QWERTY keyboards have been round for nicely over 100 years, and whether or not optimum or not, have change into the de facto customary for pc textual content enter. As a substitute, chording keyboards help you effectively “kind” characters with one hand, holding fingers in a single place by recognizing combos of key presses. The idea is much like how a number of inputs are used to type a single chord in musical devices.
As reported right here, in the event you’d like to do this enter technique, Rob Miles has the answer within the type of his PICO Chord keyboard. The system is managed by a Raspberry Pi Pico working a CircuitPython program that scans the keys and sends them over a USB connection to a pc, in a 3D-printed case that homes six keys and a four-digit, 14-segment show. Every key swap includes a NeoPixel LED for standing indication, and can be utilized collectively to kind capital and decrease case textual content, in addition to numbers and different symbols.
As proven one’s hand nominally rests on 5 of the keys for traditional character entry, whereas the sixth key might be pressed for capitalization and additional performance. The keyboard is configured for right-handed utilization, however a customizable CAD file and a typically open format signifies that the identical idea may very well be modified for lefties – or the rest you may think about. There’s even a recreation and text-based assist performance to help you getting began.
Code and extra information for the construct might be discovered on GitHub.
