5 ms·

I think this is a super cool keyboard, but if I were going to learn a chorded keyboard, I'd probably go all in on the type steganographers use to type 300 WPM

capableweb 4y ago
You could always use a "normal" (QWERTY) keyboard for steno if you'd like, some people had success with Plover (http://www.openstenoproject.org/ http://www.openstenoproject.org/) for doing this. You can even try it in the browser: http://www.openstenoproject.org/demo/ http://www.openstenoproject.org/demo/ What would be really interesting would be a keyboard specifically for programming. Chords that can be customized to fit your language, would make a lot of sense. Integrate some ideas from things like Paraedit et al, and you could probably get up to crazy speeds in editing and writing really quickly.
- jrockway 4y ago
  I tried this, but honestly the keyswitches are awfully heavy when you are pressing more than 2 of them at once. I ended up half-building a steno keyboard with lighter switches for this reason... half-building because I started during the pandemic, no microcontrollers I wanted were available, and then I forgot about the project until ... just now. Someday though.
  - worthless-trash 4y ago
    I have seen people refit the Uni steno keyboards with lighter springs, it looks like the easiest way to get started.
  - brokenmachine 4y ago
    Ergodox is actually a very usable design for steno.
dschil138 4y ago
I don't really think it's fair to call it a chorded keyboard. It does have chords, but they are mostly optional and there for convenience. Every alpha letter has it's own key. Some are on a second layer, but that layer is also "one-shot" so you don't even need to chord to use it, like you do with typing capital letters with shift, for instance.
- fsckboy 4y ago
  > if I were going to learn a chorded keyboard I'd want it to be one handed so I could do something else (turn pages, move mouse) with the other hand. also, it would have to promise longevity and ubiquity, if I'm going to learn it, I want it to pay off in extended usage
- dcow 4y ago
  How do you access the alpha2 layer? Edit: looks like you toggle it with your right thumb? That seems like a lot of thumb presses or more key strokes per word. How do you know which layer is active when you return between sessions?
  - dschil138 4y ago
    yeah the right thumb is a "one-shot" key to go to the second layer. So you press it, and then only whatever key you press next is on the second layer. So you're always on the fist layer unless you just pressed that key. It does end up being (slightly) more keypresses, but it's built on the idea that 1.) two comfortable keypresses are easier than one uncomfortable keypress and 2.) our thumbs are already absurdly under-utilized on current keyboards.
brokenmachine 4y ago
Stenography is pretty difficult. It's more complicated than simply "chorded keyboard" might imply. Going "all in" on stenography is a very significant time investment. Much more than what you'd think. It's not like a normal keyboard where when you start you're just slow, but you know how to type every word. You won't even know how to type syllables/words that you haven't learned yet. I've had a couple of tries but never got past the beginner stage, and there's many, many words that I have no idea how to type.

capableweb 4y ago

You could always use a "normal" (QWERTY) keyboard for steno if you'd like, some people had success with Plover (http://www.openstenoproject.org/ http://www.openstenoproject.org/) for doing this. You can even try it in the browser: http://www.openstenoproject.org/demo/ http://www.openstenoproject.org/demo/ What would be really interesting would be a keyboard specifically for programming. Chords that can be customized to fit your language, would make a lot of sense. Integrate some ideas from things like Paraedit et al, and you could probably get up to crazy speeds in editing and writing really quickly.

jrockway 4y ago
I tried this, but honestly the keyswitches are awfully heavy when you are pressing more than 2 of them at once. I ended up half-building a steno keyboard with lighter switches for this reason... half-building because I started during the pandemic, no microcontrollers I wanted were available, and then I forgot about the project until ... just now. Someday though.
- worthless-trash 4y ago
  I have seen people refit the Uni steno keyboards with lighter springs, it looks like the easiest way to get started.
- brokenmachine 4y ago
  Ergodox is actually a very usable design for steno.

dschil138 4y ago

I don't really think it's fair to call it a chorded keyboard. It does have chords, but they are mostly optional and there for convenience. Every alpha letter has it's own key. Some are on a second layer, but that layer is also "one-shot" so you don't even need to chord to use it, like you do with typing capital letters with shift, for instance.

fsckboy 4y ago
> if I were going to learn a chorded keyboard I'd want it to be one handed so I could do something else (turn pages, move mouse) with the other hand. also, it would have to promise longevity and ubiquity, if I'm going to learn it, I want it to pay off in extended usage
dcow 4y ago
How do you access the alpha2 layer? Edit: looks like you toggle it with your right thumb? That seems like a lot of thumb presses or more key strokes per word. How do you know which layer is active when you return between sessions?
- dschil138 4y ago
  yeah the right thumb is a "one-shot" key to go to the second layer. So you press it, and then only whatever key you press next is on the second layer. So you're always on the fist layer unless you just pressed that key. It does end up being (slightly) more keypresses, but it's built on the idea that 1.) two comfortable keypresses are easier than one uncomfortable keypress and 2.) our thumbs are already absurdly under-utilized on current keyboards.

brokenmachine 4y ago

Stenography is pretty difficult. It's more complicated than simply "chorded keyboard" might imply. Going "all in" on stenography is a very significant time investment. Much more than what you'd think. It's not like a normal keyboard where when you start you're just slow, but you know how to type every word. You won't even know how to type syllables/words that you haven't learned yet. I've had a couple of tries but never got past the beginner stage, and there's many, many words that I have no idea how to type.