On Using X w/o the Rodent

Jacobian asks "I'm really sick of my hands acking from typing and using my mouse all day. I would like recommendations on a cool ergonomic keyboard, and a way that I can realistically say goodbye to my mouse once and for all in X. Every WM that I've used extensively has been very unfriendly if you don't use a mouse. Some (fvwm) you can avoid using the mouse most of the time, but eventually there is some focusing problems that make you reach for the rodent once again. Is there a WM in which I would never have to use my mouse?" I've never thought about it before, but having a keyboard friendly WM couldn't hurt. How do the different WMs rate on the various functions that can be accessed from both the mouse and the keyboard? (More)

Which actions cause the most long-term damage to your wrists: Repetitive keyboard use? Or repetitive mouse use? Would a keyboard friendly WM really help those suffering from wrist pain?

On a more personal note, I've found this submission to be rather ironic considering that for the past week, I've had to wear a splint on my wrist, due to an old injury (and not carpal tunnel, thank god!) commited in my reckless youth. So it's interesting that this one came along when it did.

Comments

Mouseless pointer movement

[Anonymous Coward]

I know this is not really what the question is asking, but it's somewhat related and a lot of people don't know it...

XFree lets you hit ctrl-shift-numlock, after which the numeric keypad will move your mouse pointer. You can use + to click, ins to drag...

Just an interesting tidbit of info. :-)

not practical for most people, but....

[kroy]

I learned how to use the mouse with my right foot. It was rather frustrating, and its a bit difficult right-clicking, but the effort has paid off. I no longer need to move my hands off the keyboard when using any window manager.

Mousekeys in Linux

[Tim Macinta]

Here's a trick I plicked up awhile back here on slashdot: in X you can simulate a mouse using your keypad in a very similar way that the Windows "Mousekeys" program works. The functionality is built into XFree86 and all you need to do to activate it is hit Shift-NumLock. After activating the feature, use the number keys to move around and '5' to click. '/', '*', and '-' switch the mousebutton that '5' represents. '0' is a click and hold (for dragging) and '.' releases the click and hold. The other keys may do something as well, but I'm not sure what. Also, to speed up the movement, tap '5' while you're moving the arrow with one of the other number keys.

I was really excited when I found this feature. IMO, there are a few improvements that could be made, though (or maybe I just don't know how to do what I want):

• Using '5' to speed things up is often inadvertanly interpretted as a click. This can get annoying.
• The feature times out. So if you don't use it for awhile, you'll need to hit NumLock-Shift again. I'd prefer to have it permanently enabled.
• I'd also like a way to know whether or not the feature is active without actually trying the number keys (to avoid inadvertant numbers being typed). Ideally there would be an indicator on my Gnome panel that would tell me whether it's on or off, just like there's a Mousekeys indicator on Windows to indicate whether it's on or off.

Windowmaker

[Robin Hood]

I use Windowmaker (current version 0.61.1). The "root" menu, as well as the window-switching menu, can be accessed through keyboard shortcuts (defaults to F12 and F11 respectively). I use multiple workspaces and switch back and forth by pressing Alt-# where # is the number of the workspace I want. Using Windowmaker's "Rename workspace" feature, I label each one: "Main", "Games", "Netscape", "Programming" and then switch to whichever one is appropriate before I launch a program. It works well for me and I usually don't need the mouse. You can set focus mode to be "Click to focus" and then switch the focus among the windows on your current workspace by using Alt-Tab, a key combo that's probably been drilled into your fingers by constant Windows use. The fact that Alt-Tab stays on the current workspace is very nice, as is the fact that the window list (F11) shows all the windows as well as which workspace they're on, so you can use that menu to switch workspaces or just remind you of which Alt-# key you want to press.

Checking out the keyboard-configuration program under WindowMaker, here are the things you can do with the keyboard:

• Open applications menu
• Open window list menu
• Open window commands menu
• Hide active application
• Miniaturize active window
• Close active window
• Maximize active window
• Maximize active window vertically
• Raise active window
• Lower active window
• Raise/lower window under mouse pointer
• Shade active window
• Move/Resize active window
• Select active window
• Focus next window
• Focus previous window
• Switch to next workspace
• Switch to previous workspace
• Switch to next ten workspaces
• Switch to previous ten workspaces
• Switch to workspace 1
• Switch to workspace 2
  .
  .
  .
• Switch to workspace 10
• Shortcut for window 1
• Shortcut for window 2
  .
  .
  .
• Shortcut for window 10
• Raise Clip
• Lower Clip
• Raise/Lower Clip

As you can see, there's quite a lot of keyboard control built-in. Try it out!
-----
The real meaning of the GNU GPL: