[Gllug] RSI: Was VACANCY: Site Reliability Engineering

[David L Neil Mailing list a/c]

Nix wrote:
> On 11 Mar 2009, Stuart Children verbalised:
>> I do use a tackball at home, and I asked our desktop people for one at work
> A tackball? Isn't that somewhat painful? ;)

=yes tRackballs can cause RSI for some people too - possibly a different
pain, but nevertheless...


>> today. I've had brief plays with a MS split keyboard before but it never sold
>> me. I'd be intrigued to try a Kinesis/similar, especially now I have pains I
>> can measure improvement against!
> MS split keyboards never agreed with me. The lack of contouring sucks
> and the keys are really in the wrong places for my typing style.

=the separation of the hands is one consideration, they after all
normally your body's width apart and to bring them together and inline
with the body's facing direction requires a somewhat awkward twist at
the wrists.

=the contouring of outward slope reduces that wrist-twist further.


=however the YMMV statement applies. Contoured keyboards work well for
seated touch-typists. If you are a manual worker (for example) and tend
to use the keyboard from a standing position (and likely not
touch-typing/typing with both hands) then the 'Natural' keyboard is a
horror! It's also harder on the eyes/sea-sickness for hunt-n-peck typists.


>> This has made be think of other ways to reduce key strokes and use the mouse
>> less.
> There are several window managers specializing in total keystrokedom
> which you might want to look at. I'm using awesome at the moment, which
> is both heavy on the keyboarding, and scriptable...

=[borrowing from a concurrent MS cf Linux thread] are there any credible
FOSS voice analysis systems for driving Linux?


>> "sticky" modifier keys, ie: so you press Ctrl then X, rather than
>> having to hold Ctrl.
> If that's useful ISTM that your typing style is flawed. 

=agreed, but if that is a person's style then the alternative is as much
re-training as (s)he has had 'training' time to-date!


You should never
> hit a modifier key on the same side of the keyboard as the key you're
> holding down, or with the same hand: this is why the modifier keys are
> duplicated on both sides of the keyboard.

=so then why do British keyboards (cf American, Australian, New
Zealand...) have an AltGr key instead of 'the other' Alt key?
(yes I know, but the argument made above applies!) I've often thought
that the cost of losing the second Alt is far higher than the cost of
the likes of a multi-key stretch for the Euro symbol...

=I've often wondered about taking control of the defunct 'Windows' and
'context menu' keys on my (ex-Compaq) keyboard. What is the 'easy tool'
for ('slow students') playing with key assignments?


>>            Alternatively, forcing yourself to use both hands (one on each
>> key) - rather than stretching across the keyboard with one hand.
> This is another advantage of split keyboards: you are *forced* to learn
> to type like that. (I used to be a high-speed reach-across two-fingerist
> myself. The Maltron cured that.)

=this has always been the case in teaching typing. With the old, manual
typewriter or teletype it would be a rare operator who could hold down
the shift key (against its spring) and a letter key, with the same hand
and necessarily simultaneously. Such only became possible with
electronic keyboards - but not necessarily 'better', as we have read!
(doesn't stop me from thinking about doing a Ctrl+Home short-cut with
one hand from time-to-time though...)

=the ground-rules, such as they are, YMMV etc, come down to placing the
keyboard(s) in the position which is most comfortable for you - and
listening to those with (sad) experience when it comes to attempting to
avoid the worst of fates...

=Regards,
=dn
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