb.mech.utah.edu/ Oversensitivity to Electricity - NEW! http://www.isy.liu.se/~tegen/febost.html Disability Resources from Evan Kemp Associates http://disability.com/ Intergraph Workstation Furniture http://www.intergraph.com/furn.shtml Safe Computing's Internet Store - buy ergonomic products online http://www.netmedia.com/safe/ The Martial Arts FAQ http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/ martial-arts/top.html The Ergonomic Sciences Corp, Mountain View, CA. http://www.internex.net/multipresence/ergonomics.ht ml The (USA's) Occupational Safety and Health Administration http://www.osha.gov Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety http://www.ccohs.ca Repetitive Stress Injury Help Page (CMU) http://www.cs.cmu.edu:8001/afs/cs.cmu.edu/help/www/ 06-Miscellaneous/RSI/repstrTOC.html Some other WWW indices to the typing-injury archive http://www.santafe.edu/~nelson/rsi/typing-gif.html http://alumni.caltech.edu/~dank/typing-archive.html The FAQ for a2x (a program to interface an external keyboard or speech synthesizer to an X window system) and the FAQ for DragonDictate (a speech recognition system) are both available here. http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/a2x-voice/ ftp://ftp.cl.cam.ac.uk/a2x-voice/ Another RSI page in the works http://dragon.acadiau.ca:1667/~rob/rsi/rsi.html Magnetic Devices from Total Health Mktg., Nikken Independent Distributors http://www.icw.com/total/health.html 3. Listserv Mailing Lists Sorehand is a San Francisco-based listserv mailing list for people with RSIs. Subscribe by sending mail with any subject to: listserv@vm.ucsf.edu with the message body reading: subscribe sorehand Your Name C+Health (Computers & Health) is a listserv mailing list which deals with the technologies causing injuries to folks who use them. Subscribe by sending mail with any subject to: listserv@iubvm.ucs.indiana.edu with the message body reading: subscribe c+health Your Name RSI-East is the east coast's answer to sorehand, where users discuss their experiences and offer support, referral, and treatment information to one another. Subscriptions are available to anyone with an interest in RSIs, but with the caveat that the list is intended as a regional resource for networking. Subscribe by sending mail with any subject to: listserv@sjuvm.stjohns.edu with the message body reading: subscribe rsi-east Your Name RSI-UK is Great Britain's RSI mailing list, open to anyone. Subscribe by sending mail with any subject to: listserv@tictac.demon.co.uk with the message body reading: subscribe rsi-uk Your Name 4. Usenet Newsgroups sci.med.occupational A Usenet newsgroup which deals in occupational medicine. Lots of practitioners read it! comp.human-factors Mostly software design, but occasional discussion of accessibility issues for people with RSIs. alt.support.arthritis Support for those with arthritis. New as of 11/93. bit.listserv.ada-law Usenet feed of the ada-law listserv. Covers issues relating to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). bit.listserv.dsshe-l Usenet feed of the disabled student services listserv. Particularly of interest to computer science students dealing with RSIs or folks pondering a return to school and/or retraining after a disabling RSI. 5. Real-time chatting If you've got an account on America On-Line, you might want to check out the RSI Support Group, which meets every Wednesday night in the Equal Access Cafe. This realtime chat starts at 9:15pm eastern time. Check the current AOL schedule for the most current information. 6. Books / Literature A large amount has been written in the popular press and the medical literature, and more comprehensive bibliographies (rsi.biblio and rsi.biblio2) are available in the typing-injury archive. Here are some books you might want to check out: + Emil Pascarelli and Deborah Quilter, Repetitive Strain Injury, a Computer User's Guide, John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 0-471-59533-0. o The Pascarelli book is often cited in various on-line conversations. If you buy only one book, this is probably the one to get. + Don Sellers, Zap! How Your Computer Can Hurt You-And What You Can Do About It, Peachpit Press, Inc., 1994. ISBN# 1-55609-021-0. (Don Sellers has e-mail, too: ) + Stephanie Brown, Preventing Computer Injury: The Hand Book, Ergonome Press, 1993, ISBN 1-884388-01-9. + David Zemach-Bersin et al., Relaxercise, Harper Press, 1990, ISBN 0-06-250992-6 + Bonnie Prudden, Pain Erasure - The Bonnie Prudden Way. M. Evans & Co., Inc., 1980; ISBN 0-87131-328-6 (hardcover). Ballantine Books, Inc.; 1982 (softcover). + Martin Sussman et al., Total Health at the Computer. Station Hill Press, 1993. + Don Aslett, Make Your House Do The Housework, Digest Books, 1986. ISBN 0-89-879227-4. 201 pages. + A free packet of information is also available from the U.S. Government. You might want to ask for: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Selected References (March 1989) NIOSH Publications Dissemination 4676 Columbia Parkway Cincinnati, Ohio 45226 _________________________________________________________________ The ftp.csua.berkeley.edu archive Check out the ever-increasing typing injury archive! Just use anonymous ftp or WWW: * ftp://ftp.csua.berkeley.edu/pub/typing-injury * http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~dwallach/tifaq/archive.html Informative files: typing-injury-faq/ changes changes since last month's edition general information about typing injuries keyboards1 and keyboards2 products to replace your keyboard software software to watch your keyboard usage furniture details about various desks, chairs, etc. adapting-at-home - NEW! some simple ways to make things like moping and tooth brushing less painful amt.advice about Adverse Mechanical Tension amt.more_info e-mail from Dr. Peter Bower about this stuff amt.references a bibliography for more AMT info ansi-standards - NEW! a note about ANSI/ISO, EC, and MIL-STD "standards" armrests how to correctly use armrests arms-blurb info about the Assoc for Rep. Motion Syndromes back-exercises three simple exercises for your middle back biofeedback learning to listen to your body car-seats replace your car seat with something more comfortable caringforwrists.sit.hqx PageMaker4 document about your wrists caringforwrists.ps PostScript converted version of above... carpal.info info on Carpal Tunnel Syndrome carpal-myths a discussion of what carpal tunnel syndrome is and isn't carpal.explained very detailed information about CTS carpal-new-therapy new treatments that don't involve surgery carpal.self_care excerpt from Rosemarie Atencio's book carpal-steroid-therapy abstract of a paper discussing steroid (cortisone) treatments for CTS carpal-story one person's story of CTS diagnosis, treatment, and recovery carpal.surgery JAMA article on CTS surgery carpal-surgery-tips some general tips for recovering from the surgery carpal.tidbits TidBITS article on CTS ctdnews.info info about the CTDNews publication chord-keyboards interesting facts and references to more disability.keyboards large list of keyboards, more relevant for users with motion disabilities disability-mailing-lists large list of mailing lists for a various disabilities double-crush double-crush syndrome, CTS, and more dragon-vs-kurzweil a detailed comparison of both voice systems dvorak.info lots of into about Dvorak keyboarding exercise-discussion exercise in the workplace exotic-mice info on some newer mice footswitch.doc how to hack a footswitch into your computer footswitch-sources where to buy a footswitch glare-control hints about controling glare from your screen guitar-playing RSI vs. playing guitar handeze.info info about Handeze gloves hmo-advice advice on picking a health-care provider in the USA industrial-injury one person's story of an injury injury.factors why some get injured and some don't injury.profiles statistics about what gets injured internet-safety-resources a huge list of pointers to Internet resources keyboard-commentary Dan's (increasingly ancient and outdated) opinions on the keyboard replacements keyboard-trays all about picking a good tray martial-arts using martial arts to combat RSI's mouseless.mac keyboard shortcuts and tricks nervous-system-anatomy basic information on how the human nervous system works no-rsi-in-uk info about British judge saying RSI isn't real office-safety Worker-oriented solutions to office safety pain-discussion All about pain pointing-devices advice if pointing devices are your problem physical-therapy - NEW! explanations of different types of physical therapy resellers a short list of dealers and consultants rock-climbing lots of advice about how to climb without hurting yourself rsi.article Article in The Independent (London, UK) rsi.biblio bibliography of RSI-related publications rsi.biblio2 another bibliography rsi.dentists stats on RSI happening to dentists rsi.details long detailed information about RSI rsi-fda-seminar Dr. Leo Rozmaryn of the US Food and Drug Administration's seminar on RSI's rsi.foundation an attempt to start a U.S. advocacy group rsi.intro basic article from FDA Consumer rsi-network/* archive of the RSI Network newsletter (currently, containing issues 1 through 19) rsi.physical study showing RSI isn't just psychological speed-kills it's better to type slower sword.review reviews a Mac program to reduce keystrokes tendonitis.info info on Tendonitis thoracic-info info about thoracic outlet syndrome thoracic-info2 more info about thoracic outlet syndrome uk-rsi-resources RSI resources in Great Britain vibration-gloves why anti-vibration gloves aren't necessarily helpful vitamin-b6 - NEW! possible links between vitamins and RSI's voice-comparison a brief comparison of recognition systems voice-programming detailed information about the appropriateness of a voice dictation system to programming tasks voice-recognition-critique all about using a voice recognition system as a programmer workers-comp dealing with insurance and lawyers wrist-supports picking your supports and splints Various product literature and reviews: apple-press press release on the Apple Adjustable Keyboard apple-tidbits extensive info about Apple's Adjustable Keybd bat-info MacWeek review on the Bat comfort-factors, comfort-features, comfort-letter, and comfort-survey marketing info on the Comfort Keyboard comfort-review one user's personal opinions comfort-review2 another user's opinions datahand-review detailed opinions of the DataHand datahand-review2 follow-up to above datahand-review3 another review of the DataHand datahand-desc description of the DataHand's appearance dragon2.info info about DragonDictate 2.0 in3-press details about the IN3 Voice Commander kinesis-review one user's personal opinions kinesis-review2 another user's personal opinions kinesis-summary a collection of opinions on the Kinesis kinesis-vs-maltron - NEW! a comparison of two similar keyboard alternatives kurzweil-review info about the Kurzweil voice recognizer maltron-flyer and maltron-letter marketing info on various Maltron products maltron-review one user's personal opinions mskeybd-review one user's personal opinions of the Microsoft Natural Keyboard vertical-info marketing info on the Vertical voicetype2-info marketing info on IBM VoiceType worksafe-australia.info how to get more info from Australia's govt workstation-setup how to arrange your computer/chair/desk Programs (in the software subdirectory): UNIX/X SOFTWARE: (Note: a2x.tar and rk.tar are both from ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/ so they may have a more current version than ftp.csua.berkeley.edu.) a2x.tar a more sophisticated X keyboard/mouse spoofing program. Supports DragonDictate. a2x-RawPC-1.4.tar a hacked version of a2x that can take input directly from PC keyboards via the serial port and an adapter. dcm.shar Dragon voice macros to accompany a2x use hsh.shar a program for one-handed usage of normal keyboards kt18.tar generates fake X keyboard events from the serial port - use a PC keyboard on anything! rest-reminder.sh yet another idle watcher rk.tar the reactive keyboard - predicts what you'll type next - saves typing serkey.sh like kt, generates fake X key events, but from a raw PC keyboard via the serial port spacebar_hacks.patches patches for X11R5 to allow the spacebar to be both a spacebar and a control key timeout.zip MS Windows break-reminder program typewatch.shar tells you when to take a break xgdvorak.sh turns your QWERTY keyboard into Dvorak xidle.shar keeps track of how long you've been typing xwrits.tar - NEW! X-Windows program which pops up and tells you to take a break. watch.shar OpenWindows activity monitor / rest reminder PC/DOS SOFTWARE: accpak.exe a serial port keyboard spoofer for MS Windows getup.com getup.readme simple TSR program - remind you to take breaks Pictures (in the gifs subdirectory): (Note: you can see inlined images of these keyboards in the keyboards FAQ document) howtosit.gif picture of good sitting posture (the caringforwrists document is better for this) half-qwerty.gif (new name, same file as old 1handpic.gif) keymappings for the Half-QWERTY accukey1.gif beautiful grey-scale picture accukey2.gif chord-mappings for the accukey apple.gif the Apple Adjustable Keyboard bat.gif the InfoGrip Bat comfort.gif the Health Care Comfort Keyboard datahand1.gif picture of the keyboard datahand2.gif key layout schematic E2H_Grahl.gif Grahl split-back ergonomic chair E_Grahl.gif Grahl normal-back ergonomic chair ergologic.gif the ergoLogic 7.1 keyboard (same as flexpro) ergomaster1.gif - NEW! and ergomaster2.gif the Genovation ErgoMaster keyboard ergomax.gif the Maxi Switch ErgoMax keyboard flexpro.gif the Key Tronic FlexPro keyboard (same as ergologic) fountain_hills.gif the Fountain Hills keyboard generic-split.gif a generic keyboard, made in Taiwan handeze.gif hand size chart for Handeze gloves handeze.ps properly scaled Postscript of handeze.gif kinesis1.gif the Kinesis Ergonomic Keyboard kinesis2.gif multiple views of the Kinesis lexmark.gif the Lexmark Select-Ease keyboard maltron1.gif, maltron2.gif, maltron3.gif, and maltron4.gif several pictures of Maltron products marquardt.gif the Marquardt MiniErgo mskeybd.gif the Microsoft Natural Keyboard mskeybd-proto.gif ... and a prototype that didn't make it mykey.gif ErgonomiXX MyKey somers1.gif Somers EK1 Ergonomic Keyboard somers2.gif schematic picture of the keyboard tony.gif The Tony! Ergonomic Keysystem twiddler1.gif Twiddler, "front" view twiddler2.gif Twiddler, "side" view vertical.gif the Vertical keyboard wave.gif the Iocomm `Wave' keyboard Many files are compressed (have a .Z ending). If you can't uncompress a file locally, ftp.csua.berkeley.edu will do it. Just ask for the file, without the .Z extension. _________________________________________________________________ General info on injuries First, and foremost of importance: if you experience pain at all, then you absolutely need to go see a doctor. As soon as you possibly can. The difference of a day or two can mean the difference between a short recovery and a long, drawn-out ordeal. GO SEE A DOCTOR. Now, your garden-variety doctor may not necessarily be familiar with this sort of injury. Generally, any hospital with an occupational therapy clinic will offer specialists in these kinds of problems. DON'T WAIT, THOUGH. GO SEE A DOCTOR. The remainder of this information is paraphrased, without permission, from a wonderful report by New Zealand's Department of Labour (Occupational Safety and Health Service): "Occupational Overuse Syndrome. Treatment and Rehabilitation: A Practitioner's Guide". First, a glossary (or, fancy names for how you shouldn't have your hands): (note: you're likely to hear these terms from doctors and keyboard vendors :) RSI Repetitive Strain Injury - a general term for many kinds of injuries OOS Occupational Overuse Syndrome - synonym for RSI CTD Cumulative Trauma Disorder - another synonym for RSI WRULD Work-Related Upper Limb Disorders - yet another synonym for RSI CTS Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (see below) Hyperextension Marked bending at a joint. Pronation Turning the palm down. Wrist extension Bending the wrist up. Supination Turning the palm up. Wrist flexion Bending the wrist down. Pinch grip The grip used for a pencil. Ulnar deviation Bending the wrist towards the little finger. Power grip The grip used for a hammer. Radial Deviation Bending the wrist toward the thumb. Abduction Moving away from the body. Overspanning Opening the fingers out wide. Now then, problems come in two main types: Local conditions and diffuse conditions. Local problems are what you'd expect: specific muscles, tendons, tendon sheaths, nerves, etc. being inflamed or otherwise hurt. Diffuse conditions, often mistaken for local problems, can involve muscle discomfort, pain, burning and/or tingling; with identifiable areas of tenderness in muscles, although they're not necessarily "the problem." WHY DOES OCCUPATIONAL OVERUSE SYNDROME OCCUR? HERE'S THE THEORY. Normally, your muscles and tendons get blood through capillaries which pass among the muscle fibers. When you tense a muscle, you restrict the blood flow. By the time you're exerting 50% of your full power, you're completely restricting your blood flow. Without fresh blood, your muscles use stored energy until they run out, then they switch to anaerobic (without oxygen) metabolism, which generates nasty by-products like lactic acid, which cause pain. Once one muscle hurts, all its neighbors tense up, perhaps to relieve the load. This makes sense for your normal sort of injury, but it only makes things worse with repetitive motion. More tension means less blood flow, and the cycle continues. Another by-product of the lack of blood flow is tingling and numbness from your nerves. They need blood too. Anyway, when you're typing too much, you're never really giving a change for the blood to get back where it belongs, because your muscles never relax enough to let the blood through. Stress, poor posture, and poor ergonomics, only make things worse. SPECIFIC INJURIES YOU MAY HAVE HEARD OF (note: most injuries come in two flavors: acute and chronic. Acute injuries are severely painful and noticable. Chronic conditions have less pronounced symptoms but are every bit as real.) Tenosynovitis an inflamation of the tendon sheath. Chronic tenosynovitis occurs when the repetitive activity is mild or intermittent: not enough to cause acute inflamation, but enough to exceed the tendon sheath's ability to lubricate the tendon. As a result, the tendon sheath thickens, gets inflamed, and you've got your problem. Tendonitis an inflammation of a tendon. Repeated tensing of a tendon can cause inflamation. Eventually, the fibers of the tendon start separating, and can even break, leaving behind debris which induces more friction, more swelling, and more pain. "Sub-acute" tendonitis is more common, which entails a dull ache over the wrist and forearm, some tenderness, and it gets worse with repetitive activity. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome the nerves that run through your wrist into your fingers get trapped by the inflamed muscles around them. Symptoms include feeling "pins and needles", tingling, numbness, and even loss of sensation. CTS is often confused for a diffuse condition. Adverse Mechanical Tension also known as 'neural tension', this is where the nerves running down to your arm have become contracted and possibly compressed as a result of muscle spasms in the shoulders and elsewhere. AMT can often misdiagnosed as or associated with one of the other OOS disorders. It is largely reversible and can be treated with physiotherapy (brachial plexus stretches and trigger point therapy). Others for just about every part of your body, there's a fancy name for a way to injure it. By now, you should be getting an idea of how OOS conditions occur and why. Just be careful: many inexperienced doctors misdiagnose problems as Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, when in reality, you may have a completely different problem. Always get a second opinion before somebody does something drastic to you (like surgery). _________________________________________________________________ Typing posture, ergonomics, prevention, treatment The most important element of both prevention and recovery is to reduce tension in the muscles and tendons. This requires learning how to relax. If you're under a load of stress, this is doubly important. Tune out the world and breath deep and regular. Relaxing should become a guiding principle in your work: every three minutes take a three second break. EVERY THREE MINUTES, TAKE A THREE SECOND BREAK. Really, do it every three minutes. It's also helpful to work in comfortable surroundings, calm down, and relax. If you can't sleep, you really need to focus on this. Rest, sleep, and relaxation are really a big deal. There are all kinds of other treatments, of course. Drugs can reduce inflamation and pain. Custom-molded splints can forcefully prevent bad posture. Surgery can fix some problems. Exercise can help strengthen your muscles. Regular stretching can help prevent injury. Good posture and a good ergonomic workspace promote reduced tension. Ice or hot-cold contrast baths also reduce swelling. Only your doctor can say what's best for you. POSTURE - SOME BASIC GUIDELINES [I so liked the way this was written in the New Zealand book that I'm lifting it almost verbatim from Appendix 10.] * Let your shoulders relax. * Let your elbows swing free. * Keep your wrists straight. * Pull your chin in to look down - don't flop your head forward. * Keep the hollow in the base of your spine. * Try leaning back in the chair. * Don't slouch or slump forward. * Alter your posture from time to time. * Every 20 minutes, get up and bend your spine backward. Set the seat height, first. Your feet should be flat on the floor. There should be no undue pressure on the underside of your thighs near the knees, and your thighs should not slope too much. Now, draw yourself up to your desk and see that its height is comfortable to work at. If you are short, this may be impossible. The beest remedy is to raise the seat height and prevent your legs from dangling by using a footrest. Now, adjust the backrest height so that your buttocks fit into the space between the backrest and the seat pan. The backrest should support you in the hollow of your back, so adjust its tilt to give firm support in this area. If you operate a keyboard, you will be able to spend more time leaning back, so experiment with a chair with a taller backrest, if available. [Now, I diverge a little from the text] A good chair makes a big difference. If you don't like your chair, go find a better one. You really want adjustments for height, back angle, back height, and maybe even seat tilt. Most arm rests seem to get in the way, although some more expensive chairs have height adjustable arm rests which you can also rotate out of the way. You should find a good store and play with all these chairs - pick one that's right for you. In the San Francisco Bay Area, I highly recommend "Just Chairs." The name says it all. KEYBOARD DRAWERS, WRIST PADS, AND KEYBOARD REPLACEMENTS: There is a fair amount of controvery on how to get this right. For some people, wrist pads seem to work wonders. However, with good posture, you shouldn't be resting your wrists on anything - you would prefer your keyboard to be "right there". If you drop your arms at your side and then lift your hands up at the elbow, you want your keyboard under your hands when your elbows are at about 90 degrees. Of course, you want to avoid pronation, wrist extension, and ulnar deviation at all costs. Wrist pads may or may not help at this. You should get somebody else to come and look at how you work: how you sit, how you type, and how you relax. It's often easier for somebody else to notice your hunched shoulders or deviated hands. Some argue that the normal, flat keyboard is antiquated and poorly designed. A number of replacements are available, on the market, today. Check out the accompanying typing-injury-faq/keyboards for much detail. Lately, a number of people have been having luck with gloves. You may want to try some light gloves, possibly with the fingers removed if they're too warm. Many seem to like the Handeze Gloves, available for around $20 from Patternworks, P.O. Box 1690, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601 (800/438-5464). See the typing-injury archive "handeze.info" for details. Another place you may be able to get stuff: a company called Enrichments has a catalog of ergonomic products you may find interesting. Their phone number is 800/323-5547. Or, you might want to contact AliMed at 800/225-2610 and ask for their Ergonomics catalog. Here are some sources for fancy keyboard drawers: Ergotron, Eagan, MN, 800/888-8458. A wide tray that mounts under a desk and is adjustable, has a wrist rest, and is wide enough to accomodate a mouse pad. Ergo Systems, East Hartford, CT, 203/282-9767. They make keyboard trays and a retractrable mouse pad, too. Rubbermaid makes a simple $20 plastic keyboard tray that works well. I found mine at CompUSA, so check your local computer store. _________________________________________________________________ FAQ's About Computer Ergonomics and Workstation Injuries Copyright (C) 1992-1995 Jonathan Bailin, Ph.D. QUESTION CATEGORIES General Info, Monitor, & Desktop Accessories......................1-6 Wrists, Body Posture, & Chair Features............................7-13 Active Breaks, Microbreaks, & Excercises.........................14-15 Varieties of Computer Injuries.....................................16 Kinesiology for RSI................................................17 Emergence of RSI...................................................18 Lifestyle Changes and Reducing RSI Risk............................19 1. Q. What is "ergonomics"? A. Ergonomics is the science of adjusting your work environment to fit your body and make it most comfortable. 2. Q. What is the best room lighting to help reduce eye strain? A. A mixture of fluorescent and incandescent light is usually most pleasing. The most important aspect of lighting is to reduce glare and bright reflections from your screen, nearby glass, or shiny surfaces. Since light conditions change during the day this may require several adjustments while working. If you smoke while keyboarding, be sure to clean your screen frequently as water vapor and smoke make a potent film forming process. 3. Q. What is the best position for the monitor at my workstation? A. Many make the common mistake of putting the monitor, the keyboard, or both off to one side on a desk. If you perform more than a few minutes of keyboarding a day, the keyboard and monitor should be placed directly in front of your normal sitting position. The screen should be 18-30 inches from your eyes or about an arm's length. 4. Q. Is there an optimum height for my monitor? A. Yes. The top of the monitor should be at eye level because the eyes are at their most comfortable position straight ahead but slightly downward. This is why reading lenses in bifocal glasses are placed just below the horizontal plane. On the topic of eye correction, make sure your eyes are 20/20 and hat if you do need correction your optometrist should know about the amount of your monitor use and its distance from your eyes. A correction just for monitor use may be necessary. Be sure to look away from your screen at least every 30 minutes and focus on something over 20 feet away. 5. Q. Is there an optimum screen brightness and color scheme to help prevent eye strain? A. Black characters against a light gray background are often easiest on he eyes for long periods. Contrast and brightness should be adjusted to create the brightest screen without blurring. 6. Q. What other accessories and placement are important? A. Frequently used items should be within arms reach from your keyboarding position. A document holder should be at the same height and distance as he screen so that your eyes don't need to change focus frequently. Frequent telephone use should utilize a headset to avoid bending the neck while keyboarding. Remember that many RSI's begin with nerve insult in the neck and shoulders. 7. Q. What is the most healthy posture for my wrists while typing? A. The best position is neutral. In other words, the knuckles, wrist, and op of the forearm should form a straight line. 8. Q. Can a wrist pad sitting in front of the keyboard be used during keyboarding? A. The neutral position described in #7 can not be achieved while in contact with most commercial wrist pads. For this reason keyboarding is best performed from a "floating" wrist position. Contact wristpads for rest periods only. Frequent rest becomes necessary with floating wrists because it tends to emphasize shoulder muscle contraction. Don't forget to use the lightest possible finger pressure during keying. 9. Q. What is the best elbow and shoulder position while keyboarding? A. The elbows should form a 90 degree angle while *hanging* at your sides from the shoulders. Rarely do chairs with armrests allow this position. It is *very* important that the shoulders remain relaxed in a lowered position during keyboarding (see #6). 10. Q. What is the best seat height for keyboarding? A. It is most important that seat height should allow the upper body postures described in #7, #8, and #9. This upper body posture is most responsible for reducing risk of injury. Once this is accomplished, the feet should be flat on the floor. If the resulting seat height prevents the feet from resting flat on he floor, a foot rest is necessary. This should allow the lower legs to be vertical and thighs horizontal. 11. Q. What should I look for in the backrest of a chair? A. Expensive motors and adjustable sections are not necessary if the backrest has firm support for the inward curve of the lower spine (lumbar) and outward curve of the upper spine (thoracic). Wether you need upper body support to help keep your torso and head vertical is a matter of preference. 12. Q. What other characteristics of a chair are important? A. The seat of the chair should be large enough to accommodate frequent changes in position and firm enough to allow your weight to be supported hrough the buttocks not the thighs. If others will use your chair, easy height adjustment is a must. 13. Q. How often should I change positions and take breaks during keyboarding? A. You should change your sitting position at least every 15 minutes. Active breaks should be taken at least every 30 minutes especially for those who perform more than 2 or 3 hours of keyboarding a day. Microbreaks should occur more often. 14. Q. What is an "active break" and a "microbreak"? A. An active break occurs when you stop keyboarding to do other things like ake phone calls, file papers, or get up to get a drink of water. An active break should also include specific exercises. These exercises should also be done during keyboarding microbreaks which occur while seated at your workstation. 15. Q. What are some of the best exercises for keyboarding microbreaks while seated? A. The "Shoulder Blade Squeeze" is performed by raising your forearms and pointing your hands to the ceiling. Push your arms back, squeezing you shoulder blades together. Hold for at least 5 seconds and repeat 3 times. "Eye Palming" is performed by placing your elbows on your desk, cup your hands, close your eyes, and place your eyelids gently down onto your palms. Hold this position for 1 minute while breathing deeply and slowly. Then uncover your eyes slowly. The "Arm & Shoulder Shake" is performed by dropping your hands to your sides then shake your relaxed hands, arms, and shoulders gently for at least 5 seconds and repeat 3 times. "Spanning" is performed by placing you arms straight in front of you and spreading your fingers as far as possible for at least 5 seconds and repeat 5 times. This exercise was made famous by pianists. With the arms extended in front of you spanning can be combined with a "Forearm Stretch" by turning the hands so that their backs touch then turning them so that the palms face the ceiling. These are only a few key exercises. Many more are useful for preventing repetitive strain. Try to find the best series for your areas of ension and particular relaxation needs. Frequent breaks yield better long erm productivity! 16. Q. I've heard many names for keyboard injuries. What do they all mean? A. Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) is a description of an injury associated any repetitive activity such as hammering, piano playing, truck driving, computer use, or even shaking hands. Occupational Overuse Syndrome (OOS), Cumulative Trauma Disorder (CTD), and Work Related Upper Limb Disorders (WRULD), are all equivalent expressions to RSI. Tendonitis and tenosynovitis are characterized by inflammation of tendo ns or their surrounding sheaths, respectively. Both of these RSI disorders usually begin as mildly aggravating and, given bad habits, may quickly progress to be severely debilitating. These common RSI injuries also add to he difficulty of proper diagnosis and deserve greater recognition. These endon inflammations usually occur before full blown Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) is a specific, severe, and debilitating form of RSI which describes a squeezing of the median nerve as it runs to hand. The nerve is squeezed by swollen tendons surrounding it as they cross hrough a tunnel made by ligaments at the inside of the wrist. The National Center for Health Statistics estimates at least 1.89 milli on people have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Many experts feel that CTS is also associated with nerve compression symptoms in the chest or shoulders. **All RSI symptoms should receive immediate medical attention from physicians experienced in RSI.** 17. Q. Advice by Health Care Practitioners often includes a collection of erms from a kinesiology course. Which ones do I need to know to help identify my own workstation ergonomic problems? A. Standing with the arms at your sides, palms facing forward, "flexion" is folding of any joint of the body so that the angle between the parts decreases in the forward direction, except at the knee and toes. Returning he joint to its straight position requires "extension". A joint which continues its extension past its straight posture is in "hyperextension". This occurs in the hand and wrist when you pull the fingers back. Standing with your arms at your sides, palms facing forward, "pronation" is the turning of your hand so that you thumb points toward your leg. "Suppination" is the opposite movement. 18. Q. Why does it seem like RSI from keyboarding has become such a big problem recently? A. One reason why RSI is becoming more prevalent is because computers are now allowing us to do more office tasks which formerly allowed us to change activity. For example, a typewriter at one time required using a return carriage, "white out" for mistakes, breaks for paper installation, and getting up to file papers in a cabinet. Computer word-processing now eliminates these "microbreaks". In short, computers have greatly simplified office activity, an advance that has at least one important disadvantage. The danger is found in the possibility for long duration, continuous, and relatively motion free, precise, muscular activity called "static exertion". Humans were not well "designed" for this. 19. Q. What lifestyle changes can I make to reduce the chances of RSI? A. Two main themes permeate ergonomic study of RSI prevention; posture and relaxation. Appropriate postures are necessary to keep the strain of performing work in a near stationary position (static exertion) to a minimum. But even the best postures can fall prey to overload when with bad habits. Relaxation is critical to the body's resilience, its ability to recover from keyboarding. Office workload dynamics can have a great influence on the risk of RSI. Try to promote office policies which emphasize steady work load schedules and avoid, or at least distribute, crises deadlines. Stretching and strengthening active muscles promotes relaxation. Relaxation is as important for prevention of RSI symptoms as it is for general well-being. Take a new, more active role in promoting your general fitness both at and away from work. If you don't exercise regularly and your over 40, get clearance from a physician to add walking, bicycling, or swimming to your weekly schedule on three separate days. Cut down on stimulants like coffee, sweets, or nicotine and spread healthy snacks and water intake throughout the day. Keep water at your desk as it makes for a smart microbreak. The first symptom of dehydration is fatigue, not thirst! Fruit and vegatable snacks prevent mid-morning and mid-afternoon blood sugar drops. These dips can effect alertness, mood, productivity, and decision making. A diet emphasizing complex carbohydrates, reliable sleeping patterns, and time for yourself can do wonders for 9 to 5 productivity, not to mention your own well-being. All habits and practices hat promote relaxation are necessary to stop the threat of RSI. Good Luck. During doctoral research in Exercise Physiology/Biomechanics at the University of Southern California, Jonathan completed groundbreaking electromyographic (EMG) research on repetitive strain injuries to the forearm. He currently moderates seminars, writes and speaks on ergonomic topics, consults for Los Angeles firms, and continues further research at USC. Dr. Bailin can be reached at 310/390-8309 or bailin@mizar.usc.edu. _________________________________________________________________ Requests for more info Clearly, the above information is incomplete. The typing-injury archive is incomplete. There's always more information out there. If you'd like to submit something, please send me mail, and I'll gladly throw it in. If you'd like to maintain a list of products or vendors, that would be wonderful! I'd love somebody to make a comprehensive list of mice. I'd love somebody to make a list of doctors. I'd love somebody to edit the above sections, looking for places where I've obviously goofed. _________________________________________________________________ References Much of the information here is derived from a wonderful guide produced in New Zealand by their Occupational Safety & Health Service, a service of their Department of Labour. Special thanks to the authors: Wigley, Turner, Blake, Darby, McInnes, and Harding. Semi-bibliographic reference: * Occupational Overuse Syndrome Treatment and Rehabilitation: A Practitioner's Guide Published by the Occupational Safety and Health Service Department of Labour Wellington, New Zealand. First Edition: June 1992 ISBN 0-477-3499-3 Price: $9.95 (New Zealand $'s, of course) Thanks to Richard Donkin for reviewing this posting. -- Dan Wallach // dwallach@cs.princeton.edu // Phone#: 609-683-4673 http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~dwallach/ PGP 2.6.2 fingerprint: A7 FC 33 D0 99 B5 2D DE E6 F8 8F 5A 6D D5 FE B8 From: Dan Wallach,dwallach@cs.princeton.edu Newsgroup: comp.answers,sci.answers,news.answers,sci.med,sci.med.occupational,comp.human-factors Receive-Date: Donnerstag, 23-Mär-95 18:06:04 Creation-Date: Freitag, 17-Mär-95 05:59:11 Message-ID: typing-injury-faq/keyboards1_795423507@cs.princeton.edu Date: Fri, 17 Mar 1995 05:59:11 +0000 References: typing-injury-faq/changes_795423507@cs.princeton.edu Subject: Typing Injury FAQ (3/6): Keyboard Alternatives (1/2) [monthly posting] Attributes: MIME Organization: Princeton University Followup-To: sci.med.occupational UserFlags: Old ReadAccess GlobalFlags: Exported Link HardLink Archive-name: typing-injury-faq/keyboards1 Version: $Revision: 7.24 $ $Date: 1995/03/17 06:36:21 $ URL: http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~dwallach/tifaq/keyboards.html Prologue This FAQ may be cited as: * Wallach, Dan S. (1995) "Typing Injury FAQ: Keyboard Alternatives" Usenet news.answers. Available via anonymous ftp from rtfm.mit.edu in pub/usenet/news.answers/typing-injury-faq/keyboards1 and keyboards2 (but not yet...). 31 pages. World-Wide-Web users will find this available as hypertext: * http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~dwallach/tifaq/keyboards.html * (Dan Wallach's page) http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~dwallach/ _________________________________________________________________ Answers To Frequently Asked Questions about Keyboard Alternatives (Part 1/2) Copyright (C) 1992-1995 Dan Wallach The opinions in here are my own, unless otherwise mentioned, and do not represent the opinions of any organization or vendor. [Current distribution: sci.med.occupational, sci.med, comp.human-factors, {news,sci,comp}.answers, and e-mail to c+health@iubvm.ucs.indiana.edu, sorehand@vm.ucsf.edu, and cstg-L@vtvm1.cc.vt.edu] Information in this FAQ has been pieced together from phone conversations, e-mail, and product literature. While I hope it's useful, the information in here is neither comprehensive nor error free. If you find something wrong or missing, please mail me, and I'll update my list. Thanks. All phone numbers, unless otherwise mentioned, are USA phone numbers. All monetary figures, unless otherwise mentioned, are USA dollars. Products covered in this FAQ: * Using a PC's keyboard on your workstation / compatibility issues ("normal" keyboards - by normal, I really mean non-chording) + Apple Computer, Inc. + Comfort Keyboard System + DataHand + ergoLogic + Ergo Max + FlexPro (Key Tronic) + Fountain Hills Systems + Generic Split Keyboard (from Taiwan) + Genovation ErgoMaster + Kinesis Ergonomic Keyboard + Lexmark + Maltron + Microsoft Natural Keyboard + MiniErgo (Marquardt Switches) + The MyKey + Somers EK1 Ergonomic Keyboard + The Tony! Ergonomic KeySystem + The Vertical + The Wave * ("chording" systems / speech recognizers / other products) + AccuKey + Aria Listener (Prometheus) + The Bat (Infogrip) + Braille 'n Speak (Blaize) + DataEgg (InHand Development) + DragonDictate (Dragon Systems) + Half-QWERTY + IBM VoiceType Speech Recognition Family (formerly Personal Dictation System) + IN3 Voice Command / IN3 PRO + Kurzweil VOICE + Listen for Windows (Verbex) + Microwriter + The Minimal Motion Computer Access System + Octima + OfficeTalk for WordPerfect (Kolvox) + Power Secretary + Rover for Windows (Digital Soup) + Telaccount Speech Recognizer for Windows + Twiddler GIF pictures of many of these products are available via anonymous ftp from ftp://ftp.csua.berkeley.edu/pub/typing-injury I highly recommend getting the pictures. They tell much more than I can fit into this file. Or, if you're reading this page with a WWW browser such as Mosaic or Netscape, just scroll down. If you can't do ftp or WWW, send me mail, and I'll uuencode and mail them to you (they're pretty big...) _________________________________________________________________ Using a PC's keyboard on your workstation / compatibility issues What kind of computer are you using? Macintosh, X terminal, NeXT, SGI, IBM RS/6000, HP, Sun, serial port hacks, and other stuff. Macintosh Kinesis Corp. now has an adapter to make a PC keyboard connect to a Macintosh. They'll happily sell you the adapter without one of their keyboards. The price is around $100. Call 800-4-KINESIS. A similar product is made by the Silicon Valley Bus Company, which supports PC mice and keyboards. It's called the KeyStone and costs $99 plus $6 shipping. + Silicon Valley Bus Company 475 Brown Rd. San Juan Bautista, CA 95045 Phone: 408-623-2300 or maybe 800-775-0555 FAX: 408-623-4440 X terminals A number of X terminals (NCD, Tektronix, to name a few) use PC-compatible keyboards. If you have an X terminal, you may be all set. Try it out with a normal PC keyboard before you go through the trouble of buying an alternative keyboard. Also, some X terminals add extra buttons - you may need to keep your original keyboard around for the once-in-a-blue-moon that you have to hit the Setup key. Often, X termainals will use a small DIN-8 connector rather than the larger old-style PC keyboard connector. Have no fear! Many newer PC's also have this new smaller connector, so you can usually find adapters at good computer stores. I've also seen this adapter in a number of mail-order cable catalogs. NeXT NeXT no longer makes workstations, but the last batch of NeXTstations were made with the Apple Desktop Bus. If you really need to be using NeXT hardware, make sure it's the latest stuff, and you can use Mac keyboards (or PC keyboards through an adapter). Of course, you can also run the NeXTstep operating system on a PC or HP workstation, which are easier to adapt. Silicon Graphics Silicon Graphics's newer machines (Indigo^2, Indy, and beyond) use standard PS/2-compatible keyboards and mice. I don't believe this also applies to the Power Series machines. It's not possible to upgrade an older SGI to use PC keyboards, except by upgrading the entire machine. Contact your SGI sales rep for more details. For older machines, see if you can upgrade to Irix5 or later. The current X server supports the XTEST extension, which allows a2x to function properly. See "spoofing", below. IBM RS/6000 IBM RS/6000 keyboards are actually similar to normal PC keyboards. Unfortunately, you can't just plug one in. You need two things: a cable converter to go from the large PC keyboard connector to the smaller PS/2 style DIN-6, and a new device driver for AIX. Believe it or not, IBM wrote this device driver, I used it, and it works. However, they don't want me to redistribute it. I've been told Judy Hume (512) 823-6337 is a potential contact. If you learn anything new, please send me e-mail. Several people have reported problems contacting IBM on this issue. Be sure to bug your sales rep into doing the research. Again, let me know if you learn anything new. HP workstations If you are using an HP workstation, you can buy a converter box that converts the HP-HIL serial to PS2. The converter is made by Modular Industrial Computers 615-499-0700. Newer HP workstations use PC-compatible keyboards and PS/2 mice! I don't know exactly when they changed over, but this is certainly good news. Sun workstations This is the most complicated, because you have the most options. The only real solution is a hardware box sold by Kinesis (phone 800-4-KINESIS), for about $100. The adapter is compatible with all Sparc workstations. Plug it in and away you go. The downside is the lack of Sun-specific keys. If you often use the L-keys or other obscure keys, you're going to have to learn how to remap your keys with xmodmap. Previously, you could purchase a serial-port adapter from Genovation, but they've discontinued it. Sorry! Spoofing a keyboard over the serial port If you've got a proprietary computer which uses its own keyboard (Sun, HP, DEC, etc.) then you're going to have a hard time finding a vendor to sell you a compatible keyboard. If your workstation runs the X window system, you're in luck. You can buy a cheap used PC, hook your expensive keyboard up to it, and run a serial cable to your workstation. Then, run a program on the workstation to read the serial port and generate fake X keyboard events. A number of programs can facilitate this for you. kt and a2x support ASCII input. a2x-RawPC and serkey support raw PC scancode input. Also, the new version of kt (kt18) additionally supports raw PC scancodes. For more info about a2x, check out this URL: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/a2x-voice/ a2x is a sophisticated program, capable of controlling the mouse, and even moving among widgets on the screen. It requires a server extension (XTEST, DEC-XTRAP, or XTestExtension1). To find out if your server can do this, run 'xdpyinfo' and see if any of these strings appear in the extensions list. If your server doesn't have this, you may want to investigate compiling X11R5, patchlevel 18 or later, or bugging your vendor. X11R6 works fine, too. kt is a simpler program, which should work with unextended X servers. Another program called xsendevent also exists, but I haven't seen it. a2x will work better, when it works, but it requires an extended server. kt doesn't work with every application, but it's more likely to work on older servers. Don't you love compromises? a2x-RawPC, serkey, and kt18 can take input from a device such as the Genovation Serial Box which converts a PC keyboard into a normal RS232 serial device, but otherwise passes through the raw PC scancodes. This approach has several advantages: a Serial Box is only $150, whereas the cheapest used PC you may ever find is over $300. A Serial Box could easily fit in your pocket, while PC's tend to be much bigger. Most important, however, is the ability to use all the keys of your PC keyboard with your workstation, like the function keys. Unfortunately, Genovation no longer manufactures this box. kt includes a DOS program which can make your PC simulate one of these boxes, but that seems like overkill. a2x, a2x-RawPC, serkey and kt are all available via anonymous ftp from ftp.csua.berkeley.edu. Other stuff Some vendors here (notably: Health Care Keyboard Co. and AccuCorp) support some odd keyboard types, and may be responsive to your queries regarding supporting your own weird computer. If you can get sufficient documention about how your keyboard works (either from the vendor, or with a storage oscilloscope), you may be in luck. Contact the companies for more details. _________________________________________________________________ "Normal" keyboards - things that look like "standard" QWERTY keyboards GIF pictures of many of these keyboards can be found via anonymous FTP ftp://ftp.csua.berkeley.edu/pub/typing-injury __________________________________________________________ Apple Adjustable Keyboard Apple Computer, Inc. Sales offices all over the place. Price $119 (some dealers have it for less) Shipping Now Supports Mac Apple's keyboard has one section for each hand, and the sections rotate backward on a hinge. The sections do not tilt upward. The keys are arranged in a normal QWERTY fashion. The main foldable keyboard resembles a normal Apple Keyboard. A separate keypad contains all the extended key functions. The keyboard also comes with matching wrist rests, which are not directly attachable to the keyboard. Many peripheral keys, such as function keys, are "chicklet" keys, rather than full size, normal keyboard keys. (See the files apple-press and apple-tidbits on the ftp.csua.berkeley.edu archive for more details) __________________________________________________________ Comfort Keyboard System Health Care Keyboard Company Phone 414-536-2160 (sales) 414-536-2169 (technical info) Fax 414-536-2170 Address 12040-G W. Feerick St. Wauwatosa, WI 53222 E-Mail hlthcare@EARTH.EXECPC.COM Price (Suggested Retail) $795 for Mac, PC, and IDEA version. $815 for Sun version. $895 for HP-IL. Additional personality modules are around $150 each. Prices can drop $100 if you get the "preferred price", usually by purchasing through your company. A footpedal is available for $74 (not offered for the Mac). Shipping Now. Supports PC, Mac, HP-IL, Sun, and IDEA. IBM 122-key in beta. A carrying case is also available. The idea is that one keyboard works with everything. You purchase "compatibility modules", a new cord, and possibly new keycaps, and then you can move your one keyboard around among different machines. It's a three-piece folding keyboard. The layout resembles the standard 101-key keyboard, except sliced into three sections. Each section is on a "custom telescoping universal mount." Each section independently adjusts to an infinite number of positions allowing each individual to type in a natural posture. You can rearrange the three sections, too (have the keypad in the middle if you want). Each section is otherwise normal-shaped (i.e.: you put all three sections flat, and you have what looks like a normal 101-key keyboard). Other features: full remapping and macros, programmable delay and repeat times. Coming soon: bounce keys and sticky keys. Also coming soon: non-volatile RAM (NVRAM) to store macros (currently, the PC downloads them at boot time). Anyone with an old Comfort (serial number < 5000) can upgrade to a newer version of the keyboard. Call technical assistance (414-536-2169) for more details. The upgrade will generally cost $189, depending on the state of the original keyboard. The Comfort is a "class 2 medical device", which may make it easier to get prescribed by a doctor. __________________________________________________________ DataHand Industrial Innovations, Inc. Phone 602-860-8584 Address 10789 North 90th Street Scottsdale, Arizona 85260-6727 USA Price $2000/unit (1 unit == 2 pods). Lease options available. Shipping Now. (Expect it to take about a month) Supports PC and Mac Each hand has its own "pod". Each of the four main fingers has five switches each: forward, back, left, right, and down. The thumbs have a number of switches. Despite appearances, the key layout resembles QWERTY, and is reported to be no big deal to adapt to. The idea is that your hands never have to move to use the keyboard. A finger-mouse is also built-in. If you ask, they'll send you a 15 minute video tape and lots of other information. (a picture of the key layout is also available) (see also: datahand-review, written by Cliff Lasser , on the ftp.csua.berkeley.edu archive) __________________________________________________________ ergoLogic Model 7.1 ErgoLogic Enterprises, Inc. Phone 800-ONLY-WAY Fax 604-433-0111 Address 47000 Warm Springs Blvd, Unit 430 Fremont, CA 94539-7467 Price $399 (but, you can find it cheaper, see the FlexPro Keyboard for details) Supports PC Shipping March, 1994 (See "FlexPro Keyboard") ErgoLogic has licensed their keyboard to Key Tronic, which is how you're more likely to see one of their keyboards. Both keyboards are manufactured in the same facility, and are exactly the same, except for the label in the upper left corner. __________________________________________________________ Ergo Max Maxi Switch, Inc. Phone 602-294-5450 Fax 602-294-6890 Price $99 + $19.95 for a separate 40-key keypad Supports PC Shipping 1Q95? Each half of the main keyboard can be independently raised/angled. An optional keypad, and an integrated wrist-rest / thumb trackball is available. __________________________________________________________ FlexPro Keyboard Key Tronic Phone 800-262-6006 Possible contact Denise Razzeto, 509-927-5299 Price $399 (but, seen as low as $183 from some mail-order vendors. Somebody mentioned 800-233-4426 and said to ask for McKenzie at extension 7236. If somebody verifies that this works, please send me mail.) - NEW! Shipping Now. Supports PC (See "ergoLogic Model 7.1") Sold by many clone vendors and PC shops Keytronic apparently showed a prototype keyboard at Comdex. It's another split-design. One thumb-wheel controls the tilt of both the left and right-hand sides of the main alphanumeric section. The arrow keys and keypad resemble a normal 101-key PC keyboard. Keytronic makes standard PC keyboards, also, so this product will probably be sold through their standard distribution channels. Keytronic is working together with ErgoLogic Enterprises on this, so it's the same keyboard. NEW: Soft-touch (lighter key activation force) keys are available for an extra $20 or so. __________________________________________________________ Generic Split Keyboard (from Taiwan) Nobody will tell me who the original manufacturer is, although I have an address in Taipei, Taiwan. I've found this keyboard at a variety of US computer stores, under a variety of names. It's also carried by Dalco, a major US mail-order house. The most prominent name I've seen pasted on this keyboard is "the Clevo KB7000 keyboard by Norton Technologies (Patent Pending)". Pretty impressive, but it's still the same generic keyboard. Dalco Electronics Phone 800-445-5342 Fax 513-743-8251 Price $76.80 (Dalco item #48425, volume discounts available) Also seen at Fry's Electronics, Palo Alto, CA, for $50. Also seen on-line in Safe Computing's Internet Store for $59.37. Shipping Now Supports PC The main feature of this keyboard is its price; it's the cheapest split keyboard on the market. The keyswitches are fairly light and clicky. The split angle is fixed, and the keyboard is flat. It's only a moderate improvement over an ordinary keyboard, but the price is right. __________________________________________________________ Fountain Hills FH-101 Fountain Hills Systems Phone 602-596-8633 Address 15022 North 75th St. Scottsdale, AZ 85260-2476 Price $349 with quantity discounts available Shipping ??? Supports PC The Fountain Hills keyboard is set at a 20 degree fixed angle for each hand. The keyboard is still flat (i.e.: not higher in the middle) and has no adjustments. __________________________________________________________ ErgoMaster Genovation, Inc. Phone 800-822-4333 or 714-833-3355 FAX 714-833-0322 Address 17741 Mitchell, North Irvine, CA 92714 Price $495 (main keyboard) $79 (external keypad with serial-port connector) $95 (external keypad with parallel-port connector) Shipping Summer 1995 The ErgoMaster comes in two pieces which attach to a track you install on the edge of your desk. Once installed, you can separately adjust the angles and positions of each side. A timed beeper reminds you to make periodic adjustments to the keyboard (more importantly, you can use the beeper to remind you to take rest breaks). In addition to the usual PC key layout, ErgoMaster has Enter and Backspace keys on the bottom of the keyboard which you can hit with your thumbs. The ErgoMaster can be reprogrammed through PC software which downloads new keymappings to your keyboard. The optional external keypad connects to either the serial or parallel port of your computer and relies on special driver software to function properly. This means the keypad will not function on an X terminal, and probably won't work with many PC games. A "T-connector" is available with the parallel-port keypad, so you can share your parallel port with another peripheral. Note: This is the same Genovation which formerly produced the Serial Box, which was useful for interfacing a PC keyboard to non-PC workstations with proprietary keyboard interfaces. If you still want one, they'll make them custom in quantities of 100 or more. __________________________________________________________ Kinesis Ergonomic Keyboard Kinesis Corporation Phone 800-4-KINESIS (800-454-6374) or 206-402-8100 Fax 206-402-8181 Address 22232 17th Avenue SE Bothell, WA 98021-7425 Price $390. Volume discounts available. This includes adhesive wrist pads and a TypingTutor program. Foot pedals and other accessories are extra. Also seen on-line in Safe Computing's Internet Store for $331.50. Supports PC. Mac and Sun Sparc through emulation boxes. Shipping Now. The layout has a large blank space in the middle, even though the keyboard is about the size of a normal PC keyboard - slightly smaller. Each hand has its own set of keys, laid out to minimize finger travel. Thumb buttons handle many major functions (enter, backspace, etc.). The keyboard supports remapping, macros, and adjustable repeat rate. Foot pedals are also available, and can be mapped to any key on the keyboard (shift, control, whatever). The keypad is "embedded" in the right hand, and a toggle button (or foot pedal) changes between normal and keypad mode for your right hand. Software is newly available that lets you split the Kinesis into multiple personalities so you can have more than one set of macros and remappings available. This software runs on your PC and downloads the data to the keyboard. For more info, contact the company. Kinesis has adapters boxes which can be used to connect the Kinesis (or other PC keyboards) to a Mac or Sun. Again, for more info, contact the company. __________________________________________________________ Lexmark Model M13 (Select-Ease) Lexmark Corporation (a spinoff of IBM) Phone 800-438-2468 Cost $179 ($199 with separate numeric keypad) Available Now Compatibility PC This keyboard is split and angled, with a ball-type hinge at the top of the split. You can put it into positions identical to the Ergologic and similar to common Comfort positions (but it doesn't tent when the parts are separated). It's not programmable. Aside from the split/angle (which is extremely versatile and stable), its only other difference from regular keyboards is that the left part of the space bar can be a backspace key. The company has a free 30 day trial offer. If interested, please e-mail Chris Stelmack . Under subject, type "Keyboard". Further ordering instructions will be sent to you. __________________________________________________________ Maltron P.C.D. Maltron Limited Phone (+44) 081 398 3265 (United Kingdom) Address 15 Orchard Lane East Molesey Surrey KT8 OBN England U.S. Distributor Jim Barrett Applied Learning Corp. 1376 Glen Hardie Road Wayne, PA 19087 Phone: 215-688-6866 Canadian Distributor Robert Vellinga Human Systems, Inc. 310 Main Street East, Suite 205 Milton, Ontario, L9T 1P4 Phone: 416-875-0220 Fax: 416-878-1683 Price 375 pounds $790 + shipping in the USA Maltron has a number of accessories, including carrying cases, switch boxes to use both your normal keyboard and the Maltron, an articulated arm that clamps on to your table, and training courses to help you learn to type on your Maltron. You can also rent a keyboard for 10 pounds/week + taxes. U.S. price: $120/month, and then $60 off purchase if you want it. Shipping Now (in your choice of colors: black or grey) Supports PC's, Mac, Amstrad 1512/1640. Maltron has four main products - a two-handed keyboard, two one-handed keyboards, and a keyboard designed for handicapped people to control with a mouth-stick. The layout allocates more buttons to the thumbs, and is curved to bring keys closer to the fingers. A separate keypad is in the middle. The newer Maltrons have a different layout than the pictures on ftp.csua.berkeley.edu. Function keys, tab, and some other secondary keys have been rearranged. The shift keys are now larger, also. (see also, "maltron-review" on the ftp.csua.berkeley.edu archive) __________________________________________________________ Microsoft Natural Keyboard Microsoft Corporation Phone 800-426-9400 (Microsoft Customer Service) Address One Microsoft Way Redmond, WA 98052-6399 Price $99.95, and often discounted Supports PC Shipping now For the price, this is an excellent keyboard. The MS keyboard is a great deal. It's still a QWERTY layout, but it has a built-in wrist-rest and separates the hands by splitting the keyboard at a fixed angle. The keyboard comes with Microsoft IntelliType software, which adds some useful featuers to Windows, but is known to crash the whole system badly. The keyboard includes three new keys which don't really add any functionality whatsoever. Don't let these keys influence your purchasing decisions. (a picture of a prototype Microsoft keyboard is also available) __________________________________________________________ MiniErgo Marquardt Switches Inc. Phone 315-655-8050 Fax 315-655-8042 Address 2711 Route 20 East Cazenovia, NY 13035 Price $179 for MiniErgo, $125 for external numeric keypad. Shipping now Supports PC The MiniErgo is a split keyboard system with no numeric keypad (keypad available separately in August). The two halves are fixed at about a 30 degree angle, to approximate the angle of your arms when you hands are in QWERTY home position. The slant is approximately same as standard 101-key keyboard. They've moved the cursor controls into the gap between the two halves. A Fn key is used to access an embedded keypad and PgUp,PgDn,Home, and End. __________________________________________________________ The MyKey ErgonomiXX, Inc. Phone 703-771-1047 Fax 703-771-1137 E-Mail 75050.3323@compuserve.com Address 525-K East Market Street Box 295 Leesburg, VA 22071 Price $275 Shipping now (may also be in some CompUSA stores, stock # 289-554) Supports PC The MyKey has the full 101 keys of a normal PC keyboard plus an integrated trackball pointing device and integrated wrist rests. The main alpha-numeric keys are split at a fixed angle, with the normal PC layout. The function keys appear in a circle on the left, with the arrow keys inside them. __________________________________________________________ Somers EK1 Ergonomic Keyboard Somers Engineering Phone 805-273-1609 E-Mail RSomers@aol.com (Richard Somers) Address 3424 Vicker Way Palmdale, CA 93551 Price $348 + shipping Supports PC and Mac (at the same time! see below) Shipping "in limited quantities" A trackball module is also available ($100), which can clip on the side or replace the cursor keypad. The keyboard is broken down into three modules which can be re- arranged. (the keypad could be put on the left, for example). The alphanumeric keys are vertical rather than the usual diagonal arrangement. The keyboard is based on the Datadesk Switchboard - Somers just developed a new keyboard module for it. Thus, they take advantage of the Switchboard's PC and Mac compatibility. You can't plug it into both at the same time, but you need only use the right cable, and tweak some DIP switches to change the keyboard's personality. __________________________________________________________ The Tony! Ergonomic KeySystem The Tony! Corporation Phone ??? Address Tony Hodges 2332 Thompson Court Mountain View, CA 94043 USA Price ??? Supports ??? Shipping ??? The Tony! should allow separate positioning of every key, to allow the keyboard to be personally customized. A thumb-operated mouse will also be available. As far as I can tell, Tony Hodges has disappeared, and apparently won't ever have a keyboard for sale. __________________________________________________________ The Vertical Jeffrey Spencer or Stephen Albert Phone 619-454-0000 Address P.O. Box 2636 La Jolla, CA 92038 USA Price $299 Supports no info available, probably PC's Shipping ??? The Vertical Keyboard is split in two halves, each pointing straight up. The user can adjust the width of the device, but not the tilt of each section. Side-view mirrors are installed to allow users to see their fingers on the keys. __________________________________________________________ The Wave Iocomm International Technology Phone 310-644-6100 Fax 310-644-6068 Address 12700 Yukon Avenue Hawthorne, California 90250 USA Price $99.95 + $15 for a set of cables Supports PC Shipping now. Iocomm also manufactures "ordinary" 101-key keyboard (PC/AT) and 84-key keyboard (PC/XT), so make sure you get the right one. The one-piece keyboard has a built-in wrist-rest. It looks *exactly* like a normal 101-key PC keyboard, with two inches of built-in wrist rest. The key switch feel is reported to be greatly improved. _________________________________________________________________ This document continues in the next file. -- Dan Wallach // dwallach@cs.princeton.edu // Phone#: 609-683-4673 http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~dwallach/ PGP 2.6.2 fingerprint: A7 FC 33 D0 99 B5 2D DE E6 F8 8F 5A 6D D5 FE B8 From: Dan Wallach,dwallach@cs.princeton.edu Newsgroup: comp.answers,sci.answers,news.answers,sci.med,sci.med.occupational,comp.human-factors Receive-Date: Donnerstag, 23-Mär-95 18:06:05 Creation-Date: Freitag, 17-Mär-95 05:59:14 Message-ID: typing-injury-faq/keyboards2_795423507@cs.princeton.edu Date: Fri, 17 Mar 1995 05:59:14 +0000 References: typing-injury-faq/changes_795423507@cs.princeton.edu Subject: Typing Injury FAQ (4/6): Keyboard Alternatives (2/2) [monthly posting] Attributes: MIME Organization: Princeton University Followup-To: sci.med.occupational UserFlags: Old ReadAccess GlobalFlags: Exported Link HardLink Archive-name: typing-injury-faq/keyboards2 Version: $Revision: 7.24 $ $Date: 1995/03/17 06:36:21 $ URL: http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~dwallach/tifaq/keyboards.html Answers To Frequently Asked Questions about Keyboard Alternatives (Part 2/2) Copyright (C) 1992-1995 Dan Wallach Chording keyboards / speech recognizers / other products GIF pictures of many of these keyboards can be found via anonymous FTP ftp://ftp.csua.berkeley.edu/pub/typing-injury/gifs If you're looking for more comprehensive information on voice recognizers, you may want to track down the December 20, 1994 issue of PC Magazine. They have an article, "Talk Show" (pages 203 - 219), which covers a number of voice systems, both navigation-only and true dictation systems. Be careful when you buy a voice recognizer. Some are only meant for navigation tasks ("File. Save. Okay."), and are entirely inappropriate for full dictation. Dictation requires a much larger vocabulary system. If you're planning on dictating something besides spoken English (say, a C program), then you're going to be hacking lots of macros, both in your dictation system and in your editor. This FAQ only covers products aimed at end users. There are a number of libraries aimed at programmers building voice-recognition into their products. A nice list of them appears in the PC Magazine article. _________________________________________________________________ AccuKey AccuCorp, Inc. Phone 703-961-2001 Address P.O. Box 66 Christiansburg, VA 24073 USA Price $495 + shipping. 60 day lease for $35. Shipping Now. Supports PC, Mac, IBM 3270, Sun Sparc, and TeleVideo 935 and 955. Doesn't use conventional push-keys. Soft rubber keys, which rock forward and backward (each key has three states), make chords for typing keys. Learning time is estimated to be 2-3 hours, for getting started, and maybe two weeks to get used to it. Currently, the thumbs don't do anything, although a thumb-trackball is in the works. The company claims it takes about a week of work to support a new computer. They will be happy to adapt their keyboard to your computer, if possible. (a picture of the chording patterns is also available) __________________________________________________________ Aria Listener Prometheus Products Inc. Phone 800-477-3473 or 503-692-9600 FAX 503-691-1101 Address 9524 SW Tualatin Sherwood Rd. Tualatin, OR 97062 Price $169 (includes Aria 16se sound card, no headset) Supports PC running Windows 3.1 or later Shipping Now Supports navigation with a vocabulary of 125 words. __________________________________________________________ The Bat Infogrip, Inc. Phone 800-397-0921 or 805-652-0770 FAX 805-652-0880 Address 1141 E. Main St. Ventura, CA 93001 USA Price $495 (dual set - each one is a complete keyboard by itself) $295 (single) (recently seen in the MacZone catalog (800-248-0800) for $350 dual / $199 single) - NEW! Shipping Now. Supports Mac, IBM PC (serial port - native keyboard port version coming very soon...). No other workstations supported, but serial support for Unix with X Windows has been written. PC and Mac are getting all the real attention from the company. A chording system. One hand is sufficient to type everything. The second hand is for redundancy and increased speed. 30 day money back guarantee, no questions asked. __________________________________________________________ Braille 'n Speak Blazie Engineering Phone 301-879-4944 Address 3660 Mill Green Rd. Street, Md 21154 USA (information provided by Doug Martin ) The Braille N Speak uses any of several Braille codes for entering information: Grade I, Grade II, or computer Braille. Basically, letters a-j are combinations of dots 1, 2, 4, and 5. Letters k-t are the same combinations as a-j with dot 3 added. Letters u, v, x, y, and z are like a-e with dots 3 and 6 added. (w is unique because Louis Braille didn't have a w in the French alphabet.) __________________________________________________________ DataEgg InHand Development Group E-Mail Gary Friedman Phone 818-354-1220 (Friedman) I don't have a phone number for InHand. Address 10330 Sepulveda Blvd. Suite 140 Mission Hills, CA 91345 USA Price $150 Shipping ??? Supports see below The DataEgg is a round, one-handed, chording computer with a two-line LCD display (similar to the Microwriter AgendA). It can also serve as an alternative computer keyboard through a computer's serial port (currently supporting the PC, although it wouldn't be too hard to support X or a Mac if they wrote the driver). InHand will be manufacturing the device, which was originally developed by Gary Friedman of JPL. More info is available in NASA Tech Briefs, December 1992, Newsweek's "Technology Supplement" of December 12, 1992, or EE Times, March 8, 1993. __________________________________________________________ DragonDictate Dragon Systems, Inc. Phone 800-TALK-TYP or 617-965-5200 Fax 617-527-0372 E-Mail support@dragonsys.com FAQ http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/a2x-voice/ Address 320 Nevada Street Newton, MA 02160 USA Shipping Now. Prices DragonDictate Starter $395 (5k word active vocab, 1K global macro, 500 app specific macros) DragonDictate Classic $695 (30K word active vocab, 5K global macro, 2K app specific macros) DragonDictate Power $1695 (60K word active vocab, 5K global macro, 2K app specific macros) Upgrade prices from older version are also available. Also, you can purchase any of these systems with an "ACPA" (Audio Capture and Playback Adapter) DSP board for an additional $300. DragonDictate will work fine with a standard "multimedia" sound card, though. Also seen on-line in Safe Computing's Internet Store for the same prices as above. Compatibility 486/33 (or higher) recommended PC only (3rd party support for Mac) Free software support for X windows is also available - your PC with Dragon hardware talks to your workstation over a serial cable or network. The program is called a2x, and is available via anonymous ftp: ftp://ftp.csua.berkeley.edu/pub/typing-injury/ software/a2x.tar.Z ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/a2x.tar.Z (most current) If you want to use your Dragon product with X windows, you may want to ask for Peter Cohen, an salesman at Dragon who knows more about this sort of thing. Dragon Systems sells a number of voice recognition products. Most (if not all) of them seem to run on PC's and compatibles (including PS/2's and other MicroChannel boxes). DragonDictate works with many off-the-shelf sound cards, or they sell you a hardware board. Their older software sits in front of a number of popular word processors and spreadsheets. Dragon has recently announced "DDWIN", which extends Dragon support to all Microsoft Windows applications. Each user `trains' the system to their voice, and there are provisions to correct the system when it makes mistakes, on the fly. Multiple people can use it, but you have to load a different personality file for each person. You still get the use of your normal keyboard, too. On the DragonDictate Classic, you need to pause 1/10th sec between words. Dragon claims typical input speeds of 30-40 words per minute. Dragon's technology is also part of the following products (about which I have little-to-no other info): + Microsoft Windows Sound System (Voice Pilot) + IBM VoiceType + Power Secretary (by Articulate Systems - for Macintosh) + EMStation (by Lanier Voice Products - "emergency medical workstation") __________________________________________________________ Half-QWERTY The Matias Corporation Phone 416-749-3124 (Canada) FAX 416-740-4132 E-mail ematias@dgp.toronto.edu Address 178 Thistledown Boulevard Rexdale, Ontario, Canada M9V 1K1 Demo for anonymous ftp ftp://explorer.dgp.toronto.edu/pub/Half-QWERTY Also, availble on floppy from the company Price $395 + shipping ($5) (higher in Canada, quantity discounts available) Shipping Now. Supports Mac and PC (but, not Windows) Half-QWERTY is software that turns your standard keyboard into a one-handed keyboard. Touch-typists can learn it with little or no retraining. When you hold down the space bar, all the keys under your hand change to those that would normally fall under the same fingers of your other hand. The space bar is still used for typing spaces. It differentiates based on the duration you hold it down. When you're not holding down the space bar, you can use your keyboard as a normal two-handed keyboard (maybe you want to switch from one to two-handed typing depending on your task, i.e., whether you're using your mouse). __________________________________________________________ IBM VoiceType Dictation (formerly Personal Dictation System) IBM Corporation Phone Contact your IBM sales rep or call 800-TALK-2ME Shipping Now. Price (for VoiceType Dictation) $999 - Software, microphone, and ISA card $1099 - Software, microphone, and PCMCIA card A Microchannel card might also available (it used to be...) Naming confusion: IBM previously sold a product named VoiceType 2, which was based on Dragon Systems technology. They also sold the IBM Speech Server Series (ISSS) and Personal Dictation System (PDS), both of which were based on IBM technology; ISSS ran on an RS/6000 workstation, and PDS ran on PC's with OS/2. The current IBM VoiceType Family is all IBM technology. VoiceType Dictation is an enhanced variant of PDS, which also supports MS Windows. VoiceType Dictation supports a 32,000 word dictionary. It's speaker-dependent, so requires training (1-2 hours). VoiceType Dictation recognize US and UK English, French, German, Spanish and Italian (MS Windows support for all these languages will appear in 1995). VoiceType Dictation can control any X or OS/2 application, and supports user-customizable profiles for macros. A developer's API is also available. Dictation rates of 70-100 words per minute are possible with 95-99 percent accuracy, including a model of the language to disambiguate words such as "to", "two", and "too". IBM also makes some voice products not really intended for the "handicap" market with continuous speech and speaker-independence but smaller vocubularies (the IBM Continuous Speech Series - ICSS). Call them for more details. __________________________________________________________ IN3 (in-cube) Voice Command Command Corp, Inc. E-Mail in3@gacc.atl.ga.us World Wide Web http://www.commandcorp.com/incube_welcome.html CompuServe 75120,431 Phone 404-925-7950 Fax 404-925-7924 Address 3675 Crestwood Parkway P.O. Box 956099 Duluth, GA 30136-9502 USA Supports Sun Sparc (SunOS or Solaris) and MS Windows 3.1. Price Sun $495, headset not included MS Windows $395 (Pro Version for Windows), headset, but no sound card, included (?) For Sun, IN3 provides a complete navigation solution, including voice macros. A developer API is also available. The native Sparc audio is used for input. You can find a copy on their web page. For MS Windows, IN3 provides a solution similar to the Sun. Most 8 and 16 bit sound cards are supported. A developer API is also available. Windows 3.1 and a 386 or better processor are required. Demos can be found on Compuserve, America On-Line, various comp.binaries.ms-windows archive site and BBS systems, and their web page. Command Corp suggests that IN CUBE be used in combination with an ergonomic keyboard, so you type free text at moderate speed and for reasonabe periods on the "QWERTY" keys and convert all editing, chording, and mouse operations to voice input. __________________________________________________________ Kurzweil VOICE Kurzweil Applied Intelligence, Inc. Phone 617-893-5151 Fax 617-893-6525 Address 411 Waverley Oaks Road Waltham MA 02154 USA Price $995. Shipping Now The Kurzweil system is a voice recognition system which interfaces with PC compatibles. You get a board which will support 50,000 words - 10K user defined and 40K from a 200K word dictionary. The system is reported to attempt speaker-independence through continuously adapting voice models. This requires about 12 mbytes of disk space to store its state, however. MS-DOS and Windows are supported. Requires 486DX/33 or better with at least 32 MBytes RAM. __________________________________________________________ Listen for Windows Verbex Voice Systems Inc. Phone 800-275-8729 or 908-225-5225 FAX 908-225-7764 Address 1090 King Georges Post Rd. Bldg. 107 Edison, NJ 08837 Price $139 (sound card not included, headset included) Supports PC with Windows 3.1 or later. 486 or better required with SoundBlaster-compatible cards. 386SX or better required with Verbex DSP cards (not included). Shipping Now Listen for Windows is a speaker-independent navigation system which can be customized for specific Windows apps. Out of the box, it supports a number of common programs like Microsoft Office. __________________________________________________________ Microwriter AgendA Microwriter Services Ltd Phone (+44) 81 715 1023 (U.K.) (voice or FAX) Address Unit 1 Seaforth Works Rear of 8-12 Seaforth Avenue New Malden Surrey KT3 6JP (Info from Carroll Morgan ) The AgendA is a personal desktop assistant (PDA) style machine. You can carry it along with you. It has chording input. You can also hook it up to your PC, or even program it. It costs just under 200 pounds, with 128K memory. [Apparently Microwriter is in some form of bankruptcy right now. The DataEgg is somehow based on this. You may want to contact InHand for more information.] __________________________________________________________ The Minimal Motion Computer Access System Equal Access Computer Technology Phone 508-263-6437 Fax 508-263-6537 Address Dr. Michael Weinreigh 39 Oneida Rd. Acton, MA 01720 USA Price InfoGrip-compatible "a few hundred dollars" + a one-handed Bat For their own system $300 (DOS software) + "a few hundred dollars" Shipping these are custom-made, so an occupational therapist would make moulds/do whatever to make it for you. You can buy one now. Supports PC only, although the InfoGrip-compatible version might work with a Mac. In a one-handed version, there is exactly one button per finger. In a two-handed version, you get four buttons per finger, and the thumbs don't do anything. You can also get one-handed versions with three thumb buttons - compatible with the InfoGrip Bat. Basically, get it any way you want. They also have a software tutorial to help you learn the chording, which can also be used as a one-handed chording system for most DOS apps, using the standard keyboard. Works on a PC under DOS, not Windows. Planning on Macintosh and PC/Windows support. No work has been done on a Unix version, yet. __________________________________________________________ Octima Ergoplic Keyboards Ltd. Phone 972-4-5322844 (Israel) Fax 972-3-5322970 Address P.O. Box 31 Kiryat Ono 55100, Israel (info from Mandy Jaffe-Katz ) A one-handed keyboard. __________________________________________________________ OfficeTalk for WordPerfect Kolvox Communications Inc. Phone 800-556-5869 or 416-221-2400 FAX 416-218-3100 Address 4100 Yonge St. #607 North York, Ontario, Canada M2P 2B5 Price $1395 (includes headset, but not sound card) Supports PC with WordPerfect 5.1 or later for DOS or Windows (sound card required) Shipping Now Recognizes 500 voice commands, specially for WordPerfect. Another product, LawTalk, adds a 30,000 word dictionary. __________________________________________________________ Power Secretary Articulate Systems Phone 800-443-7077 or 617-935-5656 Price $1995 Supports Macintosh with at least 20 Mbytes RAM A product based on DragonDictate, but for the Macintosh. Power Secretary requires at least an 040, but works without any extra hardware, even on the newer 040 Powerbook's. Call for more info. __________________________________________________________ Rover for Windows Digital Soup Inc. Phone 800-793-7356 or 802-254-7356 FAX 802-254-6812 Address P.O. Box 1340 Brattleboro, VT 05302 Price $129 (sound card and headset not included) Supports PC running Windows 3.1 or later Shipping Now Includes a starter vocabulary of 50 words. Macros can generate up to 128 keystrokes each. __________________________________________________________ Telaccount Speech Recognizer for Windows Telaccount Inc. Phone 718-824-3493 FAX 718-723-0962 Address 257 Robinson Ave. Bronx, NY 10465 Price $79 (sound card and headset not included) Supports PC running Windows 3.1 or later Shipping Now Supports navigation with a 400 word customizable vocabulary. __________________________________________________________ Twiddler Handykey Phone 516-474-4405 or 800-638-2352 Address 141 Mt. Sinai Ave. Mt. Sinai, NY 11766 USA Price $199. Shipping Now. Supports PC The Twiddler is both a keyboard and a mouse, and it fits in one hand. You type via finger chords. Shift, control, etc. are thumb buttons. When in "mouse" mode, tilting the Twiddler moves the mouse, and mouse buttons are on your fingers. The cabling leaves your normal keyboard available, also. Most applications work, and Windows works fine. DESQview has trouble. GEOWorks also has trouble - mouse works, keyboard doesn't. OS/2 compatibility coming soon. 60 day full refund, minus shipping fee. _________________________________________________________________ Thanks Thanks go to Chris Bekins for providing the basis for this information. Thanks to the numerous contributors: * Doug Martin * Carroll Morgan * Mandy Jaffe-Katz * Wes Hunter * Paul Schwartz * H.J. Woltring * Dan Sorenson * Chris VanHaren * Ravi Pandya * Leonard H. Tower Jr. * Dan Jacobson * Jim Cheetham * Cliff Lasser * Richard Donkin * Paul Rubin * David Erb * Bob Scheifler * Chris Grant * Scott Mandell * John Darragh * Russell Nelson * John Lamp * Paul Roossin * Tom Knotts * Donna Foley * Bob Adams * Gary Karp <72212.3240@COMPUSERVE.COM> * Kelly Fairbanks * Peter Bower * Paul Benati * Peter S. Cohen <70254.535@CompuServe.COM> * Steve Wartig * Dave Millman * Mary Lindstrom * John Lees * Carlos M. Puig and everybody else who I've probably managed to forget. A special thanks to Nelson Minar for emacs html-helper-mode, which made this document possible. The opinions in here are my own, unless otherwise mentioned, and do not represent the opinions of any organization or vendor. -- Dan Wallach // dwallach@cs.princeton.edu // Phone#: 609-683-4673 http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~dwallach/ PGP 2.6.2 fingerprint: A7 FC 33 D0 99 B5 2D DE E6 F8 8F 5A 6D D5 FE B8 From: Dan Wallach,dwallach@cs.princeton.edu Reply-To: richardd,richardd@cix.compulink.co.uk Newsgroup: comp.answers,sci.answers,news.answers,sci.med,sci.med.occupational,comp.human-factors Receive-Date: Donnerstag, 23-Mär-95 18:06:07 Creation-Date: Freitag, 17-Mär-95 05:59:18 Message-ID: typing-injury-faq/software_795423507@cs.princeton.edu Date: Fri, 17 Mar 1995 05:59:18 +0000 References: typing-injury-faq/changes_795423507@cs.princeton.edu Subject: Typing Injury FAQ (5/6): Software Monitoring Tools [monthly posting] Attributes: MIME Organization: Princeton University Followup-To: sci.med.occupational UserFlags: Old ReadAccess GlobalFlags: Exported Link HardLink Archive-name: typing-injury-faq/software Version: 2.4, 24th September 1994 URL: http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~dwallach/tifaq/software.html Prologue This FAQ may be cited as: * Donkin, Richard. (1995) "Typing Injury FAQ: Software Monitoring Tools" Usenet news.answers. Available via anonymous ftp from rtfm.mit.edu in pub/usenet/news.answers/typing-injury-faq/software. 12 pages. World-Wide-Web users will find this available as hypertext: * http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~dwallach/tifaq/software.html * (Dan Wallach's page) http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~dwallach/ [This FAQ is maintained by Richard Donkin . I post it, along with the other FAQ stuff. If you have questions, you want to send mail to Richard, not me. - dwallach] _________________________________________________________________ Software Tools to help with RSI This file describes tools, primarily software, to help prevent or manage RSI. This version now includes information on diverse tools such as calendar programs and even digital watches, which tends to contradict the title somewhat. It also includes information on software for pain-free use of mice and keyboards - it draws the line at hardware, which is the subject of the Keyboard Alternatives FAQ. Some of the information in this FAQ is now quite out of date, so please send in an update if you use one of these tools. I am especially interested in getting reviews of these products from people who have evaluated them or are using them. The major difficulty with all these products is that when you are under pressure you tend to cancel out of the break reminder almost automatically - any suggestions on how to avoid this would be appreciated. In this FAQ, CIX refers to the UK conferencing system, not the US Commercial Internet Exchange. Richard Donkin Acknowledgements: * Amara Graps for information on Coffee Break * Charles Hsieh for information on Mac tools * Jean Wilson for information on Plug-In for Windows Changes in this version: * Added information on Coffee Break, Plug-In for Windows * Newly available as WWW hypertext _________________________________________________________________ Typing management tools Typing management tools aim to help you manage your keyboard use, by warning you to take a break every so often. The better ones also include advice on exercises, posture and workstation setup. A few use sound hardware to alert you to a break, but the majority use beeps or screen messages. Often, RSI appears only after many years of typing, and the pain has a delayed action in the short term too: frequently you can be typing all day with little problem and the pain gets worse in the evening. These tools act as an early warning system: by listening to their warnings and taking breaks with exercises, you don't have to wait for your body to give you a more serious and painful warning - that is, getting RSI. Activity Monitoring Program (commercial software) Available from: Anthony Steven Office Automation Systems 7 Clarks Terrace Heworth YORK YO3 0DQ Phone & FAX: +44 (904) 423622 Platforms Windows This product is specifically aimed at helping employers meet the requirements of EC directive 90/270, so it is of most interest to European users. It does not provide animations of exercises, instead providing them in the manual - the rationale for this is that the EC directive requires breaks to be taken away from the computer, so sitting at your keyboard doing exercises is not allowed. In any case, it is better for you to stretch your legs as well as arms, and rest your eyes by leaving the computer, so this seems sensible. The program feels less intrusive than some others as a result, it simply pops up a small window asking you to take a break. Unlike most other programs, you can set a hierarchy of some work then micropause, longer work then short pause, and still longer work then a long pause. This hierarchy is closer to medical recommendations than just taking a break every N minutes. Also, this program is only activated by keyboard or mouse activity, unlike some other programs that pop up at a given time even if you are not at your PC. The program does not let you exit it or change the settings without a password (though this protection is configurable) - ideal for companies that want to discourage people from bypassing the program. The latest version has some improvements: a TSR is supplied so that typing in a DOS window will not affect the accuracy of the break times; the program beeps three times before a break to let you stop typing before it grabs control from the current window; and the minimised icon shows you when the next break is due, changing periodically to cycle through all the break times. At Your Service (commercial software) Available from Bright Star Phone 206-451-3697 Platforms Mac (System 6.0.4), Windows Provides calendar, keyboard watch, email watch, and system information. Warns when to take a break (configurable). Has a few recommendations on posture, and exercises. Sound-oriented, will probably work best with sound card (PC) or with microphone (Mac). Should be possible to record your own messages to warn of break. Coffee Break (shareware) Available via anonymous ftp o ftp://sumex.stanford.edu o (mirror of Stanford) ftp://ftp.hawaii.edu o (author's site) ftp://thomas_mac.wustl.edu Platforms Macintosh Price $5 registration fee "This locks you out of your program for X minutes every Y minutes. The X and Y are set by you. You can always see how many minutes you have to go till your break by looking at the digital countdown clock in the corner of your screen. You can also set a warning message to be displayed Z minutes before the break starts, to give yourself an added reminder. The program seems very stable, it's never crashed my computer (and I have a loaded system- always > 4 programs running in memory in addition to the 20 or so CDEVs and INITs), and it even lets serial file transfers run in the background while it's locked you out (if you were transferring a large file over the modem, say). I think the author, Thomas Reed, has done an excellent job, and I urge you to send in your shareware fee, if you are using this program." - Amara Graps Comments Some people like to be completely locked out of their computer when the break occurs, other people would hate this. Still, since Coffee Break is shareware you can see how you feel about it in practice before you pay for it. Computer Health Break (commercial software) Available from Escape Ergonomics, Inc 1111 W. El Camino Real Suite 109 Mailstop 403 Sunnyvale, CA Phone 408-730-8410 Platforms DOS Cost $79.95; quantity discounts, site licenses. Aimed at preventing RSI, this program warns you to take breaks after a configurable interval, based on clock time, or after a set number of keystrokes - whichever is earlier. It gives you 3 exercises to do each time, randomly selected from a set of 70. Exercises are apparently tuned to the type of work you do - data entry, word processing, information processing. Exercises are illustrated and include quite a lot of text on how to do the exercise and on what exactly the exercise does. CHB includes hypertext information on RSI that you can use to learn more about RSI and how to prevent it. Other information on non-RSI topics can be plugged into this hypertext viewer. A full glossary of medical terms and jargon is included. CHB can be run in a DOS box under Windows, but does not then warn you when to take a break; it does not therefore appear useful when used with Windows. Comments The keystroke-counting approach looks good: it seems better to measure the activity that is causing you problems than to measure clock time or even typing time. The marketing stuff is very good and includes some summaries of research papers, as well as lots of arguments you can use to get your company to pay up for RSI management tools. DOS Stretch (commercial software) Available from John Fricker Software PO Box 1289 Ashland, OR 97520 Phone 503-488-5699 E-Mail 71054.261@compuserve.com Platforms DOS (Hercules, EGA, VGA) Cost $27.00 Demo (VGA only, single exercise) CompuServe: Health and Fitness Forum, Issues At Work section, file DSDEMO.EXE This break reminder program includes exercises but no ergonomic information. It includes 11 exercises, taking about four minutes. They are animated using a cartoon figure. The demo includes a hand exercise that seems useful; the full program includes a reminder TSR. Exercise Break [formerly StressFree] (shareware) Available from Hopkins Technology (distributors) 421 Hazel Lane Hopkins, MN 55343-7116 Phone 612-931-9376 FAX 612-931-9377 E-Mail 70412.727@compuserve.com (Ignacio Valdes, the developer) Demos (working program but reduced functions) CompuServe Windows Advanced Forum, New Uploads section, or Health and Fitness Forum, Issues At Work section. (Windows and Mac versions in latter) Anonymous FTP ftp://ftp.cica.indiana.edu (and mirroring sites) CIX rsi conference Platforms Windows (3.0/3.1), Mac System 6.0.5 or higher, DOS version soon Cost $29.95 if supported via CompuServe or Internet, otherwise $39.95. Site license for 3 or more copies is $20.00 each. Aimed at preventing RSI, this program warns you to take breaks after a configurable interval (or at fixed times). Displays descriptions and pictures of exercises - pictures are animated and program paces you to help you do exercises at the correct rate. Quite a few exercises, can configure which ones are included to a large extent. One useful feature is that when it is running minimised it shows the time to the next break, helping you plan your work to the next break rather than it coming as an interruption. The new release, 3.0, is renamed Exercise Break, supports Mac and Windows and should include a DOS version. I have been trying out a beta version and it has some useful features, including Typewatch (no relation to the freeware program ...), which graphs your typing rate over time, with optional warnings to slow down and export facilities for spreadsheet analysis. It also includes a full ergonomic checklist online to help set up your workstation, and a picture of correct posture and workstation adjustment. An unusual feature is the ability to include your own exercises in the program, providing you have access to a Windows SDK, without programming. Comments This is the only tool I know of with a redistributable demo that is not just a slide show, so if you do get the demo, post it on your local bulletin boards, FTP servers or BITNET servers! Includes the ability to step backward in the exercise sequence, which is good for repeating the most helpful exercises. Hopefully a number of add-on exercise modules will become available now that it is possible to add exercises. EyerCise (commercial software) Available from RAN Enterprises One Woodland Park Dr. Haverhill, MA 01830, US Phone 800-451-4487 or 508-521-4487 Platforms Windows (3.0/3.1), OS/2 PM (1.3/2.0) [Not DOS] Cost $69.95 including shipping and handling, quantity discounts for resellers. Free demo ($5 outside US). Aimed at preventing RSI and eye strain, this program warns you to take breaks after a configurable interval (or at fixed times). Optionally displays descriptions and pictures of exercises - pictures are animated and program beeps you to help you do exercises at the correct rate. Includes 19 stretches and 4 visual training exercises, can configure which are included and how many repetitions you do - breaks last from 3 to 7 minutes. Also includes online help on workplace ergonomics. Quote from their literature EyerCise is a Windows program that breaks up your day with periodic sets of stretches and visual training exercises. The stretches work all parts of your body, relieving tension and helping to prevent Repetitive Strain Injury. The visual training exercises will improve your peripheral vision and help to relieve eye strain. Together these help you to become more relaxed and productive. "The package includes the book Computers & Visual Stress by Edward C. Godnig, O.D. and John S. Hacunda, which describes the ergonomic setup for a computer workstation and provides procedures and exercises to promote healthy and efficient computer use. Comments I have a copy of this, and it works as advertised: I would say it is better for RSI prevention than RSI management, because it does not allow breaks at periods less than 30 minutes. Also, it interrupts you based on clock time rather than typing time, which is not so helpful unless you use the keyboard all day. Worked OK on Windows 3.0 though it did occasionally crash with a UAE - not sure why. Also refused to work with the space bar on one PC, and has one window without window controls. Very useable though, and does not require any sound hardware. Lifeguard (commercial software) Available from Visionary Software P.O. Box 69447 Portland, OR 97201 Tel 503-246-6200 Platforms Mac, DOS (Windows version underway) Aimed at preventing RSI. Warns you to take a break with dialog box and sound. Includes a list of exercises to do during breaks, and information on configuring your workstation in an ergonomic manner. Price: $59; quantity discounts and site licenses. The DOS product is bought in from another company, apparently; not sure how equivalent this is to the Mac version. The Mac version got a good review in Desktop Publisher Magazine (Feb 1991). Good marketing stuff with useful 2-page summaries of RSI problems and solutions, with references. PC-FIT User-Saver (commercial software, free slideshow demo) Available from Human-ware Burggasse 88/16 A-1070 Wien Austria Phone +43 222/526 02880 FAX +43 222/526 02889 Demo (slideshow) available CompuServe: Health and Fitness Forum, Issues At Work section, file PCFITD.EXE Platforms DOS 3.1 or higher, Windows (3.0/3.1), Macintosh System 7.0.1 or higher Cost ??? This program warns you to take breaks, provides exercises for the muscles and for the eyes, and includes information on ergonomics. Exercises are animations based on photos of a model (mime artist?), which together with cartoons elsewhere lend a light-weight feeling to this package, as far as I can tell from the demo. Orientated to EC 90/270. Plug-In for Windows (shareware), version 2.11 Available from Plannet Crafters, Inc. E-Mail 73040.334@compuserve.com dmandell@aol.com Phone 404-740-9821 Platforms Windows Cost $20, three week free trial This is a Program Manager extension with lots of features, including the ability to display a message box with a message of your own composition, at a configurable time interval. (Presumably based on time elapsed rather than time spent timing). Typewatch (freeware), version 3.11 (September 1993) Available from Anonymous ftp ftp://ftp.csua.berkeley.edu/pub/typing-injury/softw are/typewatch.shar CIX sco and rsi conferences Email richardd@cix.compulink.co.uk Platforms UNIX (tested on SCO, SunOS, Mach; character and X Window mode) This is a shell script that runs in the background and warns you to stop typing, based on how long you have been continuously typing. It does not provide exercises, but it does check that you really do take a break, and tells you when you can start typing again. Typewatch now tells you how many minutes you have been typing today, each time it warns you, which is useful so you know how much you *really* type. It also logs information to a file that you can analyse or simply print out. The warning message appears on your screen (in character mode), in a pop-up window (for X Windows), or as a Zephyr message (for those with Athena stuff). Tim Freeman has put in a lot of bug fixes, extra features and support for X, Zephyr and Mach. Various calendar / batch queue programs Available from Various sources Platforms Various Any calendar/reminder program that warns you of an upcoming appointment can be turned into an ad hoc RSI management tool. Alternatively, use any batch queue submission program that lets you submit a program to run at a specific time to display a message to the screen. Using Windows as an example: create a Calendar file, and include this filename in your WIN.INI's 'load=' line so you get it on every startup of Windows. Suppose you want to have breaks every 30 minutes, starting from 9 am. Press F7 (Special Time...) to enter an appointment, enter 9:30, hit Enter, and type some text in saying what the break is for. Then press F5 to set an alarm on this entry, and repeat for the next appointment. By using Windows Recorder, you can record the keystrokes that set up breaks throughout a day in a .REC file. Put this file on your 'run=' line, as above, and you will then, with a single keypress, be able to set up your daily appointments with RSI exercises. The above method should be adaptable to most calendar programs. An example using batch jobs would be to submit a simple job that runs at 9:30 am and warns you to take a break; this will depend a lot on your operating system. On Windows 3.x, you can use Barclock 2.2 or above - this gives you a clock in the current window title bar, and also lets you type in a message to be popped up every hour (or even more frequently if you set multiple alarms). Not intended for this purpose but simple and effective, Barclock is available on many BBSs as BARCLK22.ZIP. While these approaches are not ideal, they are a good way of forcing yourself to take a break if you can't get hold of a suitable RSI management tool. If you are into programming you might want to write a version of Typewatch (see above) for your operating system, using batch jobs or whatever fits best. Digital watches with count-down timers Available from Various sources, e.g. Casio BP-100. Many digital watches have timers that count down from a settable number of minutes; they usually reset easily to that number, either manually or automatically. While these are a very basic tool, they are very useful if you are writing, reading, driving, or doing anything away from a computer which can still cause or aggravate RSI. The great advantage is that they remind you to break from whatever you are doing. Comments My own experience was that cutting down a lot on my typing led to my writing a lot more, and still reading as much as ever, which actually aggravated the RSI in my right arm though the left arm improved. Getting a count-down timer watch has been very useful on some occasions where I write a lot in a day. I have tried an old fashioned hour-glass type egg timer, but these are not much good because they do not give an audible warning of the end of the time period! _________________________________________________________________ Keyboard and mouse control tools Keyboard control tools enable you to change your keyboard mapping so you can type with one hand, or with a different two-handed layout. One-handed typing tools may help, but be VERY careful about how you use them - if you keep the same overall typing workload you are doubling your hand use for the hand that you use for typing, and may therefore simply cause your remaining "good" hand/arm to deteriorate rapidly. There is probably a large number of people who have worsened their RSI in this way and regret it. Mouse control tools change the way your mouse works to avoid or modify operations that are painful - mouse dragging is a common problem. hsh (public domain) Available via anonymous ftp ftp://ftp.csua.berkeley.edu/pub/typing-injury/software/hs h.shar Platforms UNIX (don't know which ones) Allows one-handed typing and other general keyboard remappings. Only works through tty's (so you can use it with a terminal or an xterm, but not most X programs). Dvorak keyboard tools (various) Available tools X window system software, via anonymous ftp ftp://ftp.csua.berkeley.edu/pub/typing-injury/softw are/xdvorak.c Microsoft systems Standard in Microsoft Windows, Windows for Workgroups and Windows NT Available as a free add-on for MS-DOS To quote the Microsoft documentation Dvorak keyboard layouts are based on designs created by August Dvorak, a professor at the University of Washington during the 1930s and 1940s. Dr. Dvorak studied the way people type standard English, and determined the most common letter combinations. He then designed new keyboard layouts to speed up typing and reduce fatigue. These layouts, now called Dvorak or simplified keyboards, were initially developed for two-handed typists. Following World War II, Dvorak layouts were developed for typists who use the right or left hand alone. It is doubtful that switching to Dvorak will have a major impact on RSI, but it may be helpful in preventing RSI. If you do switch, your typing rate will go down a lot initially, which will help! Microsoft Windows products support Dvorak as a standard keyboard layout - look in the International setup in the Control panel. MS-DOS supports this via the MS-DOS Supplemental Disk, available from Microsoft, which includes standard and one-handed Dvorak layouts. These layouts are available for Windows in Application Note GA0650, available from Microsoft or from various online services as GA0650.ZIP. In the US, training and keycap stickers for the Dvorak layout are available from: KEYTIME 4516 NE 54th St. Seattle, WA 98105-2933 Phone: 206-324-7219 (voice and fax) If you are also looking at alternative keyboards, you might also like to look at the Maltron layout, which is claimed to be more efficient than Dvorak. See the alternative keyboard FAQ for supplier details. AccessDOS, Access Pack for Windows (free commercial software) Available from Microsoft, CompuServe, Genie, Microsoft Online, Microsoft Download Service, BBSs Platforms DOS, Windows AccessDOS has a range of keyboard and mouse control features that may be useful, such as sticky shift keys to avoid stretching to hold down shift at same time as other keys, and using the keyboard for mouse functions. It also allows serial- line interfacing of alternative keyboards and other devices. AccessDOS is available from Microsoft on the MS-DOS Supplemental Disk. Access Pack for Windows has roughly the same features but in a Windows environment. The mouse functions of Access Pack for Windows are useful for people who find using the mouse painful. You can use the numeric keypad, with Num Lock off, to do operations like drag and drop without holding down a mouse button or a key on the keyboard. You can also do double click from the keyboard by pressing a single key just once. You can use cursor control keys for all mouse movements, though this is rather slow, as you might expect. The mouse functions probably work best if you can use some kind of ergonomic mouse or trackball and just avoid double click and drag operations as described. You can work entirely without a mouse - if you want to use a real mouse as well as Access Pack functions, it must be Microsoft Mouse compatible. PowerClicks, Mouse2 (shareware) Available via anonymous ftp + ftp://sumex.stanford.edu/info-mac/cfg/power-clicks-102.hqx (PowerClicks) + ftp://sumex.stanford.edu/info-mac/cfg/mouse-2.hqx (Mouse2) Platforms Macintosh Cost PowerClicks is $3 "PowerClicks is a cdev that can replace mouse click and mouse click-holding with self-defined keyboard combinations. For example, I use my right hand to move the mouse around, and use my left hand to press F1 for mouse click, and F2 for mouse click- holding." - Charles Hsieh Mouse2 makes the mouse move twice as fast, so that your hand doesn't have to move as far. -- Dan Wallach // dwallach@cs.princeton.edu // Phone#: 609-683-4673 http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~dwallach/ PGP 2.6.2 fingerprint: A7 FC 33 D0 99 B5 2D DE E6 F8 8F 5A 6D D5 FE B8 From: Dan Wallach,dwallach@cs.princeton.edu Reply-To: cp_baker,cp_baker@pnl.gov Newsgroup: comp.answers,sci.answers,news.answers,sci.med,sci.med.occupational,comp.human-factors Receive-Date: Donnerstag, 23-Mär-95 18:06:07 Creation-Date: Freitag, 17-Mär-95 06:00:23 Message-ID: typing-injury-faq/furniture_795423507@cs.princeton.edu Date: Fri, 17 Mar 1995 06:00:23 +0000 References: typing-injury-faq/changes_795423507@cs.princeton.edu Subject: Typing Injury FAQ (6/6): Furniture Information [monthly posting] Attributes: MIME Organization: Princeton University Followup-To: sci.med.occupational UserFlags: Old ReadAccess GlobalFlags: Exported Link HardLink Archive-name: typing-injury-faq/furniture Version: @(#)computer_furniture 1.5 94/12/09 09:34:34 URL: http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~dwallach/tifaq/furniture.html Prologue This FAQ may be cited as: * Baker, Carl P. (1995) "Typing Injury FAQ: Furniture Information" Usenet news.answers. Available via anonymous ftp from rtfm.mit.edu in pub/usenet/news.answers/typing-injury-faq/furniture. 12 pages. World-Wide-Web users will find this available as hypertext: * http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~dwallach/tifaq/furniture.html * (Dan Wallach's page) http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~dwallach/ [Would you like to maintain this FAQ? The original author is looking for somebody else to do the job. Send mail to for details. Meanwhile, send update info to .] _________________________________________________________________ Rumors and calls for information As I've currently got my needs for a comfortable workstation reasonably well met, I'm no longer actively seeking furniture information for myself directly from vendors. Thus, most further updates will be supplied by you, our readers. You may note some furnitures listed with no known suppliers. If you can get manufacturer or supplier information, I'd be glad to add it to the FAQ. We've also had some interest in furniture for the disabled (or whatever the current PC term is for people other than us TABs [Temporarily Able Bodied]). If anyone is aware of furniture designed for non-TABs or has had any luck using or modifying any commercially available furniture or knows about any companies who manufacture equipment for non-TABs that could be persuaded to develop something, please let me know. Another request from someone interested in the specifics of specifying office furniture: ...where I can locate reports or articles (preferably on-line) which offer specific recommendations, guidelines, or formulas (the nuts and bolts) for identifying ergonomically sound office furniture - and I don't just mean furniture where just computing or typing tasks are performed. For example, are you aware of anybody that has spelled out somewhere the procedure for computing this? Perhaps there are programs that people have designed to make such determinations based on an individual's measurements being feed in? We've also seen the Anthrocart furniture and Herman-Miller Equa chairs recommended. Anyone having contact information available for either of these vendors is encouraged to let us know. Also from the rumor mill... ComputerVision has been listed in this FAQ in the past as a source for computer furniture. However, they have not been in the furniture business since about 1992. They are strictly a CAD/CAM software house at this time. They are NOT in the process of selling their furniture. The company is, to the best of our knowledge, healthy and prosperous and NOT on the verge of bankruptcy. We apoligize if we have inadvertently started any rumours to the contrary. _________________________________________________________________ References Most of the information presented here is quotes from the net, personal experience, rumors, and other semi-reliable sources. The following have been mentioned as possible references for anyone seeking actual accurate information: * Drury, C.G., and Coury, B.G. (1982). A Methodology for Chair Evaluation. Applied Ergonomics, 13, 195-202. * Grandjean, "Fitting the task to the Man" * Grandjean, "Ergonomics in Computerized Offices" _________________________________________________________________ Furniture Information OK, what we have here is a list of all the manufacturers of computer type office furniture that I know of. The style of furniture and any known dimensions are listed together with the addresses of the manufacturer (if known) and any known suppliers. Also, I'll make a rough stab at what it would cost to equip me with appropriate tableage for each manufacturer. DISCLAIMER: I have no interest, financial or otherwise an any supplier listed in this FAQ. I have not (at this point) done business with any of these suppliers and have no information about their trustworthiness, reliability, or ability to deliver the products they claim to sell. For this purpose, you should know what equipment I'm using. I've got a sun Sparcstation (Pizza box) with a 19 inch monitor (HUGE, 90 lbs), and external (shoebox) hard disk, tape drive, and CD units. In my former office, all of this equipment was set on a 30 inch by 60 inch by 30 inch high table. I was using the table "sideways,~ meaning that I sat at the head of the table with the keyboard in front of me, the monitor and pizza box behind the keyboard, and way down at the other end of the table, were have the shoebox units. I've since been updated to a "computer workstation" constructed of "modular furniture." Basically, I've got a 30 inch deep corner unit with 36 inch and 48 inch "wing" tables. All of this stuff is 30 inches high, but there is a keyboard tray under the corner unit. I sit facing into the corner of the room with the monitor on the table. The pizza box and the rest of the computer are on the floor under the table. Overall, this is reasonably satisfactory. However, it's not perfect. The tables are equipped with privacy panels that are set in about 6 inches from the far edge of the tables. This prevents the use of that space by the little roll-around file pedestals that I've been given. Also, the holes through the table tops are on the far side of the privacy panel. This makes it inconvenient to route the keyboard cable from a pizza box on the table or behind the privacy panel out to the front of the system. Some pass-through holes in the top of the privacy panel would fix this. Also, the keyboard tray is only 24 inches wide. This is OK for me, as my trackball sits nicely on the tray next to the keyboard. However, if I were using a mouse, it would be completely unacceptable. I've had to order wider replacement trays for the five machines in my computer lab. The drawer slides in the pedestals are very smooth and work nicely. The slide for the keyboard tray requires that you lift the tray a little before it will roll in and out. I can't decide if this is a bug or a feature. I'm not sure who builds this stuff - there's a tag that says "JAX" on the inside of the privacy panel. First, some comments on "good" computer furniture. Generally, it is accepted that keyboard heights should be in the range of 26.5 to 29 inches. This means that whatever you have, it's too high. Many computer tables have some sort of shelf, stand, or table which raises the monitor. I think that this is a real mistake, as you end up hunched forward with your neck tilted back in order to see the screen. This is particularly painful if you wear bifocals (I'm told). Virtually all modern monitors offer some kind of tilt and swivel, so for the furniture to provide this functionality is usually redundant and silly. Many computers (such as mine) require a vast amount of table depth - I'm using about 44 inches. One solution to this problem to to design a "corner" type workstation which is designed to be placed facing into a corner with the users back to the room. This is a convenient way to create the required depth, and work tables can be placed on either side of the corner unit for a great deal of usable work area. However, you can't see anyone come into your office (your back is to the door), and I would expect that there would be a possibility of severe glare problems (it's hard to move the screen around to get rid of glare). A further comment comes to this section from Chris Grant ... the most important aspect of computer furniture, besides having enough room for the monitor, is probably the thing that holds up the keyboard and mouse. Therefore it may be overkill to spend thousands on adjustable two-part tables if a $100 keyboard tray can be installed. And anybody in systems furniture has the chance to do another somewhat important item - lower the worksurface that the monitor sits on. _________________________________________________________________ The furniture, sources, and my comments Anthro Technology Furniture Address 10450 SW Manhasset Drive Tulatin, OR 97062 Phone 800-325-3841 or 503-691-2556 FAX 800-325-0045 [Review by Shawn Herzinger ] I would recommend Anthro. Their stuff is quite expensive but very well built and designed IMHO. They were a spinoff company from Tektronix. They offer a glossy color catalog with desks, shelves and accessories in a variety of sizes and configurations. They stress ergonomics and offer adjustable keyboard shelves and monitor arms. I'm not affiliated, just a satisfied customer. Backsaver Holliston, MA. Phone: 800-251-2225. Makes a nice sounding chair described below by Francis Favorini It's called the Executive Ergotech and lists for US $695-795 depending on whether you get the high back and/or articulating arms. I got both. It has every adjustment you could want: 1. Pneumatic seat height (5" range) 2. Forward seat tilt - chair can be allowed to tilt both forward and backward or just backward. 3. Tilt lock - chair can be locked at any tilt angle or float freely. 4. Tilt tension - controls recline tension, when tilt not locked. 5. Backrest angle (relative to seat) 6. Backrest height 7. Lumbar support - self-inflating air cushion which can be regulated. 8. Armrest width - how far apart armrests are. (5-6" range) 9. Armrest height - 4 positions. 10. Armrest swivel - 3 positions (straight, angled io/out), also can rotate freely if desired. 11. Articulating armrests (optional) - "This is an exclusive Backsaver feature." -they say. Works well. Basically you can release the armrests so that they support your arms as you move them throughout the area of an approximately 9" radius circle (parallel to the plane of the seat). By locking part of the mechanism you can change this to 4" radius. I use this for mousing. Other Notes: o Armrests are padded and sculptured. o Seat is nicely sculptured, with waterfall front edge. o Base is plastic with 5 casters. o Other parts are plastic or metal. I give construction an A-. o Comes in four colors: Navy, Black, Grey, Burgundy. o Fabric appears to be a synthetic with coarse weave. Looks sturdy. o Controls are well-labeled. o Regular seatback is 24"; high is 30". o Educational discount is available. (about 20%) They have a nice color glossy catalog with some other stuff in it. There are some good pictures of the chair, if someone wants to scan them. The description is a little skimpy, though. When I ordered the chair, they said 4 weeks for delivery. 5 weeks later when I called to find out where it was, they told me it was on back order, and I wouldn't get it for 3 more weeks. It then arrived more or less on time. Bretford Mobile workstations These are basically a set of tubular frames carts on casters. Most of these place the monitor on a shelf above the keyboard surface. The only one that doesn't is basically a desk on wheels except that it is only 24 inches deep. It is, however 26.5 inches high. Prices run from $223 to $370. Known supplier: Husk office furniture and supplies 327 W Clark PO Box 886 Pasco, WA 99301 Phone 509-547-7593 Communicore CAD system This is a "corner" type workstation - designed to be placed facing into a corner with the users back to the room. All units are 26.5 inches high and the extension tables are 30 inches deep. The workstation extension tables have an under-table storage shelf. Basically, you have the corner unit, the "plain" extension table, and the "tilting" extension table (useful for working from prints or other large paper). Additionally, there is something called a "workstation" which is neither shown in the picture that I have, nor described in the text. Prices run from $225 for a 36w x 30d x 26.5h "workstation" (also available in 60w for $304) to $345 for the 66w x 52d x 26.5h corner workstation. A basic setup (corner workstation, layout table and extension) would run about $900. The flaws with this are in the area of accessories - no drawer space, and no over work-surface shelf space (for manuals, not monitors). None known supplier at this time. Ergotron This is a line of "ergonomic" workstations and "dense pack" racks for network installations. Basically, you buy a frame which can be fitted with legs, legs with casters, or attached to the wall. The top of this frame is about 70-78 inches above the floor; near the top is an adjustable shelf. To the bottom of the shelf is attached a "truck" which holds the monitor, allowing for the monitor to slide from side to side, tilt, or swivel. A "swing-arm" version of the monitor truck is available as well; this allows the monitor to be repositioned more freely. The frame can be fitted with a work surface (to which a keyboard holder can be attached) or with a digitizer support frame. Keyboard trays are also available to fit directly to the monitor suspension truck. No undertable storage is provided, although there is a CPU caddy which attaches to the side of the unit. Side tables, pencil boxes, and print holders are also available. Frame prices run from $160 (for a wall mount unit) to $300 for a freestanding unit. Shelves run $250; monitor suspension from $200 to $425, and legs from $78 to $800. Keyboard trays can run as high as $300, and CPU holders from $100 to $250. Known supplier: Ergotron 3450 Yankee Drive, Ste. 100 Eagan, MN 55121 Phone 800-888-8458 Hon computer furniture (66000 series) This is essentially a set of tables which match one another. Under table storage is limited to a center pencil drawer or a center keyboard drawer, either of which can be mounted to the task desk (which has no keyboard shelf). Cable management is provided. The keyboard shelf is a cutout/ dropdown; it's not clear if it is adjustable. My guess is not. The following table types are available + Table with center keyboard shelf (30 deep by 36 or 48 wide) + Table with right or left keyboard shelf (30 deep by 60 wide) + Task desk (30 by 60) + Printer Stand (36w x 30d x 26.5h) with paper feed slot. + Return (42w x 20d x 26.5h) freestanding. Cost is from $300 for the Typing Return to $500 for the table with keyboard shelf. Known supplier: Husk office furniture and supplies 327 W Clark PO Box 886 Pasco, WA 99301 Phone 509-547-7593 Image Setter Workstation This is a pretty complete modular workstation. It includes tables with and without keyboard cutouts, tilting tables, tilting light tables, corner units, keyboard trays, CPU racks, mobile files, drawers, and overhead storage. They also have connector parts that allow two tables to be connected together in a corner to form a corner workstation. Known supplier: Foster Manufacturing Company 414 North 13th Street Philadelphia, PA 19108-1001 Phone 800-523-4855 FAX 215-625-0196 Mayline/Hamilton There are two lines of furniture from Mayline/Hamilton: The Creativity Corner line is similar to the Communicore cad system. The table height for this system is not listed in my catalog. There is a corner unit with under table storage and a "reference desk" with under table storage. The adjustable table seems to be adjustable for height, and it looks as if the reference desk top can be tilted. The adjustable table has no under table storage. There are drawer (pencil and storage) and shelf (hutch) accessories for the reference table and a corner shelf (for the monitor - yuck) for the corner unit. Costs run from $256 for a 36w x 30d reference desk to $512 for the tilt top adjustable table. Hutches are about $200, corner shelf $118, two drawer unit $215, keyboard/pencil drawer $91. A basic setup (Adjustable table, reference table, and corner unit) would run $1150; with pencil drawer, storage drawer and hutch it would run $1650. The CADCorner units from Mayline Hamilton are similar to the creativity corner units. All units are 29 inches high (too high!!), but they come in both 30 inch and 36 inch depths. No under table shelf space is provided, but a two drawer storage unit can be got for $336. Rather than a full hutch, a bookshelf is available (8h x 12d). A 20 inch wide keyboard drawer is available (where am I to put my mouse?), as is a two drawer storage unit. Prices range from $400 for a basic 36w x 30d x 29h desk to $760 for the 36d corner unit. A setup with the 36d corner unit, a 36w desk, a 60w desk, a bookshelf, a two drawer storage unit and a keyboard drawer runs about $2200. No known supplier at this time. Tiffany Office Furniture This is a line of stands and carts; there is a basic workstation cart (mobile bi-level table) for about $450 and a more elaborate but smaller cart (less available workspace for $400. The smaller cart has space under it for a printer. The stands consist of towers on pedestals with casters; The monitor sits on a stand atop the tower, the keyboard on a tray clamped to the tower and the cpu unit on a bracket at the base. Tiffany also makes a line of terminal stands; these are simply small tables on pedestals with casters. Prices range from $200 for a simple table to $320 for a very adjustable table. Larger units are available too. The smaller cart may work for what I need if the keyboard tray will adjust out from the table far enough; the keyboard tray is a little too narrow for my keyboard and mouse together (stupid optical mice! The only thing worse is a mechanical mouse; think I'll get a trackball). There is no workspace on this thing, but I could put it right next to a table. Known supplier: Husk office furniture and supplies 327 W Clark PO Box 886 Pasco, WA 99301 Phone 509-547-7593 Ultra View, Ultra View Plus, and Ergo Pro workstations In overall appearance, these units are similar to many "particle board covered with vinyl veneer" type computer workstations. However, these have the computer monitor on a recessed tilted shelf, so the monitor is angled up toward the operator. Unfortunately, they'll only handle monitors as large as 14"h 24"w 21"d. Known suppliers: MISCO One Misco Plaza Holmdel, NJ 07733 Phone 800-876-4726 FAX 908-264-5955 Global Computer Supplies 2318 East Del Amo Blvd. Dept 51 Compton, CA 90220 Phone 800-8GLOBAL (800-845-6225) VariTask Workcenter This is a fully adjustable two surface workstation. The keyboard surface is 24d x 48w or 30d x 48w; the monitor surface is 18d x 48w. The two surfaces can be tilted and elevated independently; adjustment range is 27.5 to 42.5h for the monitor table and 26h to 41h for the keyboard surface. Price runs from $2915 to $4052, depending on which of the lift and tilt operations are manual vs. electrical and depending on table size. No known supplier at this time. WorkManager System This is a line of tables, corner units, dividers and accessories which can be configured in a number of different ways - corner units, clustered workstations, lab workstations, etc. They have a clean, futuristic look to them that I like; others may not. No undertable storage is provided except on the printer stand; roll-under type storage units and undertable brackets for CPU's are available. No table heights are given in my descriptions. There are corner units with keyboard shelves (where am I supposed to put my mouse?), tables 34, 48, and 60 inches wide, a tilt top table, printer stand, and laser printer stand with supplies storage. Prices run about $300 to $350 per desk or corner unit; printer stand is $200, underdesk file cabinet is $200. Known supplier: MISCO One Misco Plaza Holmdel, NJ 07733 Phone 800-876-4726 FAX 908-264-5955 _________________________________________________________________ Suppliers and their products Husk office furniture and supplies Address 327 W Clark PO Box 886 Pasco, WA 99301 Phone 509-547-7593 Carries the Bretford, Hon and Tiffany lines of furniture Ergotron Address 3450 Yankee Drive, Ste. 100 Eagan, MN 55121 Phone 800-888-8458 Ergotron is a direct marketer of their own rack style computer furniture. MISCO Address One Misco Plaza Holmdel, NJ 07733 Phone 800-876-4726 FAX 908-264-5955 MISCO carries a wide variety of computer supplies as well as printer stands, mobile workstations, secure workstations, ergonomic workstations, chairs, modular workstations and the Work Manager system from MicroComputer Accessories. Among the chairs the MISCO has are a nice looking adjustable "posture chair." I always called this type of chair a "back chair." It has no back, and supports the user at the knee and buttocks in a "tilted forward" position. Global Computer Supplies Address 2318 East Del Amo Blvd. Dept 51 Compton, CA 90220 Phone 800-8GLOBAL (800-845-6225) Global is another supplier of just about any computer related supply you can think of. They have the same "posture chair" that MISCO carries, as well as a full line of "regular" chairs and computer furniture. The computer furniture includes the Work Manager, Ultra View and similar Comfort-Ease units, SnapEase PC Workcenter, PC Perma Cart, and a host of other computer stands, racks and furniture. They also have some furniture which somewhat resembles traditional office furniture, including the "Classic View" desk, which has a glass work surface with the computer monitor located underneath and tilted up at an angle. Global also has a separate catalog of "Business Furniture." This includes such items as button tufted wing back leather chairs and couches for your waiting area; executive tilt/swivel chairs; wood desks, bookshelves and other furniture; file cabinets (including fire resistant); carts; mail room organizers and so on. Forminco International Address 4115 Sherbrooke St. W, Ste. 101 Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3Z 1K9 Phone 514-938-2262 Possible Alternate Address 9610A, Ignace Brossard, Bquebec, Canada J4Y 2R3 Possible Alternate Phone 800-663-6764 or 514-444-9488 FAX 514-444-9378 Forminco makes computer furniture that many people have mentioned to me. Unfortunately, I've not seen any of the furniture or even a catalog, so I'm unable to comment on its appearance or potential usefulness. Another more information supplied by dave@watcom.on.ca (David McKee): They are a Canadian company based in Quebec.... I ended up buying their simplest work station at $199 (Canadian). As you probably know, this is peanuts in the computer accessory world. I have been very happy with the price/value of this product. It has a built in power bar, a place to coil up electrical cords, two adjustable pad areas and a keyboard rest that has two points of adjustment. I had it shipped directly to me, so I had to assemble it myself. I was impressed with the solid quality of the materials. They have a range of desks that go up to a quite large corner set. They also have cabinet accessories, a chair, and a mousepad platform. Foster Manufacturing Company Address 414 North 13th Street Philedelphia, PA 19108-1001 Phone 800-523-4855 FAX 215-625-0196 Foster concentrates on the Engineering Market, with files for engineering drawings and medical records, layout light tables, drafting chairs, and paper cutters. They also carry the Image Setter modular workstation. WorkRite Phone 415-898-8977 I don't know if WorkRite makes furniture or not. However they do make another interesting item that many of us should have. In my experience, most of the modular furniture makes no provision for having a mouse in addition to the keyboard. WorkRite makes replacement keyboard trays that are much wider than the usual 24 inches or so, allowing the mouse to sit on the same tray as the keyboard. Novel idea! ;-) -- Dan Wallach // dwallach@cs.princeton.edu // Phone#: 609-683-4673 http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~dwallach/ PGP 2.6.2 fingerprint: A7 FC 33 D0 99 B5 2D DE E6 F8 8F 5A 6D D5 FE B8