Slashdot Log In
A One-Handed Keyboard For $25
Posted by
timothy
on Wed Aug 11, 2004 06:03 AM
from the you-knew-there-was-a-catch dept.
from the you-knew-there-was-a-catch dept.
Bruce Perens writes "Slashdot has often featured attempts at improvement upon the QWERTY keyboard. Here's a one-handed USB keyboard that you can buy for $25 online, or a bit more at the CompUSA. There's one catch: someone will have to design a keying pattern and hack up software for it. It's a task just crying out for an Open Source project." Bruce has also included on the linked page code with which to read the output from the device.
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
Full
Abbreviated
Hidden
Loading... please wait.
Oh Jeez... (Score:5, Funny)
example: (Score:3, Funny)
Left-handed? Right-handed? QWERTY! (Score:5, Funny)
My QWERTY is just fine, as long as I use one hand at a time:
Fred was a fat ass
"Hop on my jolly polonium puppy, you union ho'..."
Greedy Fred created extra stewardesses
"Union ho?" I'll kill you!
Badass stewardesses cratered Fred
Unholy, huh?
Parent
One hand on the keyboard, one hand on my ball... (Score:5, Funny)
you people are sick....
Parent
Cue joke (Score:5, Funny)
Then you can't buy a one-handed keyboard for $25.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Not that I'd know about those things. (And that applies to both coding my own keyboard drivers as well as cooking meth.)
Re:Then you can't buy a one-handed keyboard for $2 (Score:5, Informative)
man xmodmap
As long as the one-handed keyboards gives any kind of output, it can be mapped al gusto.
Parent
Re:Then you can't buy a one-handed keyboard for $2 (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Then you can't buy a one-handed keyboard for $2 (Score:3, Interesting)
Second, my bet is that there will be an open source driver for this thing by the end of the week. Just keep watching the comments on this story and someone may have a link by later today.
Re:Then you can't buy a one-handed keyboard for $2 (Score:4, Informative)
Parent
Re:Then you can't buy a one-handed keyboard for $2 (Score:3, Interesting)
It wouldn't be all that difficult for someone with a modicum of experience to configure a one-handed keyboard so it becomes very usable - at least for whatever it is you'd want to use a one-handed keyboard for. No need to write code.
DOWNLOAD HERE (Score:5, Informative)
In case you don't have one of these Belkin Speedpad 52s already, they're awesome. I use it for gaming, and there's no limit to what you can program these things to do. In fact, I might even consider using one borderline cheating if you program the macros well enough.
Anyway, because I had some with the "profile editor" of the included software, I went ahead (after reading the article) and made a profile that does (what I believe) the original author had intended.
I did this in about 30 minutes, so bear with me if some keys are missing or if it's a little buggy. All major symbols and lettered keys are included but I still need to find where to put keys like "[", "]", and so on.
I broke the keyboard down into 4 logical secions:
1. All function keys / most symbols
2. Right lettered side
3. Left letter side
4. Numpad
From there, I made each of those sections one of the four "shifts" for the controller. Shifting is controlled via the 4-way D-pad with up being "cycle shift", right being right letters, left being the left letters, and down being the numpad. Function keys are the default. Additionally, because of the frequency of their use, the enter and space keys exist in all "shifts" on the circle button and button number 15, respectively.
I know this sounds complicated, but it's really not. Once you take a look at the design in the profile editor, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.
I'm posting these files up on my university filespace. They're small, but if anybody wants to mirror, feel free to do so. Also, feel free to change my design and distribute as you see fit. (Patents/copyrights are for the birds, imo.)
To use these files, you'll have to already have to use the software that is included with the device. Directions, which consists of 2 steps, are included within the readme.
DOWNLOAD HERE [vt.edu]
-Grym
Parent
Re:Then you can't buy a one-handed keyboard for $2 (Score:5, Informative)
It seems they let just about anybody post to Slashdot these days.
Parent
Re:Then you can't buy a one-handed keyboard for $2 (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
whaw (Score:3, Funny)
Age old question answered! (Score:5, Funny)
One handed Dvorak (Score:3, Informative)
Worth a try (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Worth a try (Score:3, Interesting)
think forward, back, and up a directory, not
'all good men are created equal'
in terms of what this device can do
Maybe (Score:5, Funny)
DVORAK keyboard (Score:5, Insightful)
This idea is akin to changing the steering wheel in a car to a joystick; possible, but why change something that is a functional standard?
Re:DVORAK keyboard (Score:4, Insightful)
Other reasons include feedback, you simply wouldn't get the right feedback from a joystick. A stick is ideal for a plane as you are banking the plane towards the left and to the right, in a car you are rotating the wheel and so a rotating control method works best.
Also, to use a stick you would need control systems, fully powered hydraulic steering, this would be prone to faults and in the event of a system failure you would lose steering. Currently cars have power assisted steering but standard steering still functions in the event of a fluid leak etc.
Other problems with a stick system? how about requiring the engine to be running for the system to work? this would make getting your car onto a recovery truck rather difficult if the engine won't run. What about getting towed? impossible without the engine running.
So while it might be possible to change cars to use a joystick it is simply a bad idea.
Parent
Re:DVORAK keyboard (Score:5, Insightful)
A stick is ideal for a plane as you are banking the plane towards the left and to the right, in a car you are rotating the wheel and so a rotating control method works best.
Uh, what? This reasoning sounds awfully circular (honestly, no pun intended) to me. There are plenty of planes that use a wheel instead of a stick. The main reason for using a stick with an aircraft is that a wheel doesn't easily (or as conveniently, anyway) lend itself to motion in a third axis. Using a stick removes a lot of that awkwardness.
Also, to use a stick you would need control systems, fully powered hydraulic steering...
There are plenty of planes that don't have hydraulic systems associated with a control stick, and there are a lot more that have systems no more complicated than what's in a car. There's no reason a hydraulic-assist stick, much like today's power steering, couldn't be developed for use in a car.
I can almost guarantee you that helicopter (and maybe fighter) pilots would be the only people who would be able to drive such a system with any sort of precision, though. Your point about having to turn a steering wheel a very large distance to effect a fairly small change is a good one. Without some sort of serious speed sensitivity, the smaller range of control input inherent in a stick would make for VERY lively steering (read: easily overcontrolled).
Of course, if cars had *always* had a joystick-type steering mechanism (some early ones did, in fact), we'd be sitting here having this discussion from the opposite perspective. There's really nothing inherent in a steering wheel that makes it the perfect solution to steering a car. It's more a matter of "what's always been done."
To get this back on topic, there's really nothing inherently superior about a QWERTY keyboard, and many arguments can be made that there are inherently inferior aspects of it. The problem is, QWERTY layouts have been in use for so long that they're the de facto standard, no matter what other great technology comes along. QWERTY keyboards will rule the world until either voice recognition or direct brain control is perfected.
p
Parent
Re:DVORAK keyboard (Score:4, Interesting)
I don't think the steering wheel will disappear any time soon. There are huge advantages to having one over-riding standard in vehicles - once you know how to drive a car you can get in any car and drive it. Learning on a joystick car only to then need to drive someone's steering-wheel car would be very awkward and annoying. A smaller version of this is seen in the UK when someone learns to drive with an automatic gearbox then goes to a manual (stick shift.) It's a whole extra thing to learn and, at least when I learnt to drive, if you didn't learn in an automatic you had to take lessons and another test if you wanted to drive a manual in the future.
Steering wheels are just like keyboards - QWERTY is used everywhere, and we're stuck with it unless you have a special adaptation. Steering wheels are everywhere unless you've got a specialist vehicle (e.g. some fork lift trucks) or had it adapted to your special use.
Parent
Re:DVORAK keyboard (Score:3, Insightful)
Some would argue Mac OS X is an improvement over Windows. Why hasn't it taken over?
Just because a technology is established across the vast majority of users doesn't mean that alternatives wouldn't be a great improvement. QWERTY is so firmly established that despite the common knowledge that it was designed to put common letter combinations as far apart as possible, most users do not even consider looking for an alternative. There are many reasons - lack of knowledge, lack of learning resources, cost - bu
Re:DVORAK keyboard (Score:4, Informative)
Parent
Re:DVORAK keyboard (Score:4, Interesting)
There is an excellent description [mwbrooks.com] of the Dvorak layout on the web, along with a brief history [mwbrooks.com]. The inventor of the keyboard conducted extensive keyboarding studies that fed into the design; nevertheless they (and the studies that followed) can only be taken for so much truth before succumbing to the "lies, damn lies, and benchmarks" argument, usually due to whether you believe the study director was biased. Regardless, I think it's clear Dvorak designed the keyboard because he thought he could improve upon Qwerty, not because he just wanted to be different.
In a more general sense, I think it would be stupid to think we can't improve on things that already are functional standards. Quick show of hands: how many
Anyway, back to the point: you're right there's no real cry for improvement, but this could be due to any number of factors. Most people don't even know Dvorak exists; others already know Qwerty and are resistant to change; others have concrete practical reasons for using Qwerty, like the need to use special software like Autocad; or, Qwerty may just be better. Regardless, I don't think anybody's suggesting that everybody switch to Dvorak en masse.
Parent
Re:DVORAK keyboard (Score:3, Insightful)
However, using a joystick as a control is a BAD idea, a
Direct link (Score:4, Informative)
Seems the technocrat site is already slashdotted.
Re:Direct link (Score:4, Informative)
One-handed keyboards sell for $99 to $350, but here's one that can be had for $25 at a well-known net merchant, and a little more at the CompUSA. Of course, it's intended for gamers, but can easily be made into a one-handed chording keyboard to nurture your inner cyborg, if you just...
design an appropriate keying pattern and learn it, and write a little software. This is just crying out for an Open Source project. You can help handicapped people, perhaps even influence a new generation of low-budget cyborgs!
The Belkin Nostromo n52 Speedpad has 14 typewriter-style keys that chord (meaning they can all be read individually), LEDs, a dial, and a game controller with firing button. That's easily enough to make a chording keyboard. You can use the game controller as four shift keys (your thumb rests upon it).
To make the job easier, here's C code to read the device on Linux. To finish the job, you'll also have to push key events back into the Linux console or X Windows. Code to do that is already available on the net, it's been written for use with other USB devices.
Parent
Bruce missed a couple of trains here (Score:3, Interesting)
Yeah, so why buy a $25 gaming thing with 14 buttons when you can get a numeric pad? those have 17 keys, have been around for ever and can be had for a buck at your friendly computer recycler.
What's so different with the gaming pad? why didn't Bruce propose the same thing with numeric pads? hell, why didn't he propose the same thing with the numeric pad section of a n
Re:Chording is possible with standard keypads. (Score:4, Informative)
The symptom is that when playing a fps you might get stuck in firing or stuck crouching after a crouch-jump. etc.
Keyboard controllers only report the changes in the state. every few microseconds the keys are scanned (in a matrix pattern). And keys that are down are checked to see if they've been reported as down in the past, if not it's sent out. Keys that are no longer down are reported at up if they haven't been reported before. Generally it's easier to report down keys than up keys (because there are almost always more keys that are up than down). Cheap keyboard controllers have small queues rather than complete bitmaps because it's less memory (the microcontroller they chose might only have 16-32 bytes of RAM).
Parent
Re:Direct link (Score:4, Informative)
Parent
wow (Score:5, Funny)
software for the n50 (Score:5, Informative)
Small Laptops (Score:4, Funny)
And it even comes with a nipple!
Gaming Device (Score:4, Interesting)
Other than the title, category, subject matter and content - great post!
Re:Gaming Device (Score:3, Informative)
Linux Drivers (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Great for tablets? (Score:3, Interesting)
It's 1968 all over again (Score:5, Informative)
Except for CAD, they never really took off - until the modern video game.
And while I certainly would not want to type a comment like this with a one-handed keyboard, I can see where they would be damn useful in editing a document - click-drag, button press for bold, click-drag, underline (or click-drag indent, click-drag create-subroutine-skeleton, click-drag lookup-definition).
Another one-handed keyboard (Score:4, Informative)
I only wish they included flash memory on it.
http://www.frogpad.com/information/bluefroginfo.a
Already own one of these and... (Score:5, Informative)
As a gamer (yes, I admit it), I do find these devices useful. After about 4-5 gaming sessions, I became extremely comfortable with the device, and began integrating its usefulness into more traditional applications (like 3DS Max). Given the included software (albeit Windows), you are able to map keystrokes (macros as well) to the device, to which you can reconfigure/reinitialize the mapping through an app that sits in the systray (Loadout Manager).
Now onto the bad stuff. The n52 makes some improvements over the n50 (extra row of keys, dpad, thumb shift key), however the response of the keys themselves seems to have suffered a setback. While I was never completely satisfied with the response of the n50 keys (not enough tactile feedback for these fingers), the n52 has this even less so. More importantly, the keys sometime stick, making you depress some of the keys more than once in order to execute the keystroke - a pretty large issue when it comes the one thing a keyboard should do well.
Hopefully, the problems I encountered with this n52 is a defect with this particular unit (/.er's, chime in!).
All-in-all, the n50/n52 are good and versatile products, and I recommend them for those looking for a one-hand input device - particularly if you come across them at a cheap price (I bought my n52 for $35). The software support is a little flimsy, but Belkin seems to be more focused on this as their products are growing in popularity.
Another extremely interesting input use... The ILL Clan [illclan.com] (a Machinima team I co-founded) use these devices to puppeteer their virtual characters during their Machinima productions/live performances - mapping the keys to facial gestures, lipsync and triggered animations.
My Review of the Speedpad N52 (Score:5, Informative)
Here's my old review, in plain text glory:
Review of the Belkin Nostromo Speedpad n52
The Belkin Nostromo Speedpad n52 is a reworked version of
the n50: both are gaming peripherals that combine a small keyboard,
a D-pad, and a scroll wheel into a small, ergonomic package. Using
the included software, you can bind keys and macros to the Speedpad
for use in games and applications. So, for example, instead of using the
typical WASD layout on your keyboard, you can map those keys to the
Speedpad, along with keys for throwing grenades, switching weapons,
etc.
With macros, you can initial multiple actions, such as targeting
the nearest enemy, following him, and going into attack mode, all
with a single keypress.
The n50 is probably the best gaming peripheral I've ever owned: I
find it indispensible for FPS and MMORP games. When news of the
n52 began to filter out, I was hoping that many of the flaws of
the n50 would be eliminated, but that the core utility of the
device would be maintained. I'm happy to say that I was not disappointed.
Firstly, some of the flaws with the n50:
* Lame "scroll" wheel was really not a scroll wheel, but more like
a throttle: it did not have full 360 degree motion.
* Shift state indicators in a bad spot: the n50 (and n52) has three
"shift modes" that you can switch between, allowing each key to have
more than one use, depending on the shift mode. However, the n50's
shift mode indicators are on the left side of the unit: when you are using
it, your hand blocks the ability to see those indicators.
Minor problems, really: the scroll wheel was easy to just disable, and after
a while, you didn't worry about the shift mode indicators.
The n52, though, fixes both problems: it has a 360 degree scroll wheel (that also
can act as a button when pressed, just like many mouses) making it actually
useful. The shift indicators have been movies to the right side of the
controller, near one of the new thumb buttons. Now you can see the shift
state at a glance.
There's a new row of keyboard buttons, adding 4 more buttons in good positions.
Your pinky will now be able to trigger death and destructions much more easily.
The new thumb buttons, though, are a disappointment. The idea is great: two
buttons above and below the dpad on the right of the controller. However,
the round orange button above the dpad is extremely difficult to press without
Pros:
* Great ergonomics
* More buttons
* Better positioning of shift indicators
Cons:
* New thumb buttons are a little annoying in placement and use
No Hands Mouse (Score:3, Funny)
I asked Google, and interestingly enough, it gave me just the opposite - a 0-hand mouse: No Hand Mouse [google.com].
Is this the belkin N52? It's down already (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Left Handed??? (Score:3, Insightful)
It is a game device, so the right is on the mouse (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Left or right? (Score:4, Informative)
Parent
Re:I have one of these (Score:3, Informative)
I bought a nostromo n52 a couple of months ago. I definitely wouldn't consider it a candidate for a "one-handed keyboard" but it is a good complement to your existing keyboard. Don't let the goofy Slashdot editor limit the potential of this device. The software that comes with it is already quite good. You can assign any macro you want to any of the 14 keys (and with the "shift" key that lights up 3 different LEDs, you can basically m