from theory to practice

[nesiax]

Hello People.

We had setup a new youtube channelto post videos related to the key64 keyboard.

You can see our first video at the following url ( html5 video, no flash required, no h.264 )

key64 news of america typing test

mqdefault.jpg (10.46 KiB) Viewed 1642 times

[/url]

The above video have been recorded using the following tools under Debian GNU/Linux:

• camorama
  recordmydesktop
  ktouch
  oggz-tools
  arista-gtk

We used a 21:9 template of 1120x480 pixels available for download.

Ktouch lecture used in this video is available for download.

The template is used to delimit the area in the screen to record using recordmydesktop application.

camorama is used to display output from the usb camera.

ktouch is used as a typing tutor.

oggz-tools is used to chop the video.

arista-gtk is the tool used to convert from '.ogv' which is the record file format used in record my desktop and encode in webM format (a.k.a. vp8 royalty free codec) so you can see with a html5 standard browser using a resolution of 1280x720 pixels.
More info ...

[Muirium]

Nice build.

Of course, we tend to be more interested in the making of the keyboard than the making of the video. What switches, caps etc.? Your link doesn't say. At least without digging around a bit.

[nesiax]

Nice build.

Of course, we tend to be more interested in the making of the keyboard than the making of the video. What switches, caps etc.? Your link doesn't say. At least without digging around a bit.

Hi I have been working in the keyboard for the last two years, the current model is made with cherry mx blue switches, dsa keycaps from Signature Plastics, o-rings from WASD keyboards and a Teensy board from PJRC, all the documentation is at the key64.

I understand your point, but if you propose a new keyboard layout then is required for people to see how it works too, we can't keep talking about the design, the ergonomics, the quality of cherry, topre, apls, pbt, abs, etc... and all the stuff that makes a keyboard, we need to test the whole set as one entity, we need to show how it works in real life too, and at the end is the typing experience what really matters, of course there are some subjective points too.

So what about if we made a typing test suite for keyboards ? we can rely on free software for doing that, share our experiences with other people to see how it works so they can improve and mod their keyboards with ideas from others.

[Muirium]

Objective measurement has its appeal. Especially when it's controlled for one variable. Such as a simple layout change:


A great deal more about keyboards, though, is subjective. Like the feel of different switches and different materials. We can measure certain things, but we can't capture the whole experience.

I agree that ergonomics is the right place for getting down and dirty with statistics. A test suite for ergo design experiments seems a good idea.