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.
Monday, October 18, 2010
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.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Calm Before the Storm
Just so none of you are alarmed, I've temporarily switched Plover's Github repository to private, at the request of Josh, the programmer. He's putting the finishing touches on the big release version and doesn't want old messy code lying around all over the internet. I've tested the version he's currently polishing, and it's absolutely glorious. Installation is dead easy, the interface is simple and intuitive, and the actual translation (now with formatting and orthographic suffix rules!) is like butter. Like butter, I tell you. You're gonna love it. He says it'll probably be about a week before the big reveal, so I hope you can all hold out 'til then. If I get a chance, I'll try to put together that screencast I've been promising. It's gonna knock your stenoloving socks off.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Plover takes control
So Josh, the person responsible for 99% of Plover's code, came by my coworking space today and showed me the newest version of Plover. It's wonderful beyond description. The dream I had when I first came up with the concept and started this blog back in 2008 is finally realized: Plover now writes instant English translations from a steno machine or SideWinder to the active window. Yes, we have achieved keyboard emulation. It blew my mind to see it, and I did a jig of giddy glee.
Now, for the time being this only works on Ubuntu. Windows development, when it comes, will be a fair distance down the road (possibly after development for Android, though we're still thinking about how best to work out that one.) Still, with Wubi available, there's no reason that anyone with a Windows machine can't install Ubuntu as a dual boot option on their system in about 20 minutes, without affecting their existing configuration at all. It's remarkably seamless. There are also a few other kinks to work out before I upload the new code to the Github. We discovered a bug or two today, so Josh is going to tackle them over the next few weeks and hopefully after some testing we'll have a good stable release to show you. Then there's the polishing that needs to be done, adding some linguistic and orthographic rules, and putting all the formatting syntax back under the hood where it belongs. But this is a huge step, and I'm thrilled to bits. In the next day or two I might try to do a sneak preview video to show you guys, if I can get a screencast put together. But for now, you're gonna have to take my word for it. It works! It works! Yeehaw!
Now, for the time being this only works on Ubuntu. Windows development, when it comes, will be a fair distance down the road (possibly after development for Android, though we're still thinking about how best to work out that one.) Still, with Wubi available, there's no reason that anyone with a Windows machine can't install Ubuntu as a dual boot option on their system in about 20 minutes, without affecting their existing configuration at all. It's remarkably seamless. There are also a few other kinks to work out before I upload the new code to the Github. We discovered a bug or two today, so Josh is going to tackle them over the next few weeks and hopefully after some testing we'll have a good stable release to show you. Then there's the polishing that needs to be done, adding some linguistic and orthographic rules, and putting all the formatting syntax back under the hood where it belongs. But this is a huge step, and I'm thrilled to bits. In the next day or two I might try to do a sneak preview video to show you guys, if I can get a screencast put together. But for now, you're gonna have to take my word for it. It works! It works! Yeehaw!
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