Hi guys,
So here's a challenge for you-- a product search that even my research skills can't accomplish. The solution to this problem may or may not wind up being a keyboard. Details follow.
Right now, I'm mainly happy with my input setup. The one issue is the lack of a centered, secondary pointing device, to use for tasks that involve lots of switching between keyboard and mouse. The best thing for such tasks, of course, would be a keyboard with a TrackPoint, but since nobody has yet invented an acceptable solution to the problems associated with low- or medium-volume TrackPoint keyboard production, I'd also be willing to consider other centrally-positioned pointing solutions, such as a trackball placed below the keyboard where I can use it with my thumb from typing position.
Unfortunately, I can't find any way of doing this that isn't unacceptable in one or more ways. Either the centered pointing device is slow (the solution has to leave the behavior of my mouse untouched while both pointing devices remain connected at all times, so I won't change Windows pointer settings. Software for configuration is acceptable, but software that has to be running for things to function properly is not acceptable), or it's some weird device with physical endpoints (no RollerMouse or MouseTrapper; the device has to either allow continuous motion forever, like a trackball or trackpoint, or be designed so that the physical frompoint can be changed without moving the cursor, like with a mouse [lift off] or a touchpad [take finger off]), or it's in some other way a poor performer, or it's built into a keyboard that is in some way unacceptable (must have MX Black and at least 6KRO; NKRO is preferred). I won't accept any solution that increases the physical depth or width of my setup (Noppoo TANK + EliteKeyboards 3-Star palm rest), or which involves more than two elements (too much clutter, and too many gaps), or which means that I will no longer have a wrist rest on both sides-- these criteria would seem to rule out a "normal" trackball with mouse-sized wrist rests on either side, or a keyboard with an attached pointing device coming off the bottom but no built-in wrist rests on either side of it. Ideally, I wouldn't have to suffer any reduction in wrist rest comfort or quality, but I'm willing to compromise here, so long as there's some form of semi-soft wrist rest and I don't wind up with one of those nasty gel ones where the seams come apart and dirt-crusted, sticky gel gets all over the place.
No DIY-- I'm really good at DIY stuff, so long as the goal is to break something and then throw it out; unfortunately, that's the only type of DIY project that I can do, and all other types of DIY will wind up becoming that. I only have one PS/2 port, so a solution that requires a PS/2 port for the keyboard and another one for the pointing device is out, unless it can go through a USB adapter without losing performance. Strict standards for durability apply-- I don't care about the kind of "quality" that's just a matter of looks, but I am not compatible with weak devices.
So far, the closest thing I've found to a solution would be the iOne Libra 35-- basically a keyboard wrist rest with a built-in trackball or touchpad, depending on version. Unfortunately, research suggests that this device fails on pointer quality and build quality, and I have zero interest in spending my time and/or money trying out products that are likely to fail on even one of the above criteria, let alone two.
Any ideas?
