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New Keyboard Technology
An anonymous reader sent in linkage to a story running on a few places about a
new customizable keyboard. It's a bit beyond anything you've probably seen before. Also
tom's has more.
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I always hear about these great keyboards, and I'd love to try one out, but they're never available in retail outlets like Circuit City or Masters Electronics. I always see your typical rectangular keyboard there, or those ergo keyboards. But never any of the really innovative ones like this! If they could get these sold in larger retail stores, then perhaps people would actually start transitioning to them. As long as I have to order them online, I won't buy them.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
Now I can have my CTRL+ALT+DEL keys in range for easy access!
Looks good for fragging.
Picture 1
Picture 2
Quite neat concept.
Dephine URL
That thing looks painful to use. I have enough trouble with a normal keyboard layout, but there's really no point to putting keys anywhere but directly under your fingertips where you don't have to move to reach them.... which is exactly what the CLAW has solved:
http://www.claw.com.au/
(It's been out for 5 years now too)
Looks like a pretty cool keyboard for hardcore gamers. But I just can't justify spending $149 on a keyboard.
Press Command-Spacebar to switch the layout from Qwerty to Dvorak in 10.4 - 0 dollars
Getting your own thread on Fark with pictures of Darwin after you starve to death clutching your $150 keyboard -- priceless
eve though there re oly 25 kes it works gret
Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
What truth?
There is no dupe
How exactly can they claim that this is ergonomic, when they leave the layout to users, who may know nothing about ergonomics, and thus, create joint-damaging layouts?
"It's a bit beyond anything you've probably seen before."
This is old news.
I haven't had a problem with keybords after I got my Logitech Ultra-X.
You totally miss the point. The keys have glue on the underside, so you can put them in just about any way you like. Just because they put them stupidly in the review, you don't have to do it!
I have a really elegant proof for Fermat's last theorem. If this sig was only a bit longer...
Seems obvious, really. If I want to switch to an APL or Dvorak keyboard (or in a multinational european environment, different people using the same computer have different national keyboard preferences), the glyphs on the keyboard should change!
Combined with repositionable keys like the subject of this story, that would be pretty interesting.
The Belkin Nostromo n52 (http://www.tomshardware.com/game/200403061/) is sort of the same concept, with a bit of a compomise between features and ergonomics. Not all of the buttons are directly beneath a finger tip, but the use of shift states increases the number of configurable buttons to 104. D-pad and scroll wheel are there, too.
Long signatures suck.
"It's a bit beyond anything you've probably seen before"
Except when I saw this when I saw it over 3 months ago. Good old Slashsuck, way behind the times as usual.
And before you lame-o's pounce, here's proof: March 7th. gamespot.com
check it out: http://www.synthmania.com/dx1.htm
The bits on the bus go on and off... on and off... on and off...
... any vidoes of it in use? It somehow doesn't look right.
Also, changing from having a full featured keyboard for typing to your spiffy gaming setup, sounds kind of accident prone, even with the extra key setup slab thingy whatsit.
While it looks like it might be kind of cool to try, I will stick with my N52 Speedpad from Belkin. Mine looks to be more comfortable than that.
the CLAW
The CLAW has 10 "keys" and every FPS made in the last 5+ years has dozens of keys that are needed to play well. The reviews I've seen don't mention any way around this problem, which to me says there isn't one.
And don't bring up that you can map the keys to do different things. That's not what I mean, I want to be able to move (4 keys), walk, crouch, jump (3 more), go next/previous weapon (2 more), select each weapon type (usually 9), talk (1) with only my team (1) or with everybody nearby (1). Then I'd like a few keys that do special functions like throw a grenade and then switch back to my weapons (Let's say 3). I'm sure I'm forgetting some, but right there we have 24 needed keys. This doesn't even have half that.
Pulp Audio Weekly - Geek News and Reviews
We've been using programmable point of sale keyboards for around 7 years. Why is this suddenly "new and amazing" ???
You can already make hotkeys in Linux using X: http://www.4momo.de/artikel__show_db__other__104.h tm (Hotkeys and Linux, The Definitive Guide). Why spend a small fortune on a keyboard when you can customise X?
James Buchanan
Zombie Chief Executive/15th President of the USA
now not only do you have to memorize blank keys, you you have to memorize where you placed them! Genious!
*extra cost of 100 dollars to remove paint.
...but I seem to have misplaced my "post to slashdot" keys...
I dunno... it seems cool, but I've spent my whole life getting used to the standard "QWERTY" setup and it seems I'd just be confusing myself rearranging the keys.
"why don't you just slip into something more comfortable...like a coma!"
Fire mouse click event from the keyboard. I think my productivity would increase a great deal if I could do this. I've looked and haven't seen this anywhere.
Software Wars
By shipping with a variety of "hax" built in.
Just what every gamer needs.
"You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours." -- Yogi Berra
I am not a person who really messes with my computer, at least anymore, but i can see myself getting this just to play with. I can use a qwerty keyboard, but if I couldn't, this would be great. The ability to spread and place 50 keys might do wonders for effeciency.
The one application i did think of was presentations with smart boards. There is not a lot of typing, but there is screen captures, moving back and forth between slides, turning on and off music, and the like. This would make a good control board.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
Why not just get a joystick or a game controller such as one like comes with an Xbox or PS2? Those devices were *made* for the express purpose to play with, keyboards were originally intended (and occasionally still used for) the inputting of text to the computer.
Just "gittin-r-done," day after day.
I'll be able to look at twice as much porn in half the time!!!
...because they just prove P.T. Barnum over and over again.
Every one of these weird controls I see, when I try them out, they utterly fail to do anything for me and instead require me to learn a whole new layout. It's far easier just to learn to touch type.
If my grammar and spelling are off, I am [distracted/tired/careless] (take your pick)
I've been using a programmable keyboard for my software development for years. I use the Fentek MCK-142. I program commonly used commands into the keyboard and it really speeds up development. http://www.fentek-ind.com/program.htm#MCK
Well, maybe not.... I doubt your average high end gamer can do much better then the already available input modes for games that have had billions of dollars and over a dozen years of research put into them. And isn't this what hotkeys are for? Maybe for $50, I'd get one, but for $150, nah, I think this $12 IBM keyboard (or another alternative that isn't too much over $50) will do just fine....
In undeveloped countries, the consumer controls the market. In capitalist America, the market controls you.
I'll stick with my current simple cheap keyboard (eur 10).
I've gotten used to it, and when i'm somewhere else I can still use the keyboard in the same way I would do when I'm behind one of my computers at home.
The Tom's article was posted on March 8, 2005.
It seems like this keyboard only gives you the power to make your situation worse.
On a normal keyboard, with the keys staggered, each finger can reach five keys easily - the one it's hovering over, and the two above and two below it.
On this fancy one, they have the keys arranged in a grid (which is the only other basic key pattern I can think of when you're working with a flat surface). In this situation, each finger can only reach three keys easily. And I fail to see what advantage straight up and down motion has over up and to the side a bit.
Other than that, I think the difference is just the angle of the keys with respect to your hand or body. I always figured it would be sufficient (and about $160 cheaper) to turn the keyboard. It's for gaming - you're only using one hand, anyway.
Now, if it were about 10 years ago and you wanted to make one of these with two or four separate pads on which you could arrange the keys so that several people could work from the same logical keyboard device for all those old multiple-players-on-the-same-screen games where you had to share the keyboard with your buddies, then we'd be talking.
2 years ago (or so) Siemens showed a prototype wireless keyboard that displayed an image of a keyboard wherever you pointed it. A motion sensor determined which key you pressed. It was intended for ultra clean environments (bio hazard labs, infectious disease clinics, etc) and the device was about the size of 2 pez dispensors back-to-back.
I havent seen anything more on the product since the prototype was shown, but it seems like that could be the real "personal" keyboard.
When I heard about this a couple months ago it was of course a new and uniqe gadget and so I couldn't resist ordering one. Got the second set of keys and a spare plastic top panel so you can swap between a couple key layouts quickly.
The hardware is well made, the keys are high quality, and the software works fine (running under XP SP2 on a Dell gaming laptop).
I haven't done that much with it really yet. I think the problem with the device is that it basically does a good job of putting a lot of buttons within reach of your hand, but then a $10 keyboard also does an excellent job of doing this.
But the product does what it claims to, so if you want lots of customizable buttons I would have no reservations about recommending the Ergodex.
G.
That claw doesn't look to comfortable to me...
I have CTS (Carpal Tunnel) and my wrist bones have been fused in both hands since birth. I can't use any funky gadget like that one.
However.. having a keyboard where I could put the keys anywhere I want is a rediculously great trade up for me, and it'll help speed up my typing even more. One of the problems I have with English are the letters like Q and X. I'd much rather have a button like "Qu" and "Ch", or how about "Ea" and "ou", or any other super common letter combination. With the built in macro recorder, I could have my buttons exactly as I want them.
The only disappointment really is that this isn't a tap screen. I've been wanting a touchpad keyboard for some time that allowed for reconfigurable letter definitions.. Perhaps I'll get around to building it one of these days.
"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." G.W.Bush
I bought an Ergodex keyboard exclusively for gaming a few months ago. It took them 4 weeks to fill the order -- apparently, they haven't been able to scale large enough to distribute through the retail chains.
Being able to move the keys around is just one of many features that make the Ergodex valuable to me. You can also program complex macros and key-chords to a single keystroke on the fly. You can fine tune the timing of the individual keystrokes to the millisecond.
Right now I have my Ergodex set up for World of Warcraft. Anyone who has a few high level characters in the game know how quickly you fill up your toolbars with hotkeys and macros. The ergodex allows me to have an extra couple rows of hotkeys placed exactly where I want them. It also lets me chain precicely timed combos in a way that WoW's UI won't let you do at all.
The Ergodex will store profiles for different programs and automatically switch to that profile when you run the program as well. The buttons have great tactile feedback, and when you anchor them on the Ergodex they do not shift or wiggle one bit. You can also buy extra keys and an extra clear transparent keytray so that you can swap out entire sets.
At $150, it's not cheap. But considering that i've spent $400 for my graphics card that I'll end up replacing in 2 years, I expect to get a lot more bang for my buck with this upgrade. I wouldn't consider gaming without one now.
The system, which sells for $149.95 on the Ergodex site, started shipping in March. It will soon be available through resellers such as online retail gear seller ThinkGeek and game PC maker Falcon Northwest.
WHat a coincidence, you'll be able to buy it at ThinkGeek.
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
You can eliminate 9 of those keys if you'd use the scroll wheel on your mouse to switch weapons. 2 more for next/previous weapons if you use a mouse with forward and back buttons.
"Plans are for fools! Oglethorpe, the plutonian (Aqua Teen Hunger Force)
Guys! What about using Linux or anything else running X?
You can make any key do whatever you want. Everything old stuff, everything already working with any keyboard. (except some mac keyboards, that are said to have to keys wired as the same in the keyboard).
Even the Linux console supports arbitrary settings, macros and all the stuff....
oops, hit submit too early and didn't finish my post.
You can eliminate 9 of those keys if you'd use the scroll wheel on your mouse to switch weapons, plus 2 more for next/previous weapons which would also use the scroll wheel. Also if you get a mouse with forward and back buttons, you can map those 2 buttons to a couple of your special functions. You can even go so far as to be able to map your mouse to strafe if you got a tilting scroll wheel.
"Plans are for fools! Oglethorpe, the plutonian (Aqua Teen Hunger Force)
Just plug multiple USB keyboards into the same computer. They'll all work, so each player can have a "controller".
Plus you can have "typing wars" when the game is over. }:)
-Z
Oh, right, yeah. And the next thing you're going to demand is being able to change to an APL font without changing the spastic golf ball.
This is the real world, buddy.
KFG
Great keyboards? That idea is really shit!
You could build a keyboard out of these switches but at this point it'd be a little large (i don't think the switches are available in key-sizes), and they're expensive. Nifty idea though.
Computer Games Magazine reviewed this in the July issue (current issue).
A keyboard with LCDs on each key seems like it would be needlessly expensive. You can get full LCD-touch screens where you can make a keyboard, but even this has a very niche appeal: it doesn't give the same feedback of a regular keyboard and, of course, the LCD is prone to getting dirty & misregistering strokes (especially in a multiuser environment).
It might be cool to hack one of those virtual keyboards. You know, the ones that project the keys via a laser. This would be cheaper & more maintainable than LCDs, but still no feed-back.
For personal use & for the money, I'd just get an old IBM Model-M & put the keycaps in whatever order I wanted.
A keyboard for EMACS!
Why not fork?
Argh - I wish you'd have looked harder sooner.
c tive ... they recently ceased operations. Maybe you can still get one. Reconfigurable with their Java tool, huge touchscream, low force needed, etc. I only have their iGesture - I didn't want to fork over the cash for the keyboard untested, but after realizing that I still need a general purpose mouse but at least the keyboard would have reduced that need - I went back looking, and found they'd closed shop.
Touchstream LP
http://www.fingerworks.com/
http://www.google.com/search?q=touchstream&safe=a
I don't know the situation behind it all, but it seems like they could've lowered their pricing before going out of business and saved their butts - maybe they never really broke even so they couldn't.
cyn, free software and *nix operating systems enthusiast.
A touchscreen probably wouldn't work very well. With physical keys, you can be feel around and locate keys by touch. With a touchscreen, you would have to exactly memorize the layout of your keys, or you would have to keep looking at the board to figure out what you were doing. Especially if you are using it for gaming, this is inefficient. Plus, there's something very nice about tactile feedback, and touchpads just can't provide that.
Computers need to explode more often.
You can eliminate 9 of those keys if you'd use the scroll wheel on your mouse to switch weapons
+
You can even go so far as to be able to map your mouse to strafe if you got a tilting scroll wheel.
You try strafing around an enemy and shooting him without accidentally switching weapons. Strafe is _the_ most essential movement in FPS when you play against human opponents.
Of course it runs NetBSD. BTC: 1NT7QvbetmANwaMzhpVL6
No, I tought so. I'm still clacking away at my old IBM Buckling Spring keyboard. This keyboard has lasted since 1987, and is the best one I've ever came by to write on. So it's such a pity that they can't make new keyboards, with all the fashionate hotkeys, and loose keys (yes, I know this keyboard has loose keycaps) and such, with proper Buckling Spring switches under each key.
Sure, it'd cost twice as much, but maybe I for once would get a new keyboard? Ok, I'm not the target group for this new keyboard, but still. If I found a new and attractive keyboard (which I find all the time, like logitech's wireless), but with real buckling spring, I'd buy it at once, even if it'd cost a few hundred dollars.
Those rubber-dome keyboards is just shitty to write on! So if anyone knows of a black keyboard, that ain't so deep as the Model M, has some hotkeys and has real Buckling Spring mechanism, I'll buy it at once.
Me wants a real keyboard!Assembling etherkillers for fun an profit
I think the point he's trying to make is that he wants to see it in real life and maibe even try it before he buys it, somthing that isn't possible when buying online.
Probably to make shure he isn't buying the famous cat in a bag.
All indicators show that the human race is selectively breeding itself for stupidity.
Indeed. You are exactly correct, unlike that cockbaiter who goes by the alias mapmaker. I would like to see the keyboard in real life. I would like to have a store to take it back to if it fails to work, or if it breaks soon after purchase. That is something that cannot be done as easily when dealing with untrusted and potentially unreliable online dealers. But unfortunately, many of these newfangled keyboards are not available in stores, but only online, hence my nonpurchase of them. Thanks for understanding what I was saying. It seems that mapmaker fucking struggles with such an easy concept.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
It's probably impractical for brick-and-mortar stores to carry one of every quirky input device known to man. They don't have the inventory space or infrastructure to maintain such a catalog.
Perhaps the better option would be for internet retailers to offer a 30 day money-back trial period with free shipping in both directions?
I am such a fool. I was wondering: why not provide 104 keys, so we can also build a full customized keyboard for typing? Then the article gives away the reason:
I plan on buying the extra keys myself, but not for a separate game setup. What does have me willing to shell out the dough is the possibility of creating a better keyboard for typing in addition to gaming.
Way to talk us into paying a lot more for a complete set of keys.
You mean The Euphonix MC?
I've seen reviews of this product other places. It is not all that new..
I always hear about these great keyboards, and I'd love to try one out, but they're never available in retail outlets like Circuit City or Masters Electronics.
Well that's because when a small company makes a product they can't afford to manufacture the number needed to put them in every chain store. That is what reviews are for, they get free samples to try out and tell us what they think. If enough people like the product and it makes enough money then you probably will see it hit the chains.
It's because of the internet that you see small companies put out innovative little products that would never see the light of day if the only way to purchase them would be at a retail store. Do you even understand the logistics and costs involved in mass producing enough product to stock them in a chain store?
Did you even bother to read the comment? It's not about the price, moron. I want to buy these keyboards, REGARDLESS OF PRICE, from an actual store, where I can see the actual good. I do not want to order from some Internet site, REGARDLESS OF PRICE. Indeed, and you cannot find anything beyond normal or traditional ergo keyboards in contemporary retail outlets. Such keyboards will never be popular unless they are easily purchaseable by the masses.
No need to throw little temper tantrums just because you can't get your grubby little hands on it first. It's actually very simple to understand why.
"Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everybody agrees that it is old enough to know better." - Unknown
On this fancy one, they have the keys arranged in a grid (which is the only other basic key pattern I can think of when you're working with a flat surface)
You can put the keys anywhere, you don't have to put them on a grid.
If you were looking at the Tom's article where they show the software with the grid, it's just a layout guide, not a requirement.
+1 Informative
+1 Insightful
+1 Pwnt
but company is effectively out of business, bought by unnamed company.
http://www.fingerworks.com/
Their Touch Stream keyboard rocks, its pressureless, works just like a mouse, costed 300$US. And was completely reconfigurable. Its not clear why such successful company stopped making its wonderful and very popular product, when it was bought out. It even has vim and emacs compatibility modes.
The keyboard described is auxiliary controller, not a keyboard, mostly made for games, graphic manipulations and such other things.
2c.
I'd love one, at $149 it's a steal, IMO. A controller with a custom layout would work amazingly well for a number of things... not just games. MIDI sequencer controller, GIMP/Photoshop controller, etc. Heck, having a lot of extra custom keys in vim/emacs would be nice, as most of the keyboard is already assigned.
A lot of people are saying "you can already do this in Linux", which isn't true. Sure, I can assign any keycode a unique keysym and map it with my window manager. I do that now. But Linux doens't allow me to make a custom physical layout that's tailored to a given application.
So I want to know: does it work in Linux? (And in OSX?)
Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage
*extra cost of 100 dollars to remove the sheet of sticky labels.
Gravity Sucks
I want one of those.
Hard core gamers know that the mouse wheel is an inefficient way to switch weapons.
When you have 7+ weapons, do you really want to go sifting through all of them to find the right one, when milliseconds make the difference between walking away from a fight and emerging victorious.
The hardcore gamer will settle for nothing less than a 1-to-1 key-to-weapon mapping!
Sadly, it would seem that fingerwors, maker of the touchstream line of integrated keyboard/trackpad/gesture-macro-runner keyboards has gone the way of the dodo and closed shop. I'm bummed, because I was thinking about buying one of these. But I'm glad I didn't, cause now I don't have to worry about whether someone is gonna keep the patches fresh and up to date :)
Anyway, its too bad. They were a great idea for an interface device.
CyricZ, calm down!
Mapmaker didn't get the point in what you were saying at first, but his post wasn't rude. You then replied, in a rude way, to it. Mapmaker was bound to be rude back!
Why does the world have to have people like you in it? Really. You're a twat. Mapmaker reacted too strongly too though, but I don't blame him.
Peace!
"An adhesive substance keeps the keys firmly attached to the pad"
Those keys are going to come right off, in the hands of any "avid gamer". One of the best advantages even the original Ataris had over their competition was their tough joysticks. And even those eventually got ripped to pieces. These stick-on keys are going to get trashed faster than their then-paralyzed player will get fragged.
--
make install -not war
I am calm. LOL, it looks like you're getting worked up if anyone is! I was merely pointing out the fact that mapmaker is a moronic cockbaiter. But I digress.
The real issue at hand is that an increase in the popularity of these alternative keyboards will lead to competition within the keyboard market. And such competiton will not only lead to further innovation, but also to lower prices for traditional and ergo keyboards. The lower prices will benefit all computer users. Indeed, the already low cost of a Dell system could be reduced even further by reducing the price of the keyboard.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
As an online trader, response time along with window and app management is key (no pun intended.) I've looked at various types of keyboards including ones for disabled people who have limited motion in one or both hands, but haven't found the range of configurability that I've needed, where this seems to be tremendously flexible. As long as I don't have to play scrabble everyday with the keys it could be a fantastic tool, although for the $200 price of the set along with extra keys, I would expect a 30 day money back guarantee which they don't appear to offer.
Toggle between Photoshop, Excel and "Counter-Strike," for example, and the Ergodex DX1 software automatically shifts the keys' profiles as you go.
Heh. Sounds like they have an instant alt+tab macro for work in mind.
But how else would you arrange them? It's either a staggered grid, like a regualar keyboard, or a perfectly rectangular grid. Anything else, and your keys become farther away and harder to reach,which is trouble for hardcore gaming. The only real advantage that I can see would be the ability to position more keys for thumb use (which would be nice). And macros of course, but that's not a unique feature.
i saw this at quakecon2004, it was pretty bad ass.. worked pretty good from what i heard..
~omegatotal
You could arrange them, for instance, on radii of a circle. I don't know if that would be any good, but it'd probably be better than a rectangular grid.
Or in a gridish pattern, but with the "columns" offset a bit so your fingers fall on keys when resting.
Restricting your thinking to grids limit your options.
claw is $84.99 USD, including shipping. An almost affordable toy. Could use a force-feedback option though.
Well, the plain keyboard on that doesn't look to be LCD keytopped, only the buttons around it (which look oversize and very like the buttons linked to by another poster).
Not saying I wouldn't like one, just that it's not quite what I had in mind.
Here's a $1000000 idea:
You make a few button-bricks for lego. They're keyboard-buttons. You use them to construct custom keyboardy things.
Details:
I guess you'd daisy-chain the key-bricks together, electrically speaking. It'd end in a USB connector. U could mark them with stickers or something.
Does this already exist?
Take you original 10$ keyboard, might be even wired one. Pull out ANY KEYS and leave only the key combination you desire, there are practically countless combinations(!!!).
Now all you need is a software like Girder or any macro related application and fire your personal shooter away.
Here are some examples.
140$ saved!
Nah I was being really calm. So layed back I was lying down! I should've used the HTML tag.
I am, of course, getting involved in something which isn't my business. Maybe your not a twat, but I think we should be a little bit more polite.
Have a nice day!
(I'm posting anon so it won't tell me if you reply, so I probably won't read any responce, so don't bother responding. Sorry about that, just the way Slashcode is =( )
i had one of this very cool ... but with 3 months using it i was typing slow so i had to sell it... (the mouse integrated was cool....)
insted i just got a week ago a kinesis keyboard and i love it!!!
- - - - - .
Guys - if you are just looking at remapping and creating macros for games I developed a program called 'G-Hotkey' that does this in games that use DirectInput. This is a software solution and is much cheaper then getting new hardware ($10 bucks). Basically has the same and more functionality then this keyboard.
This keyboard was in an article of this month's PC gamer which I recieved LAST month.
Slashdot getting news after PC-Gamer?
Wonderful.
Im pretty sure the original motivation for this keyboard was not to remap keys or efficiently type. It allows you to arrange keys so that its comfortable to use in certain application, i.e. gaming. Have three straight rows of keys isn't very efficient or ergonomic when I'm only using 10 specific keys with one hand...
ok... maybe it was meant for surfing for porn then...
I will reply anyway, out of professional courtesy. I am glad to see that we agree that mapmaker is a cockbaiter. But indeed, on topic now, it would be beneficial if there was more competition within the keyboard market. That would truly lead to lower prices for all, and the availability of these keyboards would be very beneficial, too.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
I've already customized my Model M by covering it with walnut woodgrain vinyl shelf paper.
It's the shits man.
If anyone has ever seen the USB HID keyboard spec they will know that a modern USB keyboard pretends to be a early 80's style 8051 based IBM keyboard with all its odd ball scan codes. This means that about 20 keys have hard coded special meanings and you can't even build a keyboard with a Euro button or a Japanese symbols water fall. In the case of the Euro about all you can do is get a keyboard that sends Alt-Shift-5 or whatever windows sees as a Euro.
Its a shame that the cheap keyboards are are killing all the high end ones but its hard to build a keyboard with a 100 decent switches when there are $2 keyboards that are just membrane switches with keycap tops. A top of the line bucking hall effect keyswitch is nearly $2 each.
I've been building a flight sim based around X-plane and its very annoying to find a keyboard that can do cording (hitting more than one key at a time) and be able to send a lower case j and an upper case K at the same time. At least I can do most of the functions as joy stick buttons which are much easier to hack since I can buy a good USB joystick for less than $20 and add my own key switches and var resistors to it. Too bad Austin won't allow every keyboard and menu function to be selected via a joystick button.
Read about this last year:4 ,00.asp
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,155513
There are studies done which show decisively that tactile key feedback increases touch typing speeds significantly.
Of course, if you have carpal tunnel syndrome, wpm may be the least of your concerns.
If you can go without tactile feedback, there's a neater toy you could buy. Check out the Fingerworks Touchstream LP. The entire thing is reconfigurable. The key layout shown is just an overlay. You can replace it with one for a dvorak keyboard or create your own. It also has the added benefit of mouse emulation so you don't have to take your hands away from the "keys." The technology is similar to the trackpad used on a standard laptop, only a bit more sophisticated. It can track all your fingers at once along with the amount of pressure being applied. Downside is that it's a bit spendy. $350 last time I checked. :(
This will make a neat addition to the rapid prototyping toolbox for HCI researchers.
I agree that that's one damn cool keyborard, but I find it somewhat amusing that they picture a keybopard with Windows keys hooked to a Mac...
:-)
I'm not a prophet or a stone-age man,
I'm just a mortal with potential of a super man.
This isn't a "new layout", it's "any layout." You can re-arrange the keys in any fashion you desire, including that of a standard QWERTY keyboard (though that would be kind of pointless). Also, this would have nothing to do with touch typing, as all of these keys would regularly be hotkeys that do not have any sort of standardized positions. With this keyboard, one might finally be able sort the "Imbibe potion" button into a static position on every game they own, allowing for a learned layout, rather than a changing one.
I believe the product you suggest has an incredibly niche market (you and me, more or less :), which would make the price prohibitive.
... old news. Nothing new. Move on, nothing to see here.
It's for gaming - you're only using one hand, anyway.
/. readers engage in involves the use of only one had as well.
Curiously enough, the other pastime most
Admittedly I dont play FPS as much as I used to, but I used to play with my MS Explorer mouse. Two main buttons, a clickable scroll wheel, and two more on either side (the back and forward ones).
Mouse direction took care of moving, scrolling cycled through weapons, clicking the scroll was jump. Main button shoot, secondary open door. Back button crouch, forward button jump.
So from your list all that is left is:
- Run (or just move, mouse only sets the direction it doesn't actually get you going)
- Walk
- Talk with team
- Talk with everybody
- 3 special functions
So excluding being able to select every weapon you've still got 5 spare buttons. Assign those to your 5 most required weapons, and scroll for the others?
I haven't used the CLAW, but 10 buttons + a decent mouse would have sufficed in my FPS playing days.
Glenn
The Smrt way to trade CFDs on the ASX
One of my favorite "uncommon" mappings was what I used to use for Half Life. That game brought back the "use" button I had left behind with Doom 2, and also required manual reload. Mouse wheel down was reload and mouse wheel up was use. It was very natural, and a much better use of the wheel than weapon cycle. Also, neither reload nor use are such drastic commands as to make a mapping for Mouse3 (i.e. wheel click) un-desirable.
SPAM
For $140, will it frag me? What, there's No vagina keyboard?
My dog ate one.
Cockbaiter? Cockfoolery? I think we all know what's on CyricZ's mind. Don't give me that "it's a British term" line either. We all know how to use google to see how much a term is used, and in what context. I mean... come on. You even used the word Cockbagging.
I mean... wow.
I'm waiting for the day where I can just leave the scattered keys on my desk and still use them as a keyboard.
Although, that might be a problem...
"Now where did I put that S-key?"
I recently discovered some very interesting things about wireless keyboards:
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C ategoryDisplay?catalogId=-840&storeId=10000001&lan gId=-1&dualCurrId=1000073&categoryId=2581898
s /US/EN,CRID=2135,CONTENTID=9340
This used to be IBM's wireless keyboard version. Now Lenovo's.
http://www-131.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/
Here is a small picture (sorry, finding large pictures of this keyboard is HARD. )
http://www-131.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/
This keyboard has a range of 10 meters ( 30' ). It's neat and cool looking, the same price as those 8' range keyboards and the 7 top keys are fully programmable ( including macro commands )
And as an unexpected bonus, my wireless 8' logitech mouse now works at 20' with both bases plugged.
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/detail
With two mice and 1 keyboard... this DX1 sure sound nice. But for half the price I got almost as good were functionnality is concerned. ( not including the logitech mouse... )
You should see the hard drive some dude screwed to a painting.
If it wasn't for the symbols you get to stick on the keys, I don't think this keyboard would have been posted at all.
People who use Dvorak touchtype (otherwise there's no point), so a Dvorak keyboard could have no letters, or them in alphabetical order, for all the difference it makes.
(I just typed that in Dvorak.)
Look out!
Looks like a cross between an Asgard control panel and Professor Chronotis' abacus-controlled time machine. Good thing neither of them have patents.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
OTOH, touch-typists are less likely to develop Carpal Tunnel: http://www.health-hack.com/archives/2005/06/14/12/ 56/touch-typing-reduce-carpal-tunnel/
-Tut
Health-Hack.com
The Model M was a design which I haven't seen repeated since - it has a channel system so that if you spill something on the keyboard, a gutter system under the keys channels the spill down and thru the keyboard to exit from four holes located under the bottom front edge. This is one feature that new keyboards should copy.
Of course, since new keyboards are so damn cheap today, such features will likely never see the light of day again...
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
Those spill channels was added by Lexmark, they were not on the original Model/M! But yeah, I agree. I wash mine once a year in the dishwasher... Works quite fine. Bake it in the oven for 5-6 hours @ 50C afterwards!
Assembling etherkillers for fun an profit
Interesting - I could have sworn I had read somewhere that the original spill channels were on the original Model M, then when it was sold to Lexmark the Model M lost buckling spring but kept the spill channels - which is why I look at mine as weird: it has the buckling spring switches? Hmm - I will have to research this further...
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
Yep, it probably has those switches. The Lexmark ones where later sold with IBM computers, branded as IBM keyboards. But the Original Model/M did not have those drain channels. However, I think they're a plus. But anyway, lots of water should clean you out of most trouble :)
Assembling etherkillers for fun an profit
Damn! I spent a while looking through all of the various keyboards out there, and the Touchstream was one of a couple that seemed like it was actually worth looking into. The new "virtual" keyboards look like they're a better solution though. Cheaper too. Price, and no way to try one out, kept me from buying the touchstream. I'll probably end up getting one of the virtual ones now.