Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Wanted: Novice Level Steno Hero Songs

Steno Hero, as many of you know, is great fun for stretching your steno skills with some very fast, very challenging music.

But wouldn't it be nice to have some songs that beginning stenographers could play as well?

So Ted has drawn up some guidelines for writing novice level Steno Hero songs, which use simple vocabulary -- mostly small phonetic words and common briefs -- sung at a manageable tempo for people who are first starting out.

He writes:

Here are the top 100 English words:

the, be, to, of, and, a, in, that, have, I, it, for, not, on, with, he, as, you, do, at, this, but, his, by, from, they, we, say, her, she, or, an, will, my, one, all, would, there, their, what, so, up, out, if, about, who, get, which, go, me, when, make, can, like, time, no, just, him, know, take, people, into, year, your, good, some, could, them, see, other, than, then, now, look, only, come, its, over, think, also, back, after, use, two, how, our, work, first, well, way, even, new, want, because, any, these, give, day, most, us

Some other good core words for steno, easily briefable:

always, awful, okay, eazy, water, drop, all right, welcome, love, together, request, familiar, follow, question, ask, continue, nothing, nowhere, nobody, understand, minute, important, today, tomorrow, other, every, everyone, everybody, everything, forever, of course

Meta vocabulary:

keys, chords, board, stroke, steno, hero, Plover

Simple words, in the format CVC, like mom, pop, tough, John, map, etc. should be fine as well.
If you can put words like this together into a few simple rhymes, post 'em here or to the Discord or put them on your blog and link us to them. If a tune comes in your head and you're able to record a demo, all the better. We'd love to hear what you come up with. We have some funds that we might be able to put towards commissioning and recording more polished material, but we're hoping to get some good stuff from the community to start out with.

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Quick Comparison: Splitography vs Stenokey

I seem to have had a bit of a block about writing these two reviews, so I'm just gonna give you some bulletpoints.

Stenokey Pros:

* Cheapest steno-layout option assuming you can get free/cheap 3D printing; its inventor/designer has released all the specs and takes no profit from any of it
* Extremely compact and lightweight
* Multiple protocols (though you need a pointy object to press the tiny sunken switch that changes them)
* If parts could be bought in bulk and sold as individual kits through the Plover store (working on it!), it would be even more accessible

Stenokey Cons:

* Requires self-assembly, including soldering; not a project for total beginners
* As of right now, parts need to be sourced in lots of four or more
* Matias switches are stiffer than Gateron clears
* 3D printed keycaps are a little rough and scratchy
* The stem of one of the 3D printed keys broke off after fairly light handling; it seems to be more fragile than my other machines
* It's a bit on the clicky/noisy side


Splitography Pros:

* Beautiful unique design
* Lovely heavy smooth injection molded keycaps; probably its strongest feature, I'd say
* Sold at a very reasonable price ready to use out of the box
* Works as both a regular qwerty keyboard and a steno machine, which you can switch by just pressing certain keys in a particular pattern
* The weight of the keycaps make the stiff Matias switches a little bit easier to press
* A stiff cable connects the two halves, which allows the user to tent the machine at their preferred angle by resting the machine on any appropriately angled object
* The money goes to support Scott, an early and consistent innovator in the field of open steno, who provides friendly and abundant tech support and documentation

Splitography Cons:

* The sharp solder spikes underneath the circuitboard are open and easily reached by curious toddler fingers, which means I need to keep the Splitography out of reach of my steno machine-obsessed kid
* I've had some trouble finding a good case to keep it safe in my bag; it's a somewhat awkward shape


Overall, if you're not experienced at assembling electronics and you've got enough money to buy a Splitography, it's what I would recommend. (Assuming that for economic or aesthetic reasons you've ruled out the Stenomod, which remains my ultimate go-to recommendation, for reasons ranging from the beautiful compact hinged design to the feather-light Gateron keyswitches.) The Stenokey is ingenious, but not quite durable enough to be a daily driver, in my opinion. If you want a DIY project and don't want to spend more than the bare minimum of cash, though, I can definitely recommend the Stenokey as a solid and usable option.

Tuesday, February 6, 2018

Scott's Splitography Setup Video

This is a great video explanation on how to set up your new SOFT/HRUF Splitography, which I am quite enamored of these days. Nice work, Scott.