dana@gmu90x.UUCP (J Dana Eckart) (11/16/88)
About 2 weeks ago I posted a request for information on the commercial
sources of an "odd" keyboard that I remembered seeing about 8 years
ago. I want to thank everyone that sent/posted information. I also did
some more looking around in the library and found the following references
(which coincide with bits of information that were sent by several people).
The more relevant references are:
(1) Human Factors, 1985, 27(2), pp175-187.
(2) Time, 26 Jan 1981, p73.
(3) Computer, Dec 1978, 11, pp57-63.
(1) gives the best description of my major interest, a keyboard that is
much more comfortable to use. Although the commercial product that I
remember seeing so long ago had the two key sections separated so that
they could be moved about more freely. (2) was interesting since in my
search for information I had come across numerous references concerning
key layout (QWERTY, Dvorak, Maltron). The Maltron described in (2) seemed
quite interesting. The chord keyboard (3) was also interesting but hadn't
been the intent of my inquiry. It appeared to me that its biggest benefits
were a denser packing of meaningful "key strikes" and the ability to get by
with fewer actual keys.
One kind netter pointed me to a side-bar in a recent issue of MacUser
magazine that describes a keyboard similar to that in (1). The keyboard
was designed by Tony (sorry, I don't recall the last name) of the Tony
Corporation located in California. The phone number is (415) 323-4801.
I spoke to someone there (not Tony) that said they hope to have the
keyboard commercially available by April 1989 (they are currently looking
for a manufacturer).
I hope that this posting will help those other interested netters that
wrote me, asking for whatever information I was able to come up with.
J Dana Eckart UUCP: ...!(gatech | pyrdc)!gmu90x!dana
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