Autocorrect in Your Keyboard Firmware (2021)
getreuer.info

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40 points

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samwho

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5 days ago

30 comments

oneeyedpigeon ・ 3 days ago

> It runs on your keyboard, so it is always active no matter what software.

I like the idea, but wouldn't that get annoying in contexts where you don't want it? My text editor already annoys me with auto-correct, I'm not sure I want even more of it! Ideally, I think this would be an OS-level feature, but one that only targets specific contexts (e.g. 'rich text' fields, not 'plain text' ones; configurable at an app level).

  • bravetraveler ・ 3 days ago

    Try to run around in a game, ends up typing an incomprehensible dissertation

  • TeMPOraL ・ 3 days ago

    > but wouldn't that get annoying in contexts where you don't want it?

    It would get dangerous if such a keyboard was used by your doctor or pharmacist. Auto-incorrecting names or dosage of drugs? No thank you.

    • lxgr ・ 3 days ago

      On the other hand, I'm really not sure if that's a step up or down from pharmacists doing load-bearing handwriting recognition of doctors' prescriptions.

      • dmd ・ 3 days ago
        ・ 6 more

        When was the last time a doctor hand-wrote a prescription? 15 years ago?

        • seafoamteal ・ 3 days ago

          Still very common in smaller hospitals and independent practices around India.

        • brokenmachine ・ 2 days ago
          ・ 3 more

          Tell me you haven't worked in health without telling me you haven't worked in health.

          • dmd ・ 2 days ago
            ・ 2 more

            You might want to check my profile ;)

            • brokenmachine ・ 2 days ago

              Haha, touché!

              Well I can confidently say that your health is different to places I've experienced.

              I bet you don't even still use faxes...

  • lxgr ・ 3 days ago

    Yeah, it's undeniably neat, and sometimes you might not have another option (e.g. if you can't install/modify software on a given device), but whenever there is a choice I'd want to have autocorrect done on the highest possible layer.

    I'd hate to have vim commands, game inputs etc. "autocorrected".

    • jodleif ・ 3 days ago

      Or even better- your password

      • taikahessu ・ 3 days ago

        Another layer of security. Keyvault compromised? No problem, my passwodrs are safe with me!

zadwang ・ 3 days ago

Such ideas generally interfere with usability. I loath any such automations. Some more examples: the menu changes when the mouse hovers over the item; the window size or position changes when the window movement nears the border; Word automatically indent bullet items etc etc. The people designing such systems think they are designing a smart system and the usability is horrible, for me at least.

  • olig15 ・ 3 days ago

    Can I raise you with Word and outlook adding ‘smart’ quotes, and Excel destroying CSV data?

_nalply ・ 3 days ago

Cute and clever idea. There's even overriding autocorrect (hit and release Ctrl before the last letter triggering the autocorrect).

But while principially possible even in the restricted environment of keyboard hardware it is questionable whether it's a good idea after all. It's not a lot more than a toy, especially because the dictionary is limited and hardcoded.

I respect and acknowledge the ingenuity. It must have been a lot of fun to get this working for Pascal Getreuer. Kudos!

wodenokoto ・ 3 days ago

I absolutely love everything about this. The hacking, the code optimization, the ingenuity and attention to detail.

And I absolutely hate it. How would you type fitler?

   f i t l e [SPACE] [BACKSPACE] r
Maybe?

Either way, have my upvote!

m2f2 ・ 3 days ago

I guess it can be used also in other ways, especially when you hit a wall.

E.g. my Italian windows key map does not have tilde nor backtick available, and it's just a pain to type the usual alt 126 thing on a modern laptop keyboard, where even the HOME key requires some Fn shenigan. Dell and MS, wow!

  • makeitdouble ・ 3 days ago

    If you haven't tried yet, PowerToys' keyboard manager allows shortcuts for single character outputs.

    That's what I do for accented characters (e.g. Alt+Shift+C -> ç) and currency characters, it works pretty decently (found it more reliable than AutoHotKey for instance)

  • DuncanCoffee ・ 3 days ago

    I keep a second layout, the "US, alt. intl." (US international alternative?)even on computers without US keyboards, then use a hotkey such as win + space to swap between them and "\" becomes the backtick. Not only it's easy to write "~" but it's also easier to write upper case accented letters since it's just backtick + shift + vowel

  • rubenbe ・ 3 days ago

    This would be extremely useful, since phones typically add the correct accents automatically. But on my laptop I need to do this myself (using a deadkeys layout).

  • LtWorf ・ 3 days ago

    Using linux solves the issue though alt+ì = ~

    there's also ÈÉÒÀÌÙ and a bunch of foreign letters like ßøþñħŋđðŧ

axiologist ・ 2 days ago

One of the first things to be turned off are such autocorrection annoyances, whereever. Instead of constantly having the writing flow interrupted by such overzealous tools, it is much more preferable to spellcheck a document once the text composition is complete.

cynicalsecurity ・ 3 days ago

One of the most idiotic ideas I've seen recently. How to greatly annoy a user without even providing an option to turn this thing off.

  • devmor ・ 3 days ago

    It doesn't seem useful to everyday computing but I imagine there are niche scenarios where it could be valuable. Stenography comes to mind, or perhaps some machine control or clerical application where there are a limited set of input words that are valid and free typing is rare or disallowed.

    A "sticky" modifier key (like caps lock, num lock, etc) that enables or disables it would vastly increase the value in a general situation though.

  • Klaster_1 ・ 3 days ago

    There are options to turn this off - build and flash QMK with the feature turned off. A hotkey to toggle the feature doesn't seem impossible either.

  • dmonitor ・ 2 days ago

    Sounds like a devious prank to pull on a coworker. Flash their keyboard with firmware that has builtin cloud -> butt, or their -> there and vice-versa

  • zer0x4d ・ 3 days ago

    Agreed. There is just too many limitations for it to be ever useful, unless you build out a large dictionary with a huge CPU cost... A true waste of effort, albeit a fun one if you wanna learn QMK programming