[Ipodlinux-devel] OT?: Text entry via a circle..

[Jim W. <js...@bl...>]

[For altkeyboard people: This message is from the iPodLinux dev list]
> The other thing I noticed is that the scroll wheel keeps a record of 
> input even when you have it set to locked. This is cool now that I can 
> write programs for it!

Do you mean write program for it (cross-develop) or *on* it?  If the 
second, it raises an interesting question:

   Anyone have any ideas on novel ways of entering text via a circular 
dial?  I know the quickwriting system is out there (look it up - 
basically a 9-piece square, and strokes to-and-from center, and 
triagles originating from the center determine letters.  It's a 
unistroke method.)  That seems like it *might* be able to be done with 
a dial somehow, especially if you could detect finger presses/small 
movements *on* the dial, but not *around* it.

   Another idea I though of would be to assign different letters 
different distances from an origin, and then either have a "stoke 
out/stoke back" count as one char, and the next character would be a 
similar stroke either on the same side or the other side (consonants on 
one side, vowels on the other like Dvorak perhaps).  Or just have the 
stoke distance before it reverses be a letter, maybe with a finger up 
or tap be a period (or maybe not).  Spaces would be interesting, since 
they occur so frequently, and you don't want them to be too hard or 
strainful to perform.

Jim Witte
js...@bl...
Indiana University CS