Archive-name: typing-injury-faq/keyboards Version: $Revision: 5.11 $ $Date: 1993/04/13 01:20:43 $  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------       Answers To Frequently Asked Questions about Keyboard Alternatives -------------------------------------------------------------------------------  The Alternative Keyboard FAQ Copyright 1992,1993 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.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]  Changes since previously distributed versions are marked with change        || bars to the right of the text, as is this paragraph.                        ||  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:     Using a PC's keyboard on your workstation / compatibility issues     Apple Computer, Inc.     Key Tronic FlexPro     Dragon Systems     The Bat     DataHand     Comfort Keyboard System     Kinesis Ergonomic Keyboard     Maltron     The Tony! Ergonomic KeySystem     The Vertical     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...)  ============== Using a PC's keyboard on your workstation / compatibility issues      Mini outline:         1. Spoofing a keyboard over the serial port         2. X terminals         3. NeXT         4. Silicon Graphics         5. IBM RS/6000 	6. Other stuff      1. 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.  	The two main programs I've found to do this are KT and A2X.  	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.  	kt is a simpler program, which should work with unextended X servers. 	Another program called xsendevent also exists, but I haven't seen it.  	Both a2x and kt are available via anonymous ftp from soda.berkeley.edu.      2. X terminals  	Also, a number of X terminals (NCD, Tektronics, 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.      3. NeXT  	NeXT had announced that new NeXT machines will use the Apple Desktop 	Bus, meaning any Mac keyboard will work.  Then, they announced they 	were cancelling their hardware production.  If you want any kind of 	upgrade for an older NeXT, do it now!      4. Silicon Graphics  	Silicon Graphics has announced that their newer machines (Indigo^2 and 	beyond) will use standard PC-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.      5. 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 recently, 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.				    ||          6. 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.   Apple Adjustable Keyboard     Apple Computer, Inc.     Sales offices all over the place.      Availability: February, 1993     Price: $219     Supports: Mac only      Apple has recently announced their new split-design keyboard.  The     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.      As soon as soda comes back up, I'll have a detailed blurb from     TidBITS available there.   FlexPro Keyboard     Key Tronic     Phone: 800-262-6006     Possible contact: Denise Razzeto, 509-927-5299     Sold by many clone vendors and PC shops      Availability: Spring, 1993 (?)     Price: $489 (?)     Supports: PC only (highly likely)      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.   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)  	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:  	soda.berkeley.edu:pub/typing-injury/a2x.tar.Z 	export.lcs.mit.edu: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).  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 DragonDictate-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 offered 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: PC and Mac      Shipping: In beta.  "Big backlog" -- could take 3+ months.      Price: $2000/unit (1 unit == 2 pods). (new price!)			    ||      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.  The whole pod     tilts in its base, to act 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     N82 W15340 Appleton Ave     Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin 53051 U.S.A.       Jeffrey Szmanda (Vice President -- contact)      Shipping: Now.      Supports: PC (and Mac???)						    ||          Planned future support: 	IBM 122-key layout (3270-style, I believe) 	Sun Sparc 	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: $690, including one system "personality module".		    ||      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: Now.      Supports: PC.  Mac and Sun Sparc in the works.      Price: $690.  Volume discounts available.  The $690 includes one foot 	pedal, one set of adhesive wrist pads, and a TypingTutor program. 	An additional foot pedal and other accessories are extra.      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.).      You can remap the keyboard in firmware (very nice when software won't     allow the reconfig).      Foot pedals are also available, and can be mapped to any key on the     keyboard (shift, control, whatever).   Maltron		(+44) 081 398 3265 (United Kingdom)     P.C.D. Maltron Limited     15 Orchard Lane     East Molesey     Surrey KT8 OBN     England      Pamela and Stephen Hobday (contacts)      U.S. Distributor: 	Jim Barrett 	Applied Learning Corp. 	1376 Glen Hardie Road 	Wayne, PA  19087  	Phone: 215-688-6866      Supports: PC's, Amstrad 1512/1640, BBC B, BBC Master, 	      Mac apparently now also available       Price: 375 pounds 	   $735 shipped in the U.S.A. (basically, converted price + shipping)  	   The cost is less for BBC computers, and they have 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)          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.   AccuKey     AccuCorp, Inc.     P.O. Box 66     Christiansburg, VA  24073, U.S.A.       703-961-3576 (Pete Rosenquist -- Sales)     703-961-2001 (Larry Langley -- President)       Shipping: Now.     Supports: PC, Mac, IBM 3270, Sun Sparc, and TeleVideo 935 and 955.     Cost: $495 + shipping.       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.   Twiddler	516-474-4405, or 800-638-2352     Handykey     141 Mt. Sinai Ave.     Mt. Sinai, NY 11766      Chris George (President)      Shipping: now.      Price: $199.      Supports: PC only.  Mac and X Windows in the works.      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.   Braille 'n Speak     301-879-4944     Blazie Engineering     3660 Mill Green Rd.     Street, Md 21154, U.S.A.      (information provided by Doug Martin <martin@nosc.mil>)      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.)   The Tony! Ergonomic KeySystem        415-969-8669     Tony Hodges     The Tony! Corporation     2332 Thompson Court     Mountain View, CA  94043, U.S.A.      Supports: Mac, PC, IBM 3270, Sun, and DEC.          Shipping: ???      Price: $625 (you commit now, and then you're in line to buy the     keyboard.  When it ships, if it's cheaper, you pay the cheaper price.     If it's more expensive, you still pay $625)      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.   The Vertical     Contact: Jeffrey Spencer or Stephen Albert, 619-454-0000     P.O. Box 2636     La Jolla, CA  92038, U.S.A.      Supports: no info available, probably PC's     Available: Summer, 1993     Price: $249      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 MIKey     301-933-1111     Dr. Alan Grant     3208 Woodhollow Drive     Chevy Chase, Maryland 20815, U.S.A.      Shipping: As of July, 1992: "Should be Available in One Year."      Supports: PC, Mac (maybe)      Price: $200 (estimated)      The keyboard is at a fixed angle, and incorporates a built-in mouse     operated by the thumbs.  Function keys are arranged in a circle at     the keyboard's left.   The Wave	(was: 213-)  310-644-6100     FAX: 310-644-6068      Iocomm International Technology     12700 Yukon Avenue     Hawthorne, California 90250, U.S.A.      Robin Hunter (contact -- in sales)      Cost: $99.95 + $15 for a set of cables      Supports: PC only.      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.       The Minimal Motion Computer Access System 	508-263-6437     508-263-6537 (fax)      Equal Access Computer Technology     Dr. Michael Weinreigh     39 Oneida Rd.     Acton, MA  01720, U.S.A.      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.      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.   Half-QWERTY	(Canada) 416-749-3124     The Matias Corporation     178 Thistledown Boulevard     Rexdale, Ontario, Canada     M9V 1K1      E-mail: ematias@dgp.toronto.edu      Supports: Mac and PC (but, not Windows)      Demo for anonymous ftp: explorer.dgp.toronto.edu:/pub/Half-QWERTY	    ||      Price:   $129.95 (higher in Canada, quantity discounts available)     Shipping: Now.          This thing is purely software.  No hardware at all.      The software will mirror the keyboard when you hold down the space     bar, allowing you type one-handed.   Octima	(Israel) 972-4-5322844     FAX: (+972) 3 5322970      Ergoplic Keyboards Ltd.     P.O. Box 31     Kiryat Ono 55100, Israel      (info from Mandy Jaffe-Katz <RXHFUN@HAIFAUVM.BITNET>)     A one-handed keyboard.   Microwriter AgendA (U.K.) (+44) 276 692 084     FAX: (+44) 276 691 826      Microwriter Systems plc     M.S.A. House     2 Albany Court     Albany Park     Frimley     Surrey GU15 2XA, United Kingdom      (Info from Carroll Morgan <Carroll.Morgan@prg.oxford.ac.uk>)      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. ===========  Thanks go to Chris Bekins <AS.CCB@forsythe.stanford.edu> for providing the basis for this information.  Thanks to the numerous contributors:  Doug Martin <martin@nosc.mil> Carroll Morgan <Carroll.Morgan@prg.oxford.ac.uk> Mandy Jaffe-Katz <RXHFUN@HAIFAUVM.BITNET> Wes Hunter <Wesley.Hunter@AtlantaGA.NCR.com> Paul Schwartz <pschwrtz@cs.washington.edu> H.J. Woltring <WOLTRING@NICI.KUN.NL> Dan Sorenson <viking@iastate.edu> Chris VanHaren <vanharen@MIT.EDU> Ravi Pandya <ravi@xanadu.com> Leonard H. Tower Jr. <tower@ai.mit.edu> Dan Jacobson <Dan_Jacobson@ATT.COM> Jim Cheetham  <jim@oasis.icl.co.uk> Cliff Lasser <cal@THINK.COM> Richard Donkin <richardd@hoskyns.co.uk> Paul Rubin <phr@napa.Telebit.COM> David Erb <erb@fullfeed.com> Bob Scheifler <rws@expo.lcs.mit.edu> Chris Grant <Chris.Grant@um.cc.umich.edu> Scott Mandell <sem1@postoffice.mail.cornell.edu>  and everybody else who I've probably managed to forget.  The opinions in here are my own, unless otherwise mentioned, and do not represent the opinions of any organization or vendor.