[LGR Talking about Oddware]
Odd...
Forgotten...
Obsolete...
Oh Hello!
Today, I thought we'd take a look at this keyboard, with MASSIVE keys.
So here's the keyboard....
It's something I picked up on one of my "thrifting" episodes.
I believe it was £2 from the local car boot sale.
Clearly, it's a keyboard designed for child use, and retail wise it looks like it's been
on the market for the past 10 years at least.
Sometimes advertised for special requirements, and yeah I can see how it could be useful
if you had sight or co-ordination problems, but I can't really test for that.
Although I guess it could also be useful if you've come back from the pub and need to
check the football scores, or whatever you crazy cats do.
Now, the unit itself is completely devoid of a manufacturer name, which is never a good
sign, but a quick dig around on t'internet shows that it's a unit which has been and
continues to be at least partially sold under various brands.
From Duragadget to Hipstreet with some kind of water filled mouse and even Crayola as
the EZ Type Keyboard.
There's even a version with a trackball.
It all looks incredibly joyful and splendid.
The thing is, it's not really EZ Type, and given that children have smaller hands, and
this keyboard has much larger keys, it seems a little unhelpful.
Granted, it may make it easier to find an appropriate key, but my kids had no trouble
wangling their way around a blackberry keyboard when they were toddlers.
What's more some keys are in strange places, which is a little off putting and doesn't
reinforce touch typing.
The lack of a right hand shift key is particularly upsetting when trying to type any kind of
useful document.
Maybe I'm taking this a little seriously.
It's a massive coloured keyboard.
You're not going to write the code for Alien Isolation 2 on it.
It's also an improvement over what most developers in the 80s were used to.
Let's connect it up.
This is a USB model, although PS/2 is available.
I'm just gonna use this adapter to plug it into my Compaq.
And that's about it.
The keyboard functions.
At this stage it felt apt to try some children's programs to get a feel for the keyboard in
it's intended setting.
So after going through a few cover disks, this is what I came up with.
This Dr. Seuss program was unfairly labelled.
I saw ABC and assumed some kind of keyboard interaction, but it's just clicking.
Endless clicking.
Good god.
Appropriately I also found a typing tutor.
So let's give that a crack and see how it fares.
We haven't got "backslash" function, which is a bit limiting.
So I'm running Windows 3.11 through DOSBox just to.. just for ease of use for filming
this really, on this computer.
This is volume 19, issue 17, March 97 of Computer Buyer.
The program I'm looking for is "Keyboard Test"..."Typing Tutor".
OK, Installation.
OK, so here is the OPAC Keyboarding.
If we open it up...
"Welcome to OPAC System keyboarding skills assessment"... name?
When the keyboarding test begins, the screen will be divided into 2 windows.
The top window contains the text you'll be typing.
The bottom window is where you will type.
That's fairly clear.
You have 5 minutes for the test..
Good luck!
God.
One shift key?!
"What is".... [arrgh] the most [oh god]
[interlude]
Time is up.
Ok, let's check that.
So, gross words per minute 38.
Total errors 3.
98.4% accuracy.
Net words per minute 37.
Time 5.
Gross keystrokes 940.
Net keystrokes 925.
Total backspaces: 118.
So.. it seems only fair to run that with a normal keyboard... and see what the difference
is.
[interlude]
and we have gross words per minute: 81.
Total errors: 13.
Accuracy rate: 96.8%.
79 net words per minute.
5 minutes.
Gross keystrokes: 2034.
Net keystrokes:1969, and total backspaces:117.
Yeah, it was never going to be brilliant.
In fact, it seemed more appropriate to get the views of a small child......
What do you think of this keyboard?
Child: CRAP.
So there we go.
BUT, I should mention that those massive arrow keys work really well with one particular
set of games, and that is 90s First Person Shooters.
Both DOOM and Rise of the Triad were an absolute joy.
In fact this entire keyboard feels right with blood soaked mayhem.
It's fairly responsive.
There's good depth to the keys and it just makes me want to kill and maim.
So final verdict.
It might be an OK keyboard for tiny children, but it's at its best when used to slaughter
vast numbers of weapon wielding opponents.
I think Crayola missed a marketing trick there.