Keyboard/Requirement Analysis Pyra

Discuss there.

1. hardware
   1. keyboard:
      1. MUST: allows for both handheld thumb typing and desktop finger typing
      2. MUST: is possible to find the keys by touch (for thumb typing)
         1. surface form: flat? rounded? concave? (T4b: I would like them to be more or less flat and concave a little bit so you feel the different keys better)
         2. surface height: (T4b: no higher than on current Pandora, preferably almost (only almost!) flush with the rest of the surface)
         3. MUST: surface coating: non sticky, fingers must glide over it as easily as possible
         4. MUST: minimum force needed to trigger key: is possible to slide finger over key without triggering it
         5. SHOULD: possible to easily find central keys (e.g. f and j) by touch (e.g. raised markers)
      3. MUST: individual keys easy to press
         1. maximum force needed to trigger key: must not be so big as to make it difficult to press the key (clarified?) (too obvious to include? But I guess we should also include trivial things)
         2. maximum way/travel needed to trigger key: (T4b: must be low, say 0.3mm, max 0.5mm)
         3. room between keys: (T4b: I would like to get rid of it completely, but only technically possible if the plastic ribs between the keys aren't necessary anymore)
         4. size of individual keys:
            1. SHOULD: width is as wide if not wider than the Pandora (ED)
            2. MUST: height: is no taller than the Pandora (ED)
      4. MUST NOT: forces Pyra's dimensions to exceed 1-2mm beyond the Pandora's
      5. MUST: has easy to read labels:
         1. colors:
         2. MUST: high enough contrast -> easy to read
      6. SHOULD (?): backlighting
         1. MUST: variable intensity (PWM?) (Levi)
         2. COULD: variable color
      7. is possible to map to (generally as many as possible):
         1. MUST: qwerty/qwertz/azerty (those are basically the same, so we can group them together)
         2. MUST: dvorak
         3. COULD: colemak
         4. COULD: non latin (Russian, Japanese, etc.) (clarify! what's needed for this?)
      8. MUST NOT: keyboard gets into the way when gaming
         1. <practical considerations>
   2. keyboard [b]and[/b] gaming controls:
      1. MUST: is resistant to foreign matter (pocket lint) from getting into/between the keys: not possible with the Pandora, could be a problem with mechanical keyboards
   3. gaming controls:
      1. NOTE: I think the individual action buttons are fine on the Pandora (T4b)
      2. MUST: 4 action buttons, dpad, 2 shoulder buttons, 2 nubs
      3. SHOULD: 2 additional shoulder buttons, buttons between nubs
      4. COULD: x additional action buttons
   4. cost: well, this should maybe be a poll. (T4b: the keyboard could cost a lot more than CHF9.27 (CHF9.27 ($10)) if it's also considerably better if you ask me)
2. software (default key bindings)
   1. SHOULD: is similar to Pandora's
   2. SHOULD: is similar to US international qwerty
      1. SHOULD NOT: break the correlation between a key and its shifted value (e.g. ; and : ) on the US international layout.
   3. Which keys need to be there?
      1. MUST: all keys and special characters found on a normal US keyboard layout (0-9,a-z, A-Z, ~!@#$%*()-_=+[{]}\|;:'",<.>/?, F1-F12, ESC, Tab, Capslock, shift, ctrl, alt, backspace, enter, insert, delete, home, end, pageup and pagedown.
      2. SHOULD: Characters commonly needed for shell usage ( Tab,;,",`,{},[],$,| ) are accessible using only one thumb (not counting sticky Fn) in combination with a modifier from the shoulder buttons. (Levi)
      3. SHOULD: German characters: äöüß (ED)
      4. SHOULD: two shift keys on main keyboard (ED)
      5. COULD: different keycodes for different versions of the same keys (T4b: "support" should be a given, it's more about the default layout, isn't it? Did I express it better?)
   4. what to map to the gaming controls?
   5. MUST: is usable using non-sticky modifiers in both of the handheld/desktop modes of typing. (clarify!) (T4b: I guess this is similar to 2.3.2, the most important characters shouldn't need sticky modifiers to input)
   6. MUST NOT: prevents valid regular keyboard combinations from being input (e.g. shift-backspace on the Pandora) (T4b: What's that about again?)
   7. Mouse emulation:
      1. MUST: allows mouse motion
      2. MUST: allows left/right mouse button clicks
      3. SHOULD: allows middle mouse button clicks (emulation through left mouse + right mouse is acceptable)
      4. COULD: allow mouse scrolling
   8. COULD: W-LAN, Bluetooth, etc.