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Re: Joypad-based keyboard

Adrian Godwin <adrian@fangorn.demon.co.uk> wrote:
: I've been interested in the chord keyboards for some time, but didn't want
: to add the extra keys. So my plan is to use the joypad to recognise a
: sequence of gestures - sort of a cross between the Microwriter and the
: PalmPilot.  

: The joypad has four switches : call them N,S,E and W. Adjacent switches
: can be operated simultaneously (diagonal presses), making 8 unique positions.

I think this is a great idea.  In fact, I believe that you could hack this
up in a few hours.  I encourage you to do so.  I don't have such a game pad,
or I might try myself.  :)

Just writing a little applet on the computer to take the joystick movement
and translate it should not be bad at all.  Try coming up with a good
alphabet.  ie I want to see a list of:

Sequence	Character
NN		A
NW		B
SW		C
...		...

Does anyone know how to get a sequence of actions from one of these keyboards
under UNIX (NetBSD or Linux)?  If so, follow up with clues.  This is the only
part of the interface I am not sure about.  A description of the protocol and
a method of getting the sequences would be appreciated.

I can see that this interface would be very helpful not only to one-handed
operation, but also to those with limited mobility that cannot easily use a
keyboard.  This method may in fact be a good one with a mouthstick.
Does anyone know about that?  (Of coulrse, you would want a slightly larger
and easier to manipulate input than a joystick!)  This could also help
people with RSI.  One could even make a floorpad that one could step on.
Aerobics and typing at the same time...  :)

If you need any help, drop me a line and I will do the best I can.  I have
constructed a chorded keyboard before, so I have a little experience in
these matters.  I like this idea a lot.

http://www.etla.net/~willey/projects/chordkey/

Mark