Our New Machine, Pandora

[X-Code]

You could have the cheapo rubber under some nice transparent plastic keys I suppose

 

[Nova]

Yes there is still no picture, because unlike, say GPH, we are talking our time to get this right, not rushing anything, slowly tweaking things up, it will be done when it's done, and then likely tweaked some more. The move to the new SOC was a prety major change, however we shall be showing off the Dpad soon, just have to get all the F200 stuff out the way.

I quite like an advent calendar idea, but we will have revealed the final design before Christmas PCBs this month

 

[atomicthumbs]

does that 'tasty blue' feel like horrible cheapo rubber though? The first thing in a keyboard is tactile feedback. I don't want anything that feels spongy like it belongs to a Sinclair Spectrum.

Those have almost no tactile feedback; it's like tapping on a chiclet keyboard. The only advantages are that you can roll them up, and that you can stick them in the washing machine if they get dirty.

?

!

 

[eridium]

A fix for all your lighted keyboard woes!

Lighted Keys!




On a more serious note about the lighting of the keys. The question of is it useful?
Well, the short answer is yes, I am sure it would be useful to more than a few people using the device.
Not everyone will need/want it and it definitely should have the ability to be turned off/on when desired.

Is it necessary?
Probably not (although I am sure a few will heartily disagree).

But I really think the question should be is it worth the cost?
Only craigix and the boys can really answer that. We will have to wait to see what they find out about
the pricing and determine if it is a cost effective option.

 

[StealthBagel]

In our Days there are flexible silicon Keyboards which can be illuminated by one cheap LED afaik.

mmmh, tasty blue:

not bad to:
http://www.alternate.de/html/product/prodP...ml?artno=NTZVA4


These things are fucking terrible. I have one and there is 0 tactile feedback, if you don't hit the key deadcenter it collapses and doesn't detect you pressed it, there is almost no popup force at all, you need to apply LOTS of pressure for it to sense you pressed anything... they feel like cheap toys more than real keyboards and are overall pretty worthless... on a handheld it would be a pathetic joke.

 

[cowai]

I still have no clue, why a Touchscreen-Retro-Emu-Gaming-Handheld needs an extra real keyboard)

I have to agree, even with PC/Dos etc games that require a significantly larger number of buttons or a keyboard to use the keyboard on the craiginator will surely be too small to use effectively?


Thirded.

 

[capnhack]

These things are fucking terrible. I have one and there is 0 tactile feedback, if you don't hit the key deadcenter it collapses and doesn't detect you pressed it, there is almost no popup force at all, you need to apply LOTS of pressure for it to sense you pressed anything... they feel like cheap toys more than real keyboards and are overall pretty worthless... on a handheld it would be a pathetic joke.

anyone whos used a speccy knows what those are like. apart from them being awful, theres just no way to get them small and sturdy enough anyway due to the moulding process.
samsungs d500 mobile has the best keypad ive seen in any small device so, if there was one out there like that, you could be sure itd have high usability. its got rigid low profile keys with just a tiny bevel on the edges and (i think) some kind of 2-layer contact switches, but theres definite resistance up til the tipping point and then they register with a noticeable movement and a little click. guessing, id say the keypad itself is about 4-5mm thick.
you can get an idea of the key depth and size here: http://www.win-hier.nl/producten/d500/images/belenwin_02.jpg

 

[Tobriand]

I still have no clue, why a Touchscreen-Retro-Emu-Gaming-Handheld needs an extra real keyboard)

I have to agree, even with PC/Dos etc games that require a significantly larger number of buttons or a keyboard to use the keyboard on the craiginator will surely be too small to use effectively?


Thirded.


Well, I can think of several reasons it'd be worthwhile.

Firstly, it opens PDA appliactions that weren't real options before. My dad has already expressed interest if and only if it has a keyboard, so presumably there is a market there. Obviously this assumes the presence of apps like calendar, word-processing, and spreadsheets being ported, but this seems likely.

Secondly, web-apps. I want to be able to chat and write emails at the very least on this. An onscreen keyboard lets you do that but every time I've used one it's destroyed my typing speed, because it's rare that they register keypresses fast enough, even if you can move the stylus quickly.

Third, old text-based games. The number of games I'd love to play but don't feel able to on the 2x is extensive. Particularly the Sierra adventures, and even more specifically, the Quest for Glory series. Let alone Police and Space Quests, and even Hugo.

Fourth, extra buttons. Inevitably some games need more buttons than a standard layout can provide... a keyboard provides these.

Fifth, it makes terminal actually useful, which in turn makes file management on-the-fly a lot more straightforward. Let alone coding on the fly - e.g. if Fenix is an interpreted language, as I believe it is, you could actually just edit the game there and then on the console, then test it out, edit, test etc. Would open another avenue of activities for use of the actual handheld.

That do? Most of those could be partially solved with virtual keyboards, but a physical keyboard has the advantage every time in terms of speed of input and response time, let alone leaving a good bit more of the screen unobstructed by a bloody great keyboard!

/Rant

 

[Nova]

Well, I can think of several reasons it'd be worthwhile.

Firstly, it opens PDA appliactions that weren't real options before. My dad has already expressed interest if and only if it has a keyboard, so presumably there is a market there. Obviously this assumes the presence of apps like calendar, word-processing, and spreadsheets being ported, but this seems likely.

Secondly, web-apps. I want to be able to chat and write emails at the very least on this. An onscreen keyboard lets you do that but every time I've used one it's destroyed my typing speed, because it's rare that they register keypresses fast enough, even if you can move the stylus quickly.

Third, old text-based games. The number of games I'd love to play but don't feel able to on the 2x is extensive. Particularly the Sierra adventures, and even more specifically, the Quest for Glory series. Let alone Police and Space Quests, and even Hugo.

Fourth, extra buttons. Inevitably some games need more buttons than a standard layout can provide... a keyboard provides these.

Fifth, it makes terminal actually useful, which in turn makes file management on-the-fly a lot more straightforward. Let alone coding on the fly - e.g. if Fenix is an interpreted language, as I believe it is, you could actually just edit the game there and then on the console, then test it out, edit, test etc. Would open another avenue of activities for use of the actual handheld.

That do? Most of those could be partially solved with virtual keyboards, but a physical keyboard has the advantage every time in terms of speed of input and response time, let alone leaving a good bit more of the screen unobstructed by a bloody great keyboard!

/Rant

Seconded.

 

[cowai]

The very single reason I don't want a physical keyboard (only touchscreen) is because I need some foreign letters. Yes, I know you can use a "special"-key to get what you want, but when you use æ,ø, å in every sentence, maybe upto two-three times in a sentence, it gets annoying.

If, we get an option to buy a blank layout including a set of stickers that we can put on ourselves, I will be more than satisfied! Go Squidge!

Thanks,

 

[Squidge]

The way I look at it is that with its high resolution screen and powerful processor, adding a keyboard means its a decent laptop replacement for simple stuff. For example, I can easily browse the web whilst sitting in front of the tv. I can easily do emails, and, once a terminal services client is ported, be able to logon to my pc at work.

It's true that the EEE PC will do the same, but the Craiginator will be smaller, have more features, and have a better battery life. I never understood the EEE being so big in the width, and then using chunks of plastic down the sides because the actual LCD was so small. Either make the LCD bigger or the keyboard smaller, asus!

 

[fusion_power]

does that 'tasty blue' feel like horrible cheapo rubber though? The first thing in a keyboard is tactile feedback. I don't want anything that feels spongy like it belongs to a Sinclair Spectrum.

I know that. You only should focus at the lightning/glowing. It was just an example for this. I'm sure, the new Handheld will not have an rubber-button-keyboard because of the mentioned problems with this technique. But I doubt, that we will get something with better "tactile feedback" in such small measurements, even with plastic (metal?) Buttons. I don't know much about Mini-Keyboards for Smartphones and Organizers but I think there newer is an feeling like normal PC Keyboards. Which Device of that Size has an good Keyboard with good feedback?

 

[realyst]

My name has a special character in it and I don't mind standard roman character qwerty keyboards, solely because I use the alt key. Still better then the alternative and there is simply no way to accommodate every fancy character a language saw fit to shove into it.

 

[FlippantBird]

Maybe an extra row of four or five programmable keys along one side? They could be set to be the accented characters you us the most, or just be extra buttons for games.

 

[A_SN]

The very single reason I don't want a physical keyboard (only touchscreen) is because I need some foreign letters. Yes, I know you can use a "special"-key to get what you want, but when you use æ,ø, å in every sentence, maybe upto two-three times in a sentence, it gets annoying.

Then have a tiny on-screen keyboard for only these special keys, aduh.

Maybe an extra row of four or five programmable keys along one side? They could be set to be the accented characters you us the most, or just be extra buttons for games.

Personally I have no idea how technically we could make that happen, but the idea's nice I guess.

 

[Squidge]

I think the best thing is to simply allow multi-key combinations for special characters (eg. keyboard contains the usual qwerty setup, but if you use alt+certain keys, it gives you the special/accented versions).

Since the keyboard will be another input device for Linux, I don't see any harm in allowing the user the customise his keymap in software. Eg. 'A' gives 'A', but alt+'a' gives å, or you could remap one of the keys so a single press of it (without alt) gives å.

 

[Goity]

I think we should have a keyboard with the entirety of the windows character map allocated to a different button. Not to mention every symbol in musical notation, once sibelius is ported. Seriously, without this function I would not buy the console; I need a crotchet key!

 

[Tobriand]

I think the best thing is to simply allow multi-key combinations for special characters (eg. keyboard contains the usual qwerty setup, but if you use alt+certain keys, it gives you the special/accented versions).

Since the keyboard will be another input device for Linux, I don't see any harm in allowing the user the customise his keymap in software. Eg. 'A' gives 'A', but alt+'a' gives å, or you could remap one of the keys so a single press of it (without alt) gives å.

And if you want to really impress the non-anglocentric world, you could include a "primary input language" option in the settings which automatically sets up such a keymap, preferably displaying it onscreen just so you know what it's currently set to.

Could look pretty, and pretty things sell.

 

[God Ginrai]

I think the best thing is to simply allow multi-key combinations for special characters (eg. keyboard contains the usual qwerty setup, but if you use alt+certain keys, it gives you the special/accented versions).

Since the keyboard will be another input device for Linux, I don't see any harm in allowing the user the customise his keymap in software. Eg. 'A' gives 'A', but alt+'a' gives å, or you could remap one of the keys so a single press of it (without alt) gives å.

Wouldn't it be better to have a new key that isn't already predisposed to do different things on OSes than alt? Like a 2nd key, or something to that effect. It would do the same thing, but Alt would be free to do other things, and any programs that were ported that have Alt+whatever shortcuts can still be used.

-God Ginrai

 

[realyst]

Wouldn't it be better to have a new key that isn't already predisposed to do different things on OSes than alt? Like a 2nd key, or something to that effect. It would do the same thing, but Alt would be free to do other things, and any programs that were ported that have Alt+whatever shortcuts can still be used.

-God Ginrai

(Look, see I don't have to quote the whole thing, just the relevant text. Neat, huh?)

Alt has always been used to select special characters. That also hasn't stopped it for being used for other things. No program worth its salt uses Alt+#key for a shortcut as keyboard controllers have that reserved.