rollermouse and rollerwave
 

Yesterday I mentioned this to some of you. It is the pointing device I use at work. Without it I would not be working. It has by far offered the best ergo improvement to my workstation. I also have the 'rollerwave accessory" pad extension so that my hands can rest completely when I am mousing. If you have a really stable surface you can also put your existing gel wrist pad below the rollermouse pad and it is similar to the rollerwave.

rollermouse

Since I do spend so much time on the copmputer at work, I also use two monitors, one of which is a 22" widescreen, so that I can spread my work out and mouse a little less, I have a really spiffy, super soft and adjustable chair which I tend to change the position of several times a day, and just recently I started using Dragon version 9. It isn't perfect, but it does really make working the computer bearable...

Johanna

bump for shelley

And the latest version of Dragon can be found here: I have the professional for work, but I think one of the less expensive versions would work for home.


http://www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/

Hi Johanna
 

Meant to ask you about this last week, but forgot. Computer work really bothers me so I'm always on the lookout for something new that might help....What is it that you like so much about the RollerMouse? Does it allow you to perform a mouse click with just a light press of a button/knob? Also, I'm not sure I understand the concept behind the roller bar. Is the roller easier to use for pointing than using your whole arm to move your mouse pointer/cursor?

Also, are you actually able to use Dragon for most web activities? I have an older version of Dragon Professional and find that I can't use it for a lot of things. It's kind of quirky. For example, when I use it to try to read the forum, and issue the command "scroll down," it doesn't scroll down in increments-- rather it scrolls straight down from the top of the screen to the very bottom. So I always end up scrolling manually. Maybe I need to upgrade to the latest version of Dragon...or maybe I just need to learn the correct commands?:)

Thanks for any light you can shed.

hi about dragon
 

hi guys just to let you know I got dragon on ebay legit for 65.00 cdn and got freee shipping too!!!! It is not standard it is preferred. I havn't used it yet as just loaded it in so looking forward to using it I will keep you posted on how well it works!!

take care guys hope ya'll are enjoying the superbowl.....yeah righ...lol:eek:

love and hugs:hug:,
Victoria

what I like about the rollermouse is:
1. My hands stay right in front of me, as if they were resting on the space bar. I could not use a regular mouse because holding my arm out to the side where the mouse was was too much for my biceps and pecs- they were always engaged.
2. The bar rolls and also moves side to side, it feels just like you're using a ball, although it doesn't look intuitive at all. To click all you have to do is push the bar. Or you can use the button right next to the bar you can adjust how hard he have to push hard to click underneath. Like I said, it doesn't look intuitive, but is actually really easy to use, and the finger movements are very small.

As for Dragon. I would offer the following comments:
1. if you put a microphone to sleep and walk away from the computer. It tends to have flaky sound settings when you come back. It took me awhile to learn that the fastest way to fix this was to close Dragon and reopen it.

2. I tried to scroll up and scroll down command, and it still seems to go a whole page that is actually what the scroll up and scroll down command are supposed to to. However, if you say "press up arrow" or "press down arrow." It will only scroll a few lines. There are a lot of commands like that, but there's a learning curve to find out what to say to make you do what you want. There are some things I really can't do with Dragon that I still do by hand
3. The program that I think Dragon is the easiest to use to control his outlook for e-mail. I really like its functionality their demands are very straightforward I can receive and send e-mail pretty much completely hands-free. My web browsing is definitely not hands-free and I do find it easier to use the mouse to go to where I need to correct things. Or add things that I forgot. You're supposed to be able to tell it to select certain content, but I find that it's a little cumbersome. I might get better at it with practice.

Anyhow, that's my thoughts. It's too bad they don't sell a test version.
I would be happy to answer any more questions just keep throwing them at me.
Johanna

Johanna and Victoria,

Thanks so much for both your responses.

Re: the “scroll up/scroll down” commands, I suspected I had the wrong command! I'll try “press up arrow” and “press down arrow.”

I do find that Dragon is pretty good for dictating straight text into Microsoft Word. I haven't used it recently to compose e-mails though because there were a couple of times early on when Dragon must have misinterpreted something in the text that I was dictating as a command, and sent the incomplete, unedited message right in the middle of my dictation. Ever since, if I have a long body of text to e-mail, I dictate into Word, and then copy and paste into the body of the e-mail and click “send” manually, so as not to be embarrassed again.

Anyway, I'm inspired to experiment more w/ Dragon for web use again, and maybe even upgrade to a more current version (purchased on eBay). :wink: RollerMouse sounds intriguing because mouse clicking kills me--when I have time I’ll investigate to see if any local stores have samples on display to try.

Thanks again!

one thing i forgot- heed the performance reequirements for the new dragon (2.4 GHz processor and 1GB RAM) I have a 2.9GHz processor and 1GB RAM, and it runs slowly and chokes some.

Also, if you are even in the beach cities I'd be happy to let you try my rollermouse.

Johanna