Tag: gaming

The Standard Is Holding You Back

The standard keyboard design has its roots in manual typewriters, where the moving hammers could jam if certain keys were pressed too rapidly in quick succession.

Having used numerous ergonomic keyboards over the years, I find that a two-piece, ortholinear keyboard offers the best solution for enhancing health and efficiency while providing a pleasant typing experience, whether for work or play. Getting used to an ortholinear key layout only took me a few minutes, and was immediately a welcome change from the less efficient standard, staggered layout.

These keyboards allow for key customization, offering many options that include soft and quiet or light and clicky. For my public office keyboard, I prefer quiet keys, while at home, I enjoy the satisfying sound and feel of loud, clicky keys.

The split design of these keyboards is a significant improvement over traditional, flat boards, as it helps prevent back and wrist pain by promoting a more natural hand position. The tenting feature elevates the keyboard halves, allowing for better hand alignment, and encourages the thumbs to engage more actively, moving beyond hitting just the space bar. With a standard layout, the most powerful finger is doing the least work, which makes no sense.

Many users accept the standard keyboard without questioning its design, remaining vulnerable to the discomfort and inefficiency it can cause.



I have yet to explore alternative letter layouts, still using QWERTY, which was designed with typewriter mechanics in mind rather than optimizing finger strength. I am open to trying COLEMAK or DVORAK layouts, as this ZSA Moonlander keyboard allows for easy reconfiguration of key caps. While retraining muscle memory may take time, it is a feasible challenge with long-term benefits.

The Moonlander supports up to thirty-two custom layouts, and I currently utilize eight total, for applications like Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. Switching between layouts is fast and efficient.

Additionally, each key can be assigned a custom LED color, aiding in layer differentiation and key identification.

Exploring alternatives to the generic keyboard design is not commonly considered, and most people remain unaware of the limitations of their current input devices.

Pictured here is the left half of my ZSA Moonlander, along with my Kensington Slimblade trackball, representing but a portion of my input device ecosystem.

https://lnkd.in/gJ_vgah6

Odyssey 2

On Saturday, I aquired something I’ve wanted for many years: an Odyssey 2 video game system, circa 1982 or so. My cousin and I used to play this, along with his Colecovision (which had an Atari 2600 add-on) all day long, day after day, in-between riding bikes, playing guns, (pow pow!), jumping on the trampoline, and watching R movies like Predator, Robocop, and Aliens. This program upgraded in 1986 when the original Nintendo came along. Good times.

These Odyssey 2 game consoles are all over eBay, but I could never justify the purchase and was uneasy with purchasing this kind of thing from there, as to whether it would work or not, etc.

After several dud garage sales this Saturday, Dad and I hit another bad one… except I saw this, in a good-condition box, too! The price was a bit lower than eBay, and the people selling it were, to my judgement, very reputable and honest. The machine itself is very clean, but I need to decide how I’m going to hook it up to my modern television, and I have ordered a newer power adapter instead of the aftermarket, multiple-voltage one that came with it. Just to be safe.

I’m going to go through a VCR, which has what is needed built-in into its antennae input. I’m not sure of the specific terms, but after several YouTube videos, this is the cost-effective way to go instead of specific adapters I’d have to buy. Once I get this sorted out, I can go ahead and shop around for the classic titles we played back in the day. This unit came with seven, but only two were familiar to me, and none of them were our really big favorites.

In any case, if I hadn’t picked this up, I’d be kicking myself forever because it is such a nostalgic blast from the past, and the games we played are going to be fun to go through again, after all these years. It isn’t enough of a priority to spend big money on, but it is something I can’t pass up if the opportunity presents itself like this.

Last year, I compiled lists of the games we played on all three systems (Odyssey 2, Colecovision, and Atari 2600) so that if I ever ran across them (They are usually dirt-cheap when found in person), I’d be ready to select the right games.

I’m pretty happy about this find. We almost didn’t go to that sale!