"Whiskers" <catwheezel@operamail.com> wrote in message
news:q1q7i2-cv9.ln1@ID-107770.user.individual.net...

On 2005-04-03, yellow river, with millie & mollie
<huangmNC@earthNClinkNC.netNC> wrote:

solidac wrote:

"Whiskers" <catwheezel@operamail.com> wrote in message
news:6vf5i2-4la.ln1@ID-107770.user.individual.net...

On 2005-04-03, Alan Harding <Alan@harding.demon.co.uk> wrote:

In message <1112496705.109429@teuthos>, solidac <waves@spam.bot>

writes

believing in something not real?
isn't that what fantasy is?

or something else ..
suspended disbelief?

whatever it is, we probably all had it once
a childs vivid imagination is something else
i remember believing the most fantastic things

Like believing in the Xmas tree fairy? I'm getting so old that I worry
I'm starting to believe again in fairies. Mind you, at our last house

we

had apple trees, and I always left a few on for the apple fairy.

Our inner child needs nurturing. We get posts from cats and dogs in

here,

why not millipedes? Imagine the typing speed you could reach with all
those limbs!

may i suggest a specially tailored keyboard

maybe one with all the keys laid out
one after the other in a long line

sort of, a row of keys if you like

the keys would have to be very small, and very sensitive to pressure! it
would be a very expensive keyboard.

I line-typer? Sounds rather like a piano keyboard; some very early
typewriter prototypes used that arrangement.

A non-mechanical 'virtual keyboard' using shadows or reflections cast by
Millie's legs to generate characters, need not be terribly expensive -

there

are already human-sized ones on the market, and scale is easily adjusted
for optical systems.

Something based on electro-magnetic fields could be even cheaper - the
"Theramin" musical instrument uses such fields for the player to alter
pitch and volume using gestures without physical contact. It should be
possible to add 'logic' circuits to translate the signals into character
codes.

**
the Theremin uses a sensor (aerial) which is actually part of a resonant
tuned circuit (also known as a tank circuit). Any variation in the
'reactance' around the aerial will affect the resonant frequency of the
tuned circuit and it's this shift in frequency that is used to produce the
controlling voltage (which is in some way related to the environment around
the aerial)

another possibility is the type of switch that relies on a variation in
capactance as a 'finger' comes into close proxiity. This arrangement shares
some advantage with the theremin, in that no actual electrical contact is
required. It would be easier however, to limit the range such that closely
spaced adjacent keys do not interfere with each other

a method that relies on an actual electrical connection and the current that
will flow from that connection, as probably the best 'electronic' switch for
this application. The current required to register as a keystroke need only
be a few micro-amps (millionths of an amp). There is a balance required
however, such that the sensitivity is not too high and false triggers are
registered

a keyboard of this variety could be realised with a printed circuit board
with a row of contact areas arranged as keys. In fact, i'm reminded here of
the stylophone made famous in Oz and the UK by Rolph Harris in the early
70's. This 'musical instrument' simply relied on a stylus making electrical
contact with such a keyboard, only arranged to resemble piano keys

the other difference between the stylophone and the suggested printed
typewriter type keyboard, is that the contacts can be much more sensitive
and therefore not require a stylus. Just 'finger' contact

nothing like a little engineering challenge to waste some time..

had half a mind to cross post this to sci.electronics.design but i haven't
cross posted yet and don't want to start now. Besides, they'd probably think
we've (or is that, i've!) gone quite bonkers. Talking about a keyboard for a
whaat?

oh. Almost forgot the need for some sort of feedback, which really just
helps offset the lack of mechanical tactile feel. Hmm. Do millipedes hear
key click sounds?

:)