[POC] CuTy : new textinput system (OSK)

[Mistabeen]

Hi all,

For some time now I have been using certain homebrew that requires text input like PSPIRC, AFKIM, etc...
Danzeff has created a nifty little keyboard aplication that gives us the opportunity to input text quite easy.
However, I always seem to strugly with the analog nub that is a bit awkward. I don't know about anyone else, but it can be sometimes quite hard to highlight the correct square.
Therefore I designed a new style of keyboard that could be used for textinput on the PSP.
My mainfocus ont his design was to be able to input text at a much faster pace then danzeff's keyboard. I based this on rythem games, that uses combinations of buttons to input a series of signals at a fast speed.
I'm quite sure that people who play rythem games on the PSP will be quick learners for this typing system.

Ofcourse, this is just a PoC, a design for a keyboard.
I can only code LUA and I know that those keyboard plugins are written in C, therefore I release this as a PoC and not an official coded release.

I called the design of the keyboard CuTy Keyboard (Quick Text Keyboard > QT Keyboard > CuTy keyboard) becaus it's main focus is on rappid text input on the psp.
This keyboard might not support as many characters as danzeff, but it contains all the vital characters AFAIK.

You can view my presentation of CuTy at this website
http://users.telenet.be/mistabeen/cuty

Some of the main features:

3 different input modes wich you can scroll trough using the select button (a bit like the official OSK of the PSP)
- Basic text
- Alternative text
- Numpad

Moving the analog nub gives a hard enter

Holding a button in basic text input mode for 1sec will type a capital letter instead of a lowercase letter.

Cycle trough different combinations using the shoulder buttons (no shoulder buttons, left shoulder button, right shoulder button, both shoulder buttons)


I am hoping some developper sees something in this concept and works it out so it can be used in other homebrew aplications as an alternative next to danzeff's keyboard.

To the admins of QJ i'd like to say: I know this can be viewed as a request, but I have put quite some work into this, planning the details and the use of this. This is not your average "PLEASE PORT THAT GAME LULZ!!1!1!1" type of post. This is aimed at improving homebrew.

[tommydanger]

What exactly is the POC part of it?

[Mistabeen]

Proof of concept is a short and/or incomplete realization (or synopsis) of a certain method or idea(s) to demonstrate its feasibility, or a demonstration in principle, whose purpose is to verify that some concept or theory is probably capable of exploitation in a useful manner. A related (somehow synonym) term is "proof of principle".

It's more or less a demonstration of how textinput could be done on the psp.
The question would be: Is there a way of quick textinput by use of the basic PSP controls.

I used the term PoC becaus this is more then your average request.
In my eyes this isn't a request, it's more a way of contributing to the scene that is actualy usefull for other homebrew aplications, even if it's just an idea.

I have to aknowledge the facts that if requests would be allowed to anyone it would turn out into a spamfest of kids asking to create their wicked game based on what they would like to see.
That doesn't mean you have to see all requests as negative, i'm quite sure that allot of people could come up with bright ideas to improve the homebrew scenes, if people wouldn't be to stuckup to atleast listen.

[Raphael]

I always wondered why no one attempted to do some T9 sort of text input for the PSP, rather than those relatively sluggish and hard to use OSKs that showed till now.
It should be obvious that T9 allows for faster text input on a limited amount of available buttons, and though patented, the basic idea can still be applied.
Probably no one had the guts to implement the dictionary search algorithm necessary :P

PS: Nice concept anyway, one can see you put some thought into it

[NeonBox]

this is a great idea i had the same idea before danz came out but thta was back before my analog stick was messed up so i just left it as an idea on paper but great i'm glad to see someone made it if only a PoC because as i said my stick is totally shot now and this would work

[Mistabeen]

as raphael said, a T9 system would be even better. But that's going to be quite hard to create, and let's not forget other language support.

I think there is a need for a keyboard that allows fast text input especialy now the PSP Slim doesn't support the Infrared keyboards.

[Judas]

I like the idea and I've been thinking how to implement it. Here's the different states I've been think of.

The R or L button isn't held down
The R button is held down
The L button is held down
They're both held down

Now, that's four states, and we have eight buttons. (Arrows, Shapes) This gives us 32 different keys. I figured the 26 letters, plus important symbols. (Period, comma, parentheses, hyphen, space) Of course, all characters will be available by changing the mode, but these are the most used, and will therefore be the default mode. Oh, and I can't forget, holding the button down will make it capital. Combine this with some simple coding, and not only can we make a better keyboard, but a decent text editor for the PSP. Maybe I'll try to code some later. I'll let you know how it goes.

[weirdpeople]

wow this sounds cool i think this could work very well it world be even better if it could replace the sony thing that takes so long to type with but i love this idea i hope someone gets it to work

[Raphael]

Originally Posted by Judas

I like the idea and I've been thinking how to implement it. Here's the different states I've been think of.

The R or L button isn't held down
The R button is held down
The L button is held down
They're both held down

Now, that's four states, and we have eight buttons. (Arrows, Shapes) This gives us 32 different keys. I figured the 26 letters, plus important symbols. (Period, comma, parentheses, hyphen, space) Of course, all characters will be available by changing the mode, but these are the most used, and will therefore be the default mode. Oh, and I can't forget, holding the button down will make it capital. Combine this with some simple coding, and not only can we make a better keyboard, but a decent text editor for the PSP. Maybe I'll try to code some later. I'll let you know how it goes.

You're overcomplicating the button combinations, making the input unintuitive, which again hinders the learning curve and overall input speed. I doubt most users will have an easy time remembering the L+x/y/z/w or L+R+x/y/z/w or whatever combinations to find the correct character.
The best solution would probably be only depending on the four main buttons to select from a list of chars (like the num buttons on cell phones are used to identify one of three characters depending on number of presses) and using the D-Pad to quickly switch to upper/lower or numeric input. LTrigger and RTrigger could then be used for back/forward(space).
My suggestion would be something like this:
____ghijklm
abcdef___uvwxyz
____nopqrst
Where the position denotes the according symbol button.

This would end up in the user having to do more button presses allover, however would have it easier to remember button combinations to enter frequent words and therefore speed up the input. Together with a predictive text algorithm like T9, this would allow for IMO the fastest possible text input without additional keyboard (for example the button combo "triangle, square, triangle, (RTrigger), triangle, cross" would refer to "hello" with the given button layout).
The "hold button" for uppercase could be included as a "short-cut" for single character uppercase input.

PS: Copyright on that explained input system by me 2007 :P

[Mistabeen]

Even with a T9 system, 4 buttons wouldn't be enough for that, it would be a ***** to get the correct words out of it (to many combinations possible like that)
Using 8 buttons would be way better then.

And I know itmight sound a bit complicated with the buttoncombinations I have suggested, but it's quite easy once you understand it.
Also don't forget that the system works with HOLDING a shoulderbutton for a combo, not just pressing it once. Therefore you could cycle real quick to find the correct letter on the display and then hit the correspo,ding letter.
Button combos are quite easy to learn and can lead up to a fast input system, you just need to take a few minutes to practise yourself.

Sure a T9 system sounds great but it'll be very hard to make a decent functioning system out of it.