stankuli%umass-cs.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa (03/28/84)
From: Stan Kulikowski <stankuli%umass-cs.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa>
TODAY I RECEIVED A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION AS FOLLOWS:
Amherst Regional Jr High
I have a student who is learning to use an IBM Display
Writer System. He only has one hand and we think he will
need to master word processing for his educational career.
This is a fairly new machine (about 1982) and has detachable
keyboard as shown:
.-----------------------------------------------.
: @@@@ :
: @@ OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO @@@@ :
: @@ OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO :
: @@ OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO @@@@ :
: @@ OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO @@@@ :
: OO XXXXXXXXXXXXXX OO :
:-----------------------------------------------:
on the left and right are function keys which need to be held
down simultaneously with another key in the central area. A
person with only one hand cannot reach these
Any ideas you have to modify this would be appreciated.
THERE ARE A COUPLE APPROACHES THAT SEEM FEASIBLE, GIVEN THAT
THE SCHOOL MAY NOT WANT TO INVEST IN A PROSTHETIC KEYBOARD:
>> THE SPECIAL FUNCTION KEYS ON THIS KEYBOARD
BE REPLACED WITH ONES THAT MECHANICALLY LOCK.
THE KEY TRONIC CORP (SPOKANE,WA.) PROVIDE
REPLACEMENT KEYBOARDS FOR APPLE-II AND IBM-PC
WITH LOCKING SHIFT AND CTRL KEYS.
>> SOME TEMPORARY ATTACHMENT TO LAPBOARD WHICH
HOLDS THE SPECIAL FUNCTION KEYS
>> WILL THIS WORD PROCESSOR ALLOW KEY BINDING
SO THE SPECIAL FUNCTIONS CAN PUT WITHIN SINGLEHAND REACH
I WILL INVESTIGATE THE LAST POSSIBILITY-- ANYONE KNOW OF ANY
IMPLEMENTATION OR ALTERNATIVES TO THESE? I ONCE SAW AN APPLE
PROGRAM FOR ONE-HANDED WORD PROCESSING. AM INTERESTED IN ALTERNATIVES
THAT ARE NOT MACHINE-SPECIFIC. THIS KID AND AND OTHERS WITH SIMILAR
ABILITIES WILL NEED TO MOVE FROM MACHINE TO MACHINE AS FREQUENTLY
AS THE REST OF US.
stanhamilton@uiucuxc.UUCP (04/08/84)
#R:sri-arpa:-39900:uiucuxc:34500005:000:182 uiucuxc!hamilton Apr 6 17:51:00 1984 is the user one-HANDed, or one-ARMed? if the former, you could easily make a simple prosthesis. all you need is a finger, right? imagine something that would work like a bayonet.