[clug] [OT] quest for keyboards

[Steve Walsh]

Brendan Jurd wrote:
> Rather than having one key per 2 characters (one regular and one
> shifted), a chorded keyboard has only a few keys (for example, 7 keys)
> and you input characters by pressing down several keys together.  Like
> playing a chord on a musical instrument, hence the name.
>
> I've never used one, or even seen one in the flesh, but it does seem
> like a cool idea.
>   
They are typically used on for either Court Stenographers in the US, or 
visually impaired people. When I was in college we had a blind student 
who had a basic computer with a chord keyboard so he could take notes, 
etc. By the end of year 11, he could enter equations just as fast as the 
person reading them to him, so they'd be a killer for other non-standard 
input types.

For the record, I use a Diamond Data keyboard with with the short throw 
"laptop" style keytops similar to the Mac keyboard Lana described. After 
switching to it I noticed my keyboard errors dropping, as I didn't have 
to move my fingers as far to clear the key next to it.

Steve

-- 
--==--
Steve Walsh, RHCE
Some random guy who does things with linux and conference networks