Thanks again for your efforts as a TREG tester and keeping us updated here on MacRumors. I also noticed your recent efforts on the WT forum pushing WT to firm-up their shipping timeline.
Thanks.
I figure, being lucky enough to be selected to test, I owe it to others to provide as much feedback as possible, as well as to work with it as much as I can to provide feedback to WT.
It is frustrating that it still isn't shipping. I didn't expect it to take this long after TREG first started shipping. My theory is still that the holdup is the present manufacturing process, but that is the other frustrating thing - it's a lot of guesswork until WT provides more information and my efforts to get them to do so hasn't worked so far!
While I wish we'd get a shipping announcement, I'm not one to want them to ship no matter what - especially when I don't know what problems they are having. But I don't think there is a good reason they can't give us a MUCH better idea of what is going on.
I can report that we got new firmware a couple days ago and it really improves on customization even though that was already good. Before, some things couldn't be customized. For example, the number pad lock layer used the right blade quite nicely and you could edit the main layer of that if you wanted to rearrange some things. But the green layer (where you press the space bar and another key - very easy) could not be edited. And none of the keys on the left blade could be either on either layer. Now you can.
So, for example, I've taken the four main math symbols and put them on the green layer right under the home key fingers. And I, at least for now, took the left side and put in the various media keys. While there is a media layer, it isn't lockable so you need one had to hold down the chord for it and the other hand for the media commands. But number pad is lockable so I can lock it and, with one finger, reach out and do any media command.
[doublepost=1466226364][/doublepost]On the issue of customization, let's look at an example. First, the included layout for a number pad:
The top section is the main layer once you turn on the lock to get here. As you can see, you can just hit any number in a somewhat traditional keypad, plus the four math operators and the decimal key, all with one hand. There is nothing, other than shift and tab, on the left side and, until now, you couldn't edit that side.
The second section is the default green layer (hold down the space bar and the key you want). Again, a fair number of unused keys at the top and some duplication as well. For example, the "*" and "/" keys are on both layers on the right. And the "+" and "-" keys are also duplicated, though on different sides.
Oh, until now I don't think there was any access to the green layer on the left set of keys in number pad lock mode.
Now, some may like those positions of symbols on the green layer. After all, they are in the same place as on the main keyboard green layer. But everyone can change them to suit their needs.
Next I'll show my customization (at least what it is for now).
[doublepost=1466227369][/doublepost]My number pad lock version:
Let's focus on the numbers and related things first. The number pad is almost the same. I wanted to keep all the regular number positions across the top for those moments when I'm not normally typing, but just need to reach out to enter a number or two. So it can be useful to still have number keys that, on the hardware, actually show the numbers. This means the number 6 actually shows up twice. It also means I moved the zero up to the top. I actually find I hit the zero in that position better anyway (I'm NOT an experienced number pad user!). This also let me put the equal sign where the zero used to be. All the math symbols have been moved so that means I have two unused keys, for now, on that side.
Now the other math stuff is put on the green layer. It really is so easy to type accessing that layer. Should take no time at all to adjust to it. The only part of this I'm pretty sure I'll keep this way is the four math operators and the comma.
It seems logical and easy to remember to have comma and the period on the same key, but different layers. The four math operators are directly under the four home key fingers - just hit them while the thumb hits the space. Very logical and easy to remember where they are.
For now I've put various, mostly math, related symbols across the top and parenthesis and brackets across the bottom. I suspect I don't need all that. Oh, if working on a spreadsheet, I'll use parenthesis, but I don't recall ever using the brackets. And I'll use dollar signs, percent signs, and maybe a number sign (though I think that is probably more likely to just be for normal text stuff rather than spreadsheets).
This frees up the left side for my media experimentation. For now the main and green layer do pretty much the same thing except the main layer has to leave room for the row of numbers.
So we have volume up, down and mute. Play, fast forward, rewind, next or previous track, eject. The F15 and F14 are the function keys on my Mac that brighten or dim the screen. The two icons near the left side are for copying the whole screen or to copy part of it. I don't particularly feel this is where I'll keep them though.