The EkaPad is a new keyboard design. These answers may help.
Support - More about this comfortable keyboard (Page 2)
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Frequently Asked Questions Continued
- Can you hold the EkaPad for long periods?
- Shipping overseas?
- Does the EkaPad work laying flat?
- Does the EkaPad work in most business, home and recreational environments?
- How do you Shift select text?
- PS2 connection? Impossible.
The EkaPad is a light, only 2.1 oz (61 gm), including the EkaHand. The EkaPad and EkaHand make a comfortable combination for extended usage.
Yes. We mail EkaPads and our other products from our main office in Oregon, USA, using the US Postal Service Priority Mail system addressed to your home or office.
European Common Market Countries
We ship all our products to the EC. We charge an additional $50 at this end for shipping and handling. You will have to pay VAT (about 10-12%) and Duty (maybe 10%) at your end when you receive. It takes about a week for you to receive the mailed package.
We currently have EkaPad Packages in the UK for direct mailing to UK customers, which saves you the VAT and Duty. The price is still US$195 + $50.
Other Countries
We ship to other countries most often by mail. We charge an additional $50 at this end for shipping and handling. You may have to pay a tax and/or a duty at your end.
Can the keypad be used laying flat on its 'back' on a desktop?
Yes. We only recently discovered that this works quite well. If you are new to the EkaPad, you can learn the chords with the EkaPad flat or attached to the thumb equally easily. If your fingers have already learned the character's chords using the keypad attached to your thumb, then it takes very little time to adjust to the flat surface orientation.
How is the EkaPad prevented from moving/sliding around in use, even upside down?
There is a material, Dual Lock, on the back. You can stick a similar piece on your flat surface and snap the EkaPad to it. If you let us know, by separate email when you order, we will include some extra Dual Lock in your package (no charge).
Is there any tendency for the keypad to rock or wobble while key strokes are made?
We adopted the 3M Dual Lock as it provides a firm, non-rock, attachment; unlike Velcro.
Is the keypad a sealed unit i.e. resistant against dust, fluff, crumbs, moisture, getting into the works as compared to a 'regular' qwerty type keyboard?
The EkaPad is not water proof; it is moisture resistant. The keypad is a single sheet of silicone rubber held in place by its case. Crumbs can drop through the small slots between each pad and the case. I've never had dirt get in my case, but I always hold the EkaPad more or less vertical. You can easily take the EkaPad apart and clean the four parts gently with a cotton swab.
Is the keypad robust enough to be used professionally in an office environment or a workshop setting?
Yes. The keypad is robust enough to take camping, an office environment or machine shop is no problem either. When testing the case, we drove a heavy auto over it - just a scratch as it dragged along the tarmac. I have dropped mine many times on to stone floors even. We've had only one physical failure from extensive testing, and that has been one USB mini connector failed after some thousands of plugs and unplugs of the cable to test it.. We designed the EkaPad to be almost indestructible, the best plastics, keypad and electronics. However, as more and more EkaPads get out in the world some disasters are bound to occur. We will honor our warranty.
Correct chord sequences for using Shift and Navig arrow chords to select text in a word processing program.
In a normal non-EkaPad keyboard, and no Mouse, text parts in already entered text in a word processing document can be selected by holding down the Shift Key and pressing, or hold-for-repeat, an arrow key.
To select text with the EkaPad, where only one chord can be pressed at a time, requires a slightly different procedure.
FIRST Set the Trigger delay time. Config + t + 1. This is a onetime process. The Trigger delay time will stay forever: until you change it or Reset the EkaPad. Note: Trigger works upon Release of the chord you want to repeat After the chord has been held down for the delay time. There is little difference in delay time between 3 and 8. 1 is quite short. For this process I find Config + t + 1 works well.
NOW, ANY TIME YOU WANT TO USE ARROW KEYS TO SELECT TEXT, FOLLOW THIS PROCESS:
A: Press Shift chord (e-r-Caps) for the Trigger delay time. I count to three. Release.
B: P/R (Press and Release) Navig chord.
C: P/R Arrow chord (single finger chord). Cursor moves one character or line. This selects the character. Repeat for next single character.
D: Press and hold Arrow chord for Trigger delay time. Release. Cursor moves and selects text until Arrow key (or some other key) is P/R which stops the moving Cursor.
NOW
Once the text you want to select has been selected, P/R Alpha chord and enter the change: the selected text is deleted and the change is entered.
TO CONTINUE CORRECTING:
do A, B, and C or D.
ALTERNATE (EASIER) WAY TO CONTINUE EDITING:
After making a selection, P/R Alpha. Make the change. Then, to move to a different area, P/R Navig, make the move using Arrow keys. Then Press/Hold/Release Shift. Now use Arrow keys to make selection.
NOTE: If you don't hold the Shift chord down long enough, you get only a single character selected.
EkaPad can not connect to a computer using a PS/2 connector/port. The EkaPad does not work with a computer when connected via a PS/2 port, even with a USB to PS/2 adapter. The EkaPad works only via its USB cable into a USB port on a computer.
Comments from our senior engineer: I believe PS/2 is common enough for an FAQ entry. All the computers at our engineering lab still have PS/2 keyboards, and even my 3 month old computer has the ports. Some might prefer PS/2 keyboards just because the PS/2 port is there, and it frees up a USB port which can be in short supply. PCs keep a lot of baggage around unlike the Mac.
We finally discovered that the EkaPad will not work going from USB to PS2. There is a special protocol which the EkaPad would need to implement for it to work. This is not an easy fix and we have decided not to attempt it right now. One of our team was hoping we'd find a solution because he has some older devices using only PS/2. (I guess it's just one upgrade after another in this tech world.)
Revised 18 May 2010
