home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Internet Surfer 2.0
/
Internet Surfer 2.0 (Wayzata Technology) (1996).iso
/
pc
/
text
/
mac
/
faqs.533
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1996-02-12
|
28KB
|
694 lines
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS);faqs.533
Pit Fighter ----- ----- -- 42
Power Golf 12/25 06/15 20 19
Psychosis 12/25 06/15 -- 27
R-Type 12/25 06/15 30 29
RBI 3 ----- ----- -- 42
Raiden 20/38 22/39 60 49
Rift War Saga ----- ----- -- 47
Shape Shifter ----- ----- -- 44
Sherlock Holmes 20/38 24/45 50 47
SideArms 08/20 05/11 -- ??
Silent Debuggers 15/30 24/42 40 36
Sinistron 12/25 05/12 20 ??
Sonic Spike 12/25 11/19 20 ??
Space Harrier 12/25 10/19 20 19
Splash Lake ----- ----- 50 --
Splatterhouse 12/25 12/25 -- 36
Super Star Soldier 12/25 06/15 -- 29
Super Volleyball 12/25 24/42 -- 19
TV Sports Baseball 20/38 ----- -- 43
TV Sports Basketball 15/30 15/30 50 43
TV Sports Football 15/30 06/12 50 43
TV Sports Hockey 20/38 22/39 OOS 43
Takin it to the Hoop 08/20 07/14 30 27
Talespin 20/38 24/42 40 36
Tiger Road 12/25 17/29 30 27
Timeball 12/25 12/20 -- 40
Tricky Kick 12/25 07/14 -- ??
Turrican 15/30 ----- 20 39
Valis 2 12/25 13/26 -- 29
Valis 3 20/38 ----- 55 48
Veigue's Tactical Gladiator 12/25 16/27 -- 27
Victory Run 06/15 03/10 20 19
Vigilante 06/15 03/10 OOS 19
World Class Baseball 08/20 03/08 20 19
World Court Tennis 08/20 06/14 20 19
Yo Bro 20/38 17/34 40 ??
Ys 3 20/38 27/46 50 48
Ys Book 1 & 2 12/25 18/35 -- 36
Sources:
BRE
352 W. Bedford Ave., Suite 104
Fresno, CA 93711
(209) 432-2684
Game Dude
PO Box 8325
Van Nuys, CA 91409
(818) 764-2442
[Accept Major Credit Cards]
Chips & Bits
PO Box 234
Rochester, VT 05767
(802) 767-3033
(802) 767-3382 - Fax
(Available in the GEnie online-mall.)
<>
Xref: bloom-picayune.mit.edu sci.med:51878 sci.med.occupational:175 news.answers:4666
Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!enterpoop.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!micro-heart-of-gold.mit.edu!xn.ll.mit.edu!ames!agate!zonker.cs.berkeley.edu!dwallach
From: Dan Wallach <dwallach@cs.berkeley.edu>
Newsgroups: sci.med,sci.med.occupational,news.answers
Subject: FAQ: Typing Injuries (1/3): General Info [monthly posting]
Supersedes: <typing-injury-faq/general_721370199@cs.berkeley.edu>
Followup-To: sci.med.occupational
Date: 16 Dec 1992 17:45:53 GMT
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Lines: 359
Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.Edu
Expires: 24 Jan 1993 17:45:51 GMT
Message-ID: <typing-injury-faq/general_724527951@cs.berkeley.edu>
Reply-To: Dan Wallach <dwallach@cs.berkeley.edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host: zonker.cs.berkeley.edu
Summary: information about where to get more information
Originator: dwallach@zonker.cs.berkeley.edu
Archive-name: typing-injury-faq/general
Version: $Revision: 4.17 $ $Date: 1992/12/16 17:36:20 $
The Typing Injury FAQ -- sources of information for people with typing
injuries, repetitive stress injuries, carpal tunnel syndrome, etc.
Copyright 1992 By Dan Wallach <dwallach@cs.berkeley.edu>
The opinions in here are my own, unless otherwise mentioned, and do not
represent the opinions of any organization or vendor. I'm not a medical
doctor, so my advice should be taken with many grains of salt.
Changes since previously distributed versions are marked with change ||
bars to the right of the text, as is this paragraph. ||
[Current distribution: sci.med, news.answers, and e-mail to
c+health@iubvm.ucs.indiana.edu and
sorehand@vm.ucsf.edu]
Table of Contents:
==1== Mailing lists, newsgroups, etc.
==2== The soda.berkeley.edu archive
==3== General info on injuries
==4== Typing posture, ergonomics, prevention, treatment
==5== Requests for more info
==6== References
==1== Mailing lists, newsgroups, etc.
USENET News:
-----------
comp.human-factors occasionally has discussion about alternative input devices.
comp.risks has an occasional posting relevant to injuries via computers.
sci.med and misc.handicap also tend to have relevant traffic.
There's a Brand New newsgroup, sci.med.occupational, chartered specifically
to discuss these things. This would be the recommended place to post.
Mailing lists:
-------------
The RSI Network: Available both on paper and via e-mail, this publication
covers issues relevant to those with repetitive stress injuries. For
a sample issue and subscription information, send a stamped, self-
addressed business envelope to Caroline Rose, 970 Paradise Way, Palo
Alto CA 94306.
E-mail to <crose@applelink.apple.com>
$2 donation, requested.
All RSI Network newsletters are available via anonymous ftp from ||
soda.berkeley.edu (see below for details). ||
c+health and sorehand are both IBM Listserv things. For those familiar
with Listserv, here's the quick info:
c+health -- subscribe to listserv@iubvm.ucs.indiana.edu
post to c+health@iubvm.ucs.indiana.edu
sorehand -- subscribe to listserv@vm.ucsf.edu
post to sorehand@vm.ucsf.edu
Quick tutorial on subscribing to a Listserv:
% mail listserv@vm.ucsf.edu
Subject: Total Listserv Mania!
SUBSCRIBE SOREHAND J. Random Hacker
INFO ?
.
That's all there is to it. You'll get bunches of mail back from the Listserv,
including a list of other possible commands you can mail. Cool, huh? What'll
those BITNET people think of, next?
==2== The soda.berkeley.edu archive
I've started an archive site for info related to typing injuries. Just
anonymous ftp to soda.berkeley.edu:pub/typing-injury. (128.32.149.19)
Currently, you'll find:
Informative files:
typing-injury-faq/
general -- information about typing injuries
keyboards -- products to replace your keyboard
software -- software to watch your keyboard usage
keyboard-commentary -- my personal opinions on the keyboard replacements
carpal.info -- info on Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
carpal.surgery -- JAMA article on CTS surgery
carpal.tidbits -- TidBITS article on CTS
tendonitis.info -- info on Tendonitis
datahand.review -- detailed review of the DataHand
datahand.review2 -- follow-up to above
datahand.desc -- description of the DataHand's appearance
rsi.biblio -- bibliography of RSI-related publications
rsi-network/* -- archive of the RSI Network newsletter
comfort-* -- marketing info on the Comfort Keyboard ||
maltron-* -- marketing info on various Maltron products ||
Programs:
hsh.shar -- a program for one-handed usage of normal keyboards
typewatch.shar -- tells you when to take a break
xdvorak.c -- turns your QWERTY keyboard into Dvorak
xidle.shar -- keeps track of how long you've been typing
rest-reminder.shar -- yet another idle watcher
kt14.tar.Z -- generates fake X keyboard events from the ||
serial port -- use a PC keyboard on anything! ||
Pictures (in the gifs subdirectory):
howtosit.gif -- picture of good sitting posture
accukey1.gif -- fuzzy picture
accukey2.gif -- fuzzy picture with somebody using it
bat.gif -- the InfoGrip Bat
comfort.gif -- the Health Care Comfort Keyboard
datahand1.gif -- fuzzy picture
datahand2.gif -- key layout schematic
datahand3.gif -- a much better picture of the datahand
kinesis.gif -- the Kinesis Ergonomic Keyboard
maltron[1-4].gif -- several pictures of Maltron products
mikey1.gif -- the MIKey
mikey2.gif -- Schematic Picture of the MIKey
twiddler1.gif -- "front" view
twiddler2.gif -- "side" view
wave.gif -- the Iocomm `Wave' keyboard
Note: Many of the actual files are compressed (have a .Z ending).
If you can't uncompress a file locally, soda will do it for you.
Just ask for the file, without the .Z extension.
If you're unable to ftp to soda, send me e-mail and we'll see what we
can arrange.
==3== 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).
==4== 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 -- here are 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. -- dwallach]
. 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.
==5== 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 list of chair/desk vendors. 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.
==6== References
I completely rewrote the information section here, using 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
ISBM 0-477-3499-3
Price: $9.95 (New Zealand $'s, of course)
Thanks to Richard Donkin <richardd@hoskyns.co.uk> for reviewing this posting.
--
Dan Wallach "One of the most attractive features of a Connection
dwallach@cs.berkeley.edu Machine is the array of blinking lights on the faces
Office#: 510-642-9585 of its cabinet." -- CM Paris Ref. Manual, v6.0, p48.
Xref: bloom-picayune.mit.edu sci.med:51879 sci.med.occupational:176 news.answers:4667
Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!enterpoop.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!micro-heart-of-gold.mit.edu!xn.ll.mit.edu!ames!agate!zonker.cs.berkeley.edu!dwallach
From: Dan Wallach <dwallach@cs.berkeley.edu>
Newsgroups: sci.med,sci.med.occupational,news.answers
Subject: FAQ: Typing Injuries (2/3): Keyboard Alternatives [monthly posting]
Supersedes: <typing-injury-faq/keyboards_721370199@cs.berkeley.edu>
Followup-To: sci.med.occupational
Date: 16 Dec 1992 17:45:56 GMT
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Lines: 515
Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.Edu
Expires: 24 Jan 1993 17:45:51 GMT
Message-ID: <typing-injury-faq/keyboards_724527951@cs.berkeley.edu>
Reply-To: Dan Wallach <dwallach@cs.berkeley.edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host: zonker.cs.berkeley.edu
Summary: everything you ever wanted to know about replacing your keyboard
Originator: dwallach@zonker.cs.berkeley.edu
Archive-name: typing-injury-faq/keyboards
Version: $Revision: 4.10 $ $Date: 1992/12/16 17:36:37 $
Special Note: Next month, I'll be going to a conference where a number ||
of these manufacturers will be represented. You can expect a number of ||
hopefully interesting information, then... ||
The Alternative Keyboard FAQ
Copyright 1992 By Dan Wallach <dwallach@cs.berkeley.edu>
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, news.answers, and e-mail to
c+health@iubvm.ucs.indiana.edu and
sorehand@vm.ucsf.edu]
Changes since previously distributed versions are marked with change ||
bars to the right of the text, as is this paragraph. ||
In this issue, I went over things, fleshing out some of the entries ||
I felt were a little lacking. Otherwise, nothing much new, here. ||
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 U.S.A. phone numbers.
All monetary figures, unless otherwise mentioned, are U.S.A. dollars.
Products covered in this FAQ:
Apple Computer, Inc -- rumors of a new keyboard!
Dragon Systems
The Bat
DataHand
Comfort Keyboard System
Kinesis Ergonomic Keyboard
Maltron
The Tony! Ergonomic KeySystem
The MIKey
The Wave
The Minimal Motion Computer Access System
Twiddler
Half-QWERTY
Microwriter
Braille 'n Speak
Octima
AccuKey
GIF pictures of many of these products are available via anonymous ftp
from soda.berkeley.edu:pub/typing-injury. (128.32.149.19) I highly ||
recommend getting the pictures. They tell much more than I can fit ||
into this file. ||
If you can't ftp, send me mail, and I'll uuencode and mail them to you
(they're pretty big...)
==============
Apple Computer, Inc.
Sales offices all over the place.
The following rumor appeared in TidBITS#149/26-Oct-92:
I've heard that Apple is working on a new mouse with more rounded
curves that users might find more comfortable than the current
mouse. That's not terribly exciting, but what is exciting is the
new keyboard Apple also has in the works, reportedly slated for a
January release. The keyboard should list for about $250, which
compares relatively well with the $185 Extended Keyboard II,
considering the extra hardware that goes into the ergonomics.
Like some of the more esoteric keyboards from small companies,
Apple's new keyboard "breaks" in the center, so that the left and
right halves rotate around pivot points. You can also angle the
sides when it is broken for maximum comfort, and the keyboard even
comes with palm rests. Although this is terribly hard to
visualize, and I don't have a QuickTime movie for you, I've heard
that the design makes typing extremely comfortable.
DragonDictate-30K (and numerous other Dragon products)
Dragon Systems, Inc.
320 Nevada Street
Newton, MA 02160
Phone: 800-TALK-TYP or 617-965-5200
Fax: 617-527-0372
Shipping: Now.
Price: DragonDictate-30K -- $4995 (end user system)
DragonWriter 1000 -- $1595 / $2495 (end user/developer system)
various other prices for service contracts, site licenses, etc.
Compatibility: 386 (or higher) PC only (3rd party support for Mac)
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). They sell you
a hardware board and software which sits in front of a number
of popular word processors and spreadsheets.
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 Dragon- Dictate-30K you need to pause 1/10th sec between
words. Dragon claims typical input speeds of 30-40 words per minute.
I don't have specs on the DragonWriter 1000.
The DragonDictate-30K can recognize 30,000 words at a time.
The DragonWriter 1000 can recognize (you guessed it) 1000 words at a time.
Dragon's technology is also part of the following products
(about which I have no other info):
Microsoft Windows Sound System (Voice Pilot)
IBM VoiceType
Voice Navigator II (by Articulate Systems -- for Macintosh)
EMStation (by Lanier Voice Products -- "emergency medical workstation")
The Bat
old phone number: 504-336-0033
current phone number: 504-766-8082
Infogrip, Inc.
812 North Blvd.
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70802, U.S.A.
Ward Bond (main contact)
David Vicknair (did the Unix software) 504-766-1029
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.
Price:
$495 (dual set -- each one is a complete keyboard by itself)
$295 (single)
(cheaper prices were seen at MacWorld Expo as a show-special.)
DataHand 602-860-8584
Industrial Innovations, Inc.
10789 North 90th Street
Scottsdale, Arizona 85260-6727, U.S.A.
Mark Roggenbuck (contact)
Supports: IBM PC and Macintosh.
Shipping: In beta. "Big backlog" -- could take 3 months
to get one. Making them "as-needed." Made by hand.
Price: $1200/unit for the pair. Minimum order: 2.
Each of the four main fingers has five switches each: forward,
back, left, right, and down. The thumbs have a number of switches.
The idea is that your hands never have to move to use the keyboard.
The whole unit tilts in its base, as a mouse.
(see also: the detailed review, written by Cliff Lasser <cal@THINK.COM>
available via anonymous ftp from soda.berkeley.edu)
Comfort Keyboard System 414-253-4131
FAX: 414-253-4177
Health Care Keyboard Company
N61 W15150 Wigwam Drive
Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin 53051 U.S.A.
Theoretical New Address: N82 W15340 Appleton Ave
Jeffrey Szmanda (Vice President -- contact)
Shipping: Now. 30 day wait. Should be FCC approved by the time you
read this.
Supports:
PC
Mac
Planned future support:
IBM 122-key layout (3270-style, I believe) -- sometime in December
Sun Sparc -- possibly by the end of the year or January '93
Decision Data
Unisys UTS-40
Silicon Graphics
Others to be supported later. The hardware design is relatively
easy for the company to re-configure.
Price: starts at $590.
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).
Kinesis Ergonomic Keyboard 206-455-9220
206-455-9233 (fax)
Kinesis Corporation
15245 Pacific Highway South,
Seattle, Washington 98188, U.S.A.
Shirley Lunde (VP Marketing -- contact)
Shipping: currently catching up with backlogged orders. By the time
you read this, they should be FCC-approved. Still, expect a
30-60 day backlog for your order.
Supports: PC. Mac and Sun Sparc in the works.