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.

[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.

[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.)

[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.

[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.

[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.