Pressure-sensitive keyboard | Hacker News Reader

Pressure-sensitive keyboard

procrastineering.blogspot.com

23 pointsmark_h12 comments

So when I'm angry it can TYPE IN ALL CAPS AUTOMATICALLY!

Other than that, adding pressure sensitivity to a keyboard isn't innovation, finding a good use for it is.

It's good for games.

I can also see a use for keyboard shortcuts: Press lightly to delete a letter, a little harder a word, harder still a line, and really hard for a paragraph.

4 levels of modulation might be too much for accurate use, but three should be workable.

I can think of modulating auto-repeat. But not much more...

Maybe it could be used to reduce typos--when I mistakenly hit "K" on my way to "P", I bet I do it with less force (at least most of the time).

You might want to just try a different brand of regular keyboard--different models require different amounts of force to register a keystroke.

It's not a computer keyboard, but there is a good use for this that's been around for years - midi piano keyboards.

MIDI keyboards taught me that this channel is very hard to use effectively, even with tons of keyboarding experience. It's cute, but I'd need a lot of convincing it's very useful.

I would save up system notifications, so when you're really in the swing of typing and REALLY FURIOUS, your system would freeze momentarily and a cheerful avatar would popup and ask you about updating your antivirus program or tell you you have unused icons on your desktop.

hehehe.

My Windows box already does that.

I see several subtle uses for this in day-to-day applications. When holding down the arrow keys, it would be nice if my cursor moved faster if I was pressing harder. Same with any key repetition. Right now, repeat speed is time sensitive, so if I'm backspacing to delete an entire paragraph, I need to wait a few seconds for it to speed up. Then I have to time it just right to prevent overshooting and deleting more than my target paragraph.

Another practical use--I wish my Tivo remote had pressure-sensitive keys. I could zip forward then gradually back off as I approach the end of my commercial block. Just like one of those professional video editing systems, where the operator has total control of how slowly/quickly they can zip through the video.

They should get rid of the "typing harder makes your letters bigger" part of the demo. It made me cringe.

The "low-resolution multitouch" thing was interesting. I would really like a keyboard that doubles as a touchpad. I want a mouse closer to my fingers. (but I hate the nub)

I really want to play a game of Thief: The Dark Project with this setup!

I love that game.

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