[Geeks] Experiences, opinions and recommendations for ergonomic keyboards and mice?

[Dr. Sridar Narayanan]

Hey Andy,

Always the first responder... (;-)

Mishkin has the MS Ergo 4000. It seems quite comfortable, a key feature
being the 7deg negative tilt. My only complaint is that the spacebar had a
horrid feel to it, seemingly getting stuck on every press. I'll have to get
my hands on a few others to see whether this is a generalized problem.

I've had a virtual look at this: http://www.safetype.com/. It's very
expensive, though, and you have to order it to try it. Luckily, I've been a
touch typist since Grade 8 (Olivetti manual, then IBM Selectric).

Re. mice, I'm leaning toward the Evoluent Vertical Mouse 3:
http://www.evoluent.com/. Similar concept to the MS CM3000. My right arm is
much worse than my left, so the mouse is a major culprit. I have found that
the scroll wheel is evil, and I consciously avoid using it.

I've got a healthy repertoire of shell aliases, but unfortunately, the vast
majority of my keying is from swaths of text (reports, email, grants,
papers, reports, email, reports...). (:-( Perhaps voice input is worth
looking into.

Sridar

> I think there are a few others of us here in the same boat... :)
> 
> Myself:
> 
>   * Dragon Naturally speaking on a Vista Laptop via Synergy (GNU
> software) to a Linux box.
>   * Microsoft Ergonomic keyboard 4000. (havent yet resorted to the Ergo
> Kinesis)
>   * Microsoft Comfort Mouse 3000 combined with a Microsoft Ergo mouse
> (wierd looking one)
> 
> Although the most important things to do:
> 
>    * Get that keyboard and mouse at the correct height. Take a saw to
> work, do whatever it takes.
>    * Learn to touch type.  (ie: use all your fingers and spread the load).
>    * Learn to use bash/the shell/etc for what it is good for.  My
> .bash_aliases file is below (for example)
>        Anything that amounts to one less keypress is good!  My most
> used function is the c() one...
> 
> Other tricks such as things like this in your .vimrc will help a lot too:
> 
>    au BufWritePost * if getline(1) =~ "^#!.*/bin/" | silent !chmod a+x
> <afile> | endif
> 
> ie: automatically "chmod +x" any file that you are editing if it
> starts with "#! */bin/"
> 
> In short, make changes now! :)  I am sure that Jon Harlap and Sebas
> will add their own experiences.. :)
> 
> ---
> 
> # lots of funky completions
> if [ -e /etc/bash_completion ];
> then
>    . /etc/bash_completion
> fi
> 
> # aliases
> alias rm="rm -i"
> alias cp="cp -i"
> alias mv="mv -i"
> 
> # CMR
> alias gc="ssh -L 3000:numbat.cmr.uq.edu.au:2200
> ajanke_0315 at sshd.cmr.uq.edu.au"
> alias gl="ssh -p 3000 localhost"
> 
> # host aliases
> alias ga="ssh alj225 at dc2.anu.edu.au"
> alias gb="ssh -A rotor at ben.lclust"
> alias gd="ssh -A rotor at donald.lclust"
> alias gf="ssh -A feeble.bic.mni.mcgill.ca"
> alias gh="ssh ajanke.selfip.com"
> alias gm="ssh -A rotor at mavis.anu.edu.au"
> alias gmu="ssh -A rotor at murdoch.lclust"
> alias gp="ssh poinecom at platypus.cbr.hosting-server.com.au"
> alias gs="ssh -A shadow.bic.mni.mcgill.ca"
> alias gy="ssh -A yorick.bic.mni.mcgill.ca"
> 
> alias rgd="ssh -A root at donald.lclust"
> alias rgf="ssh root at fatcon.lclust"
> alias rgmu="ssh root at murdoch.lclust"
> alias rgz="ssh -x root at 132.216.56.61"
> 
> # finger savers
> alias .b=". ~/.bashrc"
> alias a="animate"
> alias au="sudo apt-get update"
> alias ai="sudo apt-get install"
> alias ap="sudo apt-get remove --purge"
> alias C="cd .. && l"
> alias cb="./configure --with-build-path=/usr/local/bic
> --prefix=/usr/local/bic"
> alias cb2="./configure --with-minc2 --with-build-path=/usr/local/bic
> --prefix=/usr/local/bic"
> alias cm="./configure --with-build-path=/usr/local/mni
> --prefix=/usr/local/mni"
> alias cx="chmod +x"
> alias dh="df -h"
> alias di="display"
> alias d.="du -sh ."
> alias d*="du -sh *"
> alias e="exit"
> alias g="gimp-remote"
> alias h="history"
> alias i="inkscape"
> alias k="keychain --eval ~/.ssh/bic-dsa-key"
> alias l="ls -F --color=auto"
> alias la="ls -al -F --color=auto"
> alias ll="ls -l -F --color=auto"
> alias lw="ls -1 | wc -l"
> alias n="LANG=en_AU.utf-8 nedit -create"
> alias m="make"
> alias mk="make -k"
> alias p="pwd"
> alias ps="ps -u rotor"
> alias q="qstat -u rotor,rodell"
> alias qh="qhost -q"
> alias ql="qstat -u rotor,rodell -f | less"
> alias qw="qstat -u rotor,rodell | tail -n +3 | wc -l"
> alias pi="ping -c 3"
> alias r="register"
> alias rl="sed -n '1!G;h;$p'"
> alias s="sudo"
> alias ss="ssh"
> alias t="top -d 1"
> alias ts="tail -f /var/log/syslog"
> alias tf="tail -f"
> alias v="vim"
> alias vb="vi ~/.bashrc"
> alias w="watch"
> alias wl="wc -l"
> alias wq="watch --no-title qstat -u rotor,rodell -f"
> alias xt="xterm -bg black -fg lightgreen -sl 5000 -sb -rightbar -fa
> Dejavu -fs 10"
> alias xf="killall metacity; xfwm4 --replace&"
> alias xx="xxdiff"
> 
> # finger saving functions
> c () {
>    if [ "x${1}" = "x" ]
>    then
>       cd
>    else
>       cd "${1}"
>    fi
> 
>    ls -F --color=auto
>    }
> 
> d () {
>    if [ "x${1}" = "x" ]
>    then
>       display *.jpg *.png
>    else
>       display "${1}"
>    fi
>    }
> 
> cs () {
>    cat `which "${1}"`
>    }
> 
> vs () {
>    vim `which "${1}"`
>    }
> 
> fwl () {
>    for i in `ls -1d *`
>    do
>       echo -n "  $i: "
>       ls -1 $i | wc -l
>    done
>    }
> 
> 
> a
> 
> 
> On Fri, Apr 4, 2008 at 9:52 AM, Dr. Sridar Narayanan
> <sridar at mrs.mni.mcgill.ca> wrote:
>> 
>>  Fellow Geeks,
>> 
>>  Age and far too many hours/day in front of a computer have given me
>>  recurring bouts of repetitive stress injury/carpal tunnel syndrome. I'm sure
>>  some of you are in the same boat. Do people have any experience (positive or
>>  negative) with so-called ergonomic keyboards and mice? If I get enough
>>  replies, I'll post a summary.
>> 
>>  Cheers,
>> 
>>  Sridar
>> 
>> 
>>  _______________________________________________
>>  Geeks mailing list
>>  Geeks at bic.mni.mcgill.ca
>>  http://www2.bic.mni.mcgill.ca/mailman/listinfo/geeks
>> 
> 
>