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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

#131

Post by JshWright »

harrisonjackson wrote: post #109

I bet a lot of what the paramedic friend types is repetitive and industry specific. Could speed things up with some macros/text expander type of functionality. The multi presses reminds me a lot text messaging back before smartphones. Most kids could type quickly without really looking and using just a thumb.

Hi, paramedic friend here. The whole "paramedic notes" thing was just a very dubious pretext. I was looking at a small notebook page of notes after a call (no patient identifiers, not that it would have mattered), and was curious if anyone would be able to make out a single word. Stavros is Greek, so he was the obvious choice. That's where the story in the post picks up (with a little creative license).

In reality, laptops are quite common on ambulances, and get used during many (even most) "routine" calls. The issue with note taking is with more critical patients, and there are a variety of reasons why a notepad and (cheap, disposable) pen are the best solution. The biggest reason is because I can use them with a gloved (potentially contaminated) hand and not worry about how to decontaminate them, since I'll just throw them out. This device has many of the same failure modes as the laptop (namely, it would be impossible to clean).

A lot of medics will skip the pad and just write on the non-dominant gloved hand. Personally, my favorite technique during especially busy calls is to put a strip of 2in/5cm wide cloth medical tape on my thigh and just write on my leg.

But "practicality" wasn't really the point here...

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

#132

Post by drinkcocacola »

I'll strongly suggest changing the approach from character input to phonetic input like the stenotype machines. Creating a nice set of rules prioritising writing speed is of course no easy task, however I think it is the only viable way in my opinion to make it usable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5Hmktf9ZlY

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

#133

Post by mromanuk »

StavrosK wrote: post #114
mromanuk wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

60~90wpm is out of the question? congratulations!

There will be no question because I didn't include a question mark.

Then I'll wait for the next version Keyyyyyyyys! 2, with 20% more keys, and 2^6 - 1 (63) combinations.

Could the thumb key, be half pressed? Or maybe have 2 keys there, or two times pressed to simulate an additional key.

63! you can add the question mark, internationalization and even emojis!

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

#135

Post by grawprog »

ncmncm wrote: post #46
StavrosK wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Not only that--different species have used different parts for the thumb. A Jurassic pterodactyl ("wing-finger") had the earliest known opposable thumb. Pandas have their choice. Primates are late to the party, but might have a claim to most use. Some cats have joined. The most important key-chord is space, followed by backspace.

Can't forget bats. There's a reason why their order is Chiroptera.

>The name "Chiroptera" derives from Ancient Greek: χείρ – cheir, "hand"[4] and πτερόν – pteron, "wing".[1][5]

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

#136

Post by nextlevelwizard »

rcar wrote: post #88
KMnO4 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I believe that the real intention behind the statement is that not all users of their product are going to have 5 working fingers if they've had some sort of accident or similar.

That line of thinking doesn't get you far with anything. Nothing is universal. You can always find someone with some disability that prevents them from using a product.

Accommidating as many people as possible is good, but you can never accommidate everyone. Same goes for all of these "things programmers believe about X", be it names or whatever. You absolutely need to provide working product for majority of people first and majority of people have at least two names or in this case 5 fingers.

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

#137

Post by flower-giraffe »

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

There was a commercial chord keyboard “word processor” in the late 70’s called Microwriter

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwriter

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

#138

Post by slig »

StavrosK wrote: post #59
tombert wrote: post #57

The esp32 never ceases to amaze me. I bought a set of five of them from Banggood awhile ago, and I was amazed how quickly I was able to build some pretty interesting stuff, like a wireless arcade controller (using the same bluetooth keyboard library that the author mentioned, actually).

It's fantastic, I have tens of them because I constantly use them around the house, in things like alarm clocks ( https://www.stavros.io/posts/do-not-be-alarmed-clock/ ), cat toys (no writeup there), scales (maybe later) and other random things. At $2 each, they're fantastic.

Can you share which version you bought a Banggood? Thanks!

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

#139

Post by k-gula101 »

rcar wrote: post #88
KMnO4 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I believe that the real intention behind the statement is that not all users of their product are going to have 5 working fingers if they've had some sort of accident or similar.

I wannnt to erase data stolen from my phone

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

#140

Post by Skunkleton »

nvr219 wrote: post #119
uoaei wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

T9 suffers from slow input speeds. In the worst case you are required to click the same button four times for a single character.

That's not what T9 is. T9 is predictive text - you hit a combination of keys and it guesses what word you meant. Here is an emulator: https://www.sainsmograf.com/labs/t9-emulator/ Type `422537` to receive `hacker`. You hit `2` twice to get `ac`, not `b` - and it picks `ac` given the context.

T9 works well for common words. The poor doctor this keyboard(stick?) is being foisted on would not have a good time.
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