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Show HN: I made a 5-key keyboard

stavros.io

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Re: Show HN: I made a 5-key keyboard

#21

Post by StavrosK »

ad404b8a372f2b9 wrote: post #6

That is very cool! I think the double-presses and three-button presses are pushing it for usability. I wonder if there is a version where you can keep the general form and idea and increase the ease-of-use. I'm thinking add a 5th side-key and a second top-key and use the top ones solely as toggle, not as letters. This way you have 3*5 keys total and fill in the rest with a predictive model, maybe? Or how about a layo…

There are keyboards where each finger goes into four (five) switches, one on each side, but I imagine some combinations will be impossible to type without the keyboard being stationary relative to the hand.

Re: Show HN: I made a 5-key keyboard

#24

Post by jjp »

ljoshua wrote: post #12

Reminds me a bit of this really cool project I saw the other day: https://there.oughta.be/a/macro-keyboard Difference is one is generic for typing anything, and the link there is purpose-built on a per-application basis, but the idea of having a small amount of keys for a precise job is very interesting. (Side note, anyone remember the Optimus Maximus, where each key was an LED screen? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O…

Is this (mostly) available in something like a Stream Deck - https://www.elgato.com/en/stream-deck

Re: Show HN: I made a 5-key keyboard

#27

Post by StavrosK »

KMnO4 wrote: post #26
throwaway744678 wrote: post #23

Falsehoods programmers believe about hands: - they have 5 fingers Joking aside, that's a really nice project: congratulations!

Well, digits; a thumb is not technically a finger:)

What?! This is the first I hear of this, though you appear to be correct. Mindblowing.

Re: Show HN: I made a 5-key keyboard

#28

Post by realslimjd »

StavrosK wrote: post #16
jnwatson wrote: post #11

This is called a chorded keyboard [1]. Like seemingly everything invented in the following 40 years, it was introduced by Douglas Englebart in the Mother of all Demos in 1968. Englebart had a iOS app that allowed you to chord type as well. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorded_keyboard

Ah yes, I definitely intended a hat tip to Engelbart but I forgot to include it in the article. I reinvented it only semi-independently.

To be fair, he didn't invent it either. He was just the first to use one with a computer.

Re: Show HN: I made a 5-key keyboard

#29

Post by StavrosK »

realslimjd wrote: post #28
StavrosK wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah yes, I definitely intended a hat tip to Engelbart but I forgot to include it in the article. I reinvented it only semi-independently.

To be fair, he didn't invent it either. He was just the first to use one with a computer.

Looks like that makes two of us who forgot to include attribution...
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