Comments on: Refactoring Keyboards

By: James

James — Tue, 27 Jul 2004 16:52:21 +0000

The professional version of the Datahand can be modified to map the keys in any way you want to, including mapping single key presses to sequences of multiple characters.

I would like to play with a Twiddler for a few weeks someday to see how working with a chording keyboard feels.

By: Andrew Birkett

Andrew Birkett — Mon, 26 Jul 2004 16:58:41 +0000

Anthony, you can borrow my Twiddler chord keyboard if you’d like (it has both usb and old-style keyboard/mouse connectors). It’d give you a chance to see how you get on with that style of keyboard. It is remappable, and also has some degree of builtin macro support (ie. pressing a chord makes the twiddler emit a sequence of keystrokes). As for foot pedals, you just have to watch a good drummer to see how quick and controlled people can be with their feet.

By: Anthony Bailey

Anthony Bailey — Mon, 26 Jul 2004 16:50:27 +0000

James, can you mod the Datahand chord keyboard (i.e. choose which modes/keys on the device map to which conventional keypresses?)

As Andy mentioned, the best choices for typing English prose don’t tend to coincide with the best for coding in a particular programming language - the letter distributions change, and certain punctuation symbols become as popular as the etoan clique. What have you found?

I intend to learn a chord keyboard as soon as I get a mobile device. (I don’t even have a mobile phone yet, let alone something more CPUish, but when I switch I suspect it’s going to be in earnest.)
I don’t suppose Datahand and similar are built with use whilst standing/walking in mind, though.

Andy, do your feet work fast enough for them to take CTRL? And will it be comfortable to use them for binary yes/no choices? (I guess the experience of many musicians suggests I could be worrying unduly?)

By: James

James — Mon, 26 Jul 2004 14:34:49 +0000

I use the Datahand keyboard, which is much better designed for the human body but which is also much too expensive for most people. It cost more than my computer.

However, the most important aspect of using a computer safely is learning to use your body at the keyboard. We keep many muscles contracted in typing position when we’re not typing and even hours after leaving the keyboard. Body awareness training like the Feldenkrais method is the key to avoiding this, and Paul Linden has a good book on the subject called Comfort at the Computer.

By: Thomas

Thomas — Mon, 26 Jul 2004 08:47:38 +0000

I don’t think it was that cunning… just a combination of luck and my refusal to go out and pay GBP 60 for less keyboard than your typical GBP 15 one. Thus far it continues to work fine under windows. Might explore linux again soon.