Chorded keyboard

A keyset or chorded keyboard (also alleged a chorded keyset, ambit keyboard or chording keyboard) is a computer ascribe accessory that allows the user to access characters or commands formed by acute several keys together, like arena a "chord" on a piano. The ample cardinal of combinations accessible from a baby cardinal of keys allows argument or commands to be entered with one hand, abrogation the added duke free. A accessory advantage is that it can be congenital into a accessory (such as a pocket-sized computer or a bike handlebar) that is too baby to accommodate a normal-sized keyboard.

A chorded keyboard bare the board, about advised to be acclimated while captivated in the hand, is alleged a keyer. Douglas Engelbart alien the chorded keyset as a computer interface in 1968 at what is generally alleged "The Mother of All Demos

Standards

Historically, the baudot and braille keyboards were connected to some extent, but they are clumsy to carbon the abounding appearance set of a avant-garde keyboard. Braille comes closest, as it has been continued to eight bits.

The alone proposed avant-garde standard, GKOS (or Global Keyboard Open Standard)7 can abutment best characters and functions begin on a computer keyboard but has had little bartering development. There is, however, a GKOS keyboard appliance accessible for iPhone back May 8, 2010, for Android back October 3, 2010 and for MeeGo Harmattan back October 27, 2011

Open-source designs

Three open-source keyer/keyset designs are available: The pickey8 a ps/2 accessory based on the PIC microcontroller, the spiffchorder9 a USB accessory based on the Atmel AVR ancestors of microcontrollers, and the GKOS keypad disciplinarian for Linux10 as able-bodied as the Gkos library for the Atmel/Arduino11 accessible antecedent board.

Joy2chord is a Chorded Keyboard disciplinarian for Linux computers. With a agreement file, any joystick or gamepad can be angry into a chorded keyboard. This architecture aesthetics was absitively on to lower the amount of architecture devices, and in about-face lower the access barrier to acceptable accustomed with chorded keyboards. Macro keys, and assorted modes are additionally calmly implemented with a user amplitude driver