Sunday, December 19, 2010
Plover Speaks!
I finally uploaded a video of what Plover looks like when plugged into a text-to-speech engine. If you remember, the first part of my What Is Steno Good For series was called How to Speak with Your Fingers, and was about how steno can be used as a conversational tool for people who don't use their voices to speak. Plover's now at a point where that's not only possible, but ludicrously easy. All I did was to launch Plover, open a terminal window in Ubuntu, type eSpeak, press enter, and start writing. Whenever I wanted to send a line, I pressed R-R on my steno machine, which my steno dictionary has defined as "press return". That's all there was to it.
Recently, I was quite moved by Roger Ebert's blog post Trying to Get a Word in Edgewise, about the frustration he's experienced since he lost the use of his voice, and by my friend (and early Plover supporter) Mel's response to it. I was already in the middle of planning this video before the blog post went up, but after it was posted, one of Mr. Ebert's fans randomly came upon Plover and recommended it to him. The next morning I was thrilled to discover that Mr. Ebert had actually commented on the relevant article. I panicked a bit, because I didn't yet have anything to show him and no time to make the video until the weekend. Now it's finally up, though, and I can prove that Plover isn't just a pipe dream; it actually works. I know that Mr. Ebert uses a Mac, and that Plover is currently only working on Linux, but cross-platform support is high on our to-do list. I think this video speaks for me better than any blog post ever could, so I'll just leave it there.
(One more minor thing: YouTube lists the running time at 5 minutes, but the actual video is only about 2 minutes long. No idea why those extra three minutes of frozen screen were tacked on there, but just ignore them.)
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Plover 2.1 is Live!
Download Plover 2.1 here.
Incredibly exciting news! The new version of Plover has been released, and it now supports command strokes. This means you can use your steno machine to do anything you can do from your qwerty keyboard -- alt-tab, navigation, formatting, you name it. I'm going to try to make a screencast this week showing me using Plover with Vim, which has been a dream of mine since I first started thinking about Plover. Unfortunately Vim commands don't currently work with the SideWinder X4 (though we'll hopefully be fixing that soon), but the Gemini PR version works flawlessly with every program I could think to throw at it. The SideWinder should work fine with most other programs; it only has trouble with one-key alphanumeric command strokes. Next on the development list: Adding and editing dictionary definitions from the steno machine while using Plover.
Many thanks as always to Josh, our dauntless programmer. I've also updated the Donate button both here on the blog and on the FAQ page. For some reason it stopped working, but it's fixed now. Sorry for anyone who tried to donate and wasn't able to. If you'd like to give it another try, it shouldn't give you any more trouble. Please feel free to send questions, comments, bug reports, and feature requests to plover@stenoknight.com. I'm also hard at work on the next installment of Steno 101, so this blog should be seeing quite a bit more activity than it did over November, which was mostly consumed by NatCapVidMo.
I can hardly believe that my desire for a free, open source steno keyboard emulator that works on affordable hardware has actually come true. There's more to come, but this is a huge milestone, and I'm completely ecstatic.
Incredibly exciting news! The new version of Plover has been released, and it now supports command strokes. This means you can use your steno machine to do anything you can do from your qwerty keyboard -- alt-tab, navigation, formatting, you name it. I'm going to try to make a screencast this week showing me using Plover with Vim, which has been a dream of mine since I first started thinking about Plover. Unfortunately Vim commands don't currently work with the SideWinder X4 (though we'll hopefully be fixing that soon), but the Gemini PR version works flawlessly with every program I could think to throw at it. The SideWinder should work fine with most other programs; it only has trouble with one-key alphanumeric command strokes. Next on the development list: Adding and editing dictionary definitions from the steno machine while using Plover.
Many thanks as always to Josh, our dauntless programmer. I've also updated the Donate button both here on the blog and on the FAQ page. For some reason it stopped working, but it's fixed now. Sorry for anyone who tried to donate and wasn't able to. If you'd like to give it another try, it shouldn't give you any more trouble. Please feel free to send questions, comments, bug reports, and feature requests to plover@stenoknight.com. I'm also hard at work on the next installment of Steno 101, so this blog should be seeing quite a bit more activity than it did over November, which was mostly consumed by NatCapVidMo.
I can hardly believe that my desire for a free, open source steno keyboard emulator that works on affordable hardware has actually come true. There's more to come, but this is a huge milestone, and I'm completely ecstatic.
Monday, October 18, 2010
New experimental version with improved GUI
Good news from Joshua, Plover's programmer. The newest update from the experimental series of Plover has been released. He says:
"The latest experimental release of Plover (version 2.0.0.4) includes a graphical user interface for viewing and editing all Plover configuration parameters. This will hopefully make Plover configuration much easier and less error prone. Aside from the known-to-be-buggy support for the Gemini TX stenotype, everything in this experimental release should work as advertised. If it doesn't, please let me know or, better yet, file a bug report directly in Launchpad."
Download it here.
"The latest experimental release of Plover (version 2.0.0.4) includes a graphical user interface for viewing and editing all Plover configuration parameters. This will hopefully make Plover configuration much easier and less error prone. Aside from the known-to-be-buggy support for the Gemini TX stenotype, everything in this experimental release should work as advertised. If it doesn't, please let me know or, better yet, file a bug report directly in Launchpad."
Download it here.
New logo!
The logo I commissioned for Plover is done! Steno mavens will please note the eponymous feather pattern on the left wing. Logo design by Laura Lake, freelance illustrator. Font is ButterBrotPapier by Anke Art.
Now, I know it's generally traditional to name little animal logos that represent FLOSS projects. I'm not sure what, though. I was thinking of holding a competition for the longest (in terms of letters and/or syllables) common name that can be reasonably represented in one stroke on the steno keyboard. So something like KHREUFRD for Clifford or KHRAEURPBS for Clarence will do, but your invented SKWRO*EPBT brief for Jonathan doesn't count. Or we could leave the little guy nameless; I'm not particular. The main thing is we've got a logo. Now to print up some business cards for the next hacker/steno/accessibility conference I go to...
Friday, October 15, 2010
Qwerty to Steno Key Map
File this one under painfully obvious. In all the excitement of the Plover release, I had forgotten that the actual description of the qwerty-to-steno layout that Plover uses was buried way back in the archives, and that new people trying to figure out how to position their fingers would most likely be totally lost. Sorry about that! By way of apology, I whipped up a new image that should be a little more helpful, and after I finish posting this I'm going to put it on the Plover FAQ Page as well.
The dark blue letters correspond to the letters of the qwerty keyboard. The light blue letters correspond to the letters on the steno keyboard that they produce when Plover is connected. Basically you move your hands half an inch up so that your left thumb is resting between the C and V keys and your right thumb is resting between the N and M keys. The rest should fall into place. a good test sentence to write when you first start up Plover (not least because even keyboards without n-key rollover often type it correctly) is:
AV A WR DVL RU
in qwerty, which corresponds to
SO S TH WOG HF
in steno, which translates to
So is this working?
in English. Now that you know where to put your fingers, try it out and let me know how it goes!
The dark blue letters correspond to the letters of the qwerty keyboard. The light blue letters correspond to the letters on the steno keyboard that they produce when Plover is connected. Basically you move your hands half an inch up so that your left thumb is resting between the C and V keys and your right thumb is resting between the N and M keys. The rest should fall into place. a good test sentence to write when you first start up Plover (not least because even keyboards without n-key rollover often type it correctly) is:
AV A WR DVL RU
in qwerty, which corresponds to
SO S TH WOG HF
in steno, which translates to
So is this working?
in English. Now that you know where to put your fingers, try it out and let me know how it goes!
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Blog Interview and TX Support
Two exciting things today. First of all, over at Plover's Launchpad Site there's now a User Guide and experimental support for the Gemini TX Protocol. We're still looking for testing with that one, so if you have a TX machine, give it a shot.
Also, there's an interview on Plover at the Geek Feminism Blog, where I talk about some of my reasons for kicking off the project and some things I hope for Plover's future.
There's been a huge amount of excitement since the Plover 2.0 release, and there's also a hackathon scheduled this Saturday, both onsite in Toronto at HackLabTO and online via IRC on the #plover freenode channel. Thanks to everyone (especially to Josh, Plover's tireless coder, for writing the manual and releasing new code daily and to Leigh Honeywell, who's behind both the Geek Feminism interview and the hackathon) for your enthusiasm, linkage, and donations. Plover is picking up steam, and it can only get better from here.
Also, there's an interview on Plover at the Geek Feminism Blog, where I talk about some of my reasons for kicking off the project and some things I hope for Plover's future.
There's been a huge amount of excitement since the Plover 2.0 release, and there's also a hackathon scheduled this Saturday, both onsite in Toronto at HackLabTO and online via IRC on the #plover freenode channel. Thanks to everyone (especially to Josh, Plover's tireless coder, for writing the manual and releasing new code daily and to Leigh Honeywell, who's behind both the Geek Feminism interview and the hackathon) for your enthusiasm, linkage, and donations. Plover is picking up steam, and it can only get better from here.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Plover 2.0 Is Released!
Yes, kids, the moment you've all been waiting for...
Download Plover 2.0 Here!
You might also want to visit the new Plover landing page:
http://stenoknight.com/plover/
It answers some common questions about the project and the new release, and also features this video showing me using Plover to demolish the competition in an online typing game called TypeRacer.
This video was made using the Gemini PR option. I'll probably make another one with the SideWinder later, showing all the other amazing things Plover can do. You can blog with it, chat with it, write a novel -- you name it! In future releases, we'll also implement the ability to control every aspect of your computer using steno, plus superior dictionary management and support for additional steno protocols. But for now, bask in the glory that is a fully functional and completely free high speed stenographic text entry system. Remember, if you have Windows but not Linux, you can give yourself a stress-free dual boot option in less than 20 minutes using Wubi. Then just extract the .gz file to your chosen directory and follow the two-line installation instructions in the README. Feel free to email me at plover@stenoknight.com if you need any guidance or if you have comments, bugs, or feature requests. A million thanks to Joshua Harlan Lifton, Plover's programmer, for devoting so much time and passion to the project in the past month. And please spread the word. I think Plover has the potential to transform the way people input text and interact with their computers, but the first priority is to make everyone aware of its existence. Now go, play around with it, and see what happens when you triple your speed and quarter your effort.
Download Plover 2.0 Here!
You might also want to visit the new Plover landing page:
http://stenoknight.com/plover/
It answers some common questions about the project and the new release, and also features this video showing me using Plover to demolish the competition in an online typing game called TypeRacer.
This video was made using the Gemini PR option. I'll probably make another one with the SideWinder later, showing all the other amazing things Plover can do. You can blog with it, chat with it, write a novel -- you name it! In future releases, we'll also implement the ability to control every aspect of your computer using steno, plus superior dictionary management and support for additional steno protocols. But for now, bask in the glory that is a fully functional and completely free high speed stenographic text entry system. Remember, if you have Windows but not Linux, you can give yourself a stress-free dual boot option in less than 20 minutes using Wubi. Then just extract the .gz file to your chosen directory and follow the two-line installation instructions in the README. Feel free to email me at plover@stenoknight.com if you need any guidance or if you have comments, bugs, or feature requests. A million thanks to Joshua Harlan Lifton, Plover's programmer, for devoting so much time and passion to the project in the past month. And please spread the word. I think Plover has the potential to transform the way people input text and interact with their computers, but the first priority is to make everyone aware of its existence. Now go, play around with it, and see what happens when you triple your speed and quarter your effort.
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