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Hardware

Half Keyboard, Full Bore 190

Posted by timothy from the as-deer-fear-trees dept.
PDA User writes: "With more and more innovative items coming out this year, it's not surprising to say the least that a new product has come out, this time it's called a "Half Keyboard." Well, what does this half keyboard offer you? Available for the home PC or any PDA, it's got some pretty interesting features....check out the review @ G3D:Gaming In 3D for some nifty info on this $99 Half Keyboard." An excerpt: "Touch typing was invented over 100 years ago. In all that time there have been no significat advances in how people type. Until now. This motto, taken directly form Matias Corporation's manual, states their goal. But, have they achieved it?" Nothing like trying one out, but a review is better than just looking at the pretty pictures and wondering whether a wacky keyboard is as useful as it is intriguing. (The review says "it's not all that stellar in gaming," though.)
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Half Keyboard, Full Bore More

Half Keyboard, Full Bore

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  • Re:Fast Typing (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    The article is plagued with bad grammar and poor spelling, at first i thought he used the half-keyboard for the whole article...oh and the BAT personal keyboard from Infogrip would kick that keyboards ass any day.

  • Re:Good idea, implemented badly (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    proceed to type with your left hand while doing nothing with your right. Why? ummmm....chatroom?

  • Re:One handed keyboard (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Do you always ignore new technology without even trying it because you are unable to see the benefits?
  • * 2001-02-26 17:18:07 Half-Keyboard Available for Palm (and Linux) (articles,pilot) (rejected)

    Ah, the inconsistencies of Slashdot...

    Alex Bischoff
  • What's funny is that they claim they have done something different from the past 100 years, yet they are still using a sort of half-assed QWERTY keyboard (yes that was a pun).

    They should have designed it with the most used keys on the first half, and second half could contain the less used keys. Do you really use Z or Q that much (other than really descriptive variable names).

    They should have looked at a scrabble board, put all the low scoring letters on the first half, and the other letters on the second.

    Misfit

    Disclaimer: I was looking at this from a typing standpoint, not a gaming standpoint.

  • Dvorak Offerings (Score:3)

    by Sludge ( 1234 ) <slashdot@@@tossed...org> on Wednesday May 30, 2001 @10:06AM (#188725) Homepage
    Heh, I bet this keyboard would suck with Dvorak. One of it's goals is to get as many words to be typed with alternating hands as possible to cut down the number of sluggish singlehanded words. This keyboard makes for an extra keypress every time you switch over to the other side of the board.

    Alternatively, there is something called the one handed Dvorak method (smirk now). It also allows people to type with one hand, and it can be done on a normal keyboard. What's more, your OS will probably already have software remapping for it. People who have lost the use of an arm and are forced to switch or give up decent typing forever have reported speeds up to 60-70wpm in this configuration.

    I'm intrigued by it because of the time it takes me to move my hand from my keyboard to my mouse, and back to home row. But then, I'm awash with small efficiencies. I use dvorak and I'm very handy with emacs keystrokes.

  • It's made for lefties.

    No it's not... I would rather type with my left hand and write or mouse with my right than the other way around.

    While I suspect they claim it's ambidextrous (or dextrous-neutral) it is most definately suited for right-handed people.

  • Funny, I use ESC as my meta key all the time in EMACS, and I have an ALT key...
  • Consider the source of the controversy.

    Note the word "economics." Liebowitz and Margolis are economists opposed to an "excessive inertia" theory, for which QWERTY is often cited as an example. Rather than try to prove their point with a generally valid argument, they simply attack Dvorak as a dubious replacement for QWERTY.

  • I actually have one of these things sitting on my desk but I haven't had a chance to sync the software into my Visor to use it. I wish that it had a PS/2 cable also so I wouldn't have to wait until I get home.

    In Q3A, I already use my left-hand on the keyboard for actions, so I don't foresee any kind of problems with gaming there.

    I also type approximately near 80WPM with two hands, I don't foresee having much trouble getting my left-hand to do alone.

    This is a nice compromise between chording keyboards and QWERTY-- I can't find a "standard-standard" for chording anywhere so I've avoided trying to get hardware like that. The Happy Hacking Keyboard I've seen has squeezed down the size of the keys (and rearranged a few) so much that I found it to be a real pain to use.

    One thing I noticed about the HalfKeyboard was the "reversal" of the phantom hand keys--

    ;lkj

    ASDF
    This is kind of related to DaVinci's backwards handrighting [mos.org] and the fact that keys are placed like that I think is going to make it easy for me to pick up.
    _______
  • [Replying to myself isn't strange... is it?]

    I had a chance to play with the keyboard last night, and as hardware, it's a pretty nice device. The PalmOS drivers however have a lot left to be desired-- probably the most critical problem is the infrared beaming support is disabled while you're using the keyboard. On my Visor Platinum, it defeats the purpose of using the HalfKeyboard while I'm using the IrCOMM modem with my Nokia phone. This flaw is going to keep me from buying it.

    But in general, I think that the keyboard format could be something everyone adopts because of it's low learning curve-- compared to true chording keyboards.
    _______

  • The think that people are not realizing that this keyboard was not designed for gaming - look at the material on the web site, and you see that they are targetting for PDA users.

    As the user of a Jornada, I can definitely see where this would have advantages. A keyboard on which I could achieve 30-some odd words per minute would be FAR superior to the pen-based input. THIS is where this keyboard will find its market. The person who is playing games is not going to want to use this mini keyboard, but the travelling sales rep would very much want to tuck this in his brief case to use on his Palm or PocketPC.

    Different products appeal to different markets. Obviously this one would flop for gamers, but there are other applications where it would shine, making it a cool product in general. Just because it doesn't increase your scores in online games doesn't mean it sucks!

    -Michael
    Geek for hire [miklm.com]

  • Why? (Score:1)

    by Bake ( 2609 )
    And lower my WPM rate?
  • (that is, on the home row.)
  • The full sized keyboard that I already have for my palm works great. I have a hard time thinking of a situation where a half-sized keyboard would be better for PDA use. They mention that you can use the keyboard and the stylus at the same time, but that seems rediculous when you consider that the palm would be on a flat surface. It's pretty hard to control the palm moving around without holding it with the other hand.

    While technically very interesting, I liked the other "mouse keyboard" innovation idea better.

  • On the last page, he lists the pros and cons. One of the pros: no incompatabilities.

    With no ctrl and no alt, it's incompatable with my entire system. I can log in, start emacs, and cry because the only way I can do anything is by hitting esc over and over again.

    It's emacs incompatable. Worthless!
  • For a basic game of quake deathmatch, this keyboard would be fine (assuming it can be fixed fairly firmly to a surface). But for some games, the number of keys are just too limited.

    When I play Q3F, I have most keys on the left side bound, and all of the function keys bound to important communications. For Terminus, I have the entire main portion of the keyboard bound, and I still need to use the function keys from time to time. It just wouldn't work very well.
  • If you can not press ctrl-alt-del then it is usless and should not should to any with a Windows OS.
  • This allows you to type on 1/2 of the keyboard? Anyway, your point is well taken - I could easily do a hack to let my mother do mirror-image typing on the right half of her existing keyboard. Thanks for the reality check. :')
  • This is really cool, but the first thing that comes to mind as an application for it is my mother, who had a stroke a few years back and lost the use of her left hand. So this keyboard would make a lot of sense for her, because typing on a full-sized keyboard is actually hard for her. Unfortunately, it's handed - it would work nicely with the left hand, but not so nicely with the right hand. :'(

    This is not to say that it's a bad thing - just that it would be cool if they came out with a mirror image version for righties.

  • It's not supposed to revolutionize typing or gaming. It's for Palms. For those folks, this is a god-send!

    Geez...
  • If you don't already have to worry about touching the space bar every couple of seconds then you must type very very slowly. I bet I type the spacebar like 2 or 3 times every second. I think having the space bar be the key to shift to the next side of the keyboard is pretty ingenious, had I come up with this idea I probably would have done something stupid like add a new key. With that said I'm not so sure its too impracticle, it all depends on how fast people can get typing on it. If I could get anywhere near my current speed then I'd love to have one of these things, I would never have to take my hand off the mouse and I could constantly be typing stuff too. That would be pretty neat I think. Of course I'm a little stumped as to why theres no ctrl or alt key (I think I read that in the article).
  • I mean, does it keep my in-law from messing with my computer?

    Screen saver passwords and bios power-on passwords are your friend.

    --
    Delphis
  • Sounds AMAZINGLY expensive too .. .. much cheaper just to make a few different batches of keycaps. And for the user, just to buy a couple of keyboards.

    --
    Delphis
  • Oh dear :) .. that's quite sad isn't it?

    I don't actually have the BIOS passwords set on any of the computers I use (I don't have any need to), but I thought they were a bit more well designed than that. Doh.

    --
    Delphis
  • Umm the twiddler works better and has been in use by wearable computing people for more than 3 years now. I like it better as it integrates the mouse also and it straps to your hand.

    The twiddler makes this look like a joke.

  • I would be thrilled if they made a keyboard where you could pop out the keys and put them back in any order you like, Lego-like.

    Also, the whole QWERTY thing can go.

    I remember seeing a keyboard made by one of the larger keyboard manufacturers (Cherry maybe?) in the early 90s that had an LCD on each key. It was marketed as a multi-lingual keyboard and came with drivers that let you reprogram the keys to whatever you wanted.

    Does anyone know if someone still makes a keyboard like this?

  • And your mind off it, which has got to suck for your reaction time. The only benefit of keeping your eyes on the road in this regard is then you see the accident happening, but you won't be quick enough to react.
  • Did you see the lil' Flash demo? (If not, it's understandable, since Flash is evil & all, according to /.) The point isn't to stick it into your desktop computer, it's for a PDA or such. You'll save space carrying it. I figure, though, get one of those foldable keyboards [palm.com] Palm sells.
  • Believe it or not, I type solely using my right hand. I've been looking for something like this for a while now. (But I'm not about to spend $99 on a fscking keyboard.)
    Fighting the War on the War on Drugs.
  • That might explain all the typos.
  • I wouldn't use this with my Palm; Palm themselves already do a cool keyboard.
    Where it would be handy is for those screens where I've got nine xterms open; being able to flick between them without my hand leaving the keyboard would be very, er, handy.
    OTOH, combinations look distinctly dodgy. CTRL-ALT-Left seems especially problematic. Of course, with an operating system where all keys are configurable this isn't much of a problem (if you know what you're doing), but it does add a level of complexity.
    As for other operating systems: CTRL-ALT-DEL doesn't look like an easy chord; that's just lack of foresight on the part of the inventor.

  • Common myth. (Score:3)

    by mindstrm ( 20013 ) on Wednesday May 30, 2001 @06:30AM (#188752)
    That's the common way of putting it, but not entirely accurate.

    The qwerty was designed not to be slow, but so that letters that frequently followed each other had their typebars far apart from each other (as two next to each other will jam quite easily, wheras two far apart jam less easily.)

    Study after study, yes, a DVORAK or other keyboard is usually only slightly faster (though less tiring on your hands, apparently, because you don't have to work as hard.)

    Also, nothing forces you to use this format. Pop in a dvorak keyboard map and go to town. It's entirely feasible to switch between the two if you know them both.

  • I just ran a long article at Point and Grunt [pointandgrunt.net] entitled 10 big fingers [pointandgrunt.net] discussing the half keaboard and many others.

    please excuse the shameless self promotion, but it's at lease somewhat relevant.


    Point and Grunt

  • But how many grandmothers type (ie not hunt and peck) You can't beat a regular keyboard for hunting and pecking because of the really large symbols on them, if you have 4 tiny symbols the hunting and pecking gets a lot harder. I think this is a great idea however and may be tempted to get one just to see how it works, ive been looking for a way to use my mouse and keyboard at the same time for a while now, this looks like its just the ticket.

    You Like Science?
  • I ain't no J.D Salinger (as that double negative will attest to) but the quality of this review is shocking. I mean come on...

    "Coming with a hefty pricetag of $99, is this tiny sucker worth it? Hell, it even a whole keyboard. It's half of one!"
    - You may think I being picky here, but this contradiction comes in right at the start of the review. Did the author re-read his review even once?

    It's [dimensions are] about the size of a scientific calculator, or 1/4 the size of a laptop. It's also a keyboard.
    - Funny that.

    Like any other keyboard the Half Keyboard plugs in via a PS/2 port. It's compatible with Palms, Handspring Visors, PCs, as well as Macs.
    - The depth of the research carried out here speaks volumes about the reviewer.

    While there were no drivers I had to install via a cd, I thought the overall package that came with the Half Keyboard was very well done.
    - You don't need Old Man Murray [oldmanmurray.com] to tell you that when a review starts describing product packaging it's in big big trouble.

    Weighing about 1/5 the weight of a calculator, I've got to say kudos to Matias for making the Half Keyboard compactable.
    - Dubya would be so proud. It's compactable!

    The tutorial then goes on to introduce how to use the other features such as characters and numbers.
    - The feature bloat on this keyboard puts even Mozilla to shame! Yes, that's right characters AND numbers. Stop the madness, please.




    --

  • Keep working on the Kinesis. In time, you'll find yourself much faster with it. There's a lot to be said for reducing the distance your fingers have to travel to type.
    -russ
  • Strong is the darkside...

  • Re:Common myth. (Score:3)

    by gorilla ( 36491 ) on Wednesday May 30, 2001 @08:27AM (#188758)
    That's very contraversal [urbanlegends.com]. The only test which showed improvement with the Dvorak format was organised by ... Dvorak.
  • I just spent a few minutes playing with a demo program that lets you try this layout on a
    regular qwerty keyboard (link) [half-qwerty.com] The mirror reflection really does make learning much easier. I was quite surprised and its worth giving it a try. $395.00 USD? pffft! He want's an arm and a leg for a keyboard driver.

    http://half-qwerty.com/

    The web site is amateurish and the program could be duplicated in a few minutes for linux by many of the /. crowd to the benefit of all, particularly those with disabilities. Its too bad we are screwed by his monopoly license.

    =============
    U.S. Patent No. [164.195.100.11]
    5,288,158. European Patent
    No. 0,489,792. Australian Patent No. 647,750.

  • in addition to inventing the mouse,
    douglas englebart also invented the one-handed keyboard -- he actually did it better than this 'half keyboard' -- he 'chorded' an optimized set for the entire alphabet.

    thus - he figured you could use one hand full-time for the MOUSE, and the other hand full-time for TEXT ENTRY - keeping both continuously active, and optimising the human-machine interaction.

    there was a product back in the early 90's called "THE BAT" that allowed this sort of chorded input - and actually worked quite well. i'd like to find one if anyone knows where to still get them.

    this half-keyboard is a devolution on that concept, and does so in order to retain the familiarity people have with the qwerty keyboard - but if you're going to switch, it'd be better to go all the way to an optimized layout like THE BAT.

    regards,
    johnRpenner.

  • I've been using Dvorak for several years now (the mechanism is QWERTY, but the OS converts it into Dvorak for me...imagine the trouble I had with the CueCat until I remembered that..).

    I'm a bit faster on the Dvorak, and a LOT more comfortable! Plus, it's a great security mechanism--even if they know your password, they can't type it. :)

    Also, I can switch back and forth as needed, which (I'm sure) lowers my average typing speed for both. Still, I'm glad I learned.

    --RJ
  • i've always wanted to use a left hand only keyboard so I could keep my right hand on the mouse. thing is that I use a lot of different computers and am scared that if I learned to type on a keyboard like this I would lose my typing ability on a regular keyboard. that didn't happen when I moved to the MS natural, but it's not really the same thing.

    Anyone know if trying something like this will screw up your old dexterity?
    ----------------------------
  • For PDA note taking I use the Stowaway. Folds to the same volume as my Visor, weighs little, gives me a full size keyboard with great feel. I love seeing new devices and approaches but I've got to wonder about this one...
  • I like the "wearable" version myself.
    I'v always wanted a Star Trekish palm on my wrist with a mini keyboard to match.
  • And besides, do you really want to relearn how to type so you can be 3wpm faster in theory?
  • And besides, do you really want to relearn how to type so you can be 3wpm faster in theory?

    Speed's not the only issue, nor is it the major issue as far as I'm concerned. I have RSI problems. Using Dvorak results in noticably less pain in my hands. It's not a miracle cure, but it does make a big difference for me. Someday you may develop RSI problems, and then perhaps you won't be so scornful.

  • Well, from the looks of that article, (which I assume was typed by the author on the half-keyboard) either: 1) spell-checkers don't work on anything typed using that keyboard; 2) the keyboard is not conducive to accurate typing; 3) the author's spelling/grammar is poor to begin with; or some combination of the above. I'll stick to my ergonomic, thankyouverymuch.
    ---
  • I just sold of a Palm IIIc w/ a keyboard, and I've been waiting for a new keyboard to come out for my m505. I loved that little keyboard for the palm - it had a great feel to it, and it wasn't that small. This thing looks cool, but I would definitely have one huge gripe about it for the Palm. The Palm keyboard has a little stand built into it, so that the Palm already sits up for easy viewing of the screen. I hate having to look at my Palm when it's laying on the table. It would be a huge pain to have to find something to lean the Palm against all the time. Otherwise the thing does look kinda cool...
  • Control, Meta, Backslash anyone?

    --
  • http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~john/computer/hk/

    Follow the instructions and check it out.

  • Looks like the keyboard would be great to use for short term stuff - quick memos, notes, whatnot - but I'm wondering what sorts of problems people might have with long term use of one of these. With two hands, each hand is working about 1/2 as hard, and people still end up with carpal tunnel and such. What will using one hand exclusively do?
  • if you were to actually look at it yourself.. you'd see that there is the Ctrl and Alt keys on the righ hand side of it... they also double as the 'apple' and 'options' keys for the mac (I don't use a mac so I dunno if those are the proper names for them or not).

    Yes, I read the article too, and yes, the review does say that there's no Ctrl or Alt keys... but they're there... take a look for yourself here [gamingin3d.com]

  • This would be really cool on handheld computers like the Psion. I bet I could type as fast on this as I can on a full keyboard with tiny keys... and i'd have a free hand to hold the device or use the stylus.
  • This looks like it could be the most awkward keyboard I have ever seen. Yes it only takes one hand to type... But there is a reason keyboards were origionally invented for two hands. You have to 'hold' down space bar (shift they are calling it) to get it to flip. Plus u'd have to learn how to type with your left hand the right keys... They are inverted so you use the same fingers though... But that just makes it so I can't find anything by looking at it.

    Now you need to learn how to do the right hand on your left hand. You need 2 keys for each position (or more for special keys). You have to push an extra key for each letter on the other side of the keyboard. This would be like trying to type in all caps while using the shift key and not caps lock... Notice the slow down.

    I can see how this may be useful to people who don't have a lot of space... And maybe for a palm...

    But I think that enough people complain already about laptop keyboards, so this would definately not be good for laptops and especially not good for desktops!

  • ....with this keyboard. [umbc.edu]

    ----------------------------
  • Hi, this is my first /. post ever.

    I wonder, how often do you have to change the state of the keyboard, pressing or releasing the space key? Isn't that going to be a major problem for typing speed?

    --
    May I ask you to smile for a moment?

  • Well, as one who has tested out both QWERTY and Dvorak, I can tell you that Dvorak is MUCH easier on the hands. I haven't noticed any speed increase, but I think that it because I think about the words and code I'm typing at the same speed I always have. If I were a secretary staring and a page and typing things without really thinking about them, I might be faster, I don't know.

    Bottom line is, urban legend or not, Dvorak is much more comfortable to type with than QWERTY. I wish people would wait until they are proficient at both before spouting of their "knowledge" on the subject.
  • In that case, it's no contest. This keyboard will rule the world.

  • Pros & Cons (Score:3)

    by zpengo ( 99887 ) on Wednesday May 30, 2001 @06:21AM (#188779) Homepage

    From the review:

    Pros: Great for typing up documents; Extremely compact; Plug 'N Play/Easy Installation; No incompatibilites

    Cons: Rather steep learning curve; Terrible for gaming; Hefty price for keyboard

    Note two of the cons -- "Terrible for gaming" and "Hefty price". I'm sorry folks, but this keyboard will not change the world. It's a neat toy, and might have some applications for wearable computers, but that's about it.

  • Re:that is the lamest excuse I've ever heard (Score:3)

    by zpengo ( 99887 ) on Wednesday May 30, 2001 @06:38AM (#188780) Homepage
    I don't care if this keyboard really is great or not, I'm just sick of people pointing out why something won't ever take off. At this rate, nothing will ever get better, because people are too fucking lazy to change.

    Better to criticize weak ideas than to put time and money into them that might better be spent on producing something that *won't* make the company go bankrupt in a year, and might actually be useful to society.

    If people were a bit more cynical, and a bit less "rah rah progress rah rah innovation", I wouldn't have had to sit back and watch the dot coms drop like flies.

  • Grandmother Test (Score:5)

    by zpengo ( 99887 ) on Wednesday May 30, 2001 @06:18AM (#188781) Homepage
    The question is, will this pass the grandmother test? Any grandmother could have figured out a normal QWERTY (or Dvorak or whatever) keyboard, but I doubt that this will "change the way people type" for the simple reason that nobody's grandmother could use it.
  • It would also be good if you are a TRex and can't get both your hands together on the same keyboard.
  • Hilarious!

  • ...reasonable fear that is too. I learned how to use RPN calcs in college and have a helluva time using anything else, keep loosing data cause I expect it to be in the stack.

    But, at the same time, I learned to use a DVORAK KB to improve typing speed a few years ago. It was such a pain when changing computers, I finally gave up and went back to QWERTY.

    Kevin
  • I'm left handed, and this looks unusable to me. I want to type with my right hand and use my left hand with a stylus. Judging from the web site, it doesn't appear you can move the shift/space bar, so the space bar would line up with the palm of your hand instead of your thumb. Sigh.
  • Not as funny as you think, there's something REALLY like that for PDA's

    lemme get my unsupported Philips Nino 300 out, one of the input methods is that.. it's called T9.

    They're in sets of 3, I.E. ABC, DEF, GHI, JKL, MNO

    and you tap in the boxes. It'll usually narrow it down to the one selection if the word's long enough, i find 4-5 words it's usually correct, if there's more than 1, it chooses the one you use more often, but if it's a different one, there's a list that you can select from. If it's not in the list, you select the individual letters (e.g. tapping like it were a keyboard) =]

    It works pretty well, it's what I use...
  • actually I don't believe your story of the qwerty origin is correct. I think it was actually remington or smith-corona that implemented it for one reason only. you can spell "typewriter" all on one line. It was used for demonstrations of how fast you could type. they'd have one of their demo-girls (booth babes you might say) sit down with the typwewriter and have them pound out the name of the device. The idea is that they look l;ike they're going so fast and the customer just has to have one.

  • Apple had this back in the 80's (Score:3)

    by Kagato ( 116051 ) on Wednesday May 30, 2001 @07:33AM (#188793)
    I remember way back in the 80s seeing a news story on a keyboard Apple computer had made. Basically, the same idea. Bassically, a small number of keys, and pressing different combinations of said keys would produce the result you're looking for.

    This looks a little more advanced of course, as the science of ergonomics has advanced. But I don't think this is going to be earth shattering beyond some specific markets.
  • I will agree that current speech recognition isn't perfect and often needs a large amount of training, but this should be understandable considering how it must be able to handle the pronunciations/mumblings of everyone. In addition, as mentioned in the response above, speech recognition is not a complete solution for typing as things you want to "write" may need to remain private even when "writing" in public. Also, even if speech recognition was 100% accurate, in many cases it will be slower than typing.
  • This seems like a low-rent version of a chord keyboard. Chord keyboards [nanopac.com] have been around for years. There are several available [orst.edu], all incompatible, and they don't sell well.

    Introducing this as a desktop device at this late date seems pointless. On portable devices it might make more sense. What's needed is a cell phone with a chord keyboard for messaging. Make it in colors with a cute shape and sell it to mobile girls [observer.co.uk] in Japan.

  • which is faster a half keyboard or the "optical character recognition" that comes with a pda, be it a palm, pocket pc, or the future linux pdas? i would think inputing with the half keyboard would be faster than the ocr, but since i don't own a pda or a half keyboard i would not know.

    they even have a wearable keyboard / pda kit: http://www.halfkeyboard.com/products/index.html . it is kind of pricey.

    yopy where are you?

    andrew

  • I guess just like the laptops, the smaller it is the more we pay for it. Get less for more motto works for me!

  • Saw this at E3 (Score:3)

    by atathert ( 127489 ) on Wednesday May 30, 2001 @07:07AM (#188800)
    At E3, I got a chance to talk to the CEO/Inventor about this device and actually try it out. It was cool to use, and wasn't that hard to adapt to. He said that it worked by "sense memory" where the body remembers how actions are performed. However, everything is remembered in a mirror image sense, i.e. the left side is a mirror of the right. So, in this case, it actually messed me up to look at the keyboard, but touch typing was relatively easy to pick up, and felt pretty natural.
  • I am not sure I quite get the point of this... Most of the time when my other hand is busy I am only using the mouse to close down all those pop-ups.

    Still, for those desperate to achieve the Golden-eye pen twiddle and still get decent typing speeds, you can reach speeds of up to 60 wpm with the dvorak one-handed layouts [gte.net] (the keyboards are probably a little bigger than this though).

    not_cub

  • I have conducted experiments and GOMS-type simulations comparing these two keyboards. I have read much of the research on the subject, including Dvorak's book, the Navy report, and the more recent scientific work and popular press coverage. It is simply not true that the only research that demonstrated the advantage of the Dvorak keyboard was done by Dvorak. What is true is that the research he did was very good, even by today's standards. Furthermore, he was not interested in "Getting Rich" off the invention--he was a professor pioneering the field of human factors, and his main interest was in developing the optimal layout. Had he wanted to capitalize on it, he would not have spent ten years developing the keyboard, nor would not have cared about the left- and right- handed versions. He really wanted to give people a better way of typing, and probably his biggest failure is that he didn't market it very well.

    The most interesting thing I have learned about the whole situation is this: First, there are a bunch of people who are Dvorak Advocates. They often believe they have found the One True Way, and attempt to convince and influence others into seeing it their way. However, most Dvorak users are live-and-let-live about it, willing to give people information, but realizing that most people do not have the diligence or the desire to learn the alternate mapping. Only a small number are these "Advocaters".

    But, what is even more interesting is that there are also a bunch of Qwerty Evangalists out there. These are people who are utterly convinced that the Dvorak keyboard is a hoax, and attempt to convince everybody that they are right. There are probably more websites out there about why Qwerty is better than Dvorak than vice versa. I find these people very interesting (pcidevel appears to be one of them), because they generally have never tried the Dvorak keyboard, the Dvorak keyboard never did anything to their family, the Dvorak keyboard never flamed them on slashdot. They just have a need to tell people that the Dvorak sucks. Maybe they read about the Myth of the Keys, and think it makes them look devilishly smart to outwit all these people who think they are smarter than the general public.

    I would suggest to anyone thinking about the Dvorak keyboard that they shouldn't switch if they ever use anyone else's machine. Or if they hope to gain speed. (You might gain 10%-20% in some situations, but most of the typing we do is not limited by our upper typing speed but by the speed at which we can think about what to say next, so the choice of a keyboard doesn't really matter too much. Plus, you can probably increase your speed 10-20% by spending a month practicing to type faster.) However, changing will decrease the number of errors you make, but errors have a relatively small cost these days (compared to the typewriter days, when an error could cost you minutes and minutes). Changing will decrease your finger movement, balance the amount that each hand types, and reduce a lot of awkward movements you do while typing. I don't know of any research showing that these qualities will reduce RSI, and this would be very difficult to determine experimentally, but there are numerous anecdotal testimonies that people have offered. In that respect, a "sample" size of 1 is a completely valid experiment, because it generalizes to the entire population who matters--person who reports their experience.

  • For a "real" review (Score:3)

    by dmccarty ( 152630 ) on Wednesday May 30, 2001 @09:27AM (#188812)
    That Gaming 3D review is horrible, written by someone who sounds like the half-brother of the guy who made up^H^Hpublished [chickshardware.com] the Matrox specs the other day.

    There are two much better reviews, one at Futurelooks [futurelooks.com] and the other at The Gadgeteer [the-gadgeteer.com].

    --

  • This thing is bound to fail for several reasons.

    1. It's made for lefties. A lot more people are right handed than left. Scientific American lists most humans (say 70 percent to 95 percent) are right-handed, a minority (say 5 percent to 30 percent) are left-handed, and a few as ambidexterous. That immediatelly dwindles your potential user base, since most people's non-dominant are useless for skills that require more dexiterity, and they don't want to try to learn a new way to type with a weak hand, which brings me to the second reason.

    2. You have to fundamentally change the way you type. You have to learn a completely new method of typing. People who have been typing for years are familiar with the two-handed touch method, using the shift only for a few certain functions. Now you have to use the space bar for half the alphabet. Not intuitive.

    3. Using the space bar as the shift will lead to more errors. Utilizing the space as the shift for the other letters is going to cause problems. You hit the space bar, maybe a little to hard or long, then go to type an S, and end up with an L. That would annoy anybody.

    4. The competition from folding keyboards will keep it down. For the same price as this half keyboard, you can get a folding one that let's you type the same as you do on your laptop or your PC. Nothing new to learn. (Of course, not that many people really need to imput a ton of text into PDA's anyway, but I digress.)

    This thing is going to bomb.

    BigCat79
  • It doesn't matter whether grandmothers can use it, as long as the average 8-year-old can figure it out.

  • Keeps your right hand free (Score:4)

    by Narmi ( 161370 ) on Wednesday May 30, 2001 @06:14AM (#188817)
    for uhm... other stuff. *cough*pr0n*cough*

  • QWERTY was not the first keyboard format...


    ...if memory serves me correctly, then QWERTY was actually developed to SLOW down the human typists because the physical typing machines couldn't keep up and kept jamming. Unfortunately, for almost a hundred years now we've been stuck using this piece of crap language format. IMHO, it's time to redesign with an emphasis on speed since it's now the humans that can't input fast enough.



  • Thinking of wearables.. (Score:3)

    by TeknoHog ( 164938 ) on Wednesday May 30, 2001 @09:10AM (#188820) Homepage Journal
    This might be worth considering for a wearable. It could be significantly faster than a chording keyboard, which will never be as fast as the good old qwerty/dvorak (or whatever your layout). Think of typing 'sdf' on a chording keyboard, and on a regular keyboard -- no need to explain why the latter is a lot quicker. Of course, this is not quite as good on the half-keyboard but you do get faster than you would with chording.

    The only really worrying thing is probably special characters. The author mentioned typing documents, which to me rings a latex bell. Wonder how accessible the \[]{} are on that baby. In fact I used to have a Finnish layout, but those and many other punctuation marks were behind some cumbersome combinations involving AltGr. I switched to a UK one as I started coding more seriously. Therefore I would not like another keyboard with slow combinations for those. Maybe I'm just old-fashioned but frankly, even if the current design is 100 years old: if it ain't broke..

    --
    I hit the karma cap, now do I gain enlightenment?

  • This seems like a curious little device, but it only seems to have limited practicality.

    The ONLY real use I could see for PC users is being able to devote one full hand to the mouse at all times. This could be useful (like the author mentioned trying) in AutoCAD or other drafting programs. Gaming, well..you can program the keys to whatever you want so you put all of your commands within easy reach. In a command-line drafting program you'll still want to be able to use the entire alphabet and numerical keys, so this might be useful.

    One more use for all users of this keyboard is for the people with only one hand. Granted, it's a slim market, but I'm sure if I had limited use of my right hand I'd be interested in a keyboard that would be most efficient for one hand. Most of us don't think about things like this.

    For PDAs, I can see a small market. Have one hand for keyboard input (ultra small and light, even better than folding keyboards) and one hand dedicated to holding the PDA up or using the stylus to tap.

    Regardless of these uses, I don't think this strange little device will get very much revenue. I don't want one =).
  • I think we ALL know what use first comes to mind for a one-handed keyboard...

    --

  • I wouldn't mind learning the Dvorak. But then I remember the keyboard that really saved on typing... The Timex/Sinclair 1000!! (Though, these days, I'd probably update that membrane keyboard)

  • I've always regarded the Dvorak keyboard as the computer equivilent of a snipe hunt.

    Ever see one in stores? And besides, do you really want to relearn how to type so you can be 3wpm faster in theory?

  • Earlier Stories (Score:3)

    by Alien54 ( 180860 ) on Wednesday May 30, 2001 @06:22AM (#188836) Journal
    Just in case you want to check out an earlier take on the issue, we had these stories here on slash

    Keyboards For One Handed Typing & Chording? [slashdot.org]
    Not A Bat, Nor A Plane, But A Vertical Keyboard [slashdot.org]
    Novelty/Unusual Cases, Keyboards, Rodents, Etc? [slashdot.org]
    Very Cool, Very Vaporous 1-Handed Keyboard [slashdot.org]
    Keyless Keyboard [slashdot.org]

    In fact there is a whole bunch of stories available via this simply search [slashdot.org]

    have fun!

    Check out the Vinny the Vampire [eplugz.com] comic strip

  • Re:Half the size, and half as useful (Score:3)

    by boing boing ( 182014 ) on Wednesday May 30, 2001 @06:48AM (#188837) Journal

    I thought even more funny was that the article was written like they were having a hard time typing:

    Hell, it even a whole keyboard. It's half of one! Let's take a look.

    In all that time there have been no significat advances in how people type.

    One thing I thought I mightion is the fact that you can only buy a Half Keyboard for either your PC or your handheld.

    Pretty Funny, eh?

  • The HalfKeyboard Web site shows the most brain-dead way to use this thing I can imagine [halfkeyboard.com]. Lay a half-keyboard on a huge desk, lay your Palm Pilot down flat, and proceed to type with your left hand while doing nothing with your right. Why? If you have that much space, get a folding keyboard.

    The wearable keyboard [halfkeyboard.com] implementation could work well, but looks way too bizarre to market to business professionals. If you own a handheld and want to type faster, Fitaly [slashdot.org] is IMO the best way to go.

    On the other hand, they could market this as a software add-on for PC/Mac/Linux very easily, now that they (I hope) have the patent on the idea. If I could buy that and use my existing keyboard with only one hand, freeing up the other one for the mouse while still having access to all my keyboard shortcuts, I'd spring a nominal fee for the shareware. But I can't see enough good reasons to replace my existing hardware with that dinky thing.

  • Poorly-thought out arguments are bound to fail (Score:3)

    by mblase ( 200735 ) on Wednesday May 30, 2001 @06:49AM (#188844)

    1. It's made for lefties. A lot more people are right handed than left.

    The idea is to free your right hand for mousing, which most right-handed people do. Anyways, they already type the most common half of the alphabet with their left hand, including a, e, r, s, and t.

    2. You have to fundamentally change the way you type.

    Well, no-@#$%ing-duh. Every non-QWERTY keyboard would naturally require a fundamental change in how you type. It doesn't mean it can't be done; the question is how steep the learning curve is.

    3. Using the space bar as the shift will lead to more errors.

    That's like saying using the semicolon key for the colon will lead to more errors.

    4. The competition from folding keyboards will keep it down.

    Why would you use a folding keyboard for gaming? That's what this link is about, after all.

    This thing is going to bomb.

    Perhaps, but not for any of the reasons you've listed.

  • Re:Good idea, implemented badly (Score:3)

    by mblase ( 200735 ) on Wednesday May 30, 2001 @08:31AM (#188845)
    ummmm....chatroom?

    On a Palm Pilot?

  • 1. It's made for lefties.
    I'm right-handed, and I'm guessing you are too. Which hand do you use for your mouse?

    Picture a world in which dropping the mouse to type and lifting your hands from the keyboard to point are no longer issues.

    I'm not going out to buy one either, but not because of handedness.

  • This product should not really be directly targeted to the PC market (except those with disabilities, one armed man, grandma with arthritus in her right hand etc.)

    In the PDA market however this could be a lot more convient than cludgy fold out keyboards and stupid graffitti interfaces. You may not be able to type to fast but its a hellava lot faster than most options today.

    As a devout Palm/Visor user this would be very valauble to me. As for ubergeek gaming It probaly wont do much though it might be cool to remap your keys and see if it might be easier to hold the keyboard in your hand almost like a controller.

    umm...probaly not
  • I have a better idea. It's called a one-row keyboard. It only has the keys QWERTYUIOP. The letter Q actually stands for 3 letters Q, A, and Z. W for W, S, and X, and so on. The computer tries all possible combinations and deduces the most appropriate word for the sentence that I am typing. For example, if I type Declaration of IYEEPEYEEYEE, it guesses that I was typing "Independence."

  • Fast Typing (Score:5)

    by devnullkac ( 223246 ) on Wednesday May 30, 2001 @06:26AM (#188861) Homepage

    From the review:

    I can type approximately near 80 WPM with a full keyboard and needless to say I can type pretty fast. =)
    Apparently he types faster than he can decide which adjective to use.

  • My Half a Review (Score:3)

    by xFoz ( 231025 ) on Wednesday May 30, 2001 @08:48AM (#188865)

    I downloaded the "demo" software that simulates typing with a normal keyboard to test out the company claims that it's fast to learn. True to their claim it took me just a few minutes to get used to the idea of pressing the space bar and key to to make letters from the other side of a normal keyboard. After 5 minutes of typing my name again and again, I could pound it out faster than doing it with one finger.

    I'm not saying that it would be easy for me to switch over, especially with 25 years of typing two handed, but I could do it. And if this was the only thing I was typing on I'd make the switch much faster.

    What I think is a serious design flaw is that Option and Command keys (or Control and Alt) are not their normal places. This is a pretty serious mistake. In the case of using a Wacom tablet and replacing a whole keyboard with a Half-a-Keyboard, functions click command-z, x, c, v are now different hand/chording positions. Yuck.

    While it's sorta easy for me to learn a new way to type , it's much harder to make my hand unlearn these time embedded basic patterns.

    To be fair most of this review is based on a picture on the companies web site and a software demo simulating the product. Then again, it was tiltled this way. I only promised "half a review".
  • ...the more they stay the same.

    This was first posted in December [slashdot.org] as the Half Keyboard.

  • Truth will out... (Score:5)

    by RareHeintz ( 244414 ) on Wednesday May 30, 2001 @06:17AM (#188873) Homepage Journal
    What I think is a kick is the URL for their "Advantages" page:

    http://www.halfkeyboard.com/propaganda/index.html

    Nothing like an honest webmaster, eh?

    OK,
    - B
    --

  • Re:Grandmother Test (Score:3)

    by jsse ( 254124 ) on Wednesday May 30, 2001 @06:58AM (#188874) Homepage Journal
    Will this pass the in-law test? I mean, does it keep my in-law from messing with my computer?

    I used to use RPN calculator in college to keep dumb guys from borrowing it.
  • Nah, pr0n doesn't use the keyboard that much. Cybersex, on the other hand...

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