geekhack
geekhack Community => Ergonomics => Topic started by: Harry_Y on Thu, 17 June 2010, 22:08:24
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I've been playing with Dvorak and was thinking about how it is fine once the
OS loads but until the n the computer is pretty much in QWERTY mode.
so it got me thinking about a Dvorak to qwerty adapter,
I saw one on line but it was around $90
It got me wondering if it would be worth building one up and
maybe have it dip switch settable for other layouts as well.
Just something I have been rolling over in my mind
and wondering f it was worth further planning on.
Thank you
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Seems like it would more or less be an extremely niche device. How often are you typing outside of the OS? BIOS doesn't exactly need anything outside of a handful of keys. I suppose it could be useful in a recovery console or some such, but it still seems to be quite limited in practicality. The main function would seem to be to use Dvorak / alternative layouts without the need for OS configuration, but that's also solved with a Dvorak keyboard. (Granted those are few and far inbetween.)
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For me I'd probably use it a lot since I remote into a lot of boxes.
Also anytime I reload my OS from backup (that I do fairly often) it would be a help
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I'd love one, personally.
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If by remote in, you mean SSH into them from a primary box, then it'd be sufficient to have the box you're on set to Dvorak.
On the backup side of things, so long as the backup is made with the Dvorak setting in place, then it's no issue. ;)
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This is NOT a sales pitch, just showing the options that already exist........Later
http://www.fentek-ind.com/kbdvorak2ub.htm
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You probably looked at the QIDO (http://www.keyghost.com/qido/). There's a DIY version here (http://dvorak-keyboard.net63.net/).
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I've been playing with Dvorak and was thinking about how it is fine once the OS loads but until the n the computer is pretty much in QWERTY mode.
That's an interesting thought. But aside from the fact that mapping to Dvorak in the OS is likely to be good enough for most of the people who use Dvorak, there is the additional problem that converting QWERTY to Dvorak doesn't convert QWERTZ to Dvorak, or AZERTY to Dvorak.
In fact, you've just pointed out a serious design flaw in the PC platform. In order for German and French and other keyboards to work as people would expect, instead of sending scan codes, keyboards should be sending ASCII to the computer, with the keyboard arrangement hardcoded inside the keyboard itself.
However, the technology to do that, and yet also allow switching keyboard layouts, wasn't there at a reasonable price back in 1981. In fact, Unicode wasn't there in 1981, for that matter.
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I'd love to have a Colemak one, but the QIDO (or QICO as it would've been called) is too expensive I think.
Quadibloc: No idea what you're talking about. Keyboards shouldn't send ASCII to computers that I know of. The hardware scan codes are translated into virtual scan codes afaik, which may additionally be remapped (but it's not very common) to other virtual SCs. These are then transcribed to virtual key codes and both SC and VK are sent to the input queue as a KEY_ event. It's then up to the active processes to generate characters IF that's appropriate. That's what I think happens at least. If you were to send an ASCII code you'd send a character and not a key press which is absurd.
Working with both SC and VK seems like a bit of a stretch since their roles can often be confused. But I guess it has its uses.
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This is NOT a sales pitch, just showing the options that already exist........Later
http://www.fentek-ind.com/kbdvorak2ub.htm
I like it !
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You probably looked at the QIDO (http://www.keyghost.com/qido/). There's a DIY version here (http://dvorak-keyboard.net63.net/).
Well there I go
I already have the tools to make this, so why re-invent the wheel
Thank you
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Well there I go
I already have the tools to make this, so why re-invent the wheel
Thank you
Its a great start, but it does have the caveat that it doesn't have a usb input. Thus, you cant hook up usb keys to it. For example, if you go to a library, you cant switchout the keyboard quickly. Rubber, keyboards stink so hard, I wish there was a better option.
I think I just came up with a good option... Make a phone adapter that acts as a keyboard. So you could type on your phone to the computer. Build it on android. Phones with touchscreen would have limitless possibilities. Big touch screens are not bad at all for typing, temporarily.