geekhack
geekhack Marketplace => Great Finds => Topic started by: JustCallMeCrash on Mon, 07 November 2011, 13:02:34
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So I came across this on the 'bay. WTF is going on here??? Why would anyone set up a board like that? There's no way to type on this thing.
Seriously. (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Visually-Impaired-Elderly-Vintage-Clicky-Keyboard-Educational-white-sliders-/270824320226?pt=PCA_Mice_Trackballs&hash=item3f0e632ce2#ht_500wt_1367)
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So I came across this on the 'bay. WTF is going on here??? Why would anyone set up a board like that? There's no way to type on this thing.
Seriously. (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Visually-Impaired-Elderly-Vintage-Clicky-Keyboard-Educational-white-sliders-/270824320226?pt=PCA_Mice_Trackballs&hash=item3f0e632ce2#ht_500wt_1367)
You have good eye sight, don't you?
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You have good eye sight, don't you?
Sure, but I don't use my eyes to type. This would take longer to learn than Dvorak did.
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You think everyone is touch-type baller like you and me?
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They sure won't ever be if they try to learn on this abomination.
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Actually I can see quiet a market for this keyboard.
I remember the mobile telephone my grandparents had... I forgot the name but very simple with huge buttons. They loved it and it was the only one they could really use.
OP, please consider that there are other people with other needs than yours!
EDIT : I actually make a educated prediction here: if this would be placed in one of the big electronic chains in europe, it would be the best selling keyboard.
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I'm not slamming the size of the font or the color scheme... WHY would they make a KB with the rows of keys that far out of the norm? If you're going to skew it that much, why not make it square?
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I seen this at my school. its ment to be used with the peck and prod style. Big buttons for poor eyesight. Horrible to use.
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This is my ebay listing. These sell from time to time, and they are best for people with arthritis and macular degeneration.
The last time one of these was listed on ebay (a month ago) it went for $35. I contacted the guy, he was buying it for his grandmother, and it was all she could see and use.
No serious keyboard user would ever bother with it. Those jokes on the other thread about the guy with giant fingers were hardly serious, but I wondered whether someone would want to do anything with it on that basis as mild amusement.
I never dreamed that anyone would buy this who did not need it for their own specialized needs. Either that would be a 3-year-old, or else somebody that I feel deeply sorry for.
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JustCallMeCrash, seriously.
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As a victim of degenerative eye disease, I approve of this product. I also approve of any jokes made at my expense. ;)
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Sure, but I don't use my eyes to type. This would take longer to learn than Dvorak did.
tell that to those that live for backlit keyboards!
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That's what most flat boards look like to us enlightened Kinesis users.
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I would not mine buy one of those for my kids
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Precisely, neither would I.
That is why I am selling it as a keyboard for elderly or handicapped people with special needs.
Although it is not blatantly branded "Milton Bradley" that's what it is (look at the model number) and it was originally sold as an educational keyboard for kids.
Only later did it find a better place for itself in the market as something to help people who had trouble using "real" keyboards.
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I remember the mobile telephone my grandparents had... I forgot the name but very simple with huge buttons. They loved it and it was the only one they could really use.
Cricket, IIRC
EDIT: nope, Jitterbug, I didn't RC at first, but then i did.
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Cricket, IIRC
EDIT: nope, Jitterbug, I didn't RC at first, but then i did.
With that godawful commercial.
I wonder how this compares to Maltron's tonguestick keyboard.
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Who ever thought that white on yellow is a good idea? I do see uses for some people though...
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They're not aimed at the visual impairment field, I'd say that much. Most of the VI folk I've worked with have preferred standard keyboards coupled with auditory feedback from screen-readers.
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maybe it's a joke like those giant remotes.
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Hey! Are you implying that the HHKB is a joke?
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Well, at least the HHKB is USB.
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At least it has dedicated arrow keys.
The HHKB doesn't have those.
Wrong again! The HHKB lite has arrow keys (and rubber domes).
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Hard to believe my ebay listing has stirred up this much noise, with no results.
The last one of these on ebay sold for $35 about 2 months ago, to a guy who bought it for his elderly relative with macular degeneration and arthritis.
I listed this one at the same price and have been dropping it to its current $15 price.
Before it was "discovered" here, I had 40 views and 2 watchers. Now I have 450 views and 6 watchers.
I need to get the thing out of my garage. It is very clean and nice, with little use. I would have thought that the switches are worth the current price, much less the novelty keys, even if nobody was going to actually use the thing.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]32073[/ATTACH]
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$15 makes it a reasonable switch donor for ALPSheads.
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I can see how someone who has limited finger dexterity (?arthritis) and mild visual impairment will find this keyboard useful.
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If i needed some Alps i'd jump on this. I love Alps but have no need for em.
EDIT: This might be a good gag gift for Xmas.
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It really would be good for these purposes, which we healthy people take for granted.
I have known people with macular degeneration who literally had to put their eyeballs inches away from things to see them.
With limited finger use, the big keys, light touch, and satisfying "click" of the keys make this board very easy for a 1-finger typer.
To us it is obviously a gag or a joke, but it does have a place in the world.
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I have to get inches from stuff to see it. Keratoconus. Thank god for radio polymerization, plexi glass implants, and hybrid contact lenses or I'd be so disabled I'd be unable to drive, read, maybe even eat. :/
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That's what most flat boards look like to us enlightened Kinesis users.
Di-tto!!!
Anyhow, y'all should shut your sinning pie holes, you know you want the keyboard, so just go to fleabay and earn some fleabay bucks, do a review on GH, put a ClickClack on it, and sleep with it under your pillows.
You guys are really, really weird.
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Interested? No?
This keyboard finally sold, after almost 3 months and 770 views with 3 watchers on ebay (mostly bored Geekhackers, no doubt).
It sold for less than half the price of the previous one, which sold in a one-week auction in September.
Here is the comment I got from the buyer when I told him that I was hoping to sell it to somebody that needed it:
My oldest daughter has been looking for a keyboard with large characters for her ex-husband's grandmother. She is 83, and has a hard time with her desktop keyboard. Looks like your wish is about to come true. I e-mailed a picture of it to my daughter, and she likes it.
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I recently asked teh guy who bought the keyboard, for his elderly gandmother-in-law, how it had worked out.
Here is his reply:
Dear topvendor1,
"Grandma Tone" loves it! It's surprising how well she's adapted to it. She double-back taped two foam rubber blocks under the back of it to raise the back up to slant it so she can see the keys better. Now she calls her PC the "Dell from hell". Customized by Grandma!
Thanks again!
Steve
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Glad to hear it's being put to good use :)
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That is really cool! A keyboard design that enables elderly folks to be part of the computer generation!
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What I would like to know if someone from GH have the balls to buy one LOL
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You don't need balls to buy one. Grandma has one of these, doesn't she?
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You can see by the length of this thread that I had tried like hell to sell it here, or anywhere else, for a couple of months.
It was a nice clean board with simplified white Alps.
No touch typer would bother with it, but for certain people it is perfect.