On Sat, Jun 03, 2023 at 12:22:42PM -0700, Walter Bright via Digitalmars-d wrote:
> On 6/1/2023 3:04 PM, H. S. Teoh wrote:
> > I believe that the next step is to USB/WiFi touchscreen keyboards that can be reconfigured to any symbol set by software.  All we need is a long, horizontal device with a touchscreen mounted on suitable support that makes it comfortable to type on, then have a standard API for software to configure whatever symbols it wishes the user to use on it.
[...]
> I'd prefer a regular keyboard with conventional keys - but with a display on each keytop that is a graphic of what the key is bound to. For example, when you hit the shift key, the graphic switches to upper case.

That works too.


> Making this software configurable really opens things up - anything is possible - all while preserving touch typing.

True -- I can't say I'm a big fan of the completely smooth and featureless touchscreen; makes typing harder 'cos you're not sure if your fingers are exactly on the right keys.  But nobody says we can't use flexible touchscreens on a ridged surface that your fingers could feel... or maybe a fabric-based surface with plastic bubbles underneath that can be reconfigured?  That does add a whole new layer of mechanical complexity though.  So probably not worth it.  But it's an interesting thought.


On Sun, Jun 04, 2023 at 07:35:02AM +1200, Richard (Rikki) Andrew Cattermole via Digitalmars-d wrote:
> On 04/06/2023 7:22 AM, Walter Bright wrote:
> > I'm surprised nobody makes a keyboard like I described.
> 
> Sort of, its pretty expensive.
> 
> https://www.elgato.com/us/en/p/stream-deck-xl
> 
> I suspect the hard part is the keycap. The controller shouldn't be too hard.

The controller can be exactly the same as the conventional keyboard: it can continue sending exactly the same keycodes for each key; the software just has to translate the keycodes into different symbols based on what's currently displayed on the key. The keyboard itself doesn't need to know or care.

All that's really needed is a tiny configurable pixel screen on each keycap that can be loaded with any arbitrary graphic. It could very well have a completely separate connection to the PC from the keyboard's primary output.


T

-- 
There are two ways to write error-free programs; only the third one works.