The evolution of the keyboard and mouse
Our previous blog explored the various aspects of writing and writing systems. We examined HOW humans began to record and display thoughts and data to each other. We essentially answered the WHAT of data entry.
Now we’re going to explore the HOW of recording information and (perhaps even) interpreting. How do we transfer our data to their desired recipients and with which devices? To answer this we need to go back to history and examine how our ancestors tackled this challenge.
Humble beginnings
Today the computer is a go-to device for data entry and data processing purposes. However an immediate “human to machine” connection has not been established so far, therefore we aren’t able to communicate directly with the processing units of a computer. We must employ the services of peripheral devices in part to translate and interpret our desired commands and understand what options they have for us.
The most common computer peripheral devices are the keyboard and mouse. Other specialist devices such as newspaper readers, digitizers, speech recognition devices and other smart, useful technologies do exist but are not nearly as popular.
From output devices the most important is likely the monitor (with speakers), the printer which is now capable of both 2 and 3 dimensional printing.
Moving forward we will be focusing primarily on the keyboards and mice. (Figure 1.)
Information and data entry devices for the computer
Since the beginning of time…
Our history of recording information goes way back to ancient times, and differs a great deal from the prominent methods of today. Let’s head for a quick trip to about 40,000 years ago in what is today, northern Spain. We’re in the home of an ancient Homo Sapiens family who live in a cave and have -amongst other treats- birds and bird eggs on their menu for dinner.
The head of the family heads off in the morning to take inventory in the nearby plains and counts (on his fingers) how many bird nests he sees and how many eggs they could contain, to determine if they will be sufficient till the end of the week. The result he sees is three nests with five eggs in them each.
This can be considered the birth of the first data (set)
But where is the data stored? At this point, only in the head of the patriarch, which serves as a temporary and mobile data entry and storage unit. It is also coded and cannot be independently accessed by others.
In order for this information to be visible for others, data recording and visualization is needed. The prerequisite of this is data entry.
The data entry tool was at hand, (as seen by in Figure 2). It happened to be a perfectly calibrated tool for the aforementioned task. Only a bit of red clay was needed to augment the image in addition.
Data entry took five minutes -including washing hands.
By the end of the process the number of nests and eggs had been successfully recorded – albeit also in code- and was fully visible for the rest of the family members to interpret. Thus the first fixed data recorder was born (Figure 3.), it was an uncomplicated system which endured the tests of time. (Legend for decoding the information: No. of nests = no. hands, No. of Eggs = No, of fingers)
Since then obvious, giant leaps have been made in this field.
Cave drawings have been replaced by pictographic depictions, soon evolving into word and syllable writing and finally morphing into alphabets we use today.
Today far more options exist than our hands for entering and recording information, which has developed along with the data storage system’s physical properties:
- Reed paper for soft clay
- Animal-hair brushes for papyrus scrolls
- Hammer and chisel for stone tablets
- Goose quills and later metal pens, ink cartridges and finally the ball point pen for writing on paper
The general tendency in the development of writing -or data entry- has been the steady decrease in the amount of letters or symbols required to successfully communicate with and without loss of information. The cavemen employed an endless array of symbols, as their written language was not uniform and could be enriched with details almost endlessly. When it comes to words, syllables and letters our options are limited to the number of letters in supply.
This would later allow for the assignment or pairing of each letter to a button, essentially giving birth to the keyboard and paving the way for the modern -not entirely mechanical- typewriter.
Its primary function was data entry and similar to the evolution of hand guns, the typewriter would too benefit a great deal from advances in precision mechanics.
The distribution of the letters slowly became more and more intuitive -resulting in QWERTY:
Its inventor was the American, Christopher Latham Sholes who completed the first layout in 1867, assuming two-fingered typing would be the prevalent typing form. 10 years later after the Remington typewriters became famous, it was evident that this layout could be learned to type on with ten fingers allowing for seemingly incredible input speeds. Of course these mechanics too had their limits, the typebars would get entangled and keys would stick.
The answer however wasn’t more innovation on the mechanics end to meet the needs of increasing input speeds. Instead they rearranged the layout of the letters and made the letter selection less intuitive to slow down typing speed. However this was short lived as typing employs our motor skills which mean that muscle memory turns on if we repeat the movements frequently enough. The result was phenomenal, the typebars didn’t get tangled and typing speeds soon regained their previous pace. The solution was soon patented and now hundreds of millions of devices use the QWERTY layout.
Figure 4. An early manifestation of the QWERTY layout on a 1898 Commercial Visible Typewriter Co. from New York.
Mechanical typewriters were later replaced by electronic devices, the keys became simple press-buttons which required much less effort to type on.
Word processing machines were soon developed which allowed for faster error corrections and storage of these text documents.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/32435222@N03/3032036521
Figure 4.
From here the appearance of personal computers was only a step away and the keyboard we are familiar with today reached its patented form in the 80’s.
The definition of the keyboard
The keyboard serves as an alphanumeric data entry system, as well as a command and control device for executing operations on the computer.
Figure 5. Traditional layout of a PC keyboard.
Many layouts exist -beyond this one- to cater to the various languages and civilizations on our planet.
Figure 6. Depicts a keyboard layout with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, the Pharoah’s scribes may have appreciated a tool like this…
Figure 6.
Safety tips for keyboard usage
By operating the keyboard correctly we can avoid injuries such as arm, wrist and joint damage when using the keyboard for long periods of time.
- Place the keyboard at elbow height and allow your upper arms to hang loosely aside your body.
- Place the keyboard in front of you in the middle, if the keyboard has a numpad, situate the spacebar directly in the middle
- While writing your hands and wrists should be above the keyboard in the air. This allows you to reach any letter by stretching your hands and takes the pressure off your fingers
- Do not rest your palm or wrist on any surface while typing. If your keyboard comes with an ergonomic resting surface, only use it to rest while not typing.
- While writing press down softly on the keys and keep your wrists straight.
- Rest your hands and arms while not typing.
- Take a break every 15-20 mins.
(Source: The Internet)
Computer Mouse
The mouse is a click and point device designed specifically for the control of computers by hand. It contains sensors inside which detect and transmit the mouse’s movements to the computer over a flat surface. The mouse’s movements can be observed on the computer screen through the cursor.
A brief history of the mouse. Pointing devices are much earlier inventions than most would think as -in addition to data entry devices- humans in ancient times also had this (Figure 7.). A universal device able to point in any direction the user desired. Only the cursor was missing.
Figure 7.
Technological advances brought wooden, then metal pointing sticks finally to arrive at all sorts of laser pointers and the arrival of monitors made displaying the cursor possible.
Our current focus will be on the computer’s point and click devices.
Compared to the keyboard the computer mouse is a relatively new invention, with us only since the 1960’s.
Back then computers were difficult to communicate with, they used an interface of monitors (or displays as they were then known) and giant punch cards for communication between man and machine as well as keyboards. In spite of these options communication with these monstrous computers was extremely challenging.
The invention of the mouse dates to the 1960’s when Dr. Douglas C. Engelbart and his team at Stanford Research Institute, or SRI, invented the mechanical point and click device we now call the mouse.
The very first mouse (Figure 8.) had very little resemblance to the ergonomic designs we are familiar with today.
It was made of wood and since the electronic components took up too much room, there wasn’t much space left inside and it had only one button.
Figure 8.
Originally the wiring came out of the front of the mouse however this proved to be inconvenient as the wires would constantly get in the way so they simply moved them to the back. However the technology in 1964 was already the same as what all non-optical mice employ since: one horizontal and one vertical “scrolling” wheel. Though it didn’t use a rolling sphere the process was the same.
It had one red button on top and a cable dangling out of its back, prompting one of the engineers to say it resembles a mouse. The name stuck and to this day we’re not sure who is responsible for the name.
However the invention was received with mixed feelings by the scientific community. Finally when the first personal computers were invented in the 80’s the previously shunned device suddenly saw unprecedented fame.
We can see from history that when a need arises, it’s generally only a matter of time before someone finds a solution and a majority of this groundwork was completed by Logitech and Apple.
Over the decades the mouse saw numerous stages of evolution; the tail disappeared, the dust collecting scroll ball and wheels appeared and were then replaced. It was even laid on its back in an attempt to improve comfort and efficiency. The number of sensors and buttons multiplied and the scroll wheel appeared on its back. The little red light migrated from its head to its stomach, in the form of a laser sensor. If all this wasn’t enough our mouse even attempted acrobatic movements in the air (but we’ll talk about this later).
Similarly to the keyboard, mice became more and more specialized to usage specific cases based on various user needs and there are still seemingly endless spaces for innovation.
Finally we’re going to touch on a futuristic keyboard-mouse combo (Figure 9.). The keyboard is situated in front of the mouse. The mouse’s buttons are located on the front allowing control with the same fingers as the ones controlling the keyboard. It’s essentially a keyboard attached to a mouse.
Figure 9.
This solution is interesting, but still has obvious drawbacks. But while we’re talking about future solutions the obvious shortest distance between man and machine would be directly controlling the computer with our brains. This is the real challenge of our distant future.
So what sorts of devices will we be using in the near and mid-term future? Something which liberates us from the confines of desks and chairs, where the comfort of use isn’t dictated by the device but by our own usage case and desire.
Something like this exists. It’s called Nydeum, potentially the go-to input device of the near future.
But more about this later…
Image source:
- : http://www.sourcetech.co.uk/media/catalog/category/peripherals-cat.jpg
- : http://www.pxleyes.com/images/contests/human-hands/fullsize/Mine-513e182ceeaf3_hires.jpg
- : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/16/el-castillo-neanderthal-cave-paintings_n_3287867.html
- : https://www.flickr.com/photos/32435222@N03/3032036521
- : http://study.com/cimages/multimages/16/keyboard_layout_600.jpg
- : http://www.creedgriffon.com/files/hieroglyphic-typewriter-type-in-egyptian.gif
- : http://images.freeimages.com/images/premium/previews/5057/50570452-hand-index-finger-pointing-to-right-drawing.jpg
- : http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1504250/images/o-COMPUTER-MOUSE-facebook.jpg
- : http://itechfuture.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/keymouse3.jpg
