
Ask HN: Does anyone know where to get a chorded keyboard? - bananicorn
More specifically, something akin to this:
http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.chordite.com<p>I know about the twiddler, but it&#x27;s rather expensive for something I&#x27;d mostly just play around with, and it doesn&#x27;t really look too ergonomic with all those buttons, almost seeming to miss the point of a chorded keyboard...<p>I don&#x27;t have any RSI-related problems (yet), but I&#x27;d like to have an option in regards to typing with one hand and not being constrained to a desk for longer texts.<p>Has anyone built a chorded keyboard? If so, how has that panned out for you?
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ksaj
tl;dr: Ever used one of those "new mouse" feature test / demo applications? If
you did it with a 5-button mouse, you've already figured out how to make your
own one-handed chording keyboard. Also, the patent(s) are probably
unenforceable.

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I just quickly did this to visualize the poll responses.

[https://www.meta-chart.com/share/how-much-would-people-
pay-f...](https://www.meta-chart.com/share/how-much-would-people-pay-for-
chordite)

Personally my bid is in the $50 slice, because I see this as a deconstructed /
reconfigured 5-button mouse without the laser (or ball if you are more of a
retro sort). Even a regular 5-button mouse driver would be able to read it
correctly without modification to the code - you are only concerned with
interpreting the input and writing the output at this point.

In a pinch, and for dev purposes, you could probably get away with
experimenting just by putting tape over the laser sensor (or remove the ball
if you're that retro guy) and then writing the interpreting chord combinations
until you decide build it into a prettier, and less likely to give you CTS,
form factor.

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As to the patent, lest we forget devices like this one have existed for
decades already using the one-handed-gravity claim extensively:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2Qh5bHtHMY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2Qh5bHtHMY)

There probably is some novelty in what he's come up with, but absolutely
everything about it appears to have prior art. Unless my implementation idea
is missing something.

Maybe he could patent some parts of the form. But then I think every company
working in VR would immediately take issue. A VR paddle with 5 keys is exactly
this guy's patent(s) if you ignore all the bells and whistles like spacial
sensors. A wireless 5-button mouse already squashes that part of the patent.

> He's invented a 5-button mouse without a sense of direction!

I'm certainly open to discussion on this because I think OP has a really
interesting question, and I'm a little surprised that there is so little
commercial attention. Is there a chording machine monopoly not yet mentioned
here?

