Comments on: Computer work lying down comfortably with a home-made stand over the bed

Have u thought about a trackpad instead of a mouse

Have you thought about using a more elaborate spam filter?

hello

haven't thought about more elaborate spam filter

How do you drink your coffee while lying down though?

As someone who has spent only four decades behind the keyboard and dealt with many of the problems associated with it, there really is no substitute for fitness. There might even be some resources on the internets with some ideas about it. :P But seriously, if you want to be pain free, the best way is with more activity, not less. Wishing you success.

I use a bit similar setup after developing a back problem. However, I use talonvoice instead of a normal keyboard and a logitech t620 which I hold in my hands for mouse..

Just curious - what's this website built on?

Also why is the keyboard vertical instead of at a 45* tilt and lower/closer to your lap?

Putting a trackball mouse on the same platform/plane as the keyboard would prob be better - the 90* bend you have to put your hand at to use the mouse is absolutely going to cause you carpal tunnel issues down the road.

Perhaps you could put some magnets into a normal mouse and use a metal mousepad so that your mouse can be used in a normal way next to the keyboard without falling down?

Have you thought about keeping the mouse on bed?

Penis

Thanks everyone for the comments. I will try to cover the above points together here. Also, I am intending at some point to write a second article with further discoveries and ideas.

Quite a few people have commented on the mouse. That indeed is the weak link in the chain and I have several further ideas which I hope to try. What I wanted to report in this first article was the counter-intuitive discovery that while not ideal, it is usable (at least for me) despite the apparent crudeness of a simple shelf.

Since publishing the article I have tried a new shelf for the mouse, slightly lower, on the same level as the space bar, and to the right of the keyboard. The reasoning was that this should be better as I could just pivot my arm on the elbow, without raising it. True enough, but as it turned out my wrist reaching round onto the horizontal shelf to hold the mouse then was significantly more uncomfortable and awkward. The mouse is now back where it was in this article.

Magnetic mouse:

This seemed like a good idea (and maybe it is). I went as far as unscrewing my mouse to see whether there was room to put a magnet inside. But on the web I found two indications that the result might not be as usable as you would hope.

!. A web search for a magnetic mouse found a US patent where they were proposing to use electromagnets, which would be turned off as soon as your hand arrived on the mouse.

2. There is a video about the reclining Altwork station

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecIU2e89fiw

At about 1 minute 20 seconds the mouse slides down the inclined mouse pad until it reaches the bottom where it sticks. Holding the mouse mat, Altwork's CEO Che Voigt then says "It's magnetic only on the edges" ... "but plastic inside because we didn't want to increase the force on your rotor cuff".

I speculate that a magnet strong enough to hold the mouse onto a vertical surface might cause enough sliding friction to be a problem and I am not intending to pursue this, also partly because I now have other, more radical ideas.

Yes trackball, trackpad I have yet to try, although my prior relationship with the trackpad, based on laptop experience, has not been ideal... Leaving aside my own ideas, which may take longer to implement, the next experiment is indeed probably the trackball. There is also something called a roller mouse, I recently saw.

The mouse on the bed is a long way from where my right hand lives on the keyboard, which imposes an extra cost on each use of it.

There are three important reasons why the keyboard is vertical

1. With my forearms vertical, keeping my fingers on the keyboard is effortless because all the weight of my arms is transmitted to the mattress. If my arms were inclined, I suspect I would need wrist supports or some support for the forearms. (Although I have not tested this).

2. Although I touch type, I need to glance at the keyboard. I have never even attempted to type numbers without looking, nor the arrow keys and I also want to see the keys to get my fingers back onto the home keys quickly (notably after using the mouse).

3. The current keyboard position helps to minimise the cost of getting in and out of the driving seat. I can go from lying under the keyboard to standing up in about one second, without needing to move anything. I just pull my knees up towards my chest and then roll off the bed to my right, so my feet drop onto the floor with a thud, before I then straighten up.

@stinky The website is static html with CGI for the comment system. The idea is to be lightweight, to avoid javascript and to load fast. It is built with GNU make, markdown and a home-made template engine.

@Matthew Fedak

Good observation. I can't drink my coffee lying down. And it's important :) This is an open problem. If anyone has ideas, preferably avoiding plastic, I would be interested.

Looks kinda retarded.

Looks kinda retarded.