Plover: Thought to Text at 240 WPM

Stenography might also be an option: [link] Here's a video by the stenographer half of the duo that started the project: ▶ this video

in “One year with Colemak” · View on HN

There is an open source stenography project called "Plover". The idea of stenotype is instead of typing individual letters one combines keys to form sillables (or commands), what makes typing blazingly fast (240 WPM in the video below) and is overall a less cramped movement, because after each sillable you can relax instead of keeping muscles tensed for each letter. [link] Talk: ▶ this video Demo: [link]

in “DataHand” · View on HN

It honestly surprises me that the evolution of ergonomic keyboards has been so slow. Sure, we have plenty of split keyboards now, but we don't have any commercially available DataHand-like designs [1]. Watch someone type with a DataHand you'll see that they barely need to move their fingers at all [2]! The best similarly ergonomic designs we have at the moment are a gaming keypad [3] and some DYI projects [4]. [1] [link] [2] [link] [3] [link] [4] [link] see also [link] ---- On another note, does anybody know how good steno keyboards tend to be for RSI issues in the long run? I've practiced some steno with a regular keyboard (thanks to plover [5] and Typey Type [6]), but I'd need an actual steno keyboard to continue since I don't have N-key rollover on my current keyboard. The Georgi [7] seems like a good option and I'd imagine that it would be pretty good for ergonomics since it's a split design and also rather small. The only problem is that I'd have to learn steno which will likely take quite some time. Here's a demo of someone writing code with a steno keyboard (54 keystrokes needed vs 143 if you were using QWERTY) [8]. [5] [link] [6] [link] [7] [link] [8] ▶ this video

in “Fast Typing: Keyboard Layouts” · View on HN

If you really want to take the "Learn to type fast" advice to heart you can get a Georgi keyboard [1] and spend a few months learning stenography [2]. That can get you typing at above 200 WPM! (but it does require a significant amount of time to learn) [1] [link] [2] ▶ this video

in “Time is the only real currency we have” · View on HN

> I imagine writers have it even worse than programmers. Well, I dunno about that. One of the major projects I'm currently working with, has over 130K lines of Clojure (tests excluded), and that is not too big of a project. I'm too lazy to figure out the proper way to count "words" in that project `wc` shows over 5M. In comparison - "War and Peace" [technically] is ten times smaller. Programmers do type a lot. Possibly, way more than writers have to. And that's just code. Have you ever thought about how much typing happens outside of coding? When reviewing PRs, replying to emails, etc. That is why every single programmer must invest into choosing the right keyboard; learning how to maintain a proper posture; maybe learn non-traditional ways to input text - Vim and Emacs keybindings; try Stenographic input¹; Speech recognition², etc. Because when they don't - sooner or later they end up having problems: back and neck pain, headaches, RSI, hemorrhoids. --- ¹ ▶ this video ² [link]

in “Taika Waititi Calls Out Apple's MacBook Keyboard Backstage at the Oscars” · View on HN

There actually is a modern (almost) equivalent of the DataHand called the Azeron gamepad [1], and there are some DIY 3D printed DataHand replicas too [2][3]. If you want to type really fast (>200 WPM) and don't mind a VERY steep learning curve, then getting a $95 Georgi keyboard [4] and learning steno [5] is probably the way to go. [1]: [link] [2]: [link] [3]: [link] [4]: [link] [5]: ▶ this video

in “Sherbet: An Ergonomic Gaming Keypad” · View on HN

Tho it's not the same person, there are some talks by the Open Steno / Plover people, e.g.: ▶ this video , e.g. at 6:30 or so (edit: also one on the bottom of the "about" page)

in “Open Steno Project: Bringing Stenography to Everyone” · View on HN

You can - if 150 wpm is what you speak, with Plover and training you can reach 120-225 wpm on a qwerty keyboard with NKRO capability. But it's indeed steno (on a regular keyboard). With regular strokes and autocomplete you might reach 70 wpm or more ▶ this video

in “Speech Is 3x Faster Than Typing for English and Mandarin on Mobile Devices” · View on HN

Some things I wish: - I could write on paper and have that sent to a document on the computer as if it was typed out. Something like those digital pens do, but actually ocr the text. - To learn Stenography ( ▶ this video )

in “Handwriting vs. typing: is the pen still mightier than the keyboard?” · View on HN

programming at the speed of thought; vim at 240 wpm ▶ this video I wonder any of the Pycon 2013 participants try to learn plover and what their experiences were, perhaps they even read this topic on HN? I'm already very proficient at dvorak typing (with the regular vim bindings), so I'm not sure if the 30% speed increase would justify taking 3 to 6 months of learning this, it'd be cool for substituting your speech with a text to speech engine, and with openeeg recognition one step closer to cyborghood. It's also nice to just have the skill to transcribe human speech real time and being able to apply for jobs in politics, justice or television. For example, here's an interview with the dutch transcriber in Dutch parliament: [link] I wonder if the steno chording could be optimized significantly by rearranging the keys and layout in a similar way as dvorak did with qwerty. Perhaps T9/autoexpand with Linux can be just as fast, but it cannot be used blind, can it? [link] [link]

in “Plover: Thought to Text at 240 WPM (2013) [video]” · View on HN

I never knew something like this was possible, very cool. One (unrelated) part of the Q&A saddens me, the fallacy that an open source project cannot be commercially successful: ▶ this video

in “Plover: Thought to Text at 240 WPM (2013) [video]” · View on HN