geekhack Community > Ergonomics
(Extinct web pages about) extinct ergo keyboards
jacobolus:
If you want another 20 year old FAQ, Matias used to maintain this one, as a student: http://edgarmatias.com/faq/
hoggy:
Jacobolus, Both of those links were new to me, thanks.
Findecanor, It was such a shame the DataStealth didn't really make it, the design is just amazing. I managed to get in contact with the company about a year ago (it might have been a company that took them over - I can't remember). All I got back was that they discontinued the project, but it might be possible to coax out a bit more.
(One keyboard design we've been missing out on - DataStealth)
hoggy:
Oh, and there's the Buxton Collection
jacobolus:
--- Quote from: Findecanor on Sat, 22 February 2014, 02:11:06 ---Edit: It is called the DataStealth, and all info about it had been on the web: protomic.com, which is down, and archive.org is also down... argh..
--- End quote ---
http://web.archive.org/web/20000601172323/http://www.protomic.com/products/products_01.htm
At one point there was apparently research content at Benjamin Rossen’s (the inventor) personal site http://www.iae.nl/users/rossen/ERGONOMICS/ergonomics_01.htm which (maybe?) moved to http://home.claranet.nl/users/rossen/ERGONOMICS/ergonomics_01.htm but robots.txt disallowed spidering the former, and all the wayback machine has for the latter is from >2006, and it’s just various 404 pages.
Here was another website of his in 2001, but unfortunately all the links point back to that iae.nl site, which disallowed spidering. :( http://web.archive.org/web/20011203233422/http://www.benjaminrossen.com/
It sounds like he did a Ph.D. project comparing a bunch of various existing ergonomic keyboards, before trying to make/market this DataStealth thingy.
Edit: Aha! Apparently in 2002 some of the useful content migrated to benjaminrossen.com: http://web.archive.org/web/20020331061621/http://www.benjaminrossen.com/
For example here’s a picture from another angle:
Though it looks like after some more research they continued to evolve their design: http://web.archive.org/web/20020816004317/http://www.benjaminrossen.com/KBD/html/keyboard_06.htm
And then made a version targeted at CAD work, with an embedded trackball (paging Kurplop!):
http://web.archive.org/web/20040815060043/http://www.benjaminrossen.com/KBD/html/keyboard_08.htm
Finally there’s this plea for investors with a link to a business plan pdf (unfortunately not archived):
http://web.archive.org/web/20040815055451/http://www.benjaminrossen.com/KBD/html/keyboard_09.htm
Edit, ok, here’s the business plan: http://web.archive.org/web/20050208120254/http://benjaminrossen.com/KBD/html/keyboard_08.htm
Looks like sometime in the year or two after 2004 they ran out of steam?
There was also for a while the site flinder.com, but unfortunately the wayback machine didn’t scrape most of the images:
http://web.archive.org/web/20031029173140/http://www.flinder.com/products/product_01.htm
This email is kind of interesting:
http://www.crynwr.com/cgi-bin/ezmlm-cgi?3:msp:9297
--- Quote ---One of my projects was concerned with the design and testing of an ergonomically improved keyboard for professional data entry typists. We went through 31 design iterations before making six of them for a field trial. The design process required not only expert knowledge of how to use CAD solid modeling software, knowledge of plastic design, molds, of wall thickness in relation to material strengths, of clickable design for ease of assembly for when (and if) it went into production, and so on and on. These six models (only the last in the series) cost more than my automobile at its new price to make by laser sintering in polyamice, paint, finish, assemble, and test. Each model, that is. Each prototyped keyboard cost more than a new family sedan, and it took me years to get to the final design. That is what making objects from drawings costs.
--- End quote ---
jacobolus:
http://web.archive.org/web/20010805085319/http://nsx.underbase.org/db/kbd/keyboard-survey.htm
This topic might as well be called “Extinct web pages about extinct ergo keyboards”. :P
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