cascading effects

[cellio]

A few months ago I was talking with my ophthamologist about the difficulties of sitting at a computer all day (eye-strain headaches, which I could mitigate somewhat by doing ergonomically-bad things and getting neck/shoulder/wrist aches instead). She said that's because I need computer glasses rather than trying to use one pair of glasses for everything. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that my employer would even pay for this -- cool!

The nice thing about this is that the glasses can be focused at a more-normal distance, which means I was able to push my monitor back on my desk instead of keeping it at about 8-10". It's now at about 20", give or take. (I did have to change some font settings and some apps, like Outlook, don't respect all the settings, but that's managable. And I'm used to the software world not fully supporting the visually-impaired.) That, in turn, meant that I could finally support a second monitor -- commonly available in my company, but I could never get that much screen in visual range before. But now...

My second 22" monitor arrived yesterday. My plan had been to set it up in portrait mode (which would allow me to have more than 45 lines of text visible in an emacs buffer), but my graphics card's default driver doesn't support that. There is a newer driver, but it has other issues.

But, my computer is coming up on the end of its lease, which means I'm going to have to move off of it in a few months anyway. So, worst case I wait a few months to be able to rotate my monitor, or best case maybe I'll be allowed to switch early. Moving to a new computer is a pain in the butt, especially with all the security exemptions and stuff (to install non-standard software), so I never would have expected to find myself saying "I hope I can replace my computer soon". :-) (Holy cow, I just realized this will be computer #5 for me... maybe I can safely delete the archives from #2.)

I wonder if I can get a trackball or similar pointing device, too. Not to replace the mouse -- to augment it. This is a lot of screen to move across, and I'd like to spare my mouse hand the broad traversals. (I've never been any good at fine control with a trackball or touchpad, but if I could have both that and the mouse... I assume I can plug in two USB pointing devices and they'd both work, and that trackballs etc come USB these days. Something to check.)

Comments

Two pointing devices

[tc-tick.livejournal.com]

I am running multiple computers (4 at the moment) w/two KVM switches with the result that I have two mice and two keyboards on one computer when I have both monitors on one computer -- I don't have any problems with them co-existing. Some systems I run the same desktop on both monitors and other use extended desktops -- sounds strange, but that allows me to put the common desktop on either monitor depending on what I am doing on the other one. It all works suprisingly well.

Re: Two pointing devices

[cellio]

Thanks. Tangent: do you have opinions on KVM versus VNC (or other virtual desktop) for accessing multiple machines? When I get a Mac I'm still going to need to keep the Windows box around for occasional access. (Leaning toward VNC so I don't have to buy more hardware, but are there reasons that would be a bad idea? Since you went KVM I figured you might have an opinion.)

Re: Two pointing devices

[tc-tick.livejournal.com]

I use VNC mostly for remote connection and it is obviously dependent on link speed, but on a local network it is quite acceptable. I haven't used it with the MAC, but it works well on linux and windows.

[mbarr.livejournal.com]

I love my trackball- i'd been on a laptop w/ a trackpad for a few years, and hadn't used a mouse. Got a desktop at the office, w/ associated mouse, and started realizing how much my arm hurt.

Amazon, & Kensington Expert Mouse trackball, to the rescue. 2 19" monitor next to each other is just a long way to mouse. This way my hands stay in the same place, the ball moves, and I'm happy.

[cellio]

Thanks for the recommendation. I've never had a trackball, so wouldn't really know what to look for in one.

[dsrtao]

USB certainly supports it; I would be surprised if Windows didn't allow it.

(Currently plugged in to my desktop at work via USB: a conventional optical mouse, a wireless mouse, a Logitech trackball (thumb style), and a trackpad. All operate simultaneously and seamlessly. Desktop runs Debian Lenny.)

[cellio]

Thanks. Sounds from others like Windows doesn't have a problem with this, and a quick test at home seems to confirm it (XP). (Eventually I realized I do have a spare mouse lying around...)

[yuggazogy.livejournal.com]

Trackball is definitely worth it. I even game with it on first person shooter type games with mine (Logitech Marble Mouse, comes as USB with detachable adapter for use with PS2 ports). Mine is the big honkin' Centipede-type trackball rather than the smaller thumb-controlled ball.

[cellio]

Thanks. What factors make the Centipede-type work better for you than the thumb-style?

[yuggazogy.livejournal.com]

Comfort level, ergnomics, and (for me), more precise control and less thumb fatigue. Really, as with anyone asking me about mice/trackballs/etc, I'd recommend going to your closest electronics supply chain and test driving a few in-store before purchasing.

[cellio]

Definitely agree on the test-drive. Test-drives can rule things out easily enough, but they still aren't very good for telling you what something will be like after several hours, so other input is good too.

[http://users.livejournal.com/merle_/]

Trackballs do indeed come in USB flavours (or have adapters if you want one of the older variety), and any version of Windows you are likely to be using will deal with multiple pointing devices (Win95 did not seem to for me, but then again it didn't support USB). You can even have multiple keyboards, although the happy numlock/etc LEDs get confused.

Portrait mode would be awesome. I do not understand the trend towards the widescreen monitors. Sure, I could watch an HD movie on it.. something I do oh so often at work. Otherwise all it means is I have to carefully place my vertically-tiny windows next to each other to not waste space.

[yuggazogy.livejournal.com]

Most non-laptop LCD screens should work in portrait modes, and graphics drivers usually support rotating the image in 90-degree increments.

[http://users.livejournal.com/merle_/]

A monitor is a monitor; software should be able to rotate the image trivially. However, the ones I have at work do not have a swivel, meaning mounting them in such a manner as to have portrait mode is problematic (or dangerous).

[cellio]

Thanks.

There seems to be something of a vicious cycle with monitors and apps: monitors are landscape, so apps are sometimes optimized for that, which pushes you to stay in landscape. And it all pushes users to take advantage of it too; the max-line-length-in-code argument at work was somewhat passionate, with proponents arguing that IntelliJ has all this room available so why not use it? At the time a 120-character line in IntelliJ (with the other useful stuff like the class hierarchies over on the side) would not fit on my monitor in a font size I could read. That's no longer true, but even so, I find really long lines really really hard to read. And then there's the web, with lots of sites hard-wiring their content to wider than I want a browser window -- if I make the window that wide for your graphics, my text-based browsing now has the same line-length problem. I want to read text and code in a portrait style, and the wide-screen monitors actually take away a little height (the aspect ratio of my 22" work monitors is different than that of my home 19" monitor). So, all that said, being able to turn one monitor to portrait, so I can put my editors and browsers there while letting Outlook, IntelliJ, our own software, and other wide apps have the other, is perfect. As soon as I get a configuration that supports it.

[http://users.livejournal.com/merle_/]

Having one monitor in each orientation does seem optimal for that usage pattern.

I run in 1024x768 (or whatever the equivalent vertical is) for exactly the reason of font size. Most people seem horrified, but I find the "large fonts" setting breaks so many things that a lower resolution is the best way to deal with eyesight issues. But yes, that causes problems in a lot of applications. Eclipse with all its toolbars and docked areas leaves me with about sixty characters across in viewable area, unless I am constantly swapping between a full screen editor and a useable IDE. Outlook I just suffer through.

[gregbo.livejournal.com]

I may need computer glasses also. I've been having some shoulder problems lately, which seem to be better now that I've switched back to an older pair of lenses. These are an older style of lens that are oval (rather than rectangular). The newer pair of lenses I have is not as wide at the edges, which my eye doctor at the time told me would actually be good for my vision, but it doesn't seem to work so well for computer use. To his credit, he suggested that I think about getting bifocals, but I think I'd rather have two separate pairs of glasses.

I will probably have to look into ergonomic keyboards and mice as well. For now, I've switched to higher magnification and larger font sizes. The screen does not have to be close to me, and I can extend my arms, easing the stress on my shoulders.

[cellio]

I already had bifocals, so I was trying to read the computer screen through just the bifocal part. (I can't read it at any distance through the distance part of the lens.) I still do this at home, but it's less of an issue there because it's a smaller screen, I'm not spending as much time at the computer, and it's just less intense all around.

I'm not sure how getting bifocals will solve your computer problems. You probably don't hold reading material (books, newspapers, etc) at the same distance that you'd like to place your computer monitor, do you?

My new computer glasses are computer-distance-focused for the main lens with bifocals (so I can read papers too). Eseentially, I inverted the lenses -- instead of using just the bifocal I now use everything except the bifocal when looking at the computer screen. This is working out much better for me even aside from the change in focal distance. More glasses real-estate means more computer-screen real-estate.

I've found that lens shape makes a huge difference, by the way.

My keyboard is nothing special, but I find that the right mouse makes a huge difference for me. I also have a little foam pad attached to the back end of my mouse -- think of it as a mobile wrist rest. That helps a lot. (I also have a wrist rest for the keyboard, one of those firm-but-adaptable gel-like things.)

Good luck in finding a combination of tools that works for you. It can take a lot of fussing, but your eyes, hands, shoulders, etc will thank you.