Region Specific Penguin Laptops Coming (keyboard layouts /w your language/region)

14 respuestas [Último envío]
Chris

I am a member!

Desconectado/a
se unió: 04/23/2011

I'm trying to wage demand for various regions/languages if we shell out money to manufacture the keyboards. How many would be interested in a Emperor Penguin laptop first off?

https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/emperor-penguin-gnu-linux-notebook

And then what language/regional layout would you want?

I think we might do some of the following:

Spanish
French
PORTUGUSES
NORWEGIAN

Although there is a slight chance (if people show there is demand) for these layouts:

ARABIC
ARABIC-FRENCH
BELGIAN
BRAZILIAN
CZECH
DANISH
DUTCH
EST (ESTONIAN)
ESTONIAN
FARSI
FRENCH
GREEK
GR (GERMAN)
HEBREW
HUNGARY
ICELAND
ITALIAN
NORWEGIAN
PORTUGUSES
RU (RUSSIAN)
RUSSIAN
SCANDINAVIAN
SLOVAKIAN
SPANISH
SWEDISH
SWISS
SWISS-FRENCH
UK (UNITED KINGDOM)
UNITED STATES

It will take two months once we place an order an order to manufacture them and any keyboards we get will be it once stock runs out. It will likely be the end of Feburary before we had them and then I'm thinking there will be about two months time period to actually buy one. All of this is just estimates.

Chris

I am a member!

Desconectado/a
se unió: 04/23/2011

Since there haven't been any responses here (might not have given this enough time, but we need to commit sooner than later) is what I decided to get:

GR (GERMAN)
UK (UNITED KINGDOM)
SWISS
SPANISH
DUTCH
FRENCH
SWEDISH
ITALIAN
PORTUGUSES

I'm thinking we will shoot for targeting French, Spanish, and Portuguese. And possibly German. Spanish, French, and German are three of our biggest non-English markets. I also think we are going to get keyboards for all three models.

onpon4
Desconectado/a
se unió: 05/30/2012

So, if I'm understanding correctly, you're not going to ship laptops with a US layout if people don't ask for it...?

I guess I could live with a UK layout, but it would be weird to adapt to... I'm just a bit surprised if your UK customer base is larger than your US one by such a huge margin that you wouldn't even consider the US market alongside the UK one without people asking.

Chris

I am a member!

Desconectado/a
se unió: 04/23/2011

No. These are additional layouts. So the US layout will continue to be available for North American customers, Australian, New Zealand, and any other places that typically use a US keyboard layout.

onpon4
Desconectado/a
se unió: 05/30/2012

Well, why do you list "UNITED STATES" as one of the possible layouts to consider (with "slight chance" attached), then? That makes me think of... you know, the United States layout.

Chris

I am a member!

Desconectado/a
se unió: 04/23/2011

:) It was a mistake I guess? I was asking about additional layout options and the United States is already offered (even if it was worded wrong).

aliasbody
Desconectado/a
se unió: 09/14/2012

US Keyboards are only good for non-americans if you are a programmer... other than that you will be stuck without any accent.

For me I would vote for the Portuguese keyboard, this could be a good "plus" into more selling outside of the USA.

So in my opinion, and in order of importance (not especifically for me) this is what I propose:

1 - English (US)
2 - Spanish
3 - French
4 - German
5 - Portuguese (or Brazilian... maybe there is more Brazilian requests)

onpon4
Desconectado/a
se unió: 05/30/2012

> US Keyboards are only good for non-americans if you are a programmer... other
> than that you will be stuck without any accent.

Yeah, but it just seems weird that the U.S. would be abandoned, partly because that's where Chris is.

MagicFab
Desconectado/a
se unió: 12/13/2010

On 12-12-04 07:56 PM, name at domain wrote:
> I'm trying to wage demand for various regions/languages if we shell
> out money to manufacture the keyboards. How many would be interested
> in a Emperor Penguin laptop first off?
>
> https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/emperor-penguin-gnu-linux-notebook
>
> And then what language/regional layout would you want?

I never ever use language specific keyboards on my systems.

I configure them to use "U.S. International - w/dead keys" layout, and
use key combinations to get accents, special characters in the two other
languages I use most: French and Spanish.

F.

--
Fabián Rodríguez
http://fsf.magicfab.ca

Chris

I am a member!

Desconectado/a
se unió: 04/23/2011

Yea- this is a good solution too.

oysterboy

I am a member!

I am a translator!

Desconectado/a
se unió: 02/01/2011

Le 2012-12-06 06:29, Fabian Rodriguez a écrit :
> On 12-12-04 07:56 PM, name at domain wrote:
>> I'm trying to wage demand for various regions/languages if we shell
>> out money to manufacture the keyboards. How many would be interested
>> in a Emperor Penguin laptop first off?
>>
>>
>> https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/emperor-penguin-gnu-linux-notebook
>>
>> And then what language/regional layout would you want?
>
> I never ever use language specific keyboards on my systems.
>
> I configure them to use "U.S. International - w/dead keys" layout,
> and
> use key combinations to get accents, special characters in the two
> other
> languages I use most: French and Spanish.
>
> F.

Same here. A Qwerty keyboard and US International layout is perfect
for writing in French, and I assume, most other languages.

lammi87

I am a member!

Desconectado/a
se unió: 07/27/2012

I would vote for a Finnish layout but if I recall we have the exact same layout as Swedish do and you seem to have it already.

Chris

I am a member!

Desconectado/a
se unió: 04/23/2011

I believe this I looked into this and there actually is a new standard layout for Finnish although technically your correct. The layout has been the same until very recently (3 years ago or so).

aliasbody
Desconectado/a
se unió: 09/14/2012

Hey chris, is it too expensive to build a custom keyboard ? I mean, are they prepared by languages or is it possible to have one with some of the keys changed ? Or just add new letters in different color.

This this was possible (for example) we could (in my case just to show what I have in mind) buy a computer with a US keyboard and then have a blue smaller symbol on the same key showing the location of a Portuguese keyboard.

Take this as an example, in the USA keyboard where the { and [ is, in the portuguese keyboard we have the + and *. Something like (Normal Color) {,[ (Blue) +, could be done no ? I mean this should be decided by the user after selection on a list (since every keyboard is different and have different spaces and keys).

Like this someone could easilly know where the keys are.

Thanks in advance.

Chris

I am a member!

Desconectado/a
se unió: 04/23/2011

While we might be able to do it the costs would almost certainly be prohibitive. Whenever you start a new design or change a design there is something called a mold charge. These keyboards aren't unique. They are no different than a hard drive or an LCD screen. Many companies use them in there products. While there may only be one laptop with a particular keyboard there may also be a dozen or more companies using it. Be it Asus, Acer, or both, or some other combination of companies. If we were selling 400+ of a particular layout it might be something to consider. As it is we aren't there yet. The 15.6” models seem to be more common. We tend to be able to find other companies using the keyboards quite frequently. Unfortunately figuring out which companies are using the same keyboard is a pain.