![Popular open source software is more secure than unpopular open source software, because insecure software becomes unpopular fast. [That doesn't happen for proprietary software.]](../sites/all/themes/drupal4hu/images/bg-center/bg-center_4.png)
At DrupalCon I got many stares, photos and too few discussions about my keyboard and mouse so I thought I should do a quick writeup. The keyboard is a Kinesis Freestyle, which in itself is a great thing: it's a traditional layout split keyboard. You can set it to be shoulder-wide and then type in a much more natural position already. I have added an Ascent to it which allows you to set up the keyboard 20-90 degrees. That's just good because it takes a bit to get used to the elevated keyboard -- for me it was one step (ten degrees) a day from 20 to 50 and then stayed there for a week and then jumped to 90 degrees. The keyboard is still a traditional layout so your fingers will already know how to type even when you can't see the keyboard. It just works well. The mouse is a Evoluent VerticalMouse. That also works exceptionally well -- unlike with the keyboard where I understand why not all keyboards are created like that, this mouse really feels like it should be the default.
Commenting on this Story is closed.
Expensive stuff though!
A lot cheaper than surgery however!
Glad you like the keyboard (I think the first time he saw one was on my desk). It's really different than most other keyboards. How much of a difference does the ascent make?
dmitrig01
I love my typematrix > http://www.typematrix.com/
Even better in Dvorak !
That does not help much. And Dvorak... huh. Extremely hard to learn...
I didn't find it all that hard, couple weeks or so of concerted effort. What I've found harder is getting rid of my bad habit of only using the left shift key when typing. I just can't kill that habit. I hoped the switch to DVORAK would do the trick, but nope. Just thoughtlessly messed up on it again in typing out DVORAK in that last sentence. grrr...
The Freestyle in itself is helping but the big deal is the Ascent.
I love the Evoluent mouse that I've used for a couple of years now. More comfortable! I've found that putting a gel wrist pad of 1 inch height or so in front of the mouse makes it even better.
The vertical keyboard I'm not ready for yet. But even in a world of pianos, there's clearly room for accordions.
I switched to the anir mouse 10 yeards ago. Together with an M$ natural keyboard, and a life without stress, i dont have any RSI anymore.
I have used the veritcal mouse for about 3 years now and love. SInce I am at the computer 10 hours a day it is a life saver. If I go to my wife's computer for 5 mins. (with her M$ Intellimouse) my wrist is toast.
I use this and it does the trick - http://www.allsop.com/mousepads-and-wrist-rests/wrist-assist-black-
I went from a nagging wrist ache to nothing!
Just to point out to anyone else seduced by the great ergonomics of these devices... the Evoluent does not provide any sort of driver for the Mac... so the buttons/wheel cannot be configured. Evoluent's website says that the Mac customer base does not warrant support of such a driver (!) www.evoluent.com/mac.htm
"Evoluent is a tiny company with limited resources. We do not supply a Mac driver because the quantity of VerticalMouses sold to Mac users is very small, but the cost of developing a Mac driver is higher than for a Windows driver."