I made a 5-key keyboard
Hardware
chorded keyboard
SHOW HN2021
How HN took it
21 positive, 58 neutral or asking, 1 mixed, 8 critical, out of 88 comments about the project. Thread score +0.17.
Idea: 6 for, 2 againstDesign: 1 for, 3 againstExecution: 1 for, 2 againstPerformance: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Fun, funny write-up and a cool project
From 3 comments
Falsehoods programmers believe about hands: - they have 5 fingers Joking aside, that's a really nice project: congratulations!
throwaway744678 on HNI love the humour in this post, it’s great fun to read. Fwiw I’d have fun playing with that. It’s a cool idea.
CraigJPerry on HNI absolutely lost it when I saw the picture of the finished product with the caption: 'How to get shot in the airport' very entertaining read, and really cool!
holtalanm on HN
Chorded keyboard idea is interesting
From 2 comments
Very cool. Reminds me of an excellent radiolab I listened to about Wubi: https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/wubi-effect If you can effectively type 70,000…
scottrogowski on HNSo this is like half of: https://www.gboards.ca/product/ginni Reminds me of https://www.artsey.io/
smivan on HN
Objections
Chording is too slow to be useful
From 1 comment
It seems like every hardware geek makes one of these at some point. I think it's really cool. Designing a chording scheme for individual keys is a fun problem, kind of a nerd…
intrepidhero on HN
Multi-press and three-key chords are hard to use
From 2 comments
That is very cool! I think the double-presses and three-button presses are pushing it for usability. I wonder if there is a version where you can keep the general form and idea…
ad404b8a372f2b9 on HNin theory you could do this with a single key . be a pain in the ass to use though
paulpauper on HN
Requests
Show a video of someone typing with it
From 2 comments
Please show you typing with it :)
Gravyness on HNI was disappointed at the end of the article, because there was no video of they using the keyboard. I love the project!
mromanuk on HN
Questions
Why not use speech-to-text instead
From 2 comments
Nice, but, why not speech to text solution?
bikamonki on HNWhy not just use voice note? Dictation apps have been around since forever and there more voice to text solutions than ever.
muddi900 on HN
Alternatives named
Twiddler chording keyboard
From 1 comment
This is a simpler version of Twiddler: https://twiddler.tekgear.com/
praptak on HN
Microwriter and Quinkey
From 1 comment
A long long time ago there was something similar for the BBC Micro: Quinkey. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwriter
forinti on HN
Plover stenotype software
From 2 comments
It seems like every hardware geek makes one of these at some point. I think it's really cool. Designing a chording scheme for individual keys is a fun problem, kind of a nerd…
intrepidhero on HNI'll strongly suggest changing the approach from character input to phonetic input like the stenotype machines. Creating a nice set of rules prioritising writing speed is of…
drinkcocacola on HN
aaaaa one-letter keyboard app
From 1 comment
Also see "aaaaa" on F-Droid[1](for android) From it's description: > most keyboards have way too many letters, making it way too hard to type. this keyboard only has 1 letter.…
Kelamir on HN