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> Engelbart's demo also featured an input device known as the keyset, but unlike his other innovations, the keyset failed to catch on. Chording keyboards were

by neilv 2y ago

> Engelbart's demo also featured an input device known as the keyset, but unlike his other innovations, the keyset failed to catch on. Chording keyboards were popular among the "wearable computing" researchers (who then went on to work on things like Google Glass). For example, the Twiddler. One advantage of them is that you only need one hand to operate it. And some designs mean you can simultaneously hold it with that same hand, without a steady surface.

miki123211 2y ago
chording keyboards are still extremely popular among the blind, after all, chording is how you type Braille. They appear on everything from mechanical Braillers of the 1950's[1], to modern, electronic Braille displays and notetakers. Input methods based on this concept and adapted for the touch screen are even built in to both iOS[2] and Android[3]. [1] https://wecapable.com/perkins-brailler-braille-typing/ https://wecapable.com/perkins-brailler-braille-typing/ [2] https://support.apple.com/en-us/101637 https://support.apple.com/en-us/101637 [3] https://blog.google/products/android/braille-keyboard/ https://blog.google/products/android/braille-keyboard/
DonHopkins 2y ago
>[...] but unlike his other innovations, the keyset failed to catch on. I'm sad that he and others like Ted Nelson and Brett Victor would rightly say that his most important innovations have so far failed to catch on. But there's still time to raise awareness and make them real! Ted Nelson's Eulogy for Douglas Engelbart https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMjPqr1s-cg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMjPqr1s-cg >Ted Nelson's emotional and moving eulogy for his friend Douglas Engelbart. Given at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA, on December 9, 2013. An Homage to Douglas Engelbart and a Critique of the State of Tech: https://archive.nytimes.com/bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/16/an-homage-to-douglas-engelbart-and-a-critique-of-the-state-of-tech/ https://archive.nytimes.com/bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/1... >You don’t need me to tell you that Douglas Engelbart was one of the greatest men of all time. We gather today, in pretense of unanimity and concord, to croon over Doug’s ashes and grab for scraps of his robe. >Everyone here will of course say they are carrying on his work, by whatever twisted interpretation. I for one carry on his work by keeping the links outside the file, as he did. >Some are no doubt here to cheer and march behind the mouse, as in the opening of the Mickey Mouse TV Club of yore. Let them be happy in that celebration. >But the real ashes to be mourned are the ashes of Doug’s great dreams and vision, that we dance around in the costume party of fonts that swept aside his ideas of structure and collaboration. >Don’t get me wrong, the people who gave us all those fonts were idealists too, in their way — they just didn’t necessarily hold a very high view of human potential. >I used to have a high view of human potential. But no one ever had such a soaring view of human potential as Douglas Carl Engelbart — and he gave us wings to soar with him, though his mind flew on ahead, where few could see. > Like Icarus, he tried to fly too far too fast, and the wings melted off. [...] Doug and Karen Engelbart marry Marlene and Ted, May 2012: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsKFbwLeS1k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsKFbwLeS1k >Poignant ceremony with sweet pledges, at the Marin Civic Center. Ann and Bill Duvall are co-celebrants. Underexposed and streaky, but the event is the important thing. (Battery ran out before the final verdict. Other camera was far away.) A few words on Doug Engelbart: https://worrydream.com/Engelbart/ https://worrydream.com/Engelbart/ >Doug Engelbart died today. His work has always been very difficult for writers to interpret and explain. >Technology writers, in particular, tend to miss the point miserably, because they see everything as a technology problem. Engelbart devoted his life to a human problem, with technology falling out as part of a solution. When I read tech writers' interviews with Engelbart, I imagine these writers interviewing George Orwell, asking in-depth probing questions about his typewriter. >Here's the most facile interpretation of Engelbart, splendidly exhibited by this New York Times headline: >"Douglas C. Engelbart, Inventor of the Computer Mouse, Dies at 88" >This is as if you found the person who invented writing, and credited them for inventing the pencil. (This analogy may be more apt than any of us are comfortable with.) >Then there's the shopping list interpretation: >His system, called NLS, showed actual instances of, or precursors to, hypertext, shared screen collaboration, multiple windows, on-screen video teleconferencing, and the mouse as an input device. >These are not true statements. [...]

by neilv 2y ago

miki123211 2y ago

chording keyboards are still extremely popular among the blind, after all, chording is how you type Braille. They appear on everything from mechanical Braillers of the 1950's[1], to modern, electronic Braille displays and notetakers. Input methods based on this concept and adapted for the touch screen are even built in to both iOS[2] and Android[3]. [1] https://wecapable.com/perkins-brailler-braille-typing/ https://wecapable.com/perkins-brailler-braille-typing/ [2] https://support.apple.com/en-us/101637 https://support.apple.com/en-us/101637 [3] https://blog.google/products/android/braille-keyboard/ https://blog.google/products/android/braille-keyboard/

DonHopkins 2y ago

>[...] but unlike his other innovations, the keyset failed to catch on. I'm sad that he and others like Ted Nelson and Brett Victor would rightly say that his most important innovations have so far failed to catch on. But there's still time to raise awareness and make them real! Ted Nelson's Eulogy for Douglas Engelbart https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMjPqr1s-cg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMjPqr1s-cg >Ted Nelson's emotional and moving eulogy for his friend Douglas Engelbart. Given at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA, on December 9, 2013. An Homage to Douglas Engelbart and a Critique of the State of Tech: https://archive.nytimes.com/bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/16/an-homage-to-douglas-engelbart-and-a-critique-of-the-state-of-tech/ https://archive.nytimes.com/bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/1... >You don’t need me to tell you that Douglas Engelbart was one of the greatest men of all time. We gather today, in pretense of unanimity and concord, to croon over Doug’s ashes and grab for scraps of his robe. >Everyone here will of course say they are carrying on his work, by whatever twisted interpretation. I for one carry on his work by keeping the links outside the file, as he did. >Some are no doubt here to cheer and march behind the mouse, as in the opening of the Mickey Mouse TV Club of yore. Let them be happy in that celebration. >But the real ashes to be mourned are the ashes of Doug’s great dreams and vision, that we dance around in the costume party of fonts that swept aside his ideas of structure and collaboration. >Don’t get me wrong, the people who gave us all those fonts were idealists too, in their way — they just didn’t necessarily hold a very high view of human potential. >I used to have a high view of human potential. But no one ever had such a soaring view of human potential as Douglas Carl Engelbart — and he gave us wings to soar with him, though his mind flew on ahead, where few could see. > Like Icarus, he tried to fly too far too fast, and the wings melted off. [...] Doug and Karen Engelbart marry Marlene and Ted, May 2012: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsKFbwLeS1k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsKFbwLeS1k >Poignant ceremony with sweet pledges, at the Marin Civic Center. Ann and Bill Duvall are co-celebrants. Underexposed and streaky, but the event is the important thing. (Battery ran out before the final verdict. Other camera was far away.) A few words on Doug Engelbart: https://worrydream.com/Engelbart/ https://worrydream.com/Engelbart/ >Doug Engelbart died today. His work has always been very difficult for writers to interpret and explain. >Technology writers, in particular, tend to miss the point miserably, because they see everything as a technology problem. Engelbart devoted his life to a human problem, with technology falling out as part of a solution. When I read tech writers' interviews with Engelbart, I imagine these writers interviewing George Orwell, asking in-depth probing questions about his typewriter. >Here's the most facile interpretation of Engelbart, splendidly exhibited by this New York Times headline: >"Douglas C. Engelbart, Inventor of the Computer Mouse, Dies at 88" >This is as if you found the person who invented writing, and credited them for inventing the pencil. (This analogy may be more apt than any of us are comfortable with.) >Then there's the shopping list interpretation: >His system, called NLS, showed actual instances of, or precursors to, hypertext, shared screen collaboration, multiple windows, on-screen video teleconferencing, and the mouse as an input device. >These are not true statements. [...]