[HN Gopher] An accessible one-handed keyboard, inspired by FrogPad
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       An accessible one-handed keyboard, inspired by FrogPad
        
       Author : kianryan
       Score  : 55 points
       Date   : 2024-02-18 13:17 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.kianryan.co.uk)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.kianryan.co.uk)
        
       | Findecanor wrote:
       | The hardware is one half of the DIY split ergo-mech Lily58. It is
       | open source and kits are widely available.
       | <https://github.com/kata0510/Lily58>
       | 
       | The FrogPad-inspired part is the firmware/layout for only one
       | hand and the labels in the relegendable keycaps.
        
       | ChuckMcM wrote:
       | This is excellent. I had a frogpad and got reasonably comfortable
       | with it, my use case was mostly messaging so not a heavy use of
       | special characters like {}/|Etc. Given my experience with it, I
       | agree that using it as a model for this project was a good
       | choice. An acquaintance, Steve Roberts, had a really clever
       | keyboard that attached to the handlebars of his recumbent bicycle
       | so that he could type while riding.
        
         | benterris wrote:
         | Out of curiosity, how fast did you type on the frogpad ?
        
       | s_m_t wrote:
       | A nice hack for building a small keyboard/macro pad that is 80%
       | of the way there is to buy one of those cherry mx key testers, a
       | microcontroller dev board of your choice, and a small lipo. All
       | together it might cost you something like $40 depending on how
       | many keys your key tester has and you should only need a
       | soldering iron and some wire to put it together.
        
       | swayvil wrote:
       | Optimized voice typing?
       | 
       | A special voice-code. Like Thufir Hawat did in Dune (the old
       | one).
       | 
       | Because I can talk way faster than type. And if we could just
       | iron out the bumps. Remove ambiguities and such.
       | 
       | Surely that's been done.
       | 
       | (Or even more specialized, for writing java...)
        
         | densh wrote:
         | Talon Voice with enough tweaking, lots of practice, and a good
         | mic can get you there.
         | 
         | https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Mz3JeYfBTcY
        
       | carom wrote:
       | I have dreamed of one of these for driving. Touch typing would
       | make responding to something while keeping eyes on the road much
       | much easier.
        
         | Symbiote wrote:
         | It's necessary to keep your brain on the road, as well as your
         | eyes -- and your hands on the wheel.
        
       | Syzygies wrote:
       | I have experience with both the FrogPad and the Matias Half
       | Keyboard (I paid $95; now $595). The Frogpad never caught on with
       | me.
       | 
       | https://matias.store/products/half-keyboard
       | 
       | The Matias Half Keyboard is based on a theory that our minds
       | mirror each hand, so by holding the space bar to access the
       | missing half keyboard, we already know what to do. I was
       | skeptical. Recognizing that we're modal (do we even recognize
       | that telephone keypads and numeric keypads are different, or do
       | we just use them without thinking?) I decided to learn Dvorak on
       | the half keyboard while continuing to use QWERTY on my full
       | keyboards.
       | 
       | One day, on a lark, I tried Dvorak on a full keyboard. I could,
       | easily. The mirror theory holds.
        
         | hinkley wrote:
         | There's a trick with phantom limb pain and mirrors as well.
        
       | paradox460 wrote:
       | I created a one-hand layout, similar to the FrogPad, for my
       | Ergodox, and then wound up never bothering to use it seriously,
       | at which point the muscle memory I spent a few weeks training up
       | fell away
        
       | gtrevorjay wrote:
       | I can't imagine another cocktail party where my own one handed
       | keyboard would be relevant, so here it is:
       | 
       | https://github.com/trevorjay/Handler
       | 
       | It's chorded, (based on the https://ardux.io/ layout), but I
       | don't think chorded is really that hard to learn if you're
       | actually willing to give it a week or two (which you have in any
       | situation where you _need_ a one hander).
       | 
       | The key (ha) I've found is that you want the keys to be as easy
       | to press as possible while providing feedback. The Twiddler,
       | https://twiddler.tekgear.com/ , is great for this as it uses
       | light tact switches, but it has reliability issues.
       | 
       | This is a great project. Of all my one-handed experience, I never
       | got to try a FrogPad because of the expense. Having a software
       | implementation of the FrogPad is awesome.
        
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       (page generated 2024-02-19 23:00 UTC)