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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: nir_kar on Fri, 18 December 2009, 07:39:12

Title: Keyboards with touchpad
Post by: nir_kar on Fri, 18 December 2009, 07:39:12

Hello people,

Am looking for a full sized keyboard with touch pad. Am a programmer who types a lot and I find it very annoying every time to move away from they keys to get to the mouse, hence the need for an integrated touch pad.

(keyboards with extra programmable keys would help me as well, I think)

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Thanks
K

Title: Keyboards with touchpad
Post by: keyb_gr on Fri, 18 December 2009, 09:36:38

There is more than one approach to this sort of problem.

First, you may want to check out keyboards with a trackpoint rather than a touchpad - even closer to home row, and there are some decent options. We also have a wiki entry on this topic.

There have also been multiple people experimenting with layouts that put everything on the home row, I think Rajagra was one of them. The HHKB could serve as an inspiration, too.

Title: Keyboards with touchpad
Post by: ch_123 on Fri, 18 December 2009, 09:48:31

Northgate's Omnikey Evolution comes to mind. Some of these have touchpads, but I'd imagine that they would be expensive/hard to find.

Link. (http://www.ergonomicsmadeeasy.com/store/integrated-pointing-devices/product/northgate-ergonomic-evolution-keyboard/)

Some Cherry ones also have them, but sometimes only available with linear switches that are unpleasant to touch type on for prolonged periods.

A Trackpoint keyboard like the IBM M13 would be a great alternative. Only thing is that you need to crank up the sensitivity to get the best effect.

Link (http://cgi.ebay.com/IBM-Model-M13-Trackpoint-Keyboard-13H6705-Black-422_W0QQitemZ130350980630QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item1e59861e16#ht_961wt_941)

EDIT: Found the Omnikey cheaper elsewhere - Link (down the page a bit) (http://c-techsys.com/products.html)

Title: Keyboards with touchpad
Post by: nir_kar on Fri, 18 December 2009, 09:58:05

Thanks for the replies guys.

The problem I have with track points like IBM Model M13 is that when I want to scroll through a long page, the track point is no fun at all, whereas with a touch pad, i find it rather easy. Plus am looking for some programmable keys, because I use a lot of key combination, which i would like avoid. I have seen a few keyboards that have a scroll wheel plus a touch pad as well, but cant remember where. Any ideas how good those are?

K

Title: Keyboards with touchpad
Post by: ch_123 on Fri, 18 December 2009, 10:06:23

I can't think of any keyboard, good bad or otherwise, that has a scroll wheel or even a trackpad whose side edges let you scroll... What I will say though about the M13 is that the absence of scroll wheel isn't as bad as you think... You get quite acquainted with your arrow keys and pg up/pg down keys, but I wouldn't consider it a huge inconvenience - and I have been using scroll wheels long before Trackpoints. Being able to control your computer entirely from your keyboard is pretty neat too.

Title: Keyboards with touchpad
Post by: MsKeyboard on Fri, 18 December 2009, 10:19:40

Quote from: ch_123;143468

I can't think of any keyboard, good bad or otherwise, that has a scroll wheel or even a trackpad whose side edges let you scroll... What I will say though about the M13 is that the absence of scroll wheel isn't as bad as you think... You get quite acquainted with your arrow keys and pg up/pg down keys, but I wouldn't consider it a huge inconvenience - and I have been using scroll wheels long before Trackpoints. Being able to control your computer entirely from your keyboard is pretty neat too.

Did not want to "advertise", but here are some touchpad keyboards (http://www.fentek-ind.com/touchpad-keyboard.htm) that give you those features.

Later.....

Title: Keyboards with touchpad
Post by: ch_123 on Fri, 18 December 2009, 10:22:28

Ah, I knew you'd probably have some stuff like that! I just know what IBM and the Japanese have =P

Title: Keyboards with touchpad
Post by: keyb_gr on Fri, 18 December 2009, 14:01:46

As far as scrolling through long pages is concerned, my best friends are the space bar (some apps also know Shift+Space = 1 page up) and PgUp/PgDn. Cursor left/right is perfect for browsing long PDFs in single page view mode. (BTW: Adobe Reader 9 is a downgrade from 8 in terms of keyboard usage, as for example the page zoom shortcuts have been changed. It doesn't ship with a help file any more either.) It would never occur to me to use the scroll wheel for things like that.

Title: Keyboards with touchpad
Post by: Rajagra on Fri, 18 December 2009, 18:33:53

The old Lenovo Ultranav had a trackpoint and a touchpad. The software let you configure the trackpad for scrolling. (In fact it was quite daunting all the different ways it could be configured.) The new version has abandoned the trackpad, but if you like lightweight laptop-style boards it might be worth tracking one down.

Title: Keyboards with touchpad
Post by: lowpoly on Fri, 18 December 2009, 19:04:31

With Trackpoints you can use the middle button for scrolling (needs driver?). Two-button Trackpoints can use 'scrollbar anywhere' in Firefox at least.