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Alternative to using the simulation keyboard

Started by quimbydogg, January 30, 2006, 03:00:40 PM

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quimbydogg

Since the release of the wifi lib there is probably going to be a large boost in the homebrew scene, especially dealing with applications that use typing.

I have been using Palms for awhile and found a few months ago a new way to type on them.  The program is called MessageEase! you can follow this link for more information http://www.exideas.com/ME/FastMessagEase.html

It looks a little strange at first but once it has been used and gotten used to most people report typing speeds of 40 WPM +, which is incredibly high compared to the usual palm graphiti method--and a million times faster than poking keys on a simulation keyboard (which is where the DS homebrew is at now).

The website has flash demonstrations of how it works if you are unsure.  Basically they take the most frequent letters in put them into 9 squares.
They they take the next 8 most common letters and put them in the middle square and make it so the letter registeres by the direction the stylus is moved.  This means you can already type out the 17 most common letters by a single poke or slide in an area much much much smaller and easier to deal with than a full simulation keyboard.  The remaining letters are placed in the outside boxes and accessed in the same way as the ones placed around the middle box.

I guess to really understand this well you should watch the flash video here:  

http://www.exideas.com/ME/tutorial/parent.swf

Once the system has been learned it is possible to write out entire words without moving your wrist around much at all for each letter which leads to very very fast stylus writing.  

You basically end up with the entire alphabet on 9 buttons.

I would love to work on something like this for the DS but I dont have any time with all the projects I have comming up in school.  If someone else could take this idea and make it open source for DS homebrew to use it would be really useful for the scene I think...

bitblt


creepyplaidman


Dudu.exe


yoko

Hi,

I have been using Messagease on my Pocket pC for a while now and I recommend it highly; they have implemented it for Palm, pocket pC and windows (tablet pc).

IMHO this is an IDEAL system for DS text entry, as it takes a very small area but has still big enough keys for hitting them reliably.

The keys on the simulated keyboard is too small to make it practical. this is the same problem that Palm and Pocket PC users have and Messagease has solved it. with it you can enter all special characters, letters and number, even some in foreign langauges. Like the Pocket pC version, on DS you will be able to type with a single finger (see the picture below)

if any developer wants to port this for DS, I am sure the developers of Messagease will be quite responsive to it.

Better yet, I think Nintendo should do this so everyone benefits.

If you want to see a sample of it and how it works, go to http://www.exideas.com. Here is a picture of its Pocket PC version
(also see the video at: http://www.exideas.com/ME/videos/MEintro.wmv)


karurosu

This kind of systems are usually known as k+ (it was widely used in GBA) and now winds has it. Also, in PSP they have FOSK and other different virtual keyboards.
Unfortunately, I don't think this will be useful, unless the screen accuracy is fixed.
arurosu @ Animation2 Ltd.

Dudu.exe

Agreed.. i guess lost magic solutions is very good..  hen you hit a aera of keyboar, it show a bigger kaypad with the kays next to the aera you touched

( i think is lost magic, but im not sure! )

creepyplaidman

wintermute actually just updated the screen accuracy code, so maybe the next version of WinDS with have the updated touchscreen code and we can try out that one app.

karurosu

Daigasso also has that system, I found it pretty unconfortable, since you touched the correct key, but still you have to touch it again, that would come handy in homebrew, due to the screen problems, but I think in commercial roms is not an advantage
arurosu @ Animation2 Ltd.

Dudu.exe

Quote from: "karurosu"Daigasso also has that system, I found it pretty unconfortable, since you touched the correct key, but still you have to touch it again, that would come handy in homebrew, due to the screen problems, but I think in commercial roms is not an advantage

yes i sow that on daigasso not on lost magic..

my screen has problems with comercial games too..  im realy thing in buying another one!