Have you ever considered of mousing ambidextrously?

Why do you bother? I can mouse with either hand and there is no need to swap mouse buttons or flip anything else.

Of course this software is probably a Trojan given how you've advertised it.

Wrong idea. Better to not use the mouse all that much, instead. And learn proper 10-finger typing. Possibly use a Dworak layout and/or a more ergonomic keyboard.

Hmm... so it never occured to you just buy a second mouse, then?

Why does it take an executable of 1.3 MByte to draw two buttons and make one system call ?

How does touch typing replace a mouse???

How would having a second mouse eliminate the need to switch the buttons?

I also have had trouble with my right arm from so much use of the computer. I also never liked the fact that when you center the typing part of the keyboard in front of you, the number pad pushes the right side out and you have to reach past that to get to the mouse. A chiropractor told me that when I type, my upper arms should be hanging at my sides which can't happen when I have to reach out for the mouse. Holding your elbows away from your side as you type and mouse can give you stiffness and pain in your shoulders and neck.

So I moved the mouse to the left side of my keyboard and learned to mouse leftie. I didn't switch the buttons because initially I was just testing the concept. I found it did not matter which way the buttons were set, so I left it the same. It also allowed my keyboard to center more easily as the keypad is on the right and the mouse is on the left using about the same amount of space.

Now anyone who uses my computer seems to think I am left handed and I have to explain to them I am right handed but left moused.

Something tells me you ONLY use emacs.

I swear by the five-button Microsoft trackball with scroll-wheel. Causes me much less grief than a mouse; I even use one on my Mac. A very nice input device.

pete

So why are modern laptop computers designed with the keyboard placed to the rear near the screen where it is impossible to get proper and comfortable hand position? I have avoided newer generations of laptop because of this (I use Compaq Armada 7800s for example, but the 'creeping cursor' problem of the trackpoint driver is very annoying). I suppose one could use an external keyboard but this shouldn't be necessary -- don't manufacturers test their designs with real typists?

Michael Grigoni Cybertheque Museum

By replacing it with keys, as god and nature intended. Unfortunately too many applications today don't supply proper key sequence alternatives to the unholy click.

he probably did it in MFC... what amazes me is he actually paid to have an entire domain name for this :)

David

Huh? How do you figure this? A large wrist-rest gives you close-to-ideal hand position. It would be nice to have a tiltable keyboard, but I don't think any laptop vendor offers this.

Selling one copy ($14) should pay back that investment...

Same here. Been using a series of trackballs for about 10 years now, and currently using the Microsoft offering. Keeping the supporting ball bearings clean and judder-free is a bit of a pain, though. How do you manage, Pete?

Steve

For those of us who trained as touch typists (and also play piano, etc.) it just is wrong and uncomfortable.

Michael Grigoni Cybertheque Museum

Both of mine seem fine, as long as I scrape out the gunk that collects around the bearings every so often. A toothpick is ideal for that.

pete

This is my own perspective about them, as well. I greatly dislike the keyboard being placed away from the nearby edge. And I play piano, as well. This is probably one of the few areas where I disagree with Lewin.

Jon

Swing and strike... I trained in both. I'm touch-typing this on a laptop as I speak, by the way (the laptop is on the keyboard drawer of a desk and I'm actually not watching the screen; I'm watching "Time Bandits" on a monitor in the monitor hutch of the computer desk).

The main thing I dislike about this particular laptop (besides the fact that it's a piece of crap) is the short key travel.

My piano teachers taught me that the ideal finger curvature for playing piano was to grip an imaginary tennis ball. Wrists raised, fingers curved.

This is unrelated to the ergonomically recommended posture for typing, which is to have wrists solidly supported, elbows bent at 90 degrees, forearm parallel to floor, monitor slightly below eye level, feet flat on floor, knees bent at 90 degrees, back straight up-and-down, etc. My current workstation doesn't have enough adjustable-height surfaces to meet all these requirements, unfortunately.

We have only this one thing to argue about? That's not the Usenet way; I'm ashamed of you, Jonathan.

Anyway - The first notebook I owned was a Halikan (Chaplet) NBD486. That had the keyboard up to within 1/4" of the front of the unit. I could never get comfortable typing on that damn thing without bringing a book or something up to it so I had a platform on which to rest my wrists.

Haven't you seen how all those ergonomic low-stress keyboards have long, gently-sloping wrist-rest ramps leading up to the keyboard? Moving the keyboard back is a feature, not a bug. It wasn't an accidental thing, either.

Now, the thing I really dislike about modern laptops (besides the fact that no new computer is worth buying) is the relative scarcity of the eraser-tip style pointing device in favor of those loathsome capacitative touchpads.

You know, the REAL evil of groups.google.com is that I am currently the top poster of all time in comp.arch.embedded, but I'm in that position as snipped-for-privacy@larwe.com. Since I can no longer use my real email address when posting here from Google, that means I have a long, LONG way to go to catch up with myself.

Hmmm. I think I might have worn this one out, then. At least one of the bearings has a flat worn on it... and clearly hasn't rotated (assuming it's supposed to) in a very long time. Ah well... next!

Steve