Chord Chart

Since I spend most of my time in a text terminal, I put together a chord chart for the SpiffChorder which fits safely into a standard 80x24 character screen. I made it 78x22 characters in size to allow for a one-character border on all sides, and left four empty entries to accommodate custom macros.

 +----------+---F-N-CN+   +----------+---F-N-CN+   +----------+------F>CF----+
 | -RMI -C- | a A +   |   | PR-- --- | u U ""  |   | P--- --F | ret  kp ret  |
 | P--I --- | b B \ | |   | PR-- -C- | v V ] } |   | ---- --F | lshf kp +    |
 | --M- -C- | c C 7 & |   | P--- --- | w W 5 % |   | PRMI --F | caps kp ins  |
 | --MI --- | d D / ? |   | P--I -C- | x X &   |   | -R-I --F | tab  kp -    |
 | -RMI --- | e E = + |   | -R-- --- | y Y 4 $ |   | --M- --F | bksp kp beg  |
 | P--- -C- | f F 9 ( |   | PR-I --- | z Z ` ~ |   | -RM- --F | del  kp del  |
 | -R-- -C- | g G 8 * |   | ---- -C- | spc 1 ! |   | P-MI --F | sclk kp /    |
 | -RM- --- | h H 00  |   | PR-- N-- | ; :     |   | P-M- --F | ptsc kp *    |
 | ---I --- | i I 2 @ |   | --M- N-- | , <     |   | -R-- --F | rght kp rght |
 | -R-I -C- | j J ()  |   | -RM- N-- | . >     |   | PR-- --F | down kp down |
 | -R-I --- | k K $   |   | -RMI N-- | ' "     |   | PRM- --F | pgdn kp pgdn |
 | ---I -C- | l L 6 ^ |   | P--- N-- | fnc     |   | ---I --F | left kp left |
 | --MI -C- | m M *   |   | -R-- N-- | esc     |   | --MI --F | up   kp up   |
 | PRM- -C- | n N [ { |   | PRM- N-- | lal ral |   | -RMI --F | pgup kp pgup |
 | PRMI -C- | o O 0 ) |   | P--I N-- | ins     |   | PR-I --F | home kp home |
 | -RM- -C- | p P %   |   | PR-I N-- | lct rct |   | P--I --F | end  kp end  |
 | PR-I -C- | q Q ?   |   | PRMI N-- | nml     |   |          |              |
 | --M- --- | r R 3 # |   | PRMI NC- | num     |   |          |              |
 | PRM- --- | s S - _ |   | ---- N-F | brk     |   |          |              |
 | PRMI --- | t T 000 |   | ---- NCF | rst     |   |          |              |
 +----------+---------+   +----------+---------+   +----------+--------------+

The Modified NASA Set

The default chordset of the SpiffChorder, referred to as the modified NASA set in its source code and documentation, is based on one developed for Infogrip's BAT Personal Keyboard in the mid-1980s (a joint project with the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration). The patent for their CHORDIC KEYBOARD SYSTEM was filed with the US Patent Office in 1992, but it has since expired and is currently in the public domain. According to the patent application, the most frequently used primary symbols are mapped into the chords which are the easiest and most efficient to use. (For those who are interested, it goes into much greater detail on the testing methodology and analysis used to determine this correlation.)

The Alpha-Dot Set?

Greg Priest-Dorman proposes that this could be based on the Alpha-dot keyboard used by the US military in the 1970s, but seems to still be looking for confirmation from someone with access to the relevant documentation.


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