Weird 90s PC Keyboards - The Scanner &
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Date: 2024-05-24
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Comments and reviews: 20
mar4kl
1: 38, Easy to use - no on/off switch. - Because we all know that the hardest thing about using a scanner is operating the on/off switch!
17: 02, odd split layout - Those were supposed to be ergonomic, good for reducing the pain of carpal tunnel syndrome for those who had it, and for reducing the chances of developing carpal tunnel syndrome for those who didn't. A number of split/curved/angled keyboards were introduced in the early 1990s. I was interested, as I found that day after day of programming and other keyboarding I had to do for my job brought on painful tendonitis. Alas, those supposedly ergonomic keyboards were expensive, there seemed to be little authoritative research to prove the concept, and I wasn't sure I could get used to typing with my hands at those angles, so I didn't think my employer would be willing to spring for one. But the one thing that article after article I read on the topic all said was that the cause of manual pain from typing was the unnatural angles that people's hands made with their wrists as they positioned themselves to reach the keyboard. Examining my sitting position at my desk, I realized that my relatively short stature made it impossible for me to sit high enough at the desk to type with straight wrists without having the chair so high that my feet would be dangling several inches above the floor, which can lead to circulation problems and lower back pain. Armed with that knowledge (ooh, sorry, couldn't resist, I devised a basically free solution to my problem that required no new hardware or furniture acquisitions. If I couldn't raise myself high enough to type with my wrists straight, maybe I could angle up the keyboard so I could keep my wrists straight while sitting at my normal height. So, I went to the storage closet and helped myself to a spare keyboard tray with a soft palmrest, and began collecting waste paper from the printer, which I stacked up under the back edge of the keyboard to angle it up. I stopped collecting waste paper when I had a stack about an inch and a half high, and the keyboard and tray and my forearms were at about a 40-degree angle from the desktop. My forearms, wrists and hands were perfectly straight, the soft palmrest kept this position comfortable, and there was no new hand positioning to get used to, although this setup looked a bit strange. The tendonitis went away, and I never developed carpal tunnel syndrome. The only detriment was to some poor ergonomic keyboard maker who was denied a $250 sale due to my ingenuity. (I cried guilty tears all the way from the doctor's office to the bank over that)
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1: 38, Easy to use - no on/off switch. - Because we all know that the hardest thing about using a scanner is operating the on/off switch!
17: 02, odd split layout - Those were supposed to be ergonomic, good for reducing the pain of carpal tunnel syndrome for those who had it, and for reducing the chances of developing carpal tunnel syndrome for those who didn't. A number of split/curved/angled keyboards were introduced in the early 1990s. I was interested, as I found that day after day of programming and other keyboarding I had to do for my job brought on painful tendonitis. Alas, those supposedly ergonomic keyboards were expensive, there seemed to be little authoritative research to prove the concept, and I wasn't sure I could get used to typing with my hands at those angles, so I didn't think my employer would be willing to spring for one. But the one thing that article after article I read on the topic all said was that the cause of manual pain from typing was the unnatural angles that people's hands made with their wrists as they positioned themselves to reach the keyboard. Examining my sitting position at my desk, I realized that my relatively short stature made it impossible for me to sit high enough at the desk to type with straight wrists without having the chair so high that my feet would be dangling several inches above the floor, which can lead to circulation problems and lower back pain. Armed with that knowledge (ooh, sorry, couldn't resist, I devised a basically free solution to my problem that required no new hardware or furniture acquisitions. If I couldn't raise myself high enough to type with my wrists straight, maybe I could angle up the keyboard so I could keep my wrists straight while sitting at my normal height. So, I went to the storage closet and helped myself to a spare keyboard tray with a soft palmrest, and began collecting waste paper from the printer, which I stacked up under the back edge of the keyboard to angle it up. I stopped collecting waste paper when I had a stack about an inch and a half high, and the keyboard and tray and my forearms were at about a 40-degree angle from the desktop. My forearms, wrists and hands were perfectly straight, the soft palmrest kept this position comfortable, and there was no new hand positioning to get used to, although this setup looked a bit strange. The tendonitis went away, and I never developed carpal tunnel syndrome. The only detriment was to some poor ergonomic keyboard maker who was denied a $250 sale due to my ingenuity. (I cried guilty tears all the way from the doctor's office to the bank over that)
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xliquidflames
I had a keyboard and mouse combo that I fell in love with around 2000 or 2001 and used it for 10 years even after the company stopped making them. They were made by Gyration. They were wireless RF so the range was ridiculous. And the mouse was what they called an air mouse because it had a gyroscope or accelerometer. I'm not sure which but based on the company name, I'm guessing a small gyroscope lived inside the mouse so that you could pick it up off the desk and control your mouse pointer like a Wii-mote. But this was years before the Wii and it didn't use a bar on top of the screen like the Wii did. It just had an RF receiver to plug into USB and that was it. The keyboard was tiny like a laptop keyboard but I used it on my desktop and I absolutely loved it. I could sit on my couch and work on writing projects on my computer in the den because I can touch type and didn't really need to see the screen. Or, I could sit back on my bed and control music and movies with the media controls on the keyboard and because RF isn't line-of-sight, it worked perfectly all the time.
Someone should do a video about Gyration in general because I can't find any good ones. .nudge, nudge.
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I had a keyboard and mouse combo that I fell in love with around 2000 or 2001 and used it for 10 years even after the company stopped making them. They were made by Gyration. They were wireless RF so the range was ridiculous. And the mouse was what they called an air mouse because it had a gyroscope or accelerometer. I'm not sure which but based on the company name, I'm guessing a small gyroscope lived inside the mouse so that you could pick it up off the desk and control your mouse pointer like a Wii-mote. But this was years before the Wii and it didn't use a bar on top of the screen like the Wii did. It just had an RF receiver to plug into USB and that was it. The keyboard was tiny like a laptop keyboard but I used it on my desktop and I absolutely loved it. I could sit on my couch and work on writing projects on my computer in the den because I can touch type and didn't really need to see the screen. Or, I could sit back on my bed and control music and movies with the media controls on the keyboard and because RF isn't line-of-sight, it worked perfectly all the time.
Someone should do a video about Gyration in general because I can't find any good ones. .nudge, nudge.
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Toonrick12
To be fair to the Compaq Scanner Keyboard, just because Windows 95 can run a Windows 3. 1 driver doesn't mean it works well with it. The box said Windows 95 Ready not Windows 95 Compatible. That's a tell that the program Runs on 95, doesn't mean it Works on 95. Yes, it does have the Windows keys on the keyboard, but I'm pretty sure that during development, the prototype didn't have those keys. Of course they couldn't just say it only works on 3. 1 in 1996, Windows 95 was THE buzzword back then. Maybe a latter version of this keyboard had a actual driver for Windows 95, assuming it did have a latter version made.
In short, a Windows 3. 1 driver can run in Windows 95, but no one will be happy. The user, the computer, the OS, and the device will be equally angry at each other.
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To be fair to the Compaq Scanner Keyboard, just because Windows 95 can run a Windows 3. 1 driver doesn't mean it works well with it. The box said Windows 95 Ready not Windows 95 Compatible. That's a tell that the program Runs on 95, doesn't mean it Works on 95. Yes, it does have the Windows keys on the keyboard, but I'm pretty sure that during development, the prototype didn't have those keys. Of course they couldn't just say it only works on 3. 1 in 1996, Windows 95 was THE buzzword back then. Maybe a latter version of this keyboard had a actual driver for Windows 95, assuming it did have a latter version made.
In short, a Windows 3. 1 driver can run in Windows 95, but no one will be happy. The user, the computer, the OS, and the device will be equally angry at each other.
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Dukefazon
I reeeally had to force myself not to pick a scanner keyboard like that off of ebay! It probably won't work right on moder machines with the driver issues but every time you inserted a paper and it started to work on it instantly it heightened my need to buy one. It's such a cool little device! I have a Microsoft ergonomic keyboard that has similar color scheme to that one you have here. At first it was weird, I don't know why my seller gave me that but I quickly grew fond of it. I used it for a couple of years before switched to Mac, it was nice, comfy, a bit bulky but I had a huge table back then. Neat keyboards, keep 'em coming!
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I reeeally had to force myself not to pick a scanner keyboard like that off of ebay! It probably won't work right on moder machines with the driver issues but every time you inserted a paper and it started to work on it instantly it heightened my need to buy one. It's such a cool little device! I have a Microsoft ergonomic keyboard that has similar color scheme to that one you have here. At first it was weird, I don't know why my seller gave me that but I quickly grew fond of it. I used it for a couple of years before switched to Mac, it was nice, comfy, a bit bulky but I had a huge table back then. Neat keyboards, keep 'em coming!
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pkmn1260
that Future Keyboard looks like something you would see in one of those early 2000's slice of life in the future tv shows or whatever, alongside spray steak or whatever.
the Scanner Keyboard sounds like a cool idea that someone in an office made up, but did not think about the face that generally, people who need to scan stuff, probably also need a printer or fax machine. i suppose it could have been nice for that niche situation where someone had a printer or fax machine and needed specifically a scanner.
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that Future Keyboard looks like something you would see in one of those early 2000's slice of life in the future tv shows or whatever, alongside spray steak or whatever.
the Scanner Keyboard sounds like a cool idea that someone in an office made up, but did not think about the face that generally, people who need to scan stuff, probably also need a printer or fax machine. i suppose it could have been nice for that niche situation where someone had a printer or fax machine and needed specifically a scanner.
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DarkeningDemise
Hey LGR, long time fan since about 2011/2012 really. Just wanted to say thanks for all the entertainment for all these years. You inspired me and many others over time to get into things like The Sims, thrifting, and technology. You helped me find out what Sims DLC I wanted to buy first back in the day and the strange tech videos were always great. Your snarky soothing voice was relaxing as well. Good luck to you man.
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Hey LGR, long time fan since about 2011/2012 really. Just wanted to say thanks for all the entertainment for all these years. You inspired me and many others over time to get into things like The Sims, thrifting, and technology. You helped me find out what Sims DLC I wanted to buy first back in the day and the strange tech videos were always great. Your snarky soothing voice was relaxing as well. Good luck to you man.
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ScooterinAB
Acer was trying things. A perfect descriptor of the 90s and 2000s. Which is honestly something I miss. Tech at the time was quite something, and companies were certainly trying things. It is disappointing that now everything is just the same. Everything basically looks the same now and no one is actually actively trying to compete anymore. For as weird as stuff like this was, it at least tried to have an identity.
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Acer was trying things. A perfect descriptor of the 90s and 2000s. Which is honestly something I miss. Tech at the time was quite something, and companies were certainly trying things. It is disappointing that now everything is just the same. Everything basically looks the same now and no one is actually actively trying to compete anymore. For as weird as stuff like this was, it at least tried to have an identity.
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SolidSonicTH
Huh, I bought a scanner keyboard locally (I thought it was overpriced but I didn't argue with the guy selling it since he sort of intimidated me >_>. Wish I could recall the brand. I'm currently using it but since the scanner is an RS232 serial device I can't plug it in (and it uses an old-school DIN connector, although my motherboard has a PS/2 port so I just had to convert it over.
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Huh, I bought a scanner keyboard locally (I thought it was overpriced but I didn't argue with the guy selling it since he sort of intimidated me >_>. Wish I could recall the brand. I'm currently using it but since the scanner is an RS232 serial device I can't plug it in (and it uses an old-school DIN connector, although my motherboard has a PS/2 port so I just had to convert it over.
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TexTom1981
I had a PaperPort scanner for Mac and it just sat in front of my screen and behind my keyboard waiting for me to push something into it. For the time, it was a very useful device. Not for photos, but for getting paper into a computer and OCR'd. I found it a very worthwhile device. Better scanners got cheaper and the PaperPort went in the old tech drawer within a couple years.
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I had a PaperPort scanner for Mac and it just sat in front of my screen and behind my keyboard waiting for me to push something into it. For the time, it was a very useful device. Not for photos, but for getting paper into a computer and OCR'd. I found it a very worthwhile device. Better scanners got cheaper and the PaperPort went in the old tech drawer within a couple years.
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Argorok87
Always wanted to know if a certain keyboard from pop culture ever existed. Parks and Rec had an episode where Donna Meagle was given a new keyboard to use that was built like a sort of U-shaped frame and was impossible to use. Probably just a prop but wondering if anyone knows if it was (fully or just based on) a real thing
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Always wanted to know if a certain keyboard from pop culture ever existed. Parks and Rec had an episode where Donna Meagle was given a new keyboard to use that was built like a sort of U-shaped frame and was impossible to use. Probably just a prop but wondering if anyone knows if it was (fully or just based on) a real thing
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TehSmokeyMan
Yeah, don't worry; this is plenty enjoyable
Heck you could start a series where you just grab a random thing from your Vault. Hoard Treasure Pile Retro and Oldskool Awesomeness Room Storage of Wildly Eclectic and Epic Treasures) and talk about it and I'd like it (retro stuff and a great host What's not to like)
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Yeah, don't worry; this is plenty enjoyable
Heck you could start a series where you just grab a random thing from your Vault. Hoard Treasure Pile Retro and Oldskool Awesomeness Room Storage of Wildly Eclectic and Epic Treasures) and talk about it and I'd like it (retro stuff and a great host What's not to like)
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anonymouschicken20
Guy at Compaq naming department: Hey guys, so I was thinking about our retail brand over here. How about we just name it _Compatibles by Compaq_
Some logical guy: Wait isn't that a Copy-Paste from _Options by IBM_
Guy at Compaq case design department: Hey, it's probably fine.
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Guy at Compaq naming department: Hey guys, so I was thinking about our retail brand over here. How about we just name it _Compatibles by Compaq_
Some logical guy: Wait isn't that a Copy-Paste from _Options by IBM_
Guy at Compaq case design department: Hey, it's probably fine.
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WilliamCirse
My work setup is a Kinesis Freestyle keyboard and a separate Kensington keypad and I'm very happy with it. Looks like that Acer keyboard would have let me experience that decades ago, although the two main keyboard parts not being truly split might have ruined the experience.
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My work setup is a Kinesis Freestyle keyboard and a separate Kensington keypad and I'm very happy with it. Looks like that Acer keyboard would have let me experience that decades ago, although the two main keyboard parts not being truly split might have ruined the experience.
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jason3fc
It seems like a weird thing to do, putting a scanner as a keyboard, but in 2024 I keep an Epson portable wireless scanner right behind my keyboard to scan in bills and other paper I want to just keep digital. Basically the same setup as the scanner keyboard.
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It seems like a weird thing to do, putting a scanner as a keyboard, but in 2024 I keep an Epson portable wireless scanner right behind my keyboard to scan in bills and other paper I want to just keep digital. Basically the same setup as the scanner keyboard.
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KenMrKLC
Man that scanner is cool, that just seems like it should be a thing. on a capable computer it would be faster program load etc I think that was a missed great idea. I am surprised it didn’t hit! Looks well designed also. Nice find thanks for sharing
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Man that scanner is cool, that just seems like it should be a thing. on a capable computer it would be faster program load etc I think that was a missed great idea. I am surprised it didn’t hit! Looks well designed also. Nice find thanks for sharing
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kadnhart6661
No joke, I've been digitizing a bunch of typewriter pages and took a break to watch this, because dealing with my crap Canon flatbed scanner is the most annoying part of the whole process BY FAR. That scanner keyboard would be a legit improvement!
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No joke, I've been digitizing a bunch of typewriter pages and took a break to watch this, because dealing with my crap Canon flatbed scanner is the most annoying part of the whole process BY FAR. That scanner keyboard would be a legit improvement!
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IanZainea1990
13: 52 if your job in '95 or whatever was to digitize a paper database, this would have been invaluable. Or even just a secretary where your boss kept handing you things and saying scan this and send it to the team or whatever business nonsense
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13: 52 if your job in '95 or whatever was to digitize a paper database, this would have been invaluable. Or even just a secretary where your boss kept handing you things and saying scan this and send it to the team or whatever business nonsense
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HannoImmelman
The keyboard scanner works so well I'll actually consider buying it if it existed today. Turning on the printer to scan in a quick pdf is such a drag.
For the other keyboard not using the numpad as a mouse is a missed opportunity.
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The keyboard scanner works so well I'll actually consider buying it if it existed today. Turning on the printer to scan in a quick pdf is such a drag.
For the other keyboard not using the numpad as a mouse is a missed opportunity.
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xliquidflames
13: 41 Maybe article mode would pick up those background gradients and the highlights on your script A newspaper article is going to have gradients of grey boxes and black borders. So maybe that's what the article mode is for.
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13: 41 Maybe article mode would pick up those background gradients and the highlights on your script A newspaper article is going to have gradients of grey boxes and black borders. So maybe that's what the article mode is for.
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Dtr146
There is people who legitimately are upset that there was no mechanical keyboards back then. They didn't need them. PS2 was that Chad of a technology. Unlike USB where it stands for input. Ps2 told The computer there was inputing
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There is people who legitimately are upset that there was no mechanical keyboards back then. They didn't need them. PS2 was that Chad of a technology. Unlike USB where it stands for input. Ps2 told The computer there was inputing
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