On Thu, 16 May 2002, Gary Fisher wrote:

> Having introduced the subject of input, is there any compelling reason the
> Dynabook must be constrained to a conventional QWERTY keyboard?  Obviously,
> the keyboard has already been dispensed with in many PDA applications (3)
> and "virtual keyboards" are common, but if our hope is to conceive a
> Dynabook which combines the maximum flexibility and power with the least
> wasted space, perhaps the work of Engelbart (4) and in particular his
> "chording keyboard" -- which could easily be built into the *sides* of a PDA
> case or a small handheld pendant -- ought again to be considered.

Among general users, again it seems I'm in the minority, at least so I've
gathered in discussions... But I'm a proponent of handwriting recognition.
Not Graffiti (stroke recog), but real, Newton 2100-like HWR.  I can easily
achieve 45+ WPM on my Newton.  A chording keyboard also is something that
has appealed to me, but with which I've had no experience.  I've
considered trying to put something like that together that uses the
buttons of the iPAQ, but it couldn't be chording, it'd have to be in
sequences- but still that may be worth playing with.

Regards,
Aaron

  Aaron Reichow  ::  UMD ACM Pres  ::  http://www.d.umn.edu/~reic0024/
  "civilization is a limitless multiplication of
                unnecessary necessities."                :: mark twain