The Pandora's keyboard, issues/recommendations/modding


asdfffdsa

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Hello,


I recently purchased a Pandora Rebirth edition. I'm still getting things sorted out on the software end due to my terrible internet connection (americuhhh...), so I can't rightly comment on that yet, but the hardware is quite amazing. However, this post isn't about my general impressions of the Pandora, but rather just the keyboard. The keyboard is really the only notable issue I have with the Pandora (and I'm specifically referring to thumb typing). I bring up the following two things not because I want to complain or condemn, but rather because (a) I hope my constructive criticism may assist in the development of Pandora 2 and ( B) I'm wondering if there are any potential mods I can do to remedy my situation:


(1) an issue: key stiffness


My main issue with the keyboard is that the keys feel quite stiff to me. The amount of force one needs to use to depress a key and the vertical distance that needs to be traveled seems quite excessive for a keyboard. Not only does this slow me down considerably and result in "unreceptive strokes" when compared to other UMPCs, but only after a few days of use I've started re-experiencing RSI symptoms that I haven't been plagued with for some time now. At first I thought this would be a deal breaker for me (it being my primary input interface and all), but afterwards it became clear that there's really no other UMPC that compares to the Pandora when all of its other advantages are taken together--even if you're not a gamer. Still, I can't help but feel I have to convey this concern to the community.


For example, if one compares the keyboard to something like the UMID MBook M1 x86 UMPC (which I also own), there is quite a significant contrast in the stress on the thumbs, the reliability of actually getting a successful key stroke, and the speed at which one can thumb type. This is not to say other aspects of the UMID M1's keyboard aren't questionable, or that there isn't anything I like about the Pandora's keyboard (the secondary function placements on the Pandora seem like they're optimized for command line usage and perhaps even programming, which is a great thing as far as I'm concerned).


So with this said I'm hoping reducing key stiffness will be considered for the Pandora 2.


In addition, does anyone know of any mods that can be done to reduce key stiffness on the Pandora Rebirth Edition?


(2) a recommendation for the Pandora 2 pertaining to the placement of modifier keys:


In just about every keyboard I've come across on a UMPC, the modifier keys (Fn, shift, alt, control) are located in the lower left and right corners. This has always confused me since typing on UMPCs is 99.9% of the time in the form of thumb typing. The lower corners are the most difficult, "damaging," and frustrating places to get to with one's thumbs, and since modifier keys are both (a) used very frequently (due to the inherently limited keyboard space on UMPCs) and ( B) are almost always held until the pressing of another key, putting them in the lower corners is a significant stress on the thumbs.


Of course, this doesn't have to be so. With the aforementioned UMID M1 (keyboard pictured here http://www.ladiesgadgets.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/umid-m1-mini-notebook-computer-available-at-dynamism1.jpg ), I ended up remapping the Escape, Backspace, and =/+ keys to modifier keys. The stress on the fingers was greatly reduced, the speed at which I could type was increased, and the frequency of having to maneuver my fingers into weird contortions was lessened. I've used the UMID M1 this way for several years and I've never looked back.


For this reason, I highly recommend that the design team consider putting the modifier keys immediately below the gamepad controls of the Pandora 2--on the left and right (far enough away that they don't obstruct the gamepad of course). While there may be the concern of making standard "home row" typing considerably more difficult, I have great doubts about the number of people that actually do this, the frequency in which they do it, and the amount of people that are even capable of doing so on such a small device. There is also the criticism that I could personally just remap the modifier keys myself on the Pandora 2 and not bug anyone else with my crazy keyboard layout recommendations, but I honestly think the average person will find themselves better suited this way. I don't think it would be all that confusing to someone accustomed to standard fullsize keyboards to find the modifier keys on the upper left and right rather than the lower left and right.


In a few weeks or so--after I've got the software downloaded and sorted out, I'll put up my general impressions of the Pandora. So far I'm loving the flexibility and range of power consumption options. It just blows my mind when I see an estimated battery life of almost 200 hours in the lower right.
 
Well...you won't get 200 hours of ACTIVE USE...out of the battery, but I'm guessing you knew that.


The key stiffness, yeah, they are a bit stiff...I never minded this myself, until I started playing around with the TRS-80 emu...and tried a little programming in BASIC...and, yeah...sometimes you DO get a keystroke that does not register. Not sure what could be done about it...but I don't generally have a problem...then again, I don't have carpal-tunnel.


I DO have crippling in both hands - in the fingers - due to childhood injury, which makes me unable to type, even on a standard keyboad...using home keys...my fingers just won't move independently of each other...I have developed my own way of typing, which enables me to type, accurately, at 60 WPM, my own way - not home keys.


But with the Pandy...I find, yeah, I am mostly pressing the keyboard keys with thumbs-only...thumb typing, rarely using other fingers...which is NOT the way I use a regular keyboard.


May I suggest typing the way I do with the Pandy??


Hold the device in your fingers...index fingers behnd the LCD screen...the other three fingers under the Pandy itself...and thumbs typing over the sides. This accomplishes two things...well, three, actually...


1. It enables you to consistently use TWO thumbs while typing, making typing go faster...and having to hold one key while pressing another, to do function keys...much easier.


2. Because you have your thumbs over the sides of the Pandy, instead of coming up from the bottom...it reduces the amount of vertical you have to move your thumbs to reach all the keys. It also reduces the "aggravation" of hitting keys on the lowest corners...because your thumbs at rest will come across the middle line of the keyboard.


3. Because you are holding the Pandy with your three fingers underneath..you can shove the Pandy from side-to-side a bit with your fingers...making your horizontal reach with your thumbs a bit less, as well.


Try it!!


Now, forgive the rest, this is me blabbing...


Just my own experience, yours may vary. But I find myself able to even thumb-type at a reasonable speed when programming on SDLTRS, the TRS-80 emu. I was able to type in an 8-line testing program in a matter of less than a minute...


10 cls


20 for x=1 to 200


30 print "One ";


40 next x


50 for y=1 to 200


60 print "Two ";


70 next y


80 goto 20


then run.


This creates an output where "One " is printed in succession 200 times over the screen, then "Two " is printed 200 times, and then it goes back to "One " etc.


Just a little goof Basic program, just to try things out with it.


My point was, just thumb-typing, I was still able to enter all this in less than a minute. Not too bad.


See if my method of thumb-typing helps you out any.


By the way, in my above program, there seem to be about 110 keystrokes. since I did it in just under a minute, I was averaging about 2 keystrokes per second. Far from my top speed normal typing, but not bad for thumb-typing.


P.S. you may have guessed that theTRS-80 was the first computer I ever owned...as a nine year old kid, way back in 1980. Hence why I decided to fool around with it a bit, and hence my ability and knowledge to make the simple BASIC program there. I can't code for crap, but I sure can program in BASIC, LOL!! this is back in the day when we saved our programs on cassette tapes, LOL!! There was no such thing as a hard drive...anyway, I digress.


Try the way I described typing and see if it helps a bit.
 
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Reducing the key stiffness is quite easy. Hit the keys a lot. With use they loosen up.


If you're serious about doing any real typing, I suggest either a mini/full-size bluetooth keyboard (or USB with a 2.0 hub). I have both. A mini I toss in my back-pack and a full-size I use a home. The keypad is great for quick little notes or keying in a few short commands to get a game running, but for marathon typing sessions like coding. Not ideal, and imho not the intended purpose.


If you want to remap keys on the Pandora, you can do that too. Just edit /home/[username]/.pndXmodmap to your liking.Dangerous learning curves ahead there though. Nothing worse that screwing up your keyboard map so bad you can't type anymore. Trust me, I speak from experience. :D
 
P.S. you may have guessed that theTRS-80 was the first computer I ever owned...as a nine year old kid, way back in 1980. Hence why I decided to fool around with it a bit, and hence my ability and knowledge to make the simple BASIC program there. I can't code for crap, but I sure can program in BASIC, LOL!! this is back in the day when we saved our programs on cassette tapes, LOL!! There was no such thing as a hard drive...anyway, I digress.

Have you tried PandaBAS (available NOW on the repo!) - it's probably right up your street, being modelled very closely on the old 8bit BASICs.


D.
 
I did not know about PandaBAS...thanks for pointing it out, I shall have to look!


It isn't that I think BASIC is awesome, wonderful, etc...it isn't. But it really is fun to play around with it, seeing as it was my first computer language...and it is kinda fun to see just how far you can get with it. I have seen some people do things with BASIC that would drop your jaw, not because they are great - by comparison - to what we can do today...but because nobody would have ever thought you could do anything that GOOD...with BASIC.


But let's not hijack this topic, huh? My bad, I started the hijack - let's get back to talking about the Pandy's keyboard, eh??
 
hmc made a topic a bit back about actual physical mods to his panda to make the keyboard feel better. And he really is the demigod of handheld computers - as - tools things.
 
here's that thread Moxie refers to:





The mods I tried to apply were not too helpful for now.


However, the discussion was (is) interesting, and raises some ideas for future improvement.
 
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