By Merle Nicholson, Tampa PC Users Group
merle@merlenicholson.com

Quoting from the FrogPad website, “FrogPad™ is a one-handed keyboard to be used with USB Keyboard compatible PDA's, Pocket PCs, Tablet and Wearable PC's, and other mobile applications”.

To be honest, I didn’t read that statement when I bought mine for my desktop machine. They’re promoting the Bluetooth model with that statement, and I purchased the original “Ion” USB model ($150), not the Bluetooth model. I suspect the Ion USB model is being discontinued now that the Bluetooth model is available. There are still some USB models available, along with free shipping as of this writing, 8/19/04. There are Apple FrogPads and also left-handed versions of each model. The Bluetooth models are $175, plus the cost of a USB Bluetooth transceiver if you don’t have one for an additional $35.

Alternative keyboards have always been around. There are a dozen or more available right now. The more interesting are the “chording” keyboards some of which resemble game controllers for either one or two hands. If you’re interested, a Google search for “alternative keyboards” will turn up plenty.

So why buy an alternative keyboard? There are several reasons that you may want to try one. First and foremost is the very real possibility that you can – with practice – type faster. After all, there’s nothing sacred about the QWERTY layout. By that I mean that the keyboard you’re using was not designed for the purpose that you actually require. It has been enlarged (more keys), but not actually redesigned except once since 1873. And that change simply rearranged the keys from an alphabetical format to QWERTY, being designed to eliminate key jamming of all-mechanical typewriters. Alphabetical format would probably be better.

So you may ask, why don’t they just study the problem a bit, and then design a good one? Well the answer is, they have, many, many times, and hardly anyone notices. Technical excellence rarely wins out over momentum and marketing. If it did, we’d all be using Apples, Ataris or Commodores. Remember that the IBM computer of 1984 was no great shakes. If speed and typing efficiency means anything, at the least, we’d be using the proven Dvorak keyboard arrangement, available at no cost to everyone!

One concern that I’ve always heard is that time spent on a different keyboard may detract from or harm one’s skill on a conventional keyboard. My own experience tells me that it’s completely unfounded. I used a different keyboard (for APL programming) for twenty years, and switched back and forth many times daily with no problems. The human brain is a remarkable thing and fully capable of learning two (and more) keyboards.

Back to the FrogPad, reasons you may want this particular alternative keyboard are: small size, a really well-thought-out layout, and a comfortable hand position. It’s small, fully functional and easy to learn. The Bluetooth model offers even more possibilities, with portability and, in time, a wide variety of devices.

This device measures 5-5/8 by 3-7/8 inches and about ½ inch thick. It needs no software. On XP and Win 98SE, it installs automatically and instantly, just as you’d expect of any keyboard. I was able to try it out on Win 98SE since my personal computer dual-boots between XP Home and 98SE.

This FrogPad is frog green, with white, yellow and green lettering. See our website, http://www.tpcug.org, for the web version of this article; it has color pictures. Other FrogPads are white. Check out the FrogPad website, http://www.frogpad.com.

The pad has ten lights on it to tell you the status of the functions. There are fifteen letter keys plus Space and Enter for characters. The remaining eleven letters are keyed by using the Space key in conjunction with one of the fifteen. With the Number, Symbol, and Shift keys, that makes twenty keys in all. It amazed me how little time it took to learn the position of all the letter keys and a good number of the most-used other characters like Tab, Comma and Period. They are well-thought-out to minimize keystrokes. Other symbols and actions are more difficult, and I’ll talk about that later.

Obviously, each key has multiple functions. Just looking at one key alone, the W near the top right, it types: w, m, W, M, a colon, a dollar sign, a 9, F9, pause and Break. That’s ten functions.

You position your three center fingers in the center of the pad, on the E, H and T keys. The thumb rests on the space key, and the pinky rests on the Y key. The pinky is used on the Y, Enter, and the Shift. The index finger covers the left six keys. The thumb is used on the Number key as well as the Space. The Period is typed with Space+Enter, and Comma with Space+Symbol. The other important keys are Delete (Number+U) and Backspace (Number+I).

All this is surprisingly easy to learn. It’s much more natural than a standard keyboard. And I haven’t been tempted to abandon it at all.

To describe one of the various modes, the Number key is pressed to switch into number mode. This converts the fifteen keys into a number pad and also to Function keys if used in conjunction with the Space key. The Number key is pressed again to switch out of number mode. The operation of the Symbol key is the same. That will get access to the two symbols on the right side of each key. In the case of the W key, that’s the colon and dollar sign.

The Number and the Symbol keys interact so that one switches the other off. And the Symbol key remembers if it turned the Number key off and turns it back on if Symbol is turned back off. The Shift function is most interesting. Pressing and releasing the Shift key will capitalize just the next letter key you type. To enter Caps Lock, press the Shift key twice.

The company assures us that all keyboard functions are represented on the FrogPad, so I’ll admit here that I haven’t learned some. I’m not having any problems typing this article because at least my head knows where every key is, even if my fingers do not. I’m not fast yet, because I’m still “thinking” my fingers into the positions for many of the keys. My top speed is just 23 wpm on a standard keyboard, and I’ll be happy to match or exceed that on the FrogPad. It’s coming along, and I’m practicing some each day using a program I wrote that presents the most-used 1000 words in the English language.

But I’m a habitual programmer, and the keyboard requirements for programming are much different. I do a lot of selecting of text using Shift+arrow keys, then Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V or Ctrl+X. In other words, Select, Copy, Cut, move the cursor and Paste, without using the mouse. Here the FrogPad doesn’t shine, at least for me. To use a Ctrl+ function, you press Number+E to enter Ctrl mode, select Space+T (that’s a C), then press Number+E again to take it out of Ctrl mode, move to a new location, back into Ctrl mode, select Space+D (that’s a V), then press Number+E again to take it out of Ctrl mode again. It doesn’t seem worth it, and isn’t.

A similar problem exists for entering symbols. You do a lot of entering of parentheses and brackets and double-quotes when you program, and to do that takes a minimum of three key presses each. I think that the Symbol key should work like the Shift key and pop out of Symbol mode with one other key press.

Now to be realistic, programming isn’t about typing quickly. My guess is that I type maybe five or six wpm when programming. Programming is 95% research, testing and thinking. So I believe that my productivity will not suffer much. And I consider it a challenge to my ingenuity to find solutions. For instance, I can adopt the use of the mouse more for cutting and pasting. Also, I find that the keyboard arrow keys, Tab, Home and End keys are, if anything, quicker, because the FrogPad requires less hand movement. On a conventional keyboard, your hand must leave the home row to use many, many keys; on the FrogPad you never do. And that’s a NEVER.

I seem to look at the FrogPad almost not at all, whereas I’m almost always looking at a standard keyboard, not because I don’t know where the keys are, but rather to constantly reposition my fingers. With the FrogPad, I always know where my fingers are because they don’t move around that much.

One criticism I have is the placement of the lights. The Scroll, Caps and Num Lock lights are on the right, obscured by my hand, where the left side is completely visible on a right-hand FrogPad. And I do think that the problem of the Cut, Copy and Paste could somehow be accommodated. Please don’t think the criticisms dampen my enthusiasm for the product. I certainly like the FrogPad, and when I can think of a good excuse to buy a Bluetooth model, I’ll get one.

The Bluetooth version has some differences. I posted the question on the website Blog, and got this reply from Earlene Kaiser, Mgr. Business Development:

“We have added the following functions that are not available on the USB at this time: Alt and Ctrl keys are now accessible in one key stroke and are only active until you press the next desired key (i.e., Ctrl A or Alt Tab). On the USB, one must turn these functions On and Off. Similarly, the App and Command keys are also available in the same manner as above. Shift Lock is accessed by simultaneously pressing the Shift Key and the Space Key. Caps Lock is accessed by simultaneously pressing the Number Key and the Shift Key. The Number and Symbol modes must be turned On and then Off on both the Bluetooth and the USB.”

So with my concerns about the use of Ctrl addressed, the Bluetooth version probably would have been a better choice for me.

This my first long document using the FrogPad, and after almost three weeks, numerous emails, and one VB program written and then rewritten – I have a couple of observations.

One, that surprised even myself, is that I can close my eyes and accurately visualize the placement of all the letter keys, numbers and several symbols. That’s far better than I can do with the QWERTY keyboard, which I’ve been using for almost thirty years.

Two, I almost never look at the pad, whereas, normally I’m almost always looking at a conventional keyboard to reposition my fingers. I do a lot of mistyping now on the FrogPad because I want to go faster than my brain will allow, but that’s getting better.

And Three, I find myself a little disoriented each first use of each day. I’ve found that a few minutes repetitious practice overcomes this.

The FrogPad website is a good resource. There are two blogs--one FrogChat and one Technical blog--where a couple of company officers are active and are interested in servicing any questions. The blogs do suffer some from a couple of frequent participants with too much time on their hands. The poetry is interesting, but doesn’t belong on technical or product blogs.

Available at Amazon.com and at http://www.frogpad.com, $150-$175.

I found that I had to enable “USB Legacy Support” in BIOS for the first time. This wasn’t because of Windows - or the FrogPad for that matter - but because of the Dual-boot menu that Win XP puts up. The FrogPad wasn’t operative during that time, and presumably any USB keyboard wouldn’t be either. The change to BIOS fixed that up and was quickly accomplished. The FrogPad works during POST on my motherboard, and in BIOS, but I have a fairly new PC. If your PC has USB as an add-on card, you may need to keep a standard keyboard handy or even plugged in. Having two keyboards plugged in, one being USB, at the same time is no problem. Keep in mind also that Win 98SE was the first Win OS to have good USB support. u