StenoByte Prototype

A stenotype inspired terminal app for typing out bytes quickly.

This program is designed to allow you to build up a byte using eight keys from your keyboard, with each key corresponding to a bit in a byte (which is made up of eight bits). When you press and hold down those keys, their associated bits are set to 1. When the keys are released or are not being pushed, their associated bits are set to 0.

When you are ready to turn those bits into a byte, press the Space Bar, and the application will convert those bits into a byte and display it as a decimal.

This application is currently designed to work on Linux.

For the time-being, this app requires elevated privileges (e.g. sudo) to run.

How to Compile

Step 1: Install the Dependencies

Ensure the following dependencies are installed:

• gcc
• cmake
• libevdev

The steps assume for installing the dependencies assume the repositories that contain your dependencies are already configured with your operating system's package manager.

Install Dependencies on Fedora, CentOS, Red Hat

sudo dnf -y update
sudo dnf -y install gcc cmake git libevdev libevdev-devel

Install Dependencies on Debian, Ubuntu, Mint

sudo apt update
sudo apt -y install build-essential cmake git libevdev-dev

Install Dependencies on Arch, Manjaro (to be confirmed)

sudo pacman -S gcc cmake git libevdev

Install Dependencies on Alpine

apk add --update build-base 'cmake>3.30' libevdev libevdev-dev gdb

Step 2: Clone this repository

Run:

git clone git@github.com:RedHoodedWraith/StenoByte.git

Step 3: Build with cmake and make

Run:

cd ./StenoByte
mkdir output
cd ./output
cmake ..

If cmake runs successfully, then run:

make

Step 4: Run the program/application

If make runs successfully, then run the following for a simple demonstration:

sudo ./StenoByte_Prototype

Alternatively if you would like to write your bytes to a file, the run the following:

sudo ./StenoByte_Writer

To exit the app, press the Esc key on your keyboard.

Resources Referenced

• https://www.freedesktop.org/software/libevdev/doc/latest/index.html
• ChatGPT to generate example code to start from (prompt: "I would like to detect which keys are still pressed and which are not")

Information for Developers

Check out the Development Info page for some useful information if you are developing or maintaining this repository.

License

Copyright (C) 2025 Asami De Almeida

Released under the Apache Licence 2.0 Licence. See the following pages for more information:

• Apache Licence 2.0