Showing posts with label ergonomic keyboard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ergonomic keyboard. Show all posts

2009-12-31

hand warmer for keyboarding in the cold

11.17: proj.gear/hand.warmer for fast fingers:

. keyboard house needs a wire frame made from one wire for stiffness
that comes in 2 parts for adjustable its like 2 tables with on upside down
and legs of them are bound at a distance of your choosing .
. the top table slanted on either side .
. the joists are twist-arounds,
and they hold up the heat pad which is covered by the reflectix .

. to control height add loops end of table legs
to connect them by string so that the string can keep the endpoints
at a fixed distance without having to rely on the frictional force
created by binding the legs together with a winding .

11.21: gear/hand.warmer/redesign for boundary problem:
. the box for kybd has a boundary problem:
sometimes the hands like to travel straight from home keys
over to control keys
and that means the sides have to be clear of any box struts
atleast up to the delete key on the right side .
. instead of the peak sloping to the sides,
it would be more heat and space efficient to slope front and back;
the slope allows the heat pad on the roof to cover more of the arms .
. this also allows a bar from side to side
at both the rear and front
that help stability a bit .
the rear bar is part of the bottom table,
the front bar is part of the top table;
except the table model needs adjusting
because the top`struct has to overhang forward,
while the bottom`struct has to recede .
. one simple wire design is
start from front corner;
mov back horz'ly until past the kybd's delete key;
rise for height of roof`slope`bottom;
mov horz'ly to rear of tray
mov horz'ly to center of kybd;
do same for other side (in reverse order
and so wire is all one piece) .
. the front-back horz gives the top an anchor for
a top that is a horz rectangle
with 2 other rectangles for back and front sides of roof .
the roof hangs with peak over knuckles when fingertips are
numbers row (makes a tight fit for little-used function row) .

11.28: gear/hand.warmer/composite cardboard with metal joints:
. to save on wire, just use it for the joints
bound to scrap wood (or rolled cardboard) .


12.1: proj.gear/kybd.box/heatpad frame:
. make a c-shape when viewed from side
so that to change height,
have chg in depth of c
. then when feels right add reinforce as needed .

12.2: proj.gear/messed wire can be reused:
. mess wire ? can reuse as staples:

proj.gear/kybd.box:
measure:
. 11*2 wide, 8deep at bottom
7" high center for 2" high over peak,
7+3 on to make the c-shape for the back .
wire version:
. final design was an extruded-Y shape with the bottom of y bent L-shaped
to form the let, and the top of the Y acted as joists to lay heatpad across .
extruding means the top of left fork of one Y connected with left fork of other,
and likewise for right forks .
y`bot: 8in,
y`top: 7in .
(2*8+2*7+11+13)*2 = 9.0ft of wire
. after building;
seems ok for heat pad,
but what about sleeping bag? way too heavy .
. the whole lid needs to slide into a box;
then can nix the heat pad .
. found during log that the fingers need a lot of space for shift-combo's
as the main fingers lift as part of landing the pinky on the shift key .
. the mac needs to be higher than the kybd with the box around it .

proj.gear/kybd.box/cardboard version:
. to make the box,
find one of any length that is right in the other dimensions,
and then add the extrusion with sealing tape .
construction:
. needed to be a bit wider than kybd`platform,
this was exactly the width of a box I found,
but a minor distraction was the grey-board quality of that cardboard:
the tape didn't stick well .

2009-12-28

1st-class programmable keyboard

9.29: web.addn/kybd programmable with mem card bak:

. need a kybd that lets a program
do all my programming for me .
. here is one author who needs the same thing:

Let's say we have 2 computers connected with each other via USB.
How to make a program that could be run on one of the computers
and send keystrokes to the another?
In other words the computer with the program
would appear as a keyboard to the other computer?
I don't want a thin client or dumb terminal...
my goal with this is to create something that will be able to for example
brute force a BIOS password in case you'll forget it
- that's why I need it done in hw
because otherwise you can't connect to the computer
(when it only is booted to BIOS).

. here is hackery for the obvious but iffy idea of
connecting a computer to a usb.kybd:

. the usb.kybd` interface is open:

. a USB device class that describes human interface devices such as
keyboards, mice, game controllers and alphanumeric display devices.
The USB HID class is defined in a number of documents
provided by the
USB Implementers Forum's Device Working Group
USB HID class keyboard is normally designed with
an IN endpoint that communicates keystrokes to the computer
and an OUT endpoint that communicates the status of the keyboard's LEDs
from the computer to the keyboard.
The PC 97 standard requires that a computer's BIOS must detect and work with
USB HID class keyboards that are designed to be used during the boot process.

X-keys programmable key pads
. xkey for mac
. points you to iKey for Mac OS X
. In Hardware Mode the X-keys declares itself as a native USB keyboard and/or mouse
and sends only USB keyboard or mouse messages to the USB port.
The macros are stored in the X-keys onboard memory
and played when the appropriate X-keys button is pressed.
After originally programming the X-keys there is no software involved

. on a tangent, I wondered if the [The Y-mouse Adapter for USB]
would be a cheaper way to have an ergo'kybd;
lets you put any 2 kybd's together,
but it doesn't say anything about using the modifier keys of one
to affect the keys of the other .

turns your PC system into a USB device.
contents includes:
# USB HID Device Emulator
* USB HID Class Mouse Application
* USB HID Class Keyboard Application
Specifications
* USB 1.1 Full Speed/Low Speed
* 512 Kb/S Transfer Rate
* Bi-Directional Parallel Port Interface
* USB Device Interface
* Philips ISPD12 USB Peripheral Controller
. contact them if want sales ? b2b only ?





2009-12-17

Comfort keyboard has short lifespan

7.31: mis.addn/ergo.kybd/failure after plugging into mac a second time:
. this time on the mac I was trying it from my bedside,
and doing it without the ups for the first time .
. the first time it seemed like the touchpad wasn't registering,
so I replugged in both,
and that's when the ergo.kybd stopped registering .
[12.17:
. it was obtained through this discount place that took forever
-- as if they were waiting for returns they could refurbish!
]