A Better Keyboard?

[GuitarRocker2562]

I love rockbox, but I can't stand the keyboard (I am using an iPod by the way). Is there any other keyboards to use that aren't so small?

[GodEater]

I could have sworn we had better documentation on this feature than this :

http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/VKeyboardSamples

But that's all I've turned up. So, in short, you  can design your own keyboard layout - but with that amount of documentation, it might take you a little trial and error to get it right.

As for it being "small", well that's a function of the font size it uses - and at this time I can find only one way to change it - which is to recompile rockbox to use a larger sized one.

[bascule]

GodEater, this is probably what you were looking for...

http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/LoadableKeyboardLayouts

GuitarRocker, you can use any keyboard layout you like by defining your own. See the above link

As for size, it will always use your selected UI font, so just pick a bigger one

[GodEater]

Ah yes - that's the page I remember seeing before!

We should probably put this in the manual at some point too...

[Mikerman]

As for size, it will always use your selected UI font, so just pick a bigger one

Bascule, do you mean that the keyboard uses the fontsize used in the kdb file?  Or does one select it somewhere else (and where)?  Like the OP, the minitype used in the default keyboard can be a challenge.  Thanks--

[GodEater]

From reading the documentation, I don't see a way to specify the font size used - only the layout of the characters.

[bascule]

As for size, it will always use your selected UI font, so just pick a bigger one

Bascule, do you mean that the keyboard uses the fontsize used in the kdb file? 

No, I meant what I said, the User Interface font. So whatever font you have selected for Rockbox to use will also be used in the virtual keyboard, if you are using a custom one.

I believe the behaviour is that if you are using the default keyboard layout, then the Rockbox default font will be used regardless of the UI font, but as soon as a custom layout is used, then the virtual keyboard always uses whatever Rockbox font is chosen.

Unfortunately, some of the fonts render with the characters spaced massively apart in the virtual keyboard, thus ruining the effect somewhat..., but it's worth experimenting with, as the OptiII layout is good.

[GuitarRocker2562]

Thanks you guys!

[Mikerman]

Wow, this one needs to be telegraphed from the tallest building--a customizable keyboard, but most importantly with the possibility of a non-miniscule font, so that one actually readily can see the letters!

I just tested this out, and it works--and the player will initialize with the customized keyboard when re-starting the player, with the kbd file in the .rockbox folder.

Many, many thanks.  If not there (and I just searched and couldn't find it), this definitely needs insertion into the manual.

[Mikerman]

For others' use (not that creating a keyboard layout requires a degree in rocket engineering), I enclose a keyboard file for use with the Nimbus-12 font.  It even includes a top "page title" (I had an extra line of space within the readily visible page, with the status bar set to off), "Vkeys".  I also enclose the keyboard file without  page title, should you keep the status bar on and want all the keyboard letters readily visible (rather than on an out-of-sight page you need to scroll to).  Simply drop the trailing .txt from the file name; put it in your .rockbox folder, and play it--it will be remembered by Rockbox for the future.

This keyboard really is just a "straight through the alphabet and across the typewriter keyboard" layout.  I'm sure that there are more efficient layouts, but I wanted to try the kbd concept out.  I wonder if there is any sense to a QWERTY key arrangement when one is hunt-and-pecking on a screen.

(edit:  And attached, a version of a QWERTY keyboard as well.)



[attachment deleted by admin for age]

[GuitarRocker2562]

can anyone edit the manual, this needs to be added ASAP.

[GodEater]

can anyone edit the manual, this needs to be added ASAP.

Feel free to post it as a patch to the tracker, and someone will most likely add it.

[bascule]

I'm sure that there are more efficient layouts, but I wanted to try the kbd concept out.  I wonder if there is any sense to a QWERTY key arrangement when one is hunt-and-pecking on a screen.

Read this: http://www.almaden.ibm.com/u/zhai/papers/ZhaiHunterSmithHCIGalley.pdf

It describes the theory behind the OptiII layout (more interesting than you might think) and explains that it is optimised for exactly the 'hunt and peck' scenario you described...

[Mikerman]

Fascinating stuff, that; I just don't know if I have the energy to learn another keyboard . . . .

[shoe]

Wow it just tested this, much better than the tiny default!  Glad I stumbled onto this.  I can follow the link that was given above to

http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/LoadableKeyboardLayouts

but how do I navigate there in the wiki?  The top of the page shows:  TWiki  > Main  > LoadableKeyboardLayouts, but when I go to TWiki  > Main  I can't see any link to the keyboard page.  Just curious if there whole sections of the wiki I am missing...