On Wednesday 09 July 2008 04:38:07 Shawn Rutledge wrote: > On Tue, Jul 8, 2008 at 6:48 PM, Jeremy List <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I'm think a one-handed keyboard on the back of a freerunner would be a > > great thing. Frogpad has the disadvantage that it needs a different > > model depending on what hand you plan to use to type on it: I'm pretty > > sure I could design something similar that doesn't have that limitation. > > Several buttons along the edges would be enough - one for each finger > and 2 or 3 thumb-buttons, or a rocker for the thumb. You can still > come up with enough chords to type, or, just use them as menu-buttons > to select word ranges, kindof analogous to Dasher. > > A long time ago I read about a research project along these lines at > Xerox Parc (which actually occurred even longer ago). They were using > big round infrared blasters on the ceiling as uplinks into a network, > and people were carrying around these pager-sized devices with buttons > along the edge (and simple 2-line LCD displays), and you could do > 2-way messaging anywhere on campus when one of the IR gateways was > within range. But I thought the text input method was the most > interesting aspect of it. You only need several buttons to do it, so > it can be ergonomic if the buttons are shaped nicely and are kindof > firm (your fingers stay on the same buttons all the time, you just > press them in different patterns). And it would be very cheap to > implement. The thumb buttons could be used for something else in the > word-entry mode, but there could also be an alphanumeric chording mode > (like the Bat keyboard). I think this was done long enough ago that > if there were any patents, they probably expired by now. > > If there were a keyboard on the back, how could you hold the phone and > at the same time press keys on the back? > > But you could hold it by the edges and push buttons along the edges at > the same time. >
now thats a interesting tought. and with the freerunners ability to make use of usb as a host, it could maybe power something like this: http://www.vuzix.com/iwear/products_vr920.html it could be fun if a freerunner housing came with such a cording setup, and a training app for people to get used to it. _______________________________________________ Openmoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community