Comments on: Bring the needles and the knives

By: mdz

mdz — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 19:27:47 +0000

On keyboards: I have used a Kinesis Advantage keyboard for the past couple of years, which I think has helped some. I’m using it about half of the time now, and a ThinkPad T series the other half. I tried a Microsoft ergonomic keyboard but found it both uncomfortable (the keys required too much force) and of poor quality (the space bar stopped working on one side after a month)

On keyboard layouts: I also use a Dvorak layout and have for nearly a decade now. It seemed to help, though I changed a lot of other things at the time to try to improve ergonomics. I think the slowdown and break from typing certainly contributed.

On pointing devices: At the office, I use a plain Logitech three-button mouse with a wheel. At home, I use the built-in TrackPoint. I’ve never tried a trackball or a tablet, so thanks for those ideas.

On software: I used to use workrave, but found it too buggy (it would lock me out of my session sometimes by grabbing the keyboard and mouse at the wrong time). I’m now using the simple built-in typing break functionality in GNOME, which works well enough.

On voice recognition: I’ve never tried this, because the best software is only available on Windows. I expect it’s rubbish for programming, but might be useful for email. I wonder about how editing tasks work, for example, trimming quotes in an email. I should have macros for those things anyway, I suppose.

By: nathandbb

nathandbb — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 18:09:00 +0000

People dislike Microsoft for their many lies and sins against their customers, but they have driven down the price of ergonomic keyboards. Before MS these used to cost 80+ USD.

If your work surface is too high get the old style cream/white with positive slope:
Microsoft Natural Keyboard Elite (PS2/USB) = 25 USD

If your surface is at the right height, get the new style black/gray with flat/negative slope:
Microsoft Natural Ergo Keyboard 4000 (USB only) = 40 USD

In other news:
TradElect, the Microsoft .Net based trading platform for the London Stock Exchange, was offline for about seven hours, meaning that their 5-nines SLAs are shot for approximately the next 100 years. All keyboards and mice were working fine.

By: Russ

Russ — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 16:49:45 +0000

One option is to switch to DVORAK. You get an immediate plus, you type much slower because you don’t have a clue where any of the keys are. This gives you a chance to heal. Once healed, and up to speed on DVORAK, it requires less movement from the homerow and back.

By: John

John — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 07:43:07 +0000

In case you don’t have a tablet (eg Wacom) to alternate with the mouse, do get one. It solved it for me.

By: Vadi

Vadi — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 02:25:53 +0000

I take it you’re already using Workrave, right?

apt://workrave

By: fellow typist

fellow typist — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 00:42:38 +0000

Have you tried a datahand keyboard?
Mine have worked very well for me…

By: CW

CW — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 00:12:09 +0000

I find that the mouse has a lot to do with the problem. I got a Logitech Trackball, and it solved a lot of pain. Useless for gaming, tho’.

By: DJ Saltarelli

DJ Saltarelli — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 22:49:26 +0000

Don’t forget that joint issues can be a stealth auto-immune type of condition like arthritis. This means you should alter other aspects of your lifestyle to encourage a healthy immune response in your body. On thing that can definitely get your immune system goofy is lack of sleep. The first thing two things to do after ergonomic changes would be make sure you are getting 7-8 hours of restful sleep and make sure you’re getting plenty of physical exercise. Throw in some supplements like vitamin C and a multi-vitamin and you may find that your RSI just goes away. Oh, and cut way way down on the caffeine. Some people can have pretty bizarre reactions to it that they would never imagine could be related.

By: danser

danser — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 22:39:26 +0000

And of course, good luck! Having a good workstation and leaving it often for a walk seems very important. (You probably know about the forced pause thing in gnome-keyboard-properties.)

By: danser

danser — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 22:35:24 +0000

On Windows, Dragon NaturallySpeaking allows for very fast and accurate dictation. Never tried to control a whole system with it, but not having to type your documents and emails might already relieve your arms a bit.

Obviously, we need such a thing in Ubuntu.