From @holly.cam.harlequin.co.uk:davidh@harlequin.co.uk Fri Oct 28 18:23:55 1994 Received: from post.demon.co.uk by tictac.demon.co.uk with SMTP id AA669 ; Fri, 28 Oct 94 18:23:48 GMT Received: from post.demon.co.uk via puntmail for rsi-uk@tictac.demon.co.uk; Fri, 28 Oct 94 16:03:37 GMT Received: from holly.cam.harlequin.co.uk by post.demon.co.uk id aa19985; 28 Oct 94 16:02 GMT Received: from rocannon.cam.harlequin.co.uk by holly.cam.harlequin.co.uk; Fri, 28 Oct 1994 16:01:06 GMT Message-Id: <18954.199410281602@rocannon.cam.harlequin.co.uk> Received: from homebrew (homebrew.cam.harlequin.co.uk) by rocannon.cam.harlequin.co.uk; Fri, 28 Oct 1994 16:02:44 GMT X-Sender: davidh@mailhost Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Fri, 28 Oct 1994 17:01:03 +0000 To: rsi-uk@tictac.demon.co.uk From: David Hembrow Subject: MS "Natural" keyboard X-Mailer: Status: R Hi all. I'm still here... and still typing... Today I was given a Microsoft "Natural" keyboard which I am now using on my main PC. I've only had this for half a day, so this is more a description of what is different about it for those who've not seen one yet than it is a review of the effectiveness of the design. In any case, I would imagine that would vary depending on the user. The keyboard is quite solid in build and the keys have a fairly nice feel. They have a slight click feel, but are quite quiet. Slightly more clicky than the Compaq keyboard which it replaces. The keyboard itself is split down the middle, but unlike the recent Apple keyboard it is not hinged but has a fixed angle between the two halves. It is angled towards the user in a fairly conventional way unless you pull out the "Wrist Leveller" which lifts the front edge of the keyboard. I am not using a wrist rest with this keyboard as there is one incorportated into the front of the keyboard. I am not a proper touch typist and have found that quite often I find myself trying to use keys from the wrong half of the keyboard with each hand. Hopefully I will get used to this aspect of using this keyboard soon. The other change in feel is caused by the slightly changed location of the ctrl and alt keys. The left hand ones now include a Windows button between them, while the right hand ones have both a Windows button and an Application button. The Windows button brings up a task list much like ctrl-esc ( but expanded ), pressing both of them simultaneously is like ctrl-alt-del in Windows NT. The Developer Network CD 9 ( 21 more shiny CDs from microsoft arrived today ! ) includes user interface guidelines for these new keys. There is a booklet and a floppy disk included with the keyboard. these include the software to recognise the extra keys under windows and windows NT, and also some instructions about how to avoid RSI. It is also possible to set up the numeric pad to replace the mouse, which given that I find using the mouse at least as painful as using the keyboard, I will try. The only snag with this is that my mouse is on my left, while the numeric pad is fixed on my right. David. ps. I've no interest in this other than using the thing, I don't even like Microsoft. The keyboard seems sort of OK so far though. --- David Hembrow, Harlequin Ltd