Touchstream reactions
Jul. 26th, 2003 05:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
compilerbitchI need to take my mind off worrying about Bat being stuck in Moscow, so I thought I might just as well get on with sorting out my promised journal entry on my feelings about the new keyboard I've been getting to grips with recently.
Just to recap, my arthritis symptoms have been much worse than usual recently, so I have been looking around for alternatives to my usual habit of typing on a laptop on my knee. Oddly enough, I think that my preference for this was probably subconscious adjustment to my problem: my laptop keyboard has a very light action anyway, and using its touchpad instead of a mouse probably also helped. My initial thought was to go for a DataHand keyboard, but after Leo's negative experience, I thought better of it. Leo had been looking at the possibility of the Touchstream, and mentioned it to me last Saturday. I checked out the web site, looked up quite a few things people had said about them, and bought two of them.
I bought the Dvorak layout, which is working out OK, but was more than a little scary at first! My rationale was quite simple: I have been using the QWERTY layout for over 25 years, so changing layout would force me to learn different habits, and just might help alleviate the problem. Also, its tendency to be regarded as a potentially better layout appealed to me too. At first, it was hell. I couldn't type at all! After a day I was painfully slow. Now, after two days, I am improving a lot. I'm still slower than normal, of course, and I'm still having to watch my hands, but I am happy to say that I can type again! Most people seem to suggest that getting properly back up to speed can take weeks or months, but so far so good.
The keyboard is basically rather like a really big laptop touch pad, and I'm sure that the technology must have quite a lot in common. As with most 'ergonomic' keyboards, it is split into two halves that can be positioned independently, to the extent allowed by the flexible connector (probably a flexible PCB, not a ribbon cable, which actually promises better reliability). A stand is supplied that includes a couple of very nice gel wrist rests.
I was initially a bit worried about the idea of typing on a completely flat surface. However, it really works, and after the initial culture shock, it is working out fine. The keyboard is a wonderful example of well-executed, minimalist design.
Possibly the best feature, oddly enough is the integral mouse support. If, like me, you're prone to a hatred of sitting at desks, it is so nice to be able to relax with the keyboard on my knee but still be able to mouse as normal. I am currently splonked on my bed, laptop a couple of feet away set to 1024x768 so I can read it at a distance, with the Touchstream on my knee.
I've not yet got that far into the gesture recognition features, mostly because I'm concentrating on getting the layout burned into my muscle memory. It is just possibse that I am finding this a bit easier to pick up because of my musical background (keyboards and bass guitar), so persuading my hands to work independently is maybe easier for me than it might be for some people. The multi-finger 'chords' are almost certainly going to be easier for me due to keyboard playing, but don't necessarily let this put you off.
Verdict after 2 days: Yes, it does what it says on the tin!
I'll post again in a couple of weeks to pass on my feelings then. What, of course, I can't say yet is whether it really will help with RSI, but so far so good on that. The zero force technology is for real.
Just to recap, my arthritis symptoms have been much worse than usual recently, so I have been looking around for alternatives to my usual habit of typing on a laptop on my knee. Oddly enough, I think that my preference for this was probably subconscious adjustment to my problem: my laptop keyboard has a very light action anyway, and using its touchpad instead of a mouse probably also helped. My initial thought was to go for a DataHand keyboard, but after Leo's negative experience, I thought better of it. Leo had been looking at the possibility of the Touchstream, and mentioned it to me last Saturday. I checked out the web site, looked up quite a few things people had said about them, and bought two of them.
I bought the Dvorak layout, which is working out OK, but was more than a little scary at first! My rationale was quite simple: I have been using the QWERTY layout for over 25 years, so changing layout would force me to learn different habits, and just might help alleviate the problem. Also, its tendency to be regarded as a potentially better layout appealed to me too. At first, it was hell. I couldn't type at all! After a day I was painfully slow. Now, after two days, I am improving a lot. I'm still slower than normal, of course, and I'm still having to watch my hands, but I am happy to say that I can type again! Most people seem to suggest that getting properly back up to speed can take weeks or months, but so far so good.
The keyboard is basically rather like a really big laptop touch pad, and I'm sure that the technology must have quite a lot in common. As with most 'ergonomic' keyboards, it is split into two halves that can be positioned independently, to the extent allowed by the flexible connector (probably a flexible PCB, not a ribbon cable, which actually promises better reliability). A stand is supplied that includes a couple of very nice gel wrist rests.
I was initially a bit worried about the idea of typing on a completely flat surface. However, it really works, and after the initial culture shock, it is working out fine. The keyboard is a wonderful example of well-executed, minimalist design.
Possibly the best feature, oddly enough is the integral mouse support. If, like me, you're prone to a hatred of sitting at desks, it is so nice to be able to relax with the keyboard on my knee but still be able to mouse as normal. I am currently splonked on my bed, laptop a couple of feet away set to 1024x768 so I can read it at a distance, with the Touchstream on my knee.
I've not yet got that far into the gesture recognition features, mostly because I'm concentrating on getting the layout burned into my muscle memory. It is just possibse that I am finding this a bit easier to pick up because of my musical background (keyboards and bass guitar), so persuading my hands to work independently is maybe easier for me than it might be for some people. The multi-finger 'chords' are almost certainly going to be easier for me due to keyboard playing, but don't necessarily let this put you off.
Verdict after 2 days: Yes, it does what it says on the tin!
I'll post again in a couple of weeks to pass on my feelings then. What, of course, I can't say yet is whether it really will help with RSI, but so far so good on that. The zero force technology is for real.
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(no subject)
Date: 2003-07-26 01:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-07-26 02:13 pm (UTC)Of course, if you don't do Dvorak as yet, trying mine might be less than useful, because it has taken me about three days of practice to get up to an acceptable speed. I think also, at first, I was probably straining a bit more than I needed to because I wasn't used to the key positions. It is actually feeling increasingly comfortable, and seems to feel more natural the more I use it.
I'll continue to post updates to my blog. What I've not yet done much of with it is coding, so my experiences with that should be forthcoming fairly soon.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-07-26 09:51 pm (UTC)Yeah, I would be interested to hear how it fairs for coding. I was pleased to see that they have some support for emacs, but coding and typesetting (I've been doing a lot of LaTeX lately) tend to stress different patterns of usage.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-07-27 01:04 am (UTC)I do a fair bit of LaTeX too, but haven't yet done any with this keyboard. When I do, I'll be sure to post about my experiences.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-07-26 03:15 pm (UTC)If this thing just stops mine getting any worse, I will be very pleased. It probably also makes sense to say that I do have a general problem with the majority of my tendons -- this may or may not be a variant of rheumatoid arthritis, I don't yet have a diagnosis. Since the etiology of my symptoms might well be different to yours, it may not be a good idea to extrapolate too far from my experiences.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-07-26 09:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-07-27 01:16 am (UTC)I'm really not sure whether I'm more scared of having problems walking or typing. Probably the latter, actually, because my career doesn't depend on walking, but it DOES depend on typing. I don't know, really.
A few days ago, my doctor put me on nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories. I had a good couple of days, but this morning I'm having problems again walking. I think I need to give it some more time, realistically.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-08-03 09:42 am (UTC)It is hard to say I actually had a conversation of a similar nature a couple months ago about being able to walk versus being able to communicate via spoken language. I think it is fair to say that typing (or communicating) as the case may be more important to our careers, but walking certainly
seems important to our lives as a whole.
A few days ago, my doctor put me on nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories. I had a good couple of days, but this morning I'm having problems again walking. I think I need to give it some more time, realistically.
:-/ Any better yet?
(no subject)
Date: 2003-08-03 10:10 am (UTC)My joint/tendon pain is back again, although they only gave me a brief improvement anyway. The anti inflammatories worked OK for a couple of days, but I think the extra bouncing around I did just made things worse so it hit an equilibrium. I'm not going to try that kind of thing again without a proper diagnosis.
The typing is improving. The Touchstream is much less painful to use than my old keyboard, so (despite rather heavily hitting the PC recently) I'm finding that this particular problem is gradually going away. I'm still intending to sort out other alternatives, especially voice. However good the touchstream might be, it still isn't going to be as good as speech recognition for pain reduction purposes.