halfgeek asks:
"I was just considering how keyboard-centric I've managed to make my setup, even under the mouse-hungry Windows GUI (no shouting; I regularly SSH to my Linux routing box for experiments, bring up VMWare when I need some X, and can't live without Cygwin). Almost everything I would want to do can be done without moving a hand to the mouse. I can open up an SSH to my server with Win+Shift+V, bring up a calculator with Win+C, run a one-shot console command with Win+0, open up the MW dictionary website to a highlighted word by hitting Ctrl+C (to copy) and then Win+Enter (to look up the contents of the clipboard). (Much of this is implemented with Perl programs and WinKey.) I also make frequent use of the volume knob and mute button built into my Logitech keyboard. If there is any good route to finding the keyboard I want with all the features I'm thinking of at a justifiable price, whether prefabricated or a wicked mod, I would just love to know about it." There are quite a few options the submitter is looking for, but it basically boils down to is this: the more keys, the better. What keyboards have you found, in your browsing travels, that have been stuffed full of useful features?
"I'm aggravated over having the mouse still so separate from the keyboard, and I've been looking through the available options along the lines of keyboards with built-in touchpads. The closest I've found to what I want seems to be the Adesso WKB-120, but this is by no means the ideal choice. It does have three basic properties I want: One, it doesn't have the ergo-split form I so despise. Two, its touchpad is situated in the right place, just below the space bar. Three, it's all one piece, so I can keep the board off the desk and on my knees, where it belongs, eh. But it also appears to have those three intensely undesirable and horribly misplaced power management keys, and lacks the volume knob, mute button, and media controls. An illuminated keyboard would also be cool, but I'd take standard beige; it's just that my current black keyboard is hard to see in the dark."
Slashdot Mirror
I love my trackpoint (nipple) pointer that juts up in the middle of my keyboards - while it's not as accurate as a mouse or even trackpad, it's good enough to click on links or select the words/fields I need, with an absolute minimum of movement - I hate having to move my thumb down to a trackpad on a laptop, and then having to move it ALL the way across its surface a few times to get what I want.
I lament how trackpoints are disappearing off laptop keyboards these days.
I like the ideas---I, too, have a Logitech keyboard (specifically, the Cordless Elite Duo) with volume, mute, etc. keys built in, and several shortcuts set up in (at least) a similar way.
Other than the volume and mute, and the wheel on the left side, though, I find the many additional buttons along the top almost as distracting as a mouse. Right now, they're essentially all mapped to different websites, and I still have to look at them and pick out the right one before hitting it.
Maybe it's because of too much Emacs, but I don't even think about my ctrl- or alt- keystrokes.
Don't get me wrong, I love your ideas; out of curiosity, have you tried using all the "miscellaneous" buttons and specifically liked those better?
Christian Jones
Medicine. Mathematics. Mediocrity.
Here's a couple to start with:
The first Macintosh. I think Apple was so awestruck with the new idea of the GUI that it looks like the keyboard was a mere afterthought with the the first Mac. What they ended up including was designed to encourage mouse-usage; with its heavy-force keystroke requirements and its almost rudimentary nature.
the Atari 400
Anyone remember saving $400 over the price of the full-keyboard Atari 800 by getting one of these things? It spawned a cottage industry of replacement keyboards.
TRS-80 Color Computer. The keyboard on the "ColorTRaSh" was eventually improved, but the earlier models had Fisher-Price written all over.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
In ION under X I don't have to touch my mouse. ever.
just FYI
It's basically the 'killer app' that's keeping me on linux... I can run Xchat, Gaim, Phoenix (or whatever it's called now), ZINF, etc, ad nausium. Putty is actually a better terminal than many of the linux ones, and I can do most of my development on a shell into another box. Windows is Free, and so is Linux. The only differences are (a) Xwin32 is much harder to crack than Xfree86 and (b) windows's Window Managment SUCKS.
Buttsex.
Are you insane? I don't care for Windows, but it is the most advanced mouseless UI there is.
My Dell laptop's touchpad is knackered to the extent I have to turn it off permanently, so I have plenty of experience of using windows without a mouse (in the office I use a trackball). While quite a lot of features are available without the mouse, it isn't particularly easy to use and in general 'skinnable' apps (ie anything that isn't using standard windows widgets, increasingly common) suck bigtime.
I find the best thing to do when I'm unplugged from my mouse is to fire up xemacs full screen. Its no longer my day-to-day tool of choice, but emacs has so many built in features I can pretty much get by without using anything else, and mouseless operation is trivial - its what it was designed for.
For example, there is nothing in windows like C-h k (describes a single key binding) or C-h m (describes the current mode's key bindings)[1], or even a hint that will describe the key binding for actions you take.
Windows may well be the best mouseless UI that was originally designed to be used with a mouse but its not even close to being the best mouseless UI.
-Baz
[1] I know windows-space is roughly equivalent if you have intellitype, but its not a default feature of windows, and doesn't show app-specific bindings.
The later versions of the Pet had standard keyboards - it made the Pet into a good, usable computer.
Sorry, as nice as the 'M' is, there is no comparison to a Northgate Omnikey, especially the Ultra .
I still have one. It weighs over 10 pounds, so it doesn't move. The feel of the keys is heavenly - perfect amount of force to depress, and a wonderful click when you do. All the keys are where they should be, including a superior diamond pattern for the cursor keys.
If you haven't used one, you don't know what you're missing. Northgates are still the golden standard for anyone who knows.
jonathan