Chonky Pocket PC Features a Chorded Keyboard for Fast Typing

Have you ever wondered how court recorders are able to type fast enough to keep up with everyone talking? They do that by using special chorded keyboards, which have few keys (to eliminate movement time) that the user can press in specific combinations (chords) to enter words or letters. It is a bit more complicated than that, which is why stenographers need a lot of training, but the concept can be simplified for use in consumer devices. To prove that, Daniel Norris built the Chonky Pocket PC that includes a chorded keyboard.

For our younger readers: Pocket PCs were basically smartphones, but worse. The idea was to put all the power of a computer into a package small enough to carry in the pocket. The execution, however, rarely met expectations. The Chonky Pocket PC sure does look enticing, though. It is a full-fledged PC that can, indeed, fit in a pocket if you're the type to wear cargo shorts. It has a generous 5" touchscreen LCD that the user can take advantage of for general navigation, then a keyboard with ten keys and a scroll wheel for typing. It takes a lot of practice to type with a keyboard like this, but it will work well once you know what you're doing.

The computer part of this build is a Raspberry Pi 4 Model B, which provides plenty of horsepower for general work. Electric power comes from an array of six 18650 lithium battery cells through an AmpRipper 4000 power supply. A cool bonus of that power supply is that it reports the battery level over I2C, so the Ubuntu taskbar can display the current charge. The keys connect directly to the Raspberry Pi's GPIO pins, eliminating the need for a dedicated microcontroller. There is also an accelerometer/gyroscope module inside, though it doesn't have a use yet.

All of that hardware fits into a simple (but attractive) 3D-printed enclosure. Norris uploaded the STL file and a parts list to GitHub if you want to build your own Chonky Pocket PC.