Desk sized optical mouse pads.

[James Helman]

   Your idea of a split ergo keyboard sounds really interesting.  You
   might want to contact Keytronics of Spokane, Washington. They make
   all sorts of keyboards, and have the parts to make specials.

Neither the thumb roller nor the split, hinged keyboard are my ideas.
Tony Hodges has a patent on the keyboard.  I believe someone else has
a patent on the thumb roller.

   I am not clear how your idea for a roller ball mouse is better.

The big advantage of the thumb roller (it uses a cylinder, not a
ball), if it really works as advertised, would be that you could keep
your fingers on the home keys while moving the cursor, no more going
back and forth to the mouse, at least for most things.  Finger keys
could replace the mouse buttons.  You'd probably still want a mouse
and trackball for some things.

   The entire keyboard industry is based on the QWERTY concept: Keep
   the keys in the most difficult positions so the user does not jam
   up the mechanism by typing too fast.

As for QWERTY, it may not be the best, but just like X, it's workable,
it's a standard, and it's here to stay. ;-} In fact, QWERTY will
probably be around for quite a lot longer.  Adapting users from QWERTY
to Dvorjak is enough disincentive to kill the idea.  But having to go
back and forth between the two (since even if manufacture of QWERTY
keyboards were banned tomorrow, they would still be around us for
years) would be shear hell.  The performance difference between
Dvorjak and QWERTY will never be enough to drive a transition.

But Hodges' keyboard is fairly easy to adapt to.  It's QWERTY and the
two rotations (out and up) can be varied independently.  If you wanted
to, you could use it as a plain, flat keyboard.

Disclaimer: I have no association with Hodges except wanting one of
his keyboards.  I just think it's a good idea.  Also, personally, I'd
like to see enough of them made so they won't cost $695 a piece.

Jim Helman
Department of Applied Physics			Durand 012
Stanford University				FAX: (415) 725-3377
(jim at KAOS.stanford.edu) 			Work: (415) 723-9127