levene@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu (Robert A. Levene) (06/12/91)
OK, I'd like to find out more about the various chord keyboards,
such as the BAT from Infogrip, Inc.
* How widespread is their use?
* What are their Advantages/Disadvantages?
* What is their price and availability?
* How can one request 4-color glossy propaganda from their manufacturers?
Considering that for the past 60 years people have stuck to the Sholes
(QWERTY) keyboard layout over the Dvorak (DSK), I'm not optimistic
that chord keyboards will be popular, but like postfix (RPN)
calculators, they'll probably have a specialized and loyal following.
I read an article about them in TidBits, the Macintosh news stack.
- R
--
Robert A. Levene \ I am the sole legitimate representative
"/ // / /" \ and policy maker for my race, culture,
Bitnet: RXL1@APLVM.BITNET \ country, religion, political party,
Internet: levene@aplcomm.jhuapl.edu \ employer and extended family. So there.prisoner@aix01.aix.rpi.edu (Allen S. Firstenberg) (06/14/91)
levene@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu (Robert A. Levene) writes: > * How widespread is their use? The only oen I've ever seen used for any length of time is the one that Douglas Engelbart still uses. But I'm very interested in hearing about commercial products as well. > * What are their Advantages/Disadvantages? From work and studies done with the original chordset (in the early '60s i believe) they reported that most of the people using it switched to a keyboard after about 10 characters. (The applications were designed, however, so that the mouse and chordset did almost everything). >Considering that for the past 60 years people have stuck to the Sholes >(QWERTY) keyboard layout over the Dvorak (DSK), I'm not optimistic >that chord keyboards will be popular, but like postfix (RPN) >calculators, they'll probably have a specialized and loyal following. I certainly hope so. I've always thought the mouse was half an interface device, since you had to switch to the keyboard so much. A chordset solves a lot of that concern for me. -- UID = 5553, CCID = F8PG, ID = 6 I am just a number prisoner@rpi.edu "refs unpersons" prisoner@acm.rpi.edu --- 1984 prisoner@rpitsmts.bitnet
yost@adobe.com (David Yost) (06/14/91)
In article <1991Jun12.161454.6519@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu> levene@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu (Robert A. Levene) writes: >OK, I'd like to find out more about the various chord keyboards, While we're on this, does anyone know of work where the chord keyboard is on the mouse? I think I'd like to use button combinations on the mouse instead of modes selected from tool palettes in draw programs. --dave yost yost@adobe.COM
Lindsay.Marshall@newcastle.ac.uk (Lindsay F. Marshall) (06/14/91)
On the topic of chord keyboards, can I mention the Agenda. This is an electronic organiser that derives from a protable word processor known as the microwriter. It features in addition to a tiddly alphabetic keyboard a one handed chord keyboard. Its great. You can use it on trains and planes, standing up, sitting down, without looking etc. etc. It is easy to learn (took me <10 minutes) and you can get up to speeds faster than handwriting, though it is of course nowhere near as fast a full two-handed keyboard. You can also connect the system to your Mac and use the chord keys instead of the keyboard if you want. The Agenda does feature a small but loyal following as someone has suggested about such devices. Lindsay -- MAIL : Lindsay.Marshall@newcastle.ac.uk POST : Computing Laboratory, The University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK NE1 7RU VOICE: +44-91-222-8267 FAX : +44-91-222-8572
mathew@mantis.co.uk (Giving C News a *HUG*) (06/14/91)
prisoner@aix01.aix.rpi.edu (Allen S. Firstenberg) writes: > levene@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu (Robert A. Levene) writes: > > * How widespread is their use? > > The only oen I've ever seen used for any length of time is the one that > Douglas Engelbart still uses. But I'm very interested in hearing about > commercial products as well. I have a Microwriter AgendA, a portable computer which uses a chord keyboard. It uses five keys and two shifts to provide a full character set plus function keys and control keys. Microwriter have devised a set of mnemonics to help you to learn the key combinations; the geometric arrangement of the buttons you press is often related in some mnemonic way to the shape of the letter. It took me a couple of hours to learn all the letters A to Z, and another hour to learn various punctuation marks, digits, function keys and so on. After a week or so, I was up to a reasonable speed -- almost the same as my speed at touch-typing on a normal keyboard, although it's only fair to point out that I've not had any training in typing. Certainly, though, the chord keyboard was faster than writing neatly. The main advantages of chord keyboards are portability, ease of learning, and the fact that you're touch-typing right from the start. (In fact, I find it easier to microwrite if I look away from the keyboard; seeing my fingers moving seems to distract me.) mathew
mgflax@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Marshall G. Flax) (06/19/91)
By far, the most widely used chord keyboard in the world is Braille. Six keys encode the alphabet and several dozen dipthongs and commonly used character combinations. My girlfriend types fluently both in QWERTY and Braille; she's much more comfortable and accurate with the latter. If anyone's interested in more information, send me e-mail (I don't read this group much.) marshall p.s. Another contact is Blaize Engineering (in Maryland) -- they make a wonderful device called Braille-n-Speak that's extremely useful. -- /****************************************************************************/ /* Marshall Gene Flax '89 (609)258-6739 mgflax@phoenix.Princeton.EDU */ /* c/o Jack Gelfand|Psychology Dept|Princeton University|Princeton NJ 08544 */ /****************************************************************************/
mgflax@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Marshall G. Flax) (06/21/91)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
For those who requested more information about Braille, here's a
short description from my girlfriend (her e-mail address is at the
end) who happens to be blind and is fluent with both QWERTY and
Braille. [Notes are added by me. -mgf.] Please do ask her any
questions you might have. [She uses a Toshiba laptop with a speech
synthesizer and Kermit to connect to our school's mainframe.]
------------------------------------------------------------------
Grade One Braille, or "Beginner Braille" consists of the
Braille alphabet, punctuation marks, and the capital sign. There
are six dots in the Braille cell: dots 1 and 4 in the top row; dots
2 and 5 in the middle; and dots 3 and 6 on the bottom. [Note: the
Braille keyboard consists of dots 3,2,1 on the left and dots 4,5,6
on the right, with a space bar below/between them.] Dot 6 in front
of a letter (with no space in between) indicates that the letter is
capitalized. Two dot 6's in front of a word means the entire word
is capitalized.
Letters a through j utilize the top four dots. [a = 1, b = 12,
c = 14, d = 145, e = 15, f = 124, g = 1245, h = 125, i = 24, j =
245.] Letters k through t add dot 3 to the first ten letters
respectively. u through z (with the exception of W) are the
letters a through e with dots 3 and 6 added. Because Braille was
invented in France, the letter W was added later, as there is no w
in the French language.
Because of Braille's size, it is necessary to contract it.
There are (if I remember correctly) 187 contractions in Braille.
For example, there are [single character] abbreviations for
dipthongs: dots 1 and 6 pressed together form ch; dots 3 and 4
together is st; dots 1, 4, 5 and 6 form th. [Note: all 63 - 26 =
37 non-character codes are used as punctuation marks/dipthongs.]
In addition, almost all of the letters in the alphabet are
abbreviations for words [Note: this is only when they used by
themselves]: b is but, c is can, do is do, k is knowledge, m is
ore, p is people, etc. The words "the" and "this" have their own
contractions, as do many other words: their, spirit, time, various
suffixes, and so on and so forth. Context is very important, since
the sign for the dipthong th is also the sign for the word "this"
[when used by itself.] A semicolon is a double b in the middle of
a word; a question mark is also the word "his" or an open quote.
(In Braille, open and close quotes are different.) [In addition,
many common words are abbreviated to a few letters -- the canonical
case is braille --> brl.]
This sounds much more difficult than it actually is. Once you
memorize the contractions, you are able to begin reading Grade Two
Braille, which is standard English Braille. Although most blind
people are sticking to standard keyboards, many feel that their
familiarity with Braille enables them to write more accurately and
quickly utilizing a Braille computer keyboard. Before discussing
a Braille computer keyboard -- several exist; the Braile 'n Speak
[Blazie Engineering in Baltimore, MD] is the most popular because
of its successful interaction with many programs and its relative
low cost, about one thousand dollars -- I will explain the
structure of the Braille writer. what many refer to as a "Braille
typewriter."
There are several different kinds of Braillers; the Perkins
model is the most common. Regardless of model, however, the
keyboard is virtually the same. There are the six keys
corresponding to each dot: the pointer finger of the left hand
presses dot 1, the middle finger presses dot 2, and the ring finger
presses dot 3. To the left of dot 3 and slightly raised above the
keyboard is the "space-down" key, which moves to the next line of
a Braille page. The space bar is between the two rows of keys.
The pointer finger of the right hand rests on dot 4; the middle
finger on dot 5 and the ring finger on dot 6. The key on the far
right, once again raised slightly above the keyboard, is the
backspace key. (The Braille paper is rolled into the machine via
a roller which one rolls towards oneself. The paper rolls in a bit
differently than on a standard print typewriter.)
The Braille 'n Speak weighs less than a pound. It has 180K of
memory, a built-in Help file and voice synthesizer. It has the six
Braille keys, the space bar and an on/off switch. It has ports for
a disk drive the latest model comes with an external drive -- and
another port for interfacing with other computers. It has a built-
in clock and calculator and is compact in addition to its light
weight. One chosses options and runs programs by chording Braille
keys with the space bar. The space bar is always the "chord key"
[i.e. the space bar doubles as an "alt" key] and, of course, some
commands are entered by simply pressing a Braille letter within a
menu. There is a Brade Two Braille translator option, which
changes Braille text into Ascii code for storage on MS-Dos disks to
be read on personal computers. The Translator is also responsible
for translating Grade two abbreviations into the unabbreviated form
for speech output.
What are the relative advantages and disadvantages of Braille
for chord keyboards? First of all, there is a widespread myth that
Braille is hard to learn. This will seriously impede its
acceptance. In addition, it is conceivable that the sighted will
not appreciate the suggestion of using "the language of the blind"
for their own use. Hopefully, as attitudes toward the blind and
blindness change, such irrational reasoning will be eliminated.
The greatest advantage to a Braille keyboard is its
compactness. Because it requires so few keys, Braille is ideal for
small, inexpensive, smart computers. The Braille 'n Speak, for
example, (with or without programs, depending on what you wish it
to do for you) is capable of interfacing with another computer --
IBM PC's; can run word processors on other computers, acting as a
"dumb terminal"; can be used for spreadsheet work, etc. The
machine is ideal for the traveling business person; it can be taken
anywhere, with no inconvenience. Its rechargeable battery, after
charging for sixteen hours, will run for approximately fifteen
hours. It comes with an earphone, its charger and a carryng case.
[It's about 4" x 7" x 1", and weighs next-to-nothing.]
Any further information on chord Braille keyboards can be
obtained from the National Federation of the Blind's Technology
Center or Blazie Engineering, both in Baltimore. Call the NFB at
301-659-9314 and ask for the Technology Center.
If you wish any further information on Braille, mail questions
to cmfaltz@phoenix.princeton.edu.
----------------------------------------------------------------
marshall
--
/****************************************************************************/
/* Marshall Gene Flax '89 (609)258-6739 mgflax@phoenix.Princeton.EDU */
/* c/o Jack Gelfand|Psychology Dept|Princeton University|Princeton NJ 08544 */
/****************************************************************************/