Subject: FAQ: Typing Injuries (3/5): Keyboard Alternatives [monthly posting]
The DragonWriter 1000 can recognize (you guessed it) 1000 words at a
time.
Dragon's technology is also part of the following products
(about which I have no other info):
Microsoft Windows Sound System (Voice Pilot)
IBM VoiceType
Voice Navigator II (by Articulate Systems -- for Macintosh)
EMStation (by Lanier Voice Products -- "emergency medical
workstation")
Half-QWERTY (Canada) 416-749-3124
The Matias Corporation
178 Thistledown Boulevard
Rexdale, Ontario, Canada
M9V 1K1
E-mail: ematias@dgp.toronto.edu
Supports: Mac and PC (but, not Windows)
Demo for anonymous ftp: explorer.dgp.toronto.edu:/pub/Half-QWERTY
Price: $129.95 (higher in Canada, quantity discounts available)
Shipping: Now.
This thing is purely software. No hardware at all.
The software will mirror the keyboard when you hold down the space
bar, allowing you type one-handed.
IBM Speech Server Series (ISSS)
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IBM Corporation.
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Phone: Contact your IBM sales rep or call 800-772-2227.
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Shipping: Now.
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Price: Starts around $5000 for a stand-alone system
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Platform: Client-server architecture. Server runs on an RS/6000.
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Client can be either an RS/6000 or a PC running OS/2.
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ISSS supports a 30,000 word dictionary. It's speaker-dependent,
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so requires training (1-2 hours).
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ISSS recognizes US and UK English, French, German, and Italian.
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ISSS can control any X or OS/2 application, and supports user-
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customizable profiles for macros. A developer's API is also available.
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Dictation rates of 70-100 words per minute are possible with 95-99
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percent accuracy, including a model of the language to disambiguate
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words such as "to", "two", and "too".
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IN3 (in-cube) Voice Command
Command Corp, Inc.
3675 Crestwood Parkway
P.O. Box 956099
Duluth, GA 30136-9502, U.S.A.
Voice: 404-925-7950
FAX: 404-925-7924
E-Mail: in3@gacc.atl.ga.us
CIS: 75120,431
Contact: Brantley Kelly <cbk@gacc.atl.ga.us>;
Platforms: Sun Sparc (SunOS or Solaris) and MS Windows 3.1.
Price: $495 (Sun), $179 (MS Windows)
For Sun, IN3 provides a complete navigation solution, including
voice macros. A developer API is also available. The native Sparc
audio is used for input. IN3 can be found on Sun's Catalyst CDware.
For MS Windows, IN3 provides a solution similar to the Sun. Most 8 and
16 bit audio cards are supported. A developer API is also available.
Windows 3.1 and a 386 or better processor are required. Demos can be
found on Compuserve, America On-Line, and various
comp.binaries.ms-windows
archive site and BBS systems.
Kurzweil 617-893-5151
Fax: 617-893-6525
Kurzweil Applied Intelligence, Inc
411 Waverley Oaks Road
Waltham MA 02154
Contact: Joe Murphy
The Kurzweil system is a voice recognition system which interfaces
with PC compatibles. For $6000, you get a board which will support
50,000 words -- 10K user defined and 40K from a 200K word dictionary.
The system is reported to attempt speaker-independence through
continuously adapting voice models. This requires about 12 mbytes
of disk space to store its state, however.
MS-DOS is supported. Windows is not, as yet. Requires 486DX/33
with 32 mb RAM.
Microwriter AgendA (U.K.) (+44) 81 715 1023 (voice or FAX)
Microwriter Services Ltd
Unit 1
Seaforth Works
Rear of 8-12 Seaforth Avenue
New Malden
Surrey KT3 6JP
(Info from Carroll Morgan <Carroll.Morgan@prg.oxford.ac.uk>;)
The AgendA is a personal desktop assistant (PDA) style machine. You
can carry it along with you. It has chording input. You can also
hook it up to your PC, or even program it.
It costs just under 200 pounds, with 128K memory.
[Apparently they are in some form of bankruptcy right now.
Anybody have any more info?]
The Minimal Motion Computer Access System 508-263-6437
508-263-6537 (fax)
Equal Access Computer Technology
Dr. Michael Weinreigh
39 Oneida Rd.
Acton, MA 01720, U.S.A.
Price: InfoGrip-compatible: "a few hundred dollars" + a one-handed Bat
For their own system: $300 (DOS software) + "a few hundred
dollars"
Shipping: these are custom-made, so an occupational therapist would
make moulds/do whatever to make it for you. You can buy one now.
Supports: PC only, although the InfoGrip-compatible version might
work with a Mac.
In a one-handed version, there is exactly one button per finger. In a
two-handed version, you get four buttons per finger, and th thmbs
don't do anything. You can also get one-handed versions with three
thumb buttons -- compatible with the InfoGrip Bat. Basically, get it
any way you want.
They also have a software tutorial to help you learn the chording.
Works on a PC under DOS, not Windows. Planning on Macintosh and
PC/Windows support. No work has been done on a Unix version, yet.
Octima (Israel) 972-4-5322844
FAX: (+972) 3 5322970
Ergoplic Keyboards Ltd.
P.O. Box 31
Kiryat Ono 55100, Israel
(info from Mandy Jaffe-Katz <RXHFUN@HAIFAUVM.BITNET>;)
A one-handed keyboard.
Twiddler 516-474-4405, or 800-638-2352
Handykey
141 Mt. Sinai Ave.
Mt. Sinai, NY 11766
Chris George (President)
Shipping: now.
Price: $199.
Supports: PC only. Mac and X Windows in the works.
The Twiddler is both a keyboard and a mouse, and it fits in one hand.
You type via finger chords. Shift, control, etc. are thumb buttons.
When in "mouse" mode, tilting the Twiddler moves the mouse, and mouse
buttons are on your fingers.
The cabling leaves your normal keyboard available, also.
Most applications work, and Windows works fine. DESQview has trouble.
GEOWorks also has trouble -- mouse works, keyboard doesn't.
===========
Thanks go to Chris Bekins <AS.CCB@forsythe.stanford.edu>; for providing
the basis for this information.
Thanks to the numerous contributors:
Doug Martin <martin@nosc.mil>;
Carroll Morgan <Carroll.Morgan@prg.oxford.ac.uk>;
Mandy Jaffe-Katz <RXHFUN@HAIFAUVM.BITNET>;
Wes Hunter <Wesley.Hunter@AtlantaGA.NCR.com>;
Paul Schwartz <pschwrtz@cs.washington.edu>;
H.J. Woltring <WOLTRING@NICI.KUN.NL>;
Dan Sorenson <viking@iastate.edu>;
Chris VanHaren <vanharen@MIT.EDU>;
Ravi Pandya <ravi@xanadu.com>;
Leonard H. Tower Jr. <tower@ai.mit.edu>;
Dan Jacobson <Dan_Jacobson@ATT.COM>;
Jim Cheetham <jim@oasis.icl.co.uk>;
Cliff Lasser <cal@THINK.COM>;
Richard Donkin <richardd@hoskyns.co.uk>;
Paul Rubin <phr@napa.Telebit.COM>;
David Erb <erb@fullfeed.com>;
Bob Scheifler <rws@x.org>;
Chris Grant <Chris.Grant@um.cc.umich.edu>;
Scott Mandell <sem1@postoffice.mail.cornell.edu>;
John Darragh <darragh@cpsc.ucalgary.ca>;
Russell Nelson <nelson@crynwr.com>;
John Lamp <jw_lamp@postoffice.utas.edu.au>;
Paul Roossin <roossin@watson.ibm.com>;
and everybody else who I've probably managed to forget.
The opinions in here are my own, unless otherwise mentioned, and do not
represent the opinions of any organization or vendor.
--
Dan Wallach "One of the most attractive features of a
Connection
dwallach@cs.berkeley.edu Machine is the array of blinking lights on the
faces
Office#: 510-540-5535 of its cabinet." -- CM Paris Ref. Manual, v6.0,
p48.