vax2:dag (02/14/83)
We here at Fluke have a Scientific Calculations SCI-CARDS printed circuit board design system that uses Megatek tubes and Summagraphics bit tablet pointing devices. The puck (not a mouse but same function) has four!!! buttons on it; SELECT, ZOOM IN, ZOOM OUT, and GRAB FOR PAN. The operators spend between 10 and 20 hrs/week at the workstations. They seem to get the hang of multi-button operation quite quickly. After about 3 months they say they don't ever think about it any more. My conclusion is that a multi-button mouse is a good idea for heavy use. Less complicated arrangements may be better for casual and demonstration use. David Gunderson CAD/CAM Technical Manager John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc. decvax!microsof!fluke!dag
mckeeman (02/15/83)
In my opinion, in the great world of the future, we will have a one-button mouse and a multi-key one-handed keyboard that we will learn to type on with more than one key at a time. The keyboard will probably have a thumb operated case shift and eight keys, two rows of four. That gives 2-d location and 162 physically convenient keypresses plus the mouse button. Such an arrangement keeps up from having to let go the mouse to type and vice-versa.
rb (02/16/83)
In my opinion, in the REALLY great world of the future, there won't be a keyboard at all. Just voice or brainwaves.
kdmoen (02/21/83)
The best multi-key one-handed keyboard I've heard of is the 'chord' keyboard. It has 3 rows of 5 keys, and 4 thumb-operated shift keys. There are 'dimples' (circular indentations) between each pair of adjacent keys, and in the center of each 4-key cluster. Pressing a dimple (which causes a 2 or 4 key cluster to be depressed) has the same effect as pressing a single key: it generates a single character. You can also press several keys or dimples at once, generating a 'chord'. This causes the characters corresponding to the keys pressed to be transmitted in sequence. For example, holding down the index, middle and ring fingers in their home positions will transmit t-h-e, the most common word in the English language. Since the keys and dimples are labeled, you can type by hunt-and-peck as well as by touch. A group of motivated students mastered the chord keyboard in about the same amount of time as it takes to learn the QWERTY keyboard, and acheived a typing speed of 40 WPM. For more information, see IEEE Computer, Dec '78. Does anyone know if the chord keyboard is commercially available? Doug Moen, ...!watmath!kdmoen