Scientific Calculator Keyboard Challenge

[Garth Wilson]

or you could just go for a frogpad:



(although most of us will want the righ-handed version)

[walter b]

(06-07-2014 04:05 AM)Garth Wilson Wrote:  or you could just go for a frogpad:
...
(although most of us will want the righ-handed version)

Depends whom you call "us". Quoting from the Froggy Manual:

Notice the 15 center keys. At the top left corner, the letters that are in black are used in 86% of the
English language. On the bottom left, the letters are in green, which are used in 14% of the English
language. In the most difficult language, Czech, those 15 letters still comprise 70% of that language.

I checked those four sentences in all languages that manual is published. Guess what? It's literally translated into French and German (no Spanish, no Portuguese, etc.). I'm sure a Czech writer will object to the last sentence. Even Czech kids will agree Czech isn't difficult at all while English is.

The table of "international characters" on page 8 also is in no way re-sorted for French or German AFAICS. And no way to access Czech favorites like Č unless I missed something obvious. To complete the picture: on http://www.frog2.com I found (for their newest product) at the bottom:

US English and EU English versions available

That's it. Breathtaking!! Must look like multilingual for a gal from the Midwest! (Sorry you gals!) So we have here another textbook example of English-centristic thinking. On this forum, yes, most of "us" might be happy with a right-handed English version.

Globally, most of "us" might want a version for another language - their respective mother tongue IF it was taken care of by these developers which I doubt. Sorry for that being off calculator topic - alas, it's just soooo typical. Those folks will never understand a multicultural planet. Maybe (!) in their next life.

If I have missed any important piece in this matter, please point me to it. TIA.

[walter b]

(06-07-2014 03:01 AM)Dale Reed Wrote:  What's not to like?

Personally, for such a small layout, I'd prefer ENTER and basic arithmetic keys on the same side. And vertical ENTER looks a bit weird to me where you put it. As I wrote earlier in this thread: labels may change but keys will stay. Your 5/1+3/4/4/4/4 layout just looks plain right to me so that's what I prefer. YMMV and it obviously does.

d:-)

[Thomas Klemm]

(06-07-2014 03:01 AM)Dale Reed Wrote:  I drew up the 5/5/5/5/5 layout in LibreOffice Draw and took a screenshot. I edited my Post #34 (above) to replace the photo of the sketch.

This reminds me of the HP 68WX.

Cheers
Thomas

[walter b]

(06-07-2014 08:25 AM)Thomas Klemm Wrote:  This reminds me of the HP 68WX.

I miss the CTCH and FIRE buttons of the HP-67CX.

d;-)

[sa-penguin]

How about... six buttons?
Up, Down, Left, Right, Select [Enter], and Escape [backspace].
After that, it's just a case of having a massive menu / submenu / function - selection system, written to the LCD.

Sure, you could expand out with ten digits and a decimal place, for a total of 17 keys. You could have an on/off button, instead of a switch on the side [or removing the battery to turn it off]. I don't recall anyone saying this layout had to PRACTICAL.

Heck, if the menus "wrap around" you could even eliminate the Up & Left keys, leaving you with a four-key calculator. If pushing Right and Down at the same time triggers the escape, you could even get it down to three.

[walter b]

(06-17-2014 03:16 PM)sa-penguin Wrote:  How about... six buttons? ... you could even get it down to three.

Yes you can. But cui bono?

d:-?

[sa-penguin]

(06-17-2014 04:32 PM)walter b Wrote:  

(06-17-2014 03:16 PM)sa-penguin Wrote:  How about... six buttons? ... you could even get it down to three.

Yes you can. But cui bono?

To Whos Benefit?

I would hope that all those who get wrapped up in the shift keys and secondary key functions, could learn how few keys you really need.

From there, expanding the number of keys becomes related to simplifying the function selection menu system. The functions themselves can be written and coded independently.

Reminds me of the 41C - execute a function by typing in the name, or by pressing the right key.