Touchstream keyboards
Jul. 22nd, 2003 10:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
compilerbitchI just ordered two of these, one for the lab and one for my college room. I was originally planning to go for a DataHand keyboard, but after Leo started to get RSI problems with his again, and recommended the Touchstream, I went for those instead.
They are about a quarter of the price of the DataHand equivalent, so I bought two instead of one. Hopefully they should turn up next week -- I'll post about my experiences.
The Touchstream is a completely flat keyboard, with no physical keys. As best I can figure out, it senses the positions of your hands and fingers electrostatically, building a 2D image a bit like this:
There is a 'keyboard' printed onto the upper surface, on which you type. So much would be to be expected, but the really extraordinary thing about these keyboards is gesture recognition. Typing is recognised as a 'one finger' action, but if you have two or more fingers on the surface, this is recognised as a gesture. The most common are used to provide the equivalent of a mouse and cursor keys. Many more provide shortcuts for commonly-used commands like cut, copy, paste, open file, etc.
Sounds cool, anyway. I'll tell you what I really think when I get one!
Oh, I decided to go for the DVORAK layout:
Since I've been typing with a QWERTY layout for about 26 years now, this is a bit of a scary move, but I really do want to do everything possible to reduce problems. Also, it will force me to learn different habits whether I like it or not, which will definitely be likely to be an advantage in RSI reduction terms.
I can't wait until they turn up!
They are about a quarter of the price of the DataHand equivalent, so I bought two instead of one. Hopefully they should turn up next week -- I'll post about my experiences.
The Touchstream is a completely flat keyboard, with no physical keys. As best I can figure out, it senses the positions of your hands and fingers electrostatically, building a 2D image a bit like this:
There is a 'keyboard' printed onto the upper surface, on which you type. So much would be to be expected, but the really extraordinary thing about these keyboards is gesture recognition. Typing is recognised as a 'one finger' action, but if you have two or more fingers on the surface, this is recognised as a gesture. The most common are used to provide the equivalent of a mouse and cursor keys. Many more provide shortcuts for commonly-used commands like cut, copy, paste, open file, etc.
Sounds cool, anyway. I'll tell you what I really think when I get one!
Oh, I decided to go for the DVORAK layout:
Since I've been typing with a QWERTY layout for about 26 years now, this is a bit of a scary move, but I really do want to do everything possible to reduce problems. Also, it will force me to learn different habits whether I like it or not, which will definitely be likely to be an advantage in RSI reduction terms.
I can't wait until they turn up!