Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

FingerWorks Offers Replacement PowerBook Keyboard

Posted by pudge on from the now-we-just-need-a-drop-in-multi-button-trackpad dept.

JerryKnight writes "FingerWorks, the inventor of TouchStream keyboards such as the LP, is taking pre-orders for a drop-in replacement for the keyboard in a 15" PowerBook G4 that is pretty much the same thing as the LP. Now the beautiful PowerBook can be completely smooth. Words fail to express the enthusiasm felt by me and hopefully anyone else who has used these keyboards. No word on availability. List price: $259." It's called the MacNTouch. Hm.

9 of 82 comments (clear)

  1. great... by kasper37 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Unless you use your left thumb for the space bar like I do...

  2. This is great news! by AtariAmarok · · Score: 4, Funny

    I was about to replace my Powerbook keyboard with one from an old Atari 400. Now I won't have to.

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
  3. Interesting, but perhaps too responsive by Bookwyrm · · Score: 5, Insightful

    After looking at some of the sample gestures for the keyboard, I have to admit I am somewhat impressed. Some very interesting ideas there. After looking at more of the sample gestures for the touch keyboard, I am still impressed, but wary.

    It reminds me of the problems with 'logically designed languages'. (i.e. all words for colors in the language might start with "cro", "crob" is blue, "crog" is green, "cror" is red, etc. The problem being that a single typos in the word might still be a valid word of a similiar type, but not what you meant.) I suspect someone who became a total expert with the keyboard could do just fine, but an intermediate user could get highly frustrated -- forgetting to use/accidently using an extra finger in a gesture might cause some unwanted operation to happen, not merely cause the desired operation to not happen. Maybe the software is smart enough to second guess some of these issues, but...

    Go to the company's page and look at the Enhanced Modifier Chords -- if you tap with six fingers on the home row, you get an Enter -- if you tap six fingers on the row above the home row, you get an Esc key press. (Personally, I would immediately redefine those two gestures to have far more difference between the two -- accidently hitting "Enter" when one meant "Escape" in some dialog boxes would be very bad.) Or the shift/control differences.

    Of course, one could just not use the gestures, but then why bother with the keyboard?

    Nonetheless, very interesting ideas, but it may not be ready for everyone.

  4. Looks nice by weeeeed · · Score: 4, Interesting

    BUT... ;) ...looking at the layout(which I hope is not final), why is the function key replaced with shift? When I reach out for the fn key on my current keyboard I have trouble accessing the other keys covered by the left hand. I know I have small hands, but come on... leave it where it is at the current size (two keys wide).

    Same for return... umm enter... where is return??? I know quite some apps, where return and enter have different functions... take Fire for example: return sends out, enter makes a new line in the message... I do not think I would want to use additional shift for this. And it IS far too small, leave it at the current size, it was already difficult enough for me to stop hitting back-slash all the time...

    Overall:
    the whole right part of the keyboard is messed up and will require you to get used to the new layout.

    Too much self advertisement... use it for bigger keys instead, although the hand is quite cute.

    Can I press command + option with one finger only? I hope so.

    NO IBOOK?

    What about the heat? I have 1GHz and it gets quite hot already. If you look at the current keyboard, it is designed to provide better air circulation. You think it is not important? Buy the hoover TiBook, wait until the fans go on, lift the keyboard and wait for a while... the fans go off. With the keyboard it takes longer time for the fans to go off, I dunno about MacNTouch with no holes at all.

    I do not think I will buy it, maybe I would for my iBook, but it has IMO too many design/usability flaws. I had to try it out first.

    weeeee

  5. Power Drain on battery by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I read a review onthe TouchStream LP somewhere that said it cut battery life in half when used on notebooks! I hope the powerbook version draws less power.

    I haven't measured, but the keyboard on my TiBook looks very similar to the one in my iBook... I wonder if it would work in both?

    Still, for the money, perhaps it would be better to buy the TouchStream LP and just bring it along with you. It folds up for portability. I know the drop in replacement is slick, but it means it will only ever work on the TiBook... if you are like me and move from machine to machine, I think portability of such an expensive keyboard would outweigh the wow-factor of having it built in to the TiBook.

    But then, maybe I am crazy. Or something.

  6. What about the trackpad? by BandwidthHog · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Not to troll, but getting a replacement 2 button trackbad to the market is the only way I'd ever be able to use an Apple laptop. I've got an old 190cs as a toy, but for daily use? Nope.

    Of course, maybe I should be suggesting same to manufacturer, rather than bitching about it to the slashbots?

    --

    Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
    1. Re:What about the trackpad? by addaon · · Score: 3, Interesting

      How hard would it be to do this as a home-made mod? Even if a company were to come out with a two-button trackpad add-on (which I would love, even though I don't have a personal need for it; choice is good), it ain't going to be for anything older than a albook / ibook (I'm surprised this keyboard is for the nearly-dead tibook). Looking at my ibook, the clicky thing (button) is right in the center of the trackpad button, so the right-hand third of the button could be removed without problems. This leaves a left-click button larger than the potential right button, but as left-click is more common anyway, this could be argued away as a good thing. Now, what can we put in the space we have? I haven't looked inside an ibook for a while, but imagine we're quite space-limited. Even so, it shouldn't be hard to wire in something from a membrane keypad or some such, or even or a more typical switch in the available space. Now, how to connect it? I suspect this is where we get bit, although on an albook without bluetooth, it's manageable. The bluetooth modules in the albooks hook up to usb headers. All you need is the board out of a usb mini-mouse, wire it up to the usb sensor, and rewire the right-button switch to use the switch you added. To the OS, the left and right button signals will appear to come from different mice, but that should be acceptable. The iBook, at least, has enough empty space for an additional circuit board that size (wrap it in electrical tape and just stick it in somewhere)... haven't been inside an albook yet.

      Anyone have any suggestions for improvement to this technique?

      --

      I've had this sig for three days.
    2. Re:What about the trackpad? by Baumi · · Score: 3, Informative

      Not quite, but uControl offers similar functionality: You can scroll via trackpad by pressing the function key (configurable).

      It's mainly a keyboard-remapping software - the trackpad stuff is just an added bonus.

    3. Re:What about the trackpad? by shunnicutt · · Score: 4, Interesting

      On my PowerBook, I always tap on the trackpad in order to click. I always use the tap-drag to drag. I never use the physical trackpad button.

      I'd love to find a piece of software that recognized the physical trackpad button as a control-click, thus simulating a two-button mouse.