Mini keyboard over writer

[Martha R]

 Does anyone use the mini keyboard that fits on top of the writer?   Do you  really like it?  Or did you try it out and hated it?   I'm talking about the one that's sold by Stenograph.  It's a wireless keyboard for 68 bucks and the rack that fits on your machine is about the same price too.  I'm afraid it might be one of those things that sounds good, but turns out to be impractical.

[Deborah M.]

I love it.  However, you DO NOT have to buy their pricey keyboard.  You are stuck buying their rack, but you can put any keyboard on it -- just stick some Velcro on the back of it.  I have bought mini keyboards from Fry's and on the net, wired, and plug them into my laptop.  Works great.  I feel lost without it.  It's very convenient to have the keyboard right there to do globals during the job.  Here is a pic of my setup.

[Mary Jo Cochran]

Since there's a picture of it, I have one too, which I use on my Dell 410 Latitude.  (I let someone use the laptop and it came back with one group of keys not working). 

 

The mini keyboard just doesn't have the side number bar.  The keys are the same size as a regular keyboard.  Typing on it is normal and feels good.  I bought mine through Walmart - online - for about $11.00.

[Kelli Combs (admin)]

That's quite an impressive setup, Deborah.  Must take forever to set all that up.  I may try the keyboard again.  Makes sense to use one.  Just haven't liked it when I tried it way back when.  May try it again, though.  Never seem to have enough time to take my hands off the writer and reach up to the laptop to fix something.  Totally makes sense.

[Martha R]

Oh thanks for the picture!   Yeah, sometimes you don't have time to do anything.  But when you do, it would be handy to use and not have to lean over to touch the keyboard on the laptop.  That can be exhausting after a couple of hours of doing that.   But you still have to buy the rack at Stenograph.  

[Deborah M.]

Yeah, annoying that you have to pay so much for the rack.  With my old Smartwriter, I just stuck some Velcro on the top of it and put the keyboard right on it since it didn't have the screens machines have now.

Kelly, it doesn't take that long once you're used to it -- just like setting up RT for attys.  At first it takes a while, but after a few times you don't even think about it. 

[Kellie Zollars]

Hi.

I just bought a Diamante so splurged to buy the tray too.  I already have a wireless mini keyboard. You can just velcro a mini keyboard straight to your writer though, too.  When buying the mini keyboard be sure to check it has all the keys you need.  Some ultra minis had strange configurations.  I'll update after I've used it a while, but the idea of not having to reach over to my laptop to make corrections is my big motivation. 

   

[Kelli Combs (admin)]

I agree, Kellie.  I've been wanting to update this for a while.  I had one from Stenograph a few years back, but never got into using it.  Not quite sure why I changed my mind.  Probably just another thing to lug to my jobs besides the four laptops and machines and wires and wireless devices.  It does seem I don't have time to make the corrections from my steno manchine to my laptop, though.  I need to take a look at this again. 

I did see a reporter the other day with a Diamante with the wireless keyboard to the top of her writer.  Need to ask about that.  There is always some gal on here advertising the Diamante.  Maybe I'll ask her about this.

[Martha R]

This one connects to the tripod and swivels.  Might be convenient.  

http://www.pengad.com/shop-laptop/mini_keyboard.html

[Kellie Zollars]

I had a larger tray that connected to the tripod like this that I used to put my laptop on - definitely was sturdier than the tray I just bought from Stenograph but because of the weight of the laptop it was kind of shaky when you moved it.   Don't like it to the side, but I'd like it over the top of the machine. Don't think that would work for the Diamante because the screen lifts up too high. Something to think about if a new machine is in your future.  

[Deborah M.]

Somebody was asking about this and I can't remember who or on which site, this one or one of the FB sites.  Hmmm.

[Martha R]

Somebody was asking about it on Depoman.   It's another alternative (tray attached to tripod), but it could make your machine dangerously unstable.

[Kellie Zollars]

Yeah, i switched to the tray on top of the separate tripod after not liking how shaky my laptop was on the tray attached to the machine tripod.  I loved the tray I have that slides onto my machine case, but don't always have enough time to reach over and type.  or once I do, end up getting behind, return back to my machine, and make more errors to correct :)