XO-2

[C. Scott Ananian]

On 5/22/08, Andres Salomon <dilinger at queued.net> wrote:
> On Thu, 22 May 2008 13:33:10 -0700 (PDT)
>  david at lang.hm wrote:
>  > a touchscreen based keyboard is far inferior to a real keyboard. it's
>  would be fine.  A USB keyboard gives far more flexibility than XO-1
>  currently has in terms of languages, layout, cost, and manufacturers.

I should point out that a touchscreen keyboard is far superior to our
current keyboards for a number of languages: there are only so many
intricate glyphs you can fit legibly on a keycap.  Further, a
touchscreen keyboard can actually show you both the uppercase *and*
lowercase glyphs (depending on your shift setting), which is far
better for language learners, who can get confused when the letter on
the screen doesn't look like the one they typed.

A touchscreen keyboard also allows far easier customization for
non-Roman-script languages.  See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_writing_system

Currently we have to manufacture a custom keyboard overlay for each
writing system supported.  Regions where there is more than one
dominant writing system have no easy way to change their keyboards
when they shift languages.

All this is just to say that "ease of typing English" and "keyfeel
like a Remington typewriter" are not the only items on our list of
desired keyboard features.
 --scott

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