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Do you touch-type or hunt-and-peck?

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urlwolf:
Anyone considering learning to touch-type should think about investing on the colemak layout. If you are going to start from scratch, learn a system that will save you 2/3 of the traveling. Your hands will appreciate that.

40hz:
I am not a touch typist, nor am I  "hunt & peck", since the use of the word "hunt" would imply that I don"t know where the keys are, when that just isn't true.

I am primarily a one-handed typist, a righty, with the left hand only playing a minor role in my typing. I am probably the fastest 2-3 finger typist you have ever seen.  :D

-app103 (September 20, 2009, 09:01 AM)
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Wow! I used to type that way. It was a skill I learned back in the days of mainframes and real TTY terminals.

In those days we always used the thumb, first, middle and ring finger of the right hand for "data and code entry"  - and kept the left hand free to hit various control and 'operator' keys when using a keypunch machine.

The "IBM Guys" at the campus computer center used to call that tech (or crab-crawl) typing, as opposed to touch typing I guess.

Brings back memories...

Those days are gone forever. (Thank heavens! ;D)

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@SKesselman - very impressive nails. My sister just said she's envious.  ;D :Thmbsup:

40hz:
Re: One-handed typing:

I've been flirting with the idea of getting a Frog-Pad keyboard ever since I saw one on ThinkGeek's website.




It did seem workable. There's a YouTube video of somebody using one here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSDMahnw0_g&feature=related

(Note: the product is available in either a left or a right handed key layout so the above picture may be different from the one in the video.)

Basically, it's a rehash of several old** ideas about using multi-modal control interface to permit single handed alphanumeric and function key entry.

The Frog Pad appealed to me primarily because I though it would be a rather neat accessory to carry around for all those times I needed to plug a small USB keyboard into a server. I also wanted it to save some desktop 'real estate' when I was back home. The device measures something like 3 inches by 5 inches.

So far, I've held off for three reasons:

1) @ $159 USD, Frog Pad Inc. must be extremely proud of their little darling. Perhaps I'm one of those people who "know the price of everything and the value of nothing" as Oscar Wilde once put it. Nevertheless, I still think that price is fairly outrageous for a Bluetooth keyboard. Especially when you can score a top of the line gaming keyboard/mouse combo for less.

2) Frog Pad's online store seems to be "out of stock" more often than most. That makes me think they're doing very limited production runs - as in "not a lot of demand" - as in "high risk of this soon being an orphan product."

3) It's no longer available from ThinkGeek. This leads me to suspect that it has been weighed in the balance and found lacking by the real gadget freaks out there.

So, is anybody out there using a Frog Pad?

---------------

** Historic Note: Long before mice were popularized by Apple, one Xerox PARC researcher envisioned doing all computer input using nothing but a mouse. His idea called for the use of two 3-button mice - one for each hand. He had actually worked out what was dubbed a chording scheme that allowed you to type using various combinations of the six available buttons. As a "proof of concept" he taught himself to do all his keyboarding using a pair of these mouse prototypes. Word was, he became a very accomplished typist using this approach.

Now how utterly Ubergeek is that? 8)

app103:
---------------

** Historic Note: Long before mice were popularized by Apple, one Xerox PARC researcher envisioned doing all computer input using nothing but a mouse. His idea called for the use of two 3-button mice - one for each hand. He had actually worked out what was dubbed a chording scheme that allowed you to type using various combinations of the six available buttons. As a "proof of concept" he taught himself to do all his keyboarding using a pair of these mouse prototypes. Word was, he became a very accomplished typist using this approach.

Now how utterly Ubergeek is that? 8)


-40hz (September 21, 2009, 08:30 PM)
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Just imagine what he could have done with a pair of 5 button mice.  :D

40hz:
Just imagine what he could have done with a pair of 5 button mice.  :D
-app103 (September 21, 2009, 08:34 PM)
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Actually, the story I heard said he was an accomplished trumpet player, so depressing various combinations of three keys is what seemed most natural to him. (I guess we use what we know best for our models.)

But why stop at just two mice?

Imagine what he might have accomplished if he also thought to remove his shoes?  Look at all those virtuoso church organists. It works for them! ;D

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