[rescue] Sick Dreamcast hacker

[Brian Hechinger]

On Tue, Jun 18, 2002 at 12:34:51PM -0400, Joshua D Boyd wrote:
> 
> The biggest question I have would be should we ditch the key pad
> altogether and go for a pen driven system, with the required research
> of how to enter formulas more naturally then one currently does on a
> palm pilot, or key the keyboard and make people jump through hoops for
> non-numeric entry.  Or, we could perhaps have a rudimentry keypad, and
> a quikwrite pad
> (http://mrl.nyu.edu/~perlin/demos/quikwriting-prc.html). 

i do not want another pen driven palm device.  i want a calulator.  now, i
realize that we are asking a lot here, but let's look at the current scientific
calculator industry.  they are all very happily button based.  a combo button
pen interface wouldn't be terrible however, as long as it can be kept smallish.

> I think there is still a lot more work that can be done
> w.r.t. realtime math processing, and colaborative work.  I'm sure
> there is more work to be done in the set things up and let them cruch
> category, but I'm more interested in the interactive stuff.

interactive stuff is really the hardest part.  crunching has been going on for
a very long time now, and ever day is a step closer to perfection, but the whole
interface bit has been a thorn in the computing industries side for a while now.
there is no good interface model yet.  so we have to pretty much stick with
what is proven, or be geniuses.  i don't know about you, but i'm not a genius.

> Actually, I'm having some new thoughts on how to arrange such a device
> for best usability.  

fill us in so we can rip holes in it. ;)

-brian
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