Updating The Stenomod To Become The Input Device To Rule Them All

[Steven Tammen]

Updating The Stenomod To Become The Input Device To Rule Them All

First of all, mad props to Charley and Ted for all the progress that’s gone on. I haven’t kept up with steno and Plover very well because I’ve been so busy in college, but I was absolutely blown away when I saw Mirabai’s link to a review of the Stenomod. I know it has existed for a while, but I’d never really gotten around to taking a good look at it in use.

Now, onto the discussion of things I think could make the Stenomod. (Warning: long).

I want to make it clear that not everyone is likely to agree with what I have to say. As a classically-styled steno-only machine, the Stenomod looks just about perfect. If that’s the only market Charley wants to fill, then I suppose everything I have to say is for naught. However, I’d appreciate it if people would hear me out anyway.

The information below will be organized into four categories:

1. Things that I think would improve Stenomod’s use in Steno

2. Things that would enable crossover use as a keyboard

3. Steno improvements arising from the above

4. Practical reasons for having a combined input device

I. Things that I think would improve Stenomod’s use in Steno

1) The addition of extension pinky keys on the left side. (Left side equivalents to -D and -Z).

Not everyone would make use of them, but for people who want a consistent way to handle capitalization, they are the most obvious solution. I have some (very) rough thoughts up about this on my website — essentially, how to split up the functions of the asterisk key to make everything consistent and logical.

2) Adoption of something like Ted’s awesome 3D printed keycaps as standard. Or at least the option of ordering just the keyboard without the standard keycaps for those of us who want to do stuff like this.

I would push for adding concavity front-to-back as well as side-to-side (e.g., like the Kinesis Advantage). Our fingers do not move in straight lines when we flex or extend them, so it only makes sense to accommodate their actual paths of movement.

Of course, in steno, keys are actuated not with individual finger movements, but with whole hand movements. This probably means the angles ought to be kept a bit more tame, since a large part of the force for each stroke will be vertical. It also means the actual key-switches ought to be kept straight up and down since that way they will always be in the direction of the actuating force.

Finally, unlike typing where the “home position” is a row of keys, in steno, the “home position” is exactly between the two rows of steno keys. The slant ought to be designed accordingly.

All of this key-angle stuff should be able to be accomplished through keycaps alone (rather than having to use slanted key-switch orientation, curved PCB’s, etc.).

I’d be interested in hearing other people’s thoughts on slanted keys and steno.

3) Offsetting the height of the finger columns according to hand morphology (like the Kinesis Advantage again).

4) Offsetting the vertical stagger of the finger columns according to hand morphology (like the Ergodox and Kinesis Advantage). This is most important for the pinky, which is more offset (relatively speaking) than the other fingers in a relaxed hand position.

All production steno machines that I am aware of arrange their keys in an ortholinear grid without vertical differences between fingers. Is there a reason for this that I’m not aware of, perhaps? (Outside of ease of fabrication).

II. Things that would enable crossover use as a keyboard

1) The addition of keys on the top row and left side (the same left keys mentioned above). See the picture below: the blue keys are the ones that would need to be added to be able to effectively type text on a layout the uses the same letterspace as QWERTY, and the green keys are the ones that I think should also be added to accommodate more layouts, like the one I use. The green keys would also give QWERTY folks the option to have keys like Backspace, Enter, and so forth.

The keyboard layout I use:

2) The option to output normal scancodes for keyboard emulation (Rather than TX bolt) when “keyboard mode” is activated.

V. Steno improvements arising from the above

1) Faster and more efficient spelling of unfamiliar words (i.e., elimination of finger-spelling). With an entrance stroke, unfamiliar words would not need to be fingerspelled, but could be typed out just like on a normal keyboard. I’m certainly no pro at fingerspelling, but I’d wager that it’s top speed tops out significantly lower than most people’s typing speeds (and especially for people who touch-type at or above 100 WPM). Typing out words like this is also much more intuitive.

2) The ability to use full Vim bindings when text editing rather than creating strokes for everything. (Some people might prefer the strokes for ease of memorization, but pressing individual keys will always require less hand movement overall, at least for the keys on the letter layer of the keyboard). It at least gives people the option of choosing.

3) The ability to use a chorded number entry method (that still allows for single-stroke entry of not only 0-9, but 0-99 and 0.00 to 0.99 as well). Here is one such system that I thought might work:

Layout in “Steno Mode”

Layout when “Number Mode” is getting activated (i.e., on the first stroke). One of the number mode keys is present in the stroke, transforming the function of many keys.

Layout when Number Mode is fully active

The reverse thumb key on either side flips the “steno order” of the number keys pressed, unless it’s just one key, in which case it doubles it. The exit mode key can be included in a stroke to revert to Steno Mode. The enter and tab keys can be included in strokes to allow for rapid number entry if necessary.

Example: writing the number 4650.34 in two strokes, beginning and ending in Steno Mode.

Stroke 1

Stroke 2

All of this would not be possible without the additional keys mentioned above. Now, of course, such a system does not currently exist, and even if it did, not everyone would use it, but it does present at least one physical example of how the keys could prove useful to steno itself.

IV. Practical reasons for having a combined input device

1) Portability. Sometimes you want a keyboard, and sometimes you want a stenotype. For those of us who don’t like shoddy laptop keyboards, adding a stenotype to our carry rotation entails carrying around two external input devices… which has meant for me that I never carry my stenotype (a first version SOFT/HRUF) with me. Because I’m away from home almost all the time, I haven’t had the luxury of practicing nearly as much as I would like. Having my keyboard and stenotype combined into one would solve this particular dilemma.

2) Giving other people the option to use a keyboard with your computer. Sometimes your friend needs to use your computer, you are pair-programming, etc. Having only steno hooked up can make this difficult unless all people in your social circle are proficient stenographers (?!). I suppose this isn’t a big deal if you’re super possessive with your computer, but for most of us, this is a factor that must be taken into consideration.

3) It’s less stuff to buy. Keyboards and stenotypes are not cheap, particularly the well-designed variety. If all it takes to make a stenotype touch-typing ready (assuming people are comfortable with layers) is adding a few keys, why not do it out of philosophical minimalism? (I.e., using things for multiple purposes if possible to minimize the number of things you have to own and maintain).

I could go on, but this is plenty to start. I’d be interested to hear other people’s ideas and opinions on all of this stuff, particularly those of people much more experienced than me, and those people who have experience building their own stenotypes. Of course, I'd also like to hear Charley's thoughts on this, since it is his project. (Pretty please agree with me?)

[Jennifer Brien]

On Friday, 4 August 2017 01:26:16 UTC+1, Steven Tammen wrote:

IV. Practical reasons for having a combined input device

1) Portability. Sometimes you want a keyboard, and sometimes you want a stenotype. For those of us who don’t like shoddy laptop keyboards, adding a stenotype to our carry rotation entails carrying around two external input devices… which has meant for me that I never carry my stenotype (a first version SOFT/HRUF) with me. Because I’m away from home almost all the time, I haven’t had the luxury of practicing nearly as much as I would like. Having my keyboard and stenotype combined into one would solve this particular dilemma.

2) Giving other people the option to use a keyboard with your computer. Sometimes your friend needs to use your computer, you are pair-programming, etc. Having only steno hooked up can make this difficult unless all people in your social circle are proficient stenographers (?!). I suppose this isn’t a big deal if you’re super possessive with your computer, but for most of us, this is a factor that must be taken into consideration.

3) It’s less stuff to buy. Keyboards and stenotypes are not cheap, particularly the well-designed variety. If all it takes to make a stenotype touch-typing ready (assuming people are comfortable with layers) is adding a few keys, why not do it out of philosophical minimalism? (I.e., using things for multiple purposes if possible to minimize the number of things you have to own and maintain).

All good reasons, but there are two ways of thinking about it: 

1. As a steno keyboard with improved fingerspelling
2. As a 'normal' keyboard that uses Plover as a text expander.

Perhaps the latter is an easier entry point: use it as a keyboard with your existing skills, and add whatever Plover strokes you need as you need them. 

Could that done in software for any NKRO keyboard? Keycodes are passed through unchanged unless a potential Plover stroke is detected. The simplest and most ergonomic way to do that I think (so long as Plover strokes are not the majority of your input) is to define a plover stroke as a chord on any of the Plover-assigned keys that also includes the spacebar. In other words, stroke as in normal Plover, but including the spacebar with the unemployed part of your thumbs (I find I often do that accidentally anyway.)

This is a variation on the SpaceFN mod discussed in Geekhack.

 

 

[Steven Tammen]

Hey, that's a good idea! I hadn't thought about enabling steno with a keyboard layout active over NKRO, but now that you mention it, it makes a lot of sense.

With respect to keyboard layouts, I've been using SpaceFN in an extended sense for a while now for modifiers on the home row (Lydell's AHK Library called Dual is quite good, and enables this). I crunched the numbers on leader keys (press one key then another) vs. modifier keys (hold down one key and press another) and under normal keystream parameters, leader keys will always be as fast or faster than modifier keys (there are certain situations where they are basically the same, such as no same-finger for either key). This is because in the modifier situation, you technically aren't pressing the keys at the same time (like a stroke in steno), but rather pressing down the modifier key, pressing down the key that's being modified, releasing the key that's being modified, then releasing the modifier key. In other words, order matters.

What you are suggesting is different, though, and better. If you just stroke as normal, all that matters is what keys are down at the same time before release. I would actually hypothesize that you could extend your idea to the other thumb keys (which could have things other than space). For these keys, you could have them function as normal (e.g., holding down backspace by itself repeats backspace), but turn into vowels when held down with other keys.

If we take this idea and run with it, here's how I would adapt the layout I currently type on:

It doesn't matter where Q goes on the right because it's never part of rolls (since it is always followed by U), and moving K to a thumb is actually an improvement over an extended diagonal index position (minus the shift same-finger, which is bad).

If steno actually could be accessed along with the keyboard layout, punctuation and symbols on the keyboard layout would be completely unnecessary since you could just use the punctuation strokes from steno. Similarly, you could just use "leader strokes" for modifiers like Ctrl, Ctrl+Alt, Ctrl+Shift, etc., so you could lose the modifier keys as well. Same thing for, Enter, Tab, Del, Esc, Caps Lock, and so forth.

The key I have labeled "Steno" could be used to return you to "steno mode" (meaning you could use single key briefs again, e.g.). The keys I have labeled "Temp Brief" above (the ones by the vowels) could be used to store the last word, two words, etc. that you typed in "keyboard mode" so that you would only have to fingerspell things once rather than repeatedly (pressing them would store the recent word(s) and return you to steno mode). They could be accessed by the number row keys on the right side in a single stroke when in steno mode:

The idea I had with numbers would actually work just fine on Charley's key layout as well (I don't know how I missed it before; the mechanics of first stroke vs. subsequent strokes would work just the same):

I also here readjusted the ordering of the numbers to conform to Benford's Law, which predicts the probability of a given digit appearing first, second, etc. in a string of data. In other words, this configuration will match steno order the best out of any configuration of numbers.

A similar concept to the "initial stroke" of number mode can be applied to easily get access to up to 99 macros (you could make 1-12 the function keys, F1-F12):

None of this would require any tweaking of Charley's key layout; what he has right now would work just great if someone made NKRO firmware that could be activated alongside stenography (minus single key briefs).

Would this be possible to implement inside Plover/the firmware? (Ted? Benoit?)

S.

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[Charley Shattuck]

Hi Steven,

I only just saw this. I've been forgetting to check this group lately. Thanks for the props! Sorry to say though, I don't agree.

I like to keep things as simple as I can. I want my steno machine to do one thing, steno. I don't want to have to remember how to configure it, I just want it to work when I plug it in. When I want to type with qwerty, I'll use my qwerty keyboard.

As for changing the firmware in stenomod, you certainly can do that. But be aware that all the number keys are electrically connected as if they were one key. The hardware won't let you use them independently. Same for the asterisk keys.

I think you could get what you want from something like the Planck or the Gherkin though. There's been a lot of talk about those keyboards in the Discord chat.

Charley.

[Steven Tammen]

Thanks for getting around to looking, Charley.

Like I prefaced everything with, this is obviously your project. I think what you're saying makes sense too: focusing on one thing lets you do that one thing very well, and of course keeps production costs down.

I have taken a look at the Planck (and another very similar keyboard -- the Diverge TM2). The Planck is great except it's not split (which is a deal-breaker for me -- I'm tall and have very broad shoulders). The Diverge TM2 is great except the thumb key placement does not allow for steno. Of course, neither ships stock with G20 keycaps either.

All this to say, I think there's a place for the input device I've described in the market (a cross-over keyboard/stenotype hybrid), even if the Stenomod is not the device to fill it. I'd still be happy to hear people's thoughts about anything I mentioned (particularly about keycap shaping for steno, full-blown typing instead of finger-spelling, and chorded number entry).

[Ted Morin]

I learned on an ErgoDox which worked well as a hybrid. I would switch between steno and typing pretty frequently. However, at one point it became more seamless to just stay in steno than have to switch in and out to type, even if fingerspelling is technically somewhat slower. There is a large context switch to go between the two, but it may be worth it for some types of people. (My brain being somewhat poor at context switching between steno and typing w.r.t. spelling vs phonetics and typing vs stroking)

I think that trying to innovate on making steno better at handling keyboard-optimized tasks has been more my focus since I switched to stenography cold turkey. I definitely agree with the principle of doing one thing well.

A good hybrid split mechanical keyboard that is a little smaller than the ErgoDox is the Let's Split: https://gist.github.com/nicinabox/3582fc89470a3f4efc9ed194f12fabfb It has the right number of keys for a full steno machine.

And thought it's not split, I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on a Planck Light, I think it could do great things: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw1oJP-Rj0o&feature=youtu.be One of the advantages of not being split is portability (which the hinged stenomod does a good job at finding a compromise for)

I also think that a hybrid machine is really good for learners -- nothing better than to always have steno close at hand to squeeze in practice anytime you can. Keeping a separate machine for learning means friction. Having to have both devices on your desk or having to carry them around might make it harder to practice.

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[Steven Tammen]

Thanks for your thoughts, Ted. 

The Let's Split keyboard is exactly the sort of the thing I was looking for. To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure how I never came across it before (since I've been semi-active in the DIY mechanical keyboard community for a while). Adding Gateron clears and G20 keycaps could make this a worthy hybrid contender.

Since you know a fair bit about keyboards it seems, what do you think of carrying some of the ergonomic keyboard design features into steno? In particular:

1) Having variable key height depending on the finger.

2) Having column stagger (like the Ergodox), particularly for the pinky.

3) Having shaped keywells (like the Dactyl Keyboard or Kinesis Advantage).

Would these features transfer over well? Is there some reason why almost all stenotypes are composed of flat ortholinear grids? How did your 3D printed keycaps end up working out?

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[Ted Morin]

1) Having variable key height depending on the finger.

3) Having shaped keywells (like the Dactyl Keyboard or Kinesis Advantage).

I’m very good at pressing chords now and a property of this is that my fingers are all on a flat plane. I’m not sure how good it would feel if we had a curved layout like the Kinesis, especially since your force is coming from your forearm and not your fingers, so the force is only coming from one direction (and would be distributed out into differently angled key switches)

2) Having column stagger (like the Ergodox), particularly for the pinky.

I’m not very sure what the “right” choice is. So far I’ve played mainly with machines that have them all perfectly ortholinear, and the ErgoDox. The ErgoDox’s very minor stagger was never hugely noticeable to me and I actually shifted my “steno” layout one key towards the center to have the thumbs closer laterally.

I think if I were to design a keyboard myself, I might move the left S- and the entire right -TSDZ cluster down maybe 0.3 units, just enough to reduce the stretching required for hitting the top left S and the -D or -TD combinations. However, I’m not convinced that this makes a noticeable difference.

The index and middle fingers are similar enough in length such that it doesn’t matter, and maybe you’d consider also moving down the HR-FR cluster. Again, you’d want the asterisk to stay inline with those center keys since combinations like *FR exist with just one finger.

The Zenith seems to experiment with this kind of staggering: https://www.stenovations.com/lightspeed/images/

Would these features transfer over well? Is there some reason why almost all stenotypes are composed of flat ortholinear grids? How did your 3D printed keycapsend up working out?

I liked my 3D-printed key caps, I found the curve comfortable and accurate. However, right now I’m using 100% flat key caps from laserctrl.io and I find them just as comfortable. There was an adjustment period for each but overall my accuracy is just as high. I don’t think a curve is hugely important other than it might help you center on your keys more easily.

---

I think one of the things that is personal to the writer is the placement of the thumb keys. For example, the Stenomod thumb keys are 0.5u staggered and are just 1 row down. I think you could have the outer thumb keys (A, U) be anywhere from 0-1u inward from R-R, and vertically anywhere from 0-1u down. We haven’t done much experimenting with that, but I think I’d like my thumb keys further down than what I’m used to on the Stenomod. Take the Planck, I’m considering doing this sort of layout:

​

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[Steven Tammen]

If we accept that Kinesis-like curvature doesn't make sense since the actuation force comes from the forearms (and is therefore always vertically up and down), what does this have to do with the columns being different heights? The fingers are different lengths, so having the middle finger lower will lead to a more relaxed hand position, all other things being equal.

Also, how about having shaped keycaps that form a bowl-like configuration, rather than having keyswitches actuated at an angle (i.e., shaped keycaps on vertically aligned keyswitches)? Would this not minimize the amount of distance you had to push your arm down to get the keys to actuate?

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[Charley Shattuck]

I agree that placement of the thumbs is very personal. It's probably not possible to get it "right". It's a compromise on the stenomod. If I were doing it again I might move them toward the center as Ted suggests, but my thumbs naturally rest up close to my fingers. Having them down a row like that is a stretch for me. Lucky me, for stenomod I get to decide!

I do like hearing what other people are trying. Is some sort of adjustable set up, where you can move the thumbs and pinkies around would be nice. I just haven't figured out how to do that.

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[Ted Morin]

For the different key heights, I'd have to try it to be sure. At the moment I can't say that it's uncomfortable. My fingers do form into a straight plane out of habit, like I said. E.g. the -FPB chord is a very memorized shape that includes all three fingertips being the same height. I wouldn't be opposed to trying something that tries to be more ergonomic.

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[Ted Morin]

Actually, I was just staring at my little mock-up and realized that with some key caps designed at a 45 degree angle, you could make a really comfortable thumb cluster:

Maybe I'll try this when I get a planck-like layout.

[Charley Shattuck]

I look forward to hearing about it! Stroking something like 65 would be sad with that number key setup. Unless I'm over looking something. In one stroke I mean. Sure, you could do one digit at a time when you needed to.

[Ted Morin]

I think I'd remap #EU reversal to just #E, so you'd hit A #E -F which wouldn't be bad at all.

[Charley Shattuck]

I think you're right. I'm using just #E and #U for some special cases right now, but I'm not married to them.

Good thinking!

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[Steven Tammen]

So do you think slanted keycaps offer any value? You used them horizontally inside the finger wells for your 3D printed keycap set -- was this just a test? All I'm curious about is adding them vertically as well (so slanting the number row slightly down, and the bottom row slightly up, for example).

Just from sitting around and fiddling with my keyboard for 10 minutes, as long as the fingers don't start out too extended, it's easy enough to keep them on the same plane when reaching one row up or one row down. If you do start out too extended, then reaching one row up leaves the reaching finger slightly higher vertically than the other fingers. But this shouldn't really be a problem with stenography since you never need to reach over two rows to press keys, even for the number row -- your fingers will never start out extended enough for one finger to end up significantly higher than others.

[Ted Morin]

I've never tried slanted thumbs but I'll definitely report how I feel about it, probably sometime early next year.

[Steven Tammen]

I mean, I'm just interested in the concept generally, from a theoretical standpoint. Would slanted keys make pressing down two keys at once easier? Harder? Does the the actuation force getting applied at an angle still transfer fine into a keyswitch aligned vertically, or does the incline cause finger slippage? Are any of the differences big enough that we should even be concerned with them in the first place?

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[Ted Morin]

I think we'll find that overall the changes are minor and depend on the person involved. For example, the Tréal gave me pretty significant hand pain after a couple months of use, I think because of the lowered thumb keys and odd slanted angle of the whole board which just didn't agree with me. I've yet to notice any huge patterns other than low actuation force being a plus.

[Charley Shattuck]

You're probably asking Ted, but in my opinion slanted wouldn't add any value. In fact the G20s are slightly slanted, and I wish they were flatter.

[Steven Tammen]

I mean, I'm asking anybody who has an opinion. I'm just curious in general.

Why do you think flatter is better?

[Charley Shattuck]

Because if they're flat then I can rotate them and they still line up with each other. That's the main thing. But also when you want to press two keys with the same finger it feels better to me if they're on the same level and not poking up at the edges. That's just my personal opinion.