more chording keyboards

From: Mark Gregory <gregorym_at_cadvision.com>
Date: Wed Apr 21 21:55:24 1999

At 09:42 PM 4/21/99 +0100, you wrote:
>>
>> Hi,
>> I still haven't built a chording keyboard, but I'd like to know, what are
>> its advantages/disadvantages over a regular one? I realize the general
>> differences, what I'm looking for is 'it would be great for typing
>> because.., it would be awful for data entry because....'
>
>Well, what it's useful for often depends on how the chords are assigned.
>I have a Microwriter Agenda, and it's quite difficult to type some of the
>characters like '{' that are rarely used in English (but which are common
>in programming). The one I built for my PERQ (hopefully) makes it easier
>to type some of the common programming symbols (at the expense of making
>some letters a little harder to type).
>
>The main advantage is that (a) they're very fast to use (once you learn
>to use them, which I haven't) and (b) they can be used 1-handed. The
>original idea (from Xerox IIRC) was that you used the chording pad with
>one hand and the mouse with the other. I want to try a mouse with a
>chording keypad built in, but I've not got round to making it.
>
>-tony
>

I thought that the chording keyboard was one of Doug Engelbart's innovations.
I believe he envisioned them as a way to move through Cyberspace more
efficently than with a mouse. So that would pre-date PARC, being at Arpa or
at Tymshare.

Mark.
Received on Wed Apr 21 1999 - 21:55:24 BST

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