Regional Keyboards

[Oscaruzzo]

If we did this, would it make you all happy? or is it ?

I would prefer an international (US) keyboard. If you do something like this, PLEASE make it optional (by selling separate extra keymats, for example).

 

[gruso]

I like Edy's idea.

Other than that, I'm not really qualified to have an opinion. I'm in Australia - we only speak American here.

 

[CiderPunk]

i want a £ symbol on shift-3!

 

[mali]

Aaaalso, so wie's im Moment aussieht bekommt die Hauptpandora eine generische (also englische) Tastatur ohne Sonderzeichen.
Ich werde aber deutsches Layout zum Nachkaufen anbieten (für ca. 3 - 5 Euro, also werdet Ihr nicht arm dabei) und später dann wohl auch welche mit vorinstallierter deutscher Tastatur.

Wir sind aber noch nicht ganz durch mit Diskutieren, aber so in die Richtung gehts wohl.

At the moment it looks like Pandora will get a generic(English) keyboard without special characters. But I will offer a German layout for sale(it'll be 3-5€). There will be Pandoras with preinstalled German keyboard later on.
We are still discussing, but it'll go in this direction.
reference link:
http://forum.gp2x.de/viewtopic.php?p=78997#p78997

 

[psychodegu]

Why not using an standard, international keyboard for Pandora, and then providing all region-specific symbols and letters in software?

Imagine just a button (i.e. left trigger) that, while pressed, shows a keyboard drawing overlay (translucent) in the screen with alternate characters on each key. While this button is pressed, the keyboard keys would produce the letters and symbols shown in the overlay. When the button is released, the overlay is hidden and the keyboard would produce its labeled letters and symbols.

Advantages:

• Single keymat, reduced costs.
• Pandora has an unique "physical" identity, being the same letters in the same keys everywhere.
• No limitations of some Pandoras having to be used in a specific regions only.
• Alternate layouts can be easily added as software upgrades. Each customer can use a predefined alternate layout for his region or even modify / create his own.
• Button for displaying the alternate layout is configurable. It could be automatically disabled in full-screen applications (games, emus...).
• Most popular alternate layouts could eventually receive their own physical keymat (i.e. starting at 2nd batch)

Just imagine this feature in normal application usage: web browsing, filling forms, writing emails, instant messenger... a button and an alternate layout appear displayed translucent on screen with the letters for user's region, the button is released and the layout dissapears. Eventually the user would know where the most used letters are, so even the alternate layout drawing could be configured not to appear (or appear after a time the activation button being hold).

I believe this would be a good solution for everyone.
What do you think?

[edited for spelling]


This is exactly what I was hoping the pandora team would do.

Granted, I'm from the U.S.A. and I have little use for the other "region specific" symbols, but I don't want to see a really cluttered keyboard. Oh and I hope its still get QWERTY, because thats what I was expecting to begin with.

 

[joa]

Remember you won't be able to touch type on the pandora keyboard in the same way you can with a full sized keyboard. They could be mapped anywhere and i woul get used to it.

Don't regionalise the keyboard - please.

 

[Consequence_9]

Aaaalso, so wie's im Moment aussieht bekommt die Hauptpandora eine generische (also englische) Tastatur ohne Sonderzeichen.
Ich werde aber deutsches Layout zum Nachkaufen anbieten (für ca. 3 - 5 Euro, also werdet Ihr nicht arm dabei) und später dann wohl auch welche mit vorinstallierter deutscher Tastatur.

Wir sind aber noch nicht ganz durch mit Diskutieren, aber so in die Richtung gehts wohl.

At the moment it looks like Pandora will get a generic(English) keyboard without special characters. But I will offer a German layout for sale(it'll be 3-5€). There will be Pandoras with preinstalled German keyboard later on.
We are still discussing, but it'll go in this direction.
reference link:
http://forum.gp2x.de/viewtopic.php?p=78997#p78997

good, maybe we can put this to rest. Maybe make a few different layouts to satisfy those who would otherwise not be, of course region-specific ones, and possibly some in other styles/colors/opacity.

It would be a good idea to make them available for those who are willing to pay.

 

[maciek_urbanski]

Aaaalso, so wie's im Moment aussieht bekommt die Hauptpandora eine generische (also englische) Tastatur ohne Sonderzeichen.
Ich werde aber deutsches Layout zum Nachkaufen anbieten (für ca. 3 - 5 Euro, also werdet Ihr nicht arm dabei) und später dann wohl auch welche mit vorinstallierter deutscher Tastatur.

Wir sind aber noch nicht ganz durch mit Diskutieren, aber so in die Richtung gehts wohl.

At the moment it looks like Pandora will get a generic(English) keyboard without special characters. But I will offer a German layout for sale(it'll be 3-5€). There will be Pandoras with preinstalled German keyboard later on.
We are still discussing, but it'll go in this direction.
reference link:
http://forum.gp2x.de/viewtopic.php?p=78997#p78997

You just made my day Mali, big THX for translating this.

I will be getting may Pandora after all. B)

 

[fishwich]

Edy's idea would be great if someone got that working well.

this post has made me curious if there has been any interest in pandora from people in countries that don't use the latin alphabet. Japan or Korea?

Personally I don't care about the layout of the keyboard, but I see how having it standard across countries could have its advantages.

 

[fettouhi]

I think this would be fantastic if we could get regional keyboard layouts later on.

Regards

André

 

[adtbm]

ED and the devs ARE the greatest ! Thank you !

As far as i copied their conversation they will hopefully ship the Pandora with a QWERTY Keyboard without ANY special regional Characters and make regional keymats available at a later stage.

I think with this everybody should be happy and the Threads with " I cancel my preorder if my Pandora doesn't have a .... (<- Enter you language here) keyboard Layout" will hopefully stop.

I don't have a problem to buy a localized keymat and i highly appreciate how the DEVs are reacting to the communities input !!!!! Even at this stage of manufacturing.

Now let"s see when the next posts will start, that it takes some people to long. <_<

 

[Mutilator]

i live in the uk and use a US layout keyboard never had any issues here so if it was standard i would be happy. maybe this can be changed on later batches dont really think its that much of a big deal as you want to get the handheld out there

 

[hells_dark]

I'm french, we have azerty keyboards with éèà, etc..
But the simple qwerty will be perfect for what i want to do.

 

[Bronek]

Standard keyboard : no diacritic characters at all, but pls include few more currency symbols than just $

Optional keymat : whatever you fancy, I won't buy one (because I am not used to non-English keyboards). I think you will be able to sell popular ones, e.g. apparently French and German are used to their own layout on PC keyboards. I suppose your distributors are sending the right signals, you just need not let these signals distort the "standard" product ...

 

[Kimundi]

Just make it a standard English Layout without any region specific keys, and provide region specific layouts for a small adidtional cost. This way, everyone has the same keyboard to begin with, but is free to change it.

EDIT: And I say that althought I'm German...

 

[MiniSinisterMinister]

I am from Germany and I am in favour of a standard layout for everyone. Later on, if some language groups still think that a different layout is worth the effort it would take them and the developers, they should demand one to be made as a spare part from Openpandora.

I think that very few Germans will still want one after having used the standard layout for a while. I have a German law text in front of me: on average there are one or two special characters in each sentence, every sixth word contains a special character, the ratio is maybe 1:29. I guess the speed gain in typing would be minimal on such a small keyboard if you could press a single button instead of a button combination. From my point of view it is more of a psychological issue than a practical one. "Oh no, this layout looks slightly different from what I am used to! It cannot be practical!"

 

[valhalla]

From my point of view it is more of a psychological issue than a practical one. "Oh no, this layout looks slightly different from what I am used to! It cannot be practical!"

Every layout will be different from what we are used to, since there are less keys than on a standard keyboard.

Standard keyboard : no diacritic characters at all, but pls include few more currency symbols than just $

currency symbols? $ is not a currency symbol, it's "end of line" or "value of variable"

anyway, with compose $ can be used to mean "currency", i.e. compose+$+e -> €, compose+$+Y -> ¥, etc.

 

[mali]

From my point of view it is more of a psychological issue than a practical one.

Yep, from your point of view. And don't speak for the rest of the Germans.
Anyway, ED has said what he had to say and the discussion is over.

English layout for all(very super hyper likely, at least).

 

[kattle87]

Italy here. I admit that using non-english simbols like àèéìòù would be really usefull, but I've seen that the compose key would be an easy and neat way to cope with them. I think it's also better than Alt-GR.
Then, for the next batches, if you are willing to, an italian keyboard might be very appreciated by someone and completely ignored by someone else.

BTW: my idea is that you could sell localized keymat from local distributors. This way you could make the buyer pay a little more but he will probably be willing to pay more (EG: we should get one distributor here in Italy after this batch. This will mean paying in € instead of $ or £, lower postage, and so on)

 

[Monk]

Standardised please, One Layout To Rule Them All. ONE standarrd for software authors rather than ten. Twenty. Or... :shudder:

I'm English and AFAICS the standard layout will NOT suit me best*, but I haven't previously whinged or whined for various reasons - most important of which, I believe, is this:

If we don't trust the international group of enthusiasts calling themselves "OpenPandora" to be able to design a reasonable keyboard layout, WHAT ON EARTH has possessed us to expect them to be able to design, manufacture, and deliver the rest of the unit to the extent that many of us (myself included) have paid hundreds of pounds cash-up-front?

Obviously, we're either clinically insane or CraigX, Evil Draon, MWeston, fussy Dave et al just MIGHT be able to design and make this thing. If they're up to designing the rest of the box why not give them the "benefit of the doubt" on the keyboard layout?

Ta,

Monk

*One of my major uses for the Pandora is as a "super-GP2X F200", especially in BBC Micro emulating. Many BBC Micro games use "Caps Lock" and "Ctrl" as opposing directional keys. I expect any BBC Micro emulator will provide remapping capabilities to largely overcome that issue though, and my son and I will simply have to get used to it. They're fitting a lot of power into a small space - it's going to be cramped. There will be compromises.

**Why are people fussing over this when the keyboard layout isn't even finished yet? Well - if I can swap hats for a moment and play the opposing side, it's probably because the keyboard layout isn't finished yet. Once the keyboard layout IS finished, they may perceive that they would get more resistance to getting it changed E.G. "Thanks mate, but the keyboard layout has been finalised - you should have said something earlier" may be the response they expect.