Mouse Not Required? 59
Chromose asks: "Being a system administrator by day, and coder/artist/gamer by night, my hands and wrists get their fair share of exercise around the clock. I've had lumps on the back of my hands off and on for a couple years now and just recently discovered they are ganglion cysts. And although pain and stress has been minimum up to now, I worry of what continuing everyday keyboard and mouse stress will lead to. Introducing FingerWorks. I stumbled across their iGesture Pad on ThinkGeek the other day and started digging for reviews. What reviews I have found exclaim how remarkable the products work, but not many reviews could be found. It sounds like the answer to my search for relief, and it sounds too good to be true. So I'm asking, who out there has used these things and are they truly a revolution in the making?" Yes, ThinkGeek is part of the Sinister VA Software Kieretsu, but if you aren't worried about it, then neither am I.
Well, here's a review... (Score:5, Informative)
From what I can tell, it seems to be testing out as alpha and might not be quite ready for prime time.
The review is absolutly positive! (Score:1)
Everyone who is not able to use the former link: http://www.meetthegeeks.org/ourreview/fingerworks
so long
nd
Chromose - your answer. (Score:2)
Back off.
There isn't a lot of gray area on this one Chromose - and all you other hackers that are looking for relief from your wrist / arm / upper shoulder / hand pain. The proper response to pain and damage in your money making body parts is not to slightly adjust the way you work to minimize the pain - it is to back off.
I suggest you find a place with no tech - no computers, ATMs, keyboards, pagers, even no push button phones. No televisions, VCRs
I suggest someplace where you don't even speak the language, but this requires that you have a friend there that can interpret for you when necessary - but it lets your mind calm down and renew while your body is doing the same. Bring comfortable durable clothes and very comfy shoes. Get out - fresh air, food, and sunlight are good for you and being away from the things that caused your RSI in the first place will give your body a chance to heal.
I have done it, and trust me it works way better than any tech solution. See the problem with using different RSI inducing toys to alleviate the pain caused by your current RSI inducing toys? Bingo.
Re:Chromose - your answer. (Score:1)
How funny.. I'm suffering from pain in the (right) wirst from some months now. On the new-year's holyday I went camping for an entire week in a place with no eletricity at all. I though my pain would relief, but it got worst than ever!
RSI from Affeprügel (Score:2)
Well when you translate Affeprügel it comes back ape flogging, but that was a close to monkey spanking as I could get.
TouchPad (Score:4, Informative)
Re:TouchPad (Score:3, Insightful)
0 force allows you to change/reduce the amount of force used to type on the keyboard this == reduced stress (in theory). The changes in the angle of the hands alone from most other keyboards should yield some short term improvement. (and with altering the types of keyboards he uses could yield long term improvement)
Re:TouchPad (Score:3, Informative)
If you are looking for something ergonomic to reduce the strain on your wrists, use your keyboard navigation as much as possible, and when not possible try a trackball. Assuming you're in Windows land (which is why you would need a mouse), the Kensington Expert Mouse has a wonderful series of chordable buttons that can be mapped to basically any function you might do frequently, giving you a palette of 35 imput commands per program. Plus you don't move your arm, wrist, or anything but your fingers when you point.
ahhhhh!!!! (Score:4, Funny)
Must resist urge to make pr0n comments.....
Nomenclature (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Nomenclature (Score:1)
Ganglion cysts are basically harmless (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Ganglion cysts are basically harmless (Score:2)
5 years later, the cyst has returned. Plus, she now has a lovely scar on her wrist from the original removal....
Russ %-)
Re:Ganglion cysts are basically harmless (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Ganglion cysts are basically harmless (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Ganglion cysts are basically harmless (Score:1)
Other options (Score:4, Insightful)
Wacom Tablet (Score:2, Insightful)
I'm a graphic designer and I have used pen-based graphics tablets for several years....(I used my first one in Windows 3.11).
After some period of adjustment, many people will use a graphics tablet as a complete mouse replacement....the only time I use a mouse is for FPS games. However, for most other games (and applications for that matter) it is better than a mouse. I feel I can move through the environment with less effort and more precision.
And repetitive stress is lessened. Much of the stress of using a mouse is in the way you rest. Most people assume a resting position when using a mouse that holds their first finger arched over the left-button awaiting the next click. However with a pen-based input, you can rest on the heel of your hand much like when writing.
Give it a try. The models from Wacom are the industry standard.
Re:spelling (Score:1)
However, with the comma, the word "then" could have been omitted.
Re:spelling (Score:1)
Re:spelling (Score:1)
Re:spelling (Score:1)
I think you mean "then neither am I."
"than" being for comparisons and all. Thank you Dan.
Re:spelling (Score:2)
Bloody hell. Bush is winning. Never misunderestimate the unliteracy of supposed geeks.
"then" is the correct word there, although it could have been ommited entirely because of the comma.
Re:spelling (Score:2)
Emacs Gestures? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Emacs Gestures? (Score:5, Funny)
Actually vi is really cool once you get the hang of it.
Re:Emacs Gestures? (Score:2)
Actually, I was thinking of something like:
Esc ->Tap 3 fingers -> draw a curly line with middle finger = set syntax=python
Obligatory porn joke (Score:3, Funny)
Sure, it was all from typing . . .
gestures on laptop touchpad? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:gestures on laptop touchpad? (Score:2)
No reason why not. The Sony Vaio has a few simple gestures with its touchpad. No reason why the 'pad couldn't be bigger to accomodate whole hand gestures.
A bigger problem I've found is with different platforms. Using Opera at home, and IE at work, I'm always trying to 'rightclick-drag' to navigate. Not a real prob, just annoying.
Eye Trackers and such (Score:2, Informative)
also the Ability hub has an interesting piece [abilityhub.com] on accessibility.
The TrackIR GX [naturalpoint.com] looks interesting, although not as a mouse alternative, it can be used to make your neck hurt so you can script 17 actions with the movement of your head.
IBM has been working on an eye tracking solution, I remember seeing something on TechTV a while back, anyone know the progress on that?
Re:Eye Trackers and such (Score:2)
I don't think eye trackers are such a good idea. I often find that I'm looking in one window, while typing in another. (I can touch type, I presume those who can't are looking at the keyboard, which will cause the eye tracker to track to the bottom for each key stroke) With my window manager's ability to have the window with focus under more useful windows I enjoy the ability to read in my help window exactly what the paramaters to some function is while I'm typing it into my program.
Focus Follows... Thought! (Score:2)
Sometimes I forget which of my plethora of xterms currently has focus and start typing in the wrong one. Focus follows mouse is nice (especially if it serves to endlessly confuse those who borrow my console), but sometimes I wonder if there is a better way. Focus follows eyes sounds like a good idea until I remember that sometimes I'm looking at a different window. So I have a brilliant new idea: Focus Follows Thought! My window manager will read my mind to decide which window to focus. Now, if only I can keep it from pulling up porn during the middle of the day...
Re:Focus Follows... Thought! (Score:1)
I agree. In fact I wanted to say that, but I have yet to here of any thought reading thechnology that holds any promiss of working. Brain Waves sound good in science fiction, but in practice they appear hard to control consistently. (I have not tried them though, so I'm not sure)
Let me know when I can install a thought sensor on my computer, I'm interested. I won't install it though until I'm sure if won't transmit my thoughts to others.
You have two hands: use them. (Score:5, Interesting)
I immediatly took some actions (new keyboard, comfortable mouse pads, etc).
Something else I did was to change the mouse to my left hand and declare it in my work machines as a left handed one.
At home I bought the most comfortable input device I could find (I settled for a Waccom pen tablet using the pen 99 per cent of the time) and carried on using it with the right hand.
All those changes eliminated the pain, I have been working like that for 2 years.
The workload in your hands is heavy, help them by distributing the work as much as poosible between both of them and ensuring that your hand does a little in a repetitive manner as possible (next year I may switch hands, devices or both to ensure the new changes don't become a new source of stress).
...and use them differently (Score:1)
On my main workstation, I have a traditional optical scroll-mouse, a trackball, and an iGesture from FingerWorks. None of these is stress-free, but they all stress my hands differently.
When I'm getting pain using one, I switch to another for a while. Variety is the spice of health. Er... Something like that.
BTW, the iGesture works great. I use it as a track-pad that has right-click. It can do more than that, but I haven't really bothered to memorize the other gestures.
Re:You have two hands: use them. (Score:2)
Why did you declaird your mouse left handed to the computer? All it does is reverse the positions of the buttons, which sounds like a good idea, but having used my mouse with both hands, reveresed and not, I find that I prefer it when my mouse isn't reveresed.
Mind you there exists such a thing as a left handed mouse, designed to fit in the left hand, which if you can find, sounds like a good idea. I however have never found one. I know they make it, but most places don't sell it (and those that do are questionable as to if I trust them with my money...)
Ganglions are caused by inner conflict. (Score:3, Funny)
"The cause of ganglions is not always clear."
Ganglions are caused by inner conflict. There is no direct connection with computer use.
Maybe not but they can be irritated... (Score:1)
To avoid knowledge of inner conflict... (Score:2)
I certainly understand why you say this. However, the symptoms co-exist. One is not the direct cause of the other.
To avoid knowledge of inner conflict, people push themselves to be aware of something else. It is the pushiness that causes the bumps.
I had the same thing (Score:2, Informative)
g
Re:I had the same thing (Score:2, Informative)
"Violence is the last resort of the incompetent" -- Asimov
Re:I had the same thing (Score:1)
As I failed to mention in my first post I have it once again growing back, but at a much slower rate, which means in about 5-9 years I will be due to have it removed again.
g
Deja vu (Score:2, Informative)
The review I wrote is here [slashdot.org]. As a further update to their helpfulness, my keyboard died for no apparent reason, and they're fixing it for free (a long time after I bought it).
Touchpad pain (Score:1, Insightful)