That sounds awful though. There’s a reason why touch pads are so unpopular in cars, there’s no tactile feedback to the buttons. Part of learning to type is getting a feel for the keys.
Comment on Split Keyboards Are Superior And The Reason I’m The Writer I Am Today.
PlutoniumAcid@lemmy.world 1 week ago
I was the lucky owner of a rare FingerWorks Touchstream keyboard for many years. If you don’t know it, it’s the precursor to the keyboards used in Star Trek Enterprise.
It’s a keyless keyboard. Two large flat mousepads with a keyboard layout printed on top, and you type by pure touch. There’s no mouse; the surface just cleverly detects when you are doing mouse gestures. Or a lot of other gestures.
Trekkie joke aside, it’s actually the magic tech that made the iPhone possible. Of course Apple didn’t invent anything, they bought existing future tech.
I miss that keyboard. They still sell on ebay, for 1400$!
ArchmageAzor@lemmy.world 1 week ago
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 week ago
You mean I can have all of the worst aspects of modern smart phone keyboards with my desktop? Sign me up!
datendefekt@feddit.org 1 week ago
Many, many moons ago (must have been around 2006?) I managed to procure a FingerWorks. It was magic, like holding a piece of computing history!
It allowed a lot of the gestures we take for granted, to switch applications or workspaces, to go back a page, etc. But it also had really cool stuff. You could bind gestures like twisting your fingers clockwise to open a file (just like opening a jar!) or counterclockwise to close it. Pinch and zoom for copy and paste.
I was only able to get a hold on a Dvorak copy. And because the key labels were printed on the board, you couldn’t really change the layout. Getting used to a split layout, no keys and Dvorak at the same time was too much and I had to sell it again. But I’ve been using split keyboards ever since!
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 week ago
Seems cool but kind of gimmicky (particularly the twist gestures to open files). I’ll take actual tactile feedback over gimmicky features.