shull@desci.wharton.upenn.edu (Christopher E. Shull) (01/06/91)
Hi! Some time ago I saw an announcement for an ergonomic keyboard for the Macintosh. The goal was to reduce the bent wrist (Carpal Tunnel Syndrome-causing) position required for touch-typing on a normal keyboard. As I recall the prototype was called MacTony, after the inventor (a guy named Tony), but never seemed to come to market. Does anybody know if there are any such keyboards available? -Chris Christopher E. Shull shull@wharton.upenn.edu Decision Sciences Department shull@desci.wharton.upenn.edu The Wharton School University of Pennsylvania 3620 Locust Walk voice: 215/898-5930 Philadelphia, PA 19104-6366 fax: 215/898-3664 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!" Admiral Farragut, USN, 1801-1870 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
simoni@strat.Stanford.EDU (Richard Simoni) (01/06/91)
In article <35306@netnews.upenn.edu>, shull@desci.wharton.upenn.edu (Christopher E. Shull) writes: > Some time ago I saw an announcement for an ergonomic keyboard for the > Macintosh. The goal was to reduce the bent wrist (Carpal Tunnel > Syndrome-causing) position required for touch-typing on a normal > keyboard. As I recall the prototype was called MacTony, after the > inventor (a guy named Tony), but never seemed to come to market. Tony brought his keyboard here a few months ago for a demonstration. It is a standard QWERTY layout, but splits down the middle. You can then tilt up either side so that the left keys face the left side of the keyboard, and the right keys the right side. I'd say a majority of the touch typists at the demo that tried it liked it. Tony's a bit of a character, and gives a good presentation. He claims to have been working on his keyboard more-or-less full-time since 1984 (I think). He has a patent on it. It is not yet in production, because he hasn't found a company who's willing to build it on his terms, which include manufacturing in the U.S. He alluded briefly to some keyboard available for the Mac that he feels is in violation of part of his patent. Perhaps this would be an option for the time being until The Tony becomes available. Rich Simoni