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Supported Hardware
Plover supports several protocols that are in use by various machines:
- Stentura serial: most machines by Stenograph and many others.
- Gemini PR serial: typically any recent machine made by the Neutrino Group, such as the Piper, Revolution, or Infinity series.
- TX Bolt: an older protocol supported by some machines as a primary or secondary protocol.
- Treal: used only by the Treal from Word Technologies.
- Passport: used only by the Passport Writer from Advantage Software.
This means that, in theory, many machines work with Plover.
The following machines have been confirmed by users to work with Plover after actually trying it:
| Product Name | Manufacturer | Connection | Protocol | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elan Cybra Student | Stenograph | serial | TX Bolt | |
| Flash Writer | ProCAT | |||
| Gemini2 | Neutrino Group | |||
| Lightspeed | Stenovations | |||
| Infinity Ergonomic | Neutrino Group | |||
| Infinity Genesis | Neutrino Group | serial | Gemini PR | |
| Passport | Advantage Software | USB | - | |
| Protege | Stenograph | |||
| Revolution Grand | Neutrino Group | |||
| SOFT/HRUF | Scott Urueta | Open source hardware | ||
| Stenoboard | Utopen | Open source hardware | ||
| Stentura 400 SRT | Stenograph | |||
| Tréal | Word technologies | USB | - | |
| Wave | Stenograph |
Plover is best used with a keyboard supporting N-Key Rollover (NKRO).
This is a feature that certain keyboards have that let the keyboards register each key regardless of other keys being pressed. Read the Wikipedia entry about NKRO.
A simple test is to open up a text editor and--while holding down both shift keys--type each letter on your keyboard. If all keys are typed into the text editor, your keyboard probably has NKRO.
This site provides a web application that lets you test your keyboard's capabilities for registering multiple key presses. To test, click where it says "click to use", then each key you press lights up green in the picture of a keyboard. Press the middle row keys asdfjkl; and with a normal keyboard only 6 of the 8 keys will light up green, maybe fewer, but if your keyboard has n-key rollover, all 8 will light up green. Then press other multiple-key combinations such as yuhj and see if they all light up green.
If you don't have a keyboard that's capable of NKRO, but still want to give Plover a try, you can arpeggiate/roll the keyboard chords. More info can be found at the bottom of this post.
| Product Name | Manufacturer | Comments | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apex m-800 | SteelSeries | NKRO over USB | $199 |
| CM Storm Quickfire TK | Cooler Master | NKRO over USB | $85 |
| Noppoo Choc | Noppoo | NKRO over USB | $95 |
| Ergo Pro | Matias | NKRO over USB | $200 |
| Ergodox | Ergodox | NKRO over USB | $295 |
| G710+ | Logitech | NKRO over USB | $130 |
| Keyboardio | Keyboardio | NKRO over USB | $329 |
| Majestouch-2 | Filco | NKRO over USB | $167 |
| Das Keyboard 4 Ultimate | Das Keyboard | NKRO over USB | $169 |
| Ultimate Hacking Keyboard | Ultimate Gadget Labs | NKRO over USB | $250 |
| Vengeance K65 | Corsair | NKRO over USB | $90 |
| ZM-K600S | Zalman | NKRO over USB | $40 |