This week, I’m typing on a spiffy new keyboard. After last week’s article lamenting the demise of Northgate, maker of awesome keyboards, I got an e-mail from a reader who was looking for a Keytronic FlexLogic (or ErgoLogic) keyboard. Apparently, I’m not the only one who has an attachment to particular keyboards. So if any of you have one collecting dust that you’d like to unload, please let me know and I’ll share the joy with him.
All this communication about keyboards prompted me to do a search on Northgate. It turns out that Northgate is not completely dead; apparently it still exists in a very small way. (Who knew?) But they don’t make cool keyboards anymore. However, a company called Creative Vision Technologies bought the patents and created a keyboard called the Avant Stellar that’s more or less like the Northgate OmniKey Ultra I used in the early 90s.
(http://cvtinc.com/products/keyboards/stellar.htm)
After agonizing about the price, I gave in and bought it. The most exciting thing about this keyboard is the touch. It’s like a real old-style heavy-duty keyboard. (Remember when keyboards weighed more than 4 ounces?) Technically this keyboard weighs 5.3 pounds; it’s heavy and sort of huge. But the thing is I can *seriously* type on it. Plus, the sound and feel is like deja vu from 10 years ago. I did a LOT of typing back then and it’s sort of comforting in a way. I know it’s weird to be attached to something like this, but I kind of feel the same way about my pen tablet. Soon I’m going to be lost in my own private world of odd computer peripherals and be unable to use any other computer.
But with that said, even after 15 years of heavy duty computer use, I’ve never had any problems with carpal tunnel syndrome. I attribute that to using a pen tablet (instead of a mouse) and my attachment to decent keyboards. When I told a friend about my new keyboard, she brought up a good point. She said that a physical therapist told her that "a lot of carpal tunnel is actually caused by keyboards that have too light a touch. If you have resistance in the keyboard, it acts as a workout for the muscles in the fingers, hand, and wrist. It strengthens the hand instead of wearing it out with repetitive motion. Old manual typewriters actually give you the BEST workout – which is one reason why carpal tunnel is a disease of the computer age!"
So, although my Avant Stellar keyboard may seem like an outrageously expensive luxury, it might be more practical than it seems. If I want to keep writing, it’s best to keep my hands happy.