foot pedal : Computer Hardware Buyers’ Glossary

• left foot pedal: tap to leap back.
• middle foot pedal: press and hold to play, release to stop.
• right pedal: tap to leap forward

Installation is as snap. You just plug the foot pedal into a free USB port.

What to Look For In A Foot Pedal

• Heavy

  You want it so sit still in one place under your desk. It is hard to find with your feet and you don’t want it sliding about. Ideally you would glue it down in some way. I have not figured out how to glue a footpedal to a carpet in a way that does not damage the carpet. Feet would probably help it dig into a carpet.

• Sturdy

  You are going to be pounding this thing with your feet. It had better stand up.

• Big

  You want it big so it is easy to find the correct pedal. Feet, especially covered in socks and/or shoes don’t have much tactile feedback. Look at the design of piano or organ pedals. That is the ideal size and spacing.

• Supported

  You want to pick a vendor with a history of providing drivers to keep old models going. Otherwise you may be stuck with perfectly functioning hardware and no software to drive it. Ideally you should not need a CD of any kind to install the footpedal.

• USB

  Make sure you get an unit with a USB port designed or use with a PC (or Mac). Many are specialty units designed to work only with various dedicated dictation machines.

Care and Feeding

• You first need to install a low level foot pedal driver, then you install the application software such as Transcription Buddy.
• After a while your foot pedal will become flaky. It will fail to notice your taps sometimes. The problem is dust and carpet fluff clogging its insides. Open it up and clean it out with a blast of compressed air. Clean any contacts, including those in the footpad cable, with DeOxit Red.
• The cord is easy to catch with your feet. You want to cover it in some way. If you have a cheap carpet acting as a carpet protector, you could consider cutting a hole in it to keep the cord out of harm’s way and as a side effect anchor the foot pedal. There are all sorts of cable organisers, basically flattened tubes, intended for the purpose.