) (07/20/89)
While we are on the subject of keyboards, does anyone have some
good references for "chord" style keyboards, where one presses several
keys simultaneously instead of a single keystroke? It seems to me
that most keyboards are too large, partly because there is one key per
letter. The keyboards could be made smaller if there was a set of ten
keys, of which different combinations would produce different
letters/keystrokes. Sure, its not qwerty, but it would make portable
computers a lot smaller.
So, does anyone have references or more information on chord
keyboards? Thanks in advance for your help.
.oO Chris Oo.
--
Christopher Lishka ...!{rutgers|ucbvax|...}!uwvax!uwslh!lishka
Wisconsin State Lab of Hygiene lishka%uwslh.uucp@cs.wisc.edu
Data Processing Section (608)262-4485 lishka@uwslh.uucp
"What a waste it is to lose one's mind -- or not to have a mind at all.
How true that is." -- V.P. Dan Quayle, garbling the United Negro College
Fund slogan in an address to the group (from Newsweek, May 22nd, 1989)deanb@Apple.COM (Dean Blackketter) (07/22/89)
In article <436@uwslh.UUCP>, lishka@uwslh.UUCP (Not an illusion!) writes: > > While we are on the subject of keyboards, does anyone have some > good references for "chord" style keyboards, where one presses several > keys simultaneously instead of a single keystroke? It seems to me > that most keyboards are too large, partly because there is one key per > letter. The keyboards could be made smaller if there was a set of ten > keys, of which different combinations would produce different > letters/keystrokes. Sure, its not qwerty, but it would make portable > computers a lot smaller. > > So, does anyone have references or more information on chord > keyboards? Thanks in advance for your help. > -- > Christopher Lishka ...!{rutgers|ucbvax|...}!uwvax!uwslh!lishka > Wisconsin State Lab of Hygiene lishka%uwslh.uucp@cs.wisc.edu > Data Processing Section (608)262-4485 lishka@uwslh.uucp There already exists a pocket computer that uses a chord keyboard. It's called the AgendA, and is made by a company called MicroWriter in the U.K. They used to sell a portable machine called the MicroWriter with a chord keyboard and apparently was pretty popular with journalists in that country. The AgendA is one of the best pocket calendar/notepad/address book computers I've seen, very useful. It uses a seven key chord keyboard (three for the thumb) and it only takes a few minutes to learn the alphabet. (But a lifetime to master. :-) Now if I could only get it back from Mark, who borrowed it to "try it out." -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dean Blackketter deanb@apple.com Apple Computer (408) 974 4213 20525 Mariani Ave MS 60V Cupertino CA 95014 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
nukim@ndsuvax.UUCP (kyongsok kim) (07/23/89)
In article <2989@internal.Apple.COM> deanb@Apple.COM (Dean Blackketter) writes:
:There already exists a pocket computer that uses a chord keyboard.
: (deleted)
:useful. It uses a seven key chord keyboard (three for the thumb) and it only
:takes a few minutes to learn the alphabet. (But a lifetime to master. :-)
How do you compare the input (or typing) speeds between a chord and
an ordinary keyboard (qwerty or dvorak)?
Kyongsok Kim
Dept. of Comp. Sci., North Dakota State University
e-mail address:
nukim@plains.nodak.edu
nukim@ndsuvax.bitnet
uunet!ndsuvax!nukimewiles@netxdev.DHL.COM (Edwin Wiles) (07/25/89)
[ FOLLOWUPS DIRECTED TO COMP.PERIPHS This being a discussion of ]
[ peripherals after all...... ]
[ "nukim@ndsuvax.UUCP" asks how one would go about comparing different ]
[ keyboard arrangements to see which one is the "fastest". Here's how ]
[ I would go about doing it, combined with some personal opinions.... ]
Since it seems that most of the wasted time would be in:
A) Moving to the new key, and
B) Restoring your fingers to the 'home' position;
Do a study which indicates how much time is spent (on average) striking keys
which are not directly under a finger. (If you wanted to get really picky
about it, biomechanics could determine the absolute maximum finger speed given
the ideal hand typing position and the known abilities of the human body, then
it becomes a matter of physics to determine the travel time for each finger to
each non-home key.)
Determine from the hardware what the MAXIMUM typing speed is, presuming that
you are delayed only by the amount of time that it takes for the hardware to
disengage its keys.
Select a representative piece of text to be entered via keyboard.
From that text, you can now calculate the time required by the hardware for
the actual entry of the characters. This should be closely equivalent for
all the devices (except old style manual typewriters where the letters are
on individual bars that must strike the paper and return to their rest
positions).
Examine the text to determine how many of it's characters are not directly
under the home finger positions for each of the keyboards. For each of those
characters, add a certain amount of time for the finger to reach the key, and
then return to it's home position before striking the next.
Given that the more you have to move your fingers, the longer it will take to
type a given document; and assuming equal skill in each of the keyboard forms;
it should be obvious that the fewer movements you have to make, the faster you
will be able to type.
Thus, a Querty comes in last, a Dvorak comes in second, and a Chord keyboard
comes in first.
Querty comes in last because it was specifically designed such that the most
used letters would be the farthest apart in the old style manual typewriters.
This was done so that they didn't stick together so much, as they actually had
in the original design which I understand was ordered alphabetically.
(This design is seriously outmoded with the advent of electronic document
printing, and the 'ball' or 'daisy-wheel' typewriters of today. It's kept
around because: few of the existing secretaries want to switch over; the
schools will not start teaching any of the new systems until they're in use in
the marketplace; and the manufacturers won't make many of them until they see a
demand.)
Dvorak comes in second, because the most used characters are placed directly
under the user's fingers. Thus, there is less movement of the fingers. Thus,
there is less time wasted in moving the fingers about.
(Unfortunately, this makes assumptions about the frequency of characters, which
does NOT hold true for all languages, or all forms of typing. Question: What
are the most frequently typed characters when one is programming in the "C"
language? ...when one is writing in French? ...etc... One would have to have
either a different keyboard for every purpose/language to achieve the highest
possible benefits. The problem with this is what does an American in France do
for a keyboard? Possible answer: Keycaps which have 'LCD' displays on them that
the user could configure with a personal card which is carried around from
keyboard to keyboard. Of course, this has problems of its own! Which were
talked about on the network some time ago.)
A Chord keyboard would be the fastest because the only moving finger is the
thumb, and it only has three places to move to.
(The nice thing about the Chord keyboard is that all the keys are in one
unified place. No more manufacturers coming out with their own 'Querty'
keyboards where the control, alt, return, and shift keys are of varying sizes
and locations! Of course, they can still mess you up by changing which
"chords" mean what characters, but I think they'd standardize REAL quick.
Either that, or they don't get to sell much equipment! Most likely, the chords
would be based closely on the ASCII byte values for the characters.)
[No doubt IBM will come out with something based on EBCIDC and then try to
shove it down everyone else's throats as the "de facto industry standard"...
:-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) ]
Now, with ANY keyboard device there IS a learning curve (remember how long
it took you to learn to type without looking at the keyboard?) which means
that a person who knows the Querty keyboard would initially loose a great
deal of speed switching to Dvorak. But once they got past that learning
curve, they would be MUCH faster.
[IMHO, it would be easier going from Querty to Chord, than it would be from
Querty to Dvorak, since the Chord keyboard is OBVIOUSLY different from Querty.
There's no unconscious training that expects a certain key to be in a certain
location to overcome; only a new set of reflexes to lay down...]
Enjoy!
..!hadron\ "Who?... Me?... WHAT opinions?!?" | Edwin Wiles
...!sundc\ Schedule: (n.) An ever changing | NetExpress Comm., Inc.
...!pyrdc\ nightmare. | 1953 Gallows Rd. Suite 300
...!uunet!netxcom!ewiles | Vienna, VA 22180nukim@ndsuvax.UUCP (kyongsok kim) (07/26/89)
Somebody told me that stenotype machines used by court reporters might have a chord keyboard. Does anyone have some good references for those machines? I tried the local library and failed to find any book. Any clue will be appreciated. Kyongsok Kim Dept. of Comp. Sci., North Dakota State University e-mail: nukim@plains.nodak.edu; nukim@ndsuvax.bitnet; uunet!ndsuvax!nukim
jcgs@wundt.harlqn.uucp (John Sturdy) (07/26/89)
In <2808@ndsuvax.UUCP> Kyongsok Kim writes >How do you compare the input (or typing) speeds between a chord and >an ordinary keyboard (qwerty or dvorak)? In Britain a good few years ago someone brought out a six-key (4 finger, 2 thumb keys) pocket WP system called the MicroWriter. They claimed that with a similar amount of practice on that and on an ordinary keyboard, people would typically reach about half the speed on the chord keyboard as on the ordinary one - ie a good typist could get up to about 40wpm. I tried one once - quite easy to learn. They had a one-line (I think) LCD display, and an RS232 port, and I think also a cassette recorder connector (for saving data to tape). You could use the RS232 either for transfer to/from a "real" computer/wp, or directly to a daisywheel printer. These things never really caught on; in the past year a new one has come out, in the form of an "electronic filofax" with a chord keyboard and an alphameric/calculator keyboard. Looks a neat idea, but I doubt they'll really take off, as the electronic "organizer" niches are already quite full. -- __John When asked to attend a court case, Father Moses took with him a leaking jug of water. Asked about it, he said: "You ask me to judge the faults of another, while mine run out like water behind me." jcgs@uk.co.harlqn (UK notation) jcgs@harlqn.co.uk (most places) ...!mcvax!ukc!harlqn!jcgs (uucp - really has more stages, but ukc knows us) John Sturdy Telephone +44-223-872522 Harlequin Ltd, Barrington Hall, Barrington, Cambridge, UK
hollombe@ttidca.TTI.COM (The Polymath) (07/27/89)
In article <2809@ndsuvax.UUCP> nukim@ndsuvax.UUCP (kyongsok kim) writes: }Somebody told me that stenotype machines used by court reporters might have }a chord keyboard. Does anyone have some good references for those machines? }I tried the local library and failed to find any book. }Any clue will be appreciated. My father was a court reporter for 40 years. He tried to teach me stenotype, but it just didn't take. Anyway, the answer is "sort of". You can hit all the keys on a stenotype at once and they'll all print in one line across the tape. In practice, you use chords to form words (short-hand abbreviations, actually). The chord keyboards used on computers use chords to generate individual characters. Not quite the same thing. -- The Polymath (aka: Jerry Hollombe, hollombe@ttidca.tti.com) Illegitimati Nil Citicorp(+)TTI Carborundum 3100 Ocean Park Blvd. (213) 452-9191, x2483 Santa Monica, CA 90405 {csun|philabs|psivax}!ttidca!hollombe
jamie@mitisft.Convergent.COM (Jamie Riotto) (07/29/89)
I have been reading the previous discussions about chord keyboards with great interest. In a sense, the term chord keyboard has been misused in this group. There have been a number of "one-handed keyboards" proposed and built. Only two that I know of qualify as "chord" keyboards. A chord is defined as pressing multiple keys simultaneously which produce a STRING of characters. This is very different from the MicroWriter keyboard or the ASCII Ball keyboard which require pressing multiple keys to get ONE character. The stenographer keyboard mentioned in an earlier article has the operater press multiple keys simultaneously to produce shorthand characters which represent a phonetic symbol. This meant that a word takes as many strokes as there are phonetic syllables. Since this number is less than the number of letters in a word, this keyboard has been called a chord keyboard. In the mid seventies, work went on at IBM to develop a one-handed keyboard they called the "Chord Keyboard" (patented and trademarked!). This keyboard was a remarkable step forward in one-handed typing. The keyboard was made up of a five-by-two array of square keys operated by the fingers and a row of four rectangular keys operated by the thumb. The finger keys had rounded depressions called dimples. Each square key had a dimple in the center, half a dimple on each side, and a quarter of a dimple on each corner. Thus a dimple was formed at the intersection of two side by side keys, as well as the intersection of four keys arranged in a square. Each type of dimple produced different tactile feedback as pressing a center dimple involved pressing one key, pressing a side dimple involved pressing two keys and pressing a corner dimple involved pressing four keys. The innovation of overlaying dimples at the intersection of keys meant that far fewer keys are necessary and the "travel distance" of the finger is much shorter. The thumb keys had "troughs" instead of dimples, and one can press either one thumb key (center trough) or two adjacent thumb keys (side troughs). There is a finger dimple for every letter and number. The thumb troughs controlled UPPERCASE, UPPER-LOW, SPECIAL (!#$%* etc.), SPACE, REVERSE and others. Since finger keys are used for different meanings depending on which dimple is pressed, some possible combinations of letters are not available in a single chord. IBM did a great deal of research into digrams and trigrams (two and three character combinations) encountered in legal, technical and general literature. The keyboard layout was arrived at by running massive amounts of text through layout simulators which measured average number of characters per chord and finger distance travelled, amoung other things. They also did studies on which combination of finger motion is most reliable in humans (ie which "chords" on a five key keyboard could be pressed the fastest with the most accuracy by untrained individuals). This was also fed into the simulator so only "favorable" chords were allowed. For example, most people find that pressing thier middle finger and pinky at the same time is difficult if the fourth finger isn't pressed as well. The final layout consisted of common constenants on the left and vowels on the right dimples. For example the characters "the", "tho", "ing", and "er", are all one chord. This is what makes the chord keyboard so efficient. One particularly innovative feature was in the use of the thumb keys to modify finger chords. The most common character in the english language is the space character. This was assigned to a thumb key so that it could be typed in conjunction with any finger chord. Thus, the characters " the", is also one chord. Pressing UPPER with "the" produced "THE". Pressing UPPER-LOW with "the" produced "The". And pressing the trough between SPACE and UPPER-LOW along with "the" produced " The"! REVERSE would change "le" to "el". A typical sentenced would be typed: /In/ thi/s/ se/g/me/nt/ of/ te/xt/ the/ cho/rd/ bo/und/ar/i/es/ ha/ve/ be/en/ s/ho/wn/ by/ li/ne/s/. I trained on the chord keyboard for about three months in 1978 and was able to type between 45 and 50 words a minute. I used the chord keyboard for the rest of the year to do all my memos, reports and software input. I found that parsing sentences into chords became a very natural exercise. Interestingly, most people learned to type with their "weak" hand (ie right-handers used their left hand to type). This meant your normal writing hand was free to jot notes or turn pages! Since many of the chords that could be pressed made no sense, (pressing REVERSE and a single character for example), many chords were available for special things. A list of dozens of common english words were available through special chords like "this that them for have had could would" etc. In fact, the entire kanji charater set can be mapped to the chord keyboard! References: "The Chord Keyboard" - Nathaniel Rochester and Frank Bequaert December 1978 IEEE COMPUTER "Chord Keyboard Architecture" - Nathaniel Rochester and Frank Bequaert 1978 IBM Poughkeepsie Laboratory Tech. Report "One-handed Chord Keyboard And Its Control Means" - Frank Bequaert and Nathaniel Rochester, US PATENT 4,042,777 issued Aug 16, 1977. Cheers, Jamie Riotto UNISYS (408) 435-3785 convergent.com!risky!jamie
nukim@ndsuvax.UUCP (kyongsok kim) (07/29/89)
: In article <812@mitisft.Convergent.COM> jamie@mitisft.Convergent.COM
: (Jamie Riotto) writes:
:I have been reading the previous discussions about chord keyboards with great
:interest. In a sense, the term chord keyboard has been misused in this group.
: (deleted ...)
The article is great. BTW, what is the "ASCII Ball keyboard"?
Any good reference? Thanks in advance.
Kyongsok Kim
Dept. of Comp. Sci., North Dakota State University
e-mail: nukim@plains.nodak.edu; nukim@ndsuvax.bitnet; uunet!ndsuvax!nukimjcgs@wundt.harlqn.uucp (John Sturdy) (07/31/89)
A few minutes ago, I followedup mentioning the MicroWriter as the only
chord keyboard I've encountered, and mentioning it is typically half
as fast to use as eg a QWERTY keyboard; thinking again, I realised
that there are also braille-machine keyboards (six "dot" keys - 3 for
each hand; a space key in the middle; and new-line on one side,
backspace on the other (I think) for the little fingers). These are
also about half qwerty speed, for an experienced user.
Aside: there is also a "braille shorthand" machine, writing onto paper
tape for note-taking; the key arrangement is the same, but there is a
strange extra feature: the length of the paper advance after each
character depends on how fast the keys are released. Individual users
develop their own abbreviations using this (I don't know whether there
are any standard abbreviation systems using the character spacing.)
--
__John When asked to attend a court case, Father Moses took with him
a leaking jug of water. Asked about it, he said: "You ask me to judge
the faults of another, while mine run out like water behind me."
jcgs@uk.co.harlqn (UK notation) jcgs@harlqn.co.uk (most places)
...!mcvax!ukc!harlqn!jcgs (uucp - really has more stages, but ukc knows us)
John Sturdy Telephone +44-223-872522
Harlequin Ltd, Barrington Hall, Barrington, Cambridge, UK