Re: [iPAQ] RE: [Handhelds] Keyboard? (was: Re: scribble update )

I started working on one from the ground up, called "keytap". It was
nothing more than the bare outline of code, and soon after that xvkbd
was mentioned on the mailing list, so I tried that, with about the same
results as you. I am really impressed by the features and functionality
in gtkeyboard, and am slowly cutting it down to a usable screen size. It
seems to be much more effective at synthesizing events than xvkbd was.
It's huge, though - 6MB of ram on a i386 - and requires most of the gtk
libs to work. I have not had my ipaq (it's in japan) to compile or test
it against. You can get it from:

http://opop.nols.com

The idea I'm working on at the moment, is that instead of slavishly
imitating an actual keyboard, I want to just run a strip of characters
along the bottom of the long axis of the ipaq, e.g:

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz sft ctl esc ent mta opt

- this would maximize screen area for other purposes, and still be quite
usable.

so perhaps I will resume work on keytap, folding in the features I need
from gtkeyboard, to pursue this design....

Neil Reynolds wrote:
>
> I wanted the keyboard interface, because I've never learned graffitti. (My
> clam-shell palmtop running DOS 5.0 has a keyboard, and has worked
> beautifully for 5 years)
>
> I took xvkbd by T. Sato. His version has some problems for the IPAQ, the
> largest being that his "compact" version is the size of the IPAQ screen, and
> the key for selecting the window to focus is not present on the compact one.
>
> His version also displayed both the shifted and unshifted symbol on all
> non-alphabet keys.
>
> I wanted to change it so that the characters displayed depended on the
> state of the shift key, but it crashed the first time I tried it, so I
> abandoned doing that.
>
> I got it down to 1/4th its original size (or so) and compiled it for the
> IPAQ.
>
> It has the following problems:
> the Focus key doesn't work when on the IPAQ (it works great on a
> desktop with a mouse)
> the arrow graphics Satosan supplied don't fit in my version. I've
> replaced them with ^V<> . As there is code there for proper graphics, they
> should be redone.
> The shift key should also change the keycap's symbol to the uppercase
> character (i.e. @ for the 2 key, " for the ' key ...)
> It works much better if you have a good 5x7 fixed font installed on
> the machine
> Some of the changes I've made should really only be changes to a
> properties file instead of hardcoded in.
> DONT use it if you dont bother calibrating the screen at bootup.
>
> It's completely useable, except for the first bug.
>
> I was doing this on company time, because I needed SOME way to enter text
> so I could debug my project, and it was faster to write this, then to learn
> graffitti. But this afternoon I could connect to my IPAQ over the internet,
> so I can't justify finishing this on company time. I plan to get back to
> this on my own time, as I'll want it whenever I can finally get my own IPAQ,
> but that'll take a long time.
>
> Shall I send it to you as is? or check it into the cvs tree?
> The base program was supplied inder terms of GPL.
>
> Neil
> -----Original Message-----
> From: George France [mailto:france@crl.dec.com]
> Sent: Thursday, September 21, 2000 4:15 PM
> To: 'Tom_Kirksey@ingersoll-rand.com'; handhelds@handhelds.org
> Cc: ipaq@handhelds.org
> Subject: RE: [Handhelds] Keyboard? (was: Re: scribble update )
>
> I actually saw, such a thing in Neil Reynolds office today. Maybe he will
> say more???
>
> --George
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Tom_Kirksey@ingersoll-rand.com
> > [mailto:Tom_Kirksey@ingersoll-rand.com]
> > Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2000 12:00 PM
> > To: handhelds@handhelds.org
> > Cc: ipaq@handhelds.org
> > Subject: [Handhelds] Keyboard? (was: Re: scribble update )
> >
> >
> >
> > Is anybody currently working on an on screen keyboard?
> > Pen/Stroke input
> > is fine, but I like a pen-tap keyboard. I can tap as fast as
> > I can write
> > and my hand doesn't cramp when tapping.
> >
> > It seems, IMHO, that a keyboard would be a lot easier to put
> > together than
> > trying to get scribble to work better. It would seem to be a simple
> > mapping exercise.
> > Using the buttons as modifiers (or one button to shift
> > between multiple
> > layouts) would allow many commands and macros to be a tap away.
> >
> > Hit the "keyboard button" to bring up the keyboard in "basic
> > qwerty" mode.
> > Hit button again to enter shift mode. Hit it again to go to
> > a user defined
> > command and macro mode. Two or more buttons would work even
> > better for
> > shifting between layouts (one forward, one back). The combination of
> > button(s) and tap keyboard seems like it would work fast and easy.
> >
> > BTW, I came up with an idea over the weekend to use the buttons as a
> > keyboard. Basically, you have three rows of six characters across the
> > bottom of the screen. You use the up and down buttons to
> > highlight a row
> > (the rows scroll, with three visible at a time). You use six
> > buttons (1,
> > 2, left, right, three, four) to select a character from the
> > highlighted
> > row. Since the character you select is directly above the button that
> > selects it, typing is sort of intuitive. Does this make
> > sense or is it a
> > dumb idea?
> >
> > Tom
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Handhelds mailing list
> > Handhelds@handhelds.org
> > http://handhelds.org/mailman/listinfo/handhelds
> >
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