5 button chorded keyboard

[oneproduct]

Happened to stumble upon this:

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http://www.coroflot.com/erikcampbell/optical-keyboard-keyset/1
http://www.solidsmack.com/3d-cad-technology/erik-campbell-keyset-design-solidworks-hypershot-rendering-3d-cad/
http://gizmodo.com/5502401/this-five+button-saucer-could-replace-your-entire-keyboard

Seems there's only 3D models so far and not sure if they ever plan to really manufacture it. Does anybody know about any other 5 finger chording keyboards that are simple like this? I've seen the frogpad and it looks interesting but the simplicity of this is what has my interest peaked.

The GKOS is neat too, but I'd prefer to use all five fingers on a single hand.

[video=youtube;1CrXa8_skSg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CrXa8_skSg[/video]

[whiskerBox]

whoa thats cool! on the other hand I think I would throw it at the wall once I became frustrated with it so it would need a safety leash for sure!

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[slueth]

whoa that is awesome, i am not sure how ergonomic that is but that would be cool to attach a blue tooth device onto that and use it for mobile devices.  touch screens are so horrible but this would be more portable then an keyboard is.

[hoggy]

I like the gkos, especially when the demonstrators starts to use both hands.  Looks very comfortable.

I'd like the red thing more if I could hold in my hand and chord with it at the same time.  More like this [ Attachment Invalid Or Does Not Exist ] 32683[/ATTACH]

[laffindude]

GKOS looks painfully slow to use. if you go to the website to try it out in qwerty, it IS painfully slow.

[kps]

Does anybody know about any other 5 finger chording keyboards that are simple like this?

You've seen Douglas Engelbart's NLS demo, right? The mouse was originally intended to be used in conjunction with a chording keyboard, so that people wouldn't need to grow an extra arm.

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[oneproduct]

GKOS looks painfully slow to use. if you go to the website to try it out in qwerty, it IS painfully slow.

I'm not as much a fan of GKOS because it's not optimized for one handed use. However, I did try it on an iPhone and took the time to get familiar with spelling a few common words such as "hello" and "there" and it's pretty fast for using just two thumbs. You have to give it a chance. The first time you tried to type on qwerty I bet you were slow as well.

Anyways, the better properties of chording keyboards is that you don't have to move your hand at all and you can type using just one.

You've seen Douglas Engelbart's NLS demo, right? The mouse was originally intended to be used in conjunction with a chording keyboard, so that people wouldn't need to grow an extra arm.

(Attachment Link) 32789[/ATTACH] (Attachment Link) 32790[/ATTACH]

I have, but do you know where I could purchase something like that?

[laffindude]

Try it on the keyboard and you'll see why. It may be ok for a cellphone, but it is totally unacceptable as a desktop keyboard replacement. The chording logic jams up when you try to type fast. I don't find it too ergonomic as well, since every letter is a chord.

[oneproduct]

For those interested in trying it's over here: http://gkos.com/gkos/type/
Use qwerty keys SDF JKL as GKOS keys CBA DEF. Put index fingers on F (A) and J (D)

I tried it for a bit with a few common words and it was okay, though obviously really slow compared to what I can do on a normal keyboard. Just try to learn something simple using muscle memory so you can get a grasp at its potential though.

I don't see any problems with the chording, try for example to just chord the same key over and over again as fast as you can; seems pretty reliable to me. He does say that this demo supposedly doesn't work well with timing though:
"It seems to be a pain to design a Win OS application that depends on timing! The PIC IR reception (to COM port input) works much more smoothly while supporting chordons, shortcuts and mouse functions (PIC IR transmitter => PIC IR receiver => COM Port of the PC)."

In any case, I'm just interested in one handed designs. It's not to replace a physical keyboard, but rather just so you can do it with one hand. This would be fun for handheld devices though and makes for a good possible replacement there.

[laffindude]

I think it lacks potential. I don't think it is physically possible for me to get even close to my normal 80-100WPM on this (~7-8 characters a second, I don't think I can chord that many times a second).

[oneproduct]

Right, but like I said, it's not just about speed, it's about being able to do it with one hand. How much can you move the mouse while typing 80-100 WPM? Not at all. With one handed chording, once learned you can type at maybe 60 WPM and use the mouse at the same time. Plus, you can carry a chording keyboard in your pocket and could use it with a laptop, cell phone, etc.

[kps]

I have, but do you know where I could purchase something like that?

I doubt you can. But this page has a picture of a 1968 Stanford one with the cover off, and it's just as simple as you'd expect.

[oneproduct]

Sadly I wouldn't know the first thing about building one on my own. I wouldn't mind trying to get one commissioned sometime though.