geekhack
geekhack Community => Input Devices => Topic started by: keyb_gr on Tue, 12 May 2009, 05:36:39
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Any fans of MouseKeys (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MouseKeys) here, the keyboard-based mouse emulation? Seemingly having quite a history in X and being a standard "accessibility feature" in Windows, it should be present on a wide range of systems.
It's not like I'd want to use it exclusively, but it comes in handy is some situations.
Suppose you have a keyboard on your knees because there is no proper space for it on desk for some reason but the mouse still is up there, then MouseKeys will spare you from having to reach up. (That I guess also is why they sell compact boards with integrated pointing devices.)
I also feel that numpad 5 is more easily and precisely operated than e.g. the left mouse button, so sometimes I like to use this to click.
Finally, some practice with this might even make me grok the trackpoint... (If you're not used to these, you'll have a mighty hard time getting the mouse pointer where you want. I know I did.)
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I think the problem with mousekeys is that there's no way to vary pointer speed easily. That means either you're going to always overshoot or always take forever to get the pointer to where you want it.
Plus I see no point in using them for any text editing task, the only case in which you'd have to reach between mouse and keyboard frequently enough for it to be annoying. The arrow/hjkl/fbnp keys + appropriate jumping modifiers (word, sentence, etc.) would probably get the cursor to where you want faster and more accurately.
And if you want to use it for window arrangement in X, just get a decent tiling window manager instead. Most of them let you do everything efficiently by keyboard.
Finally, some practice with this might even make me grok the trackpoint... (If you're not used to these, you'll have a mighty hard time getting the mouse pointer where you want. I know I did.)
I always found the trackpoint easy to use and acceptably accurate. In fact, I've played first person shooters with them with decent results.
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Citation needed
edit: Oh 'that you've seen'...well that's a little bit different.
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That's pretty interesting. From the fields I come from, it's considered "noobish" to have both hands on a keyboard and nothing on the mouse. Names like "keyboard turner" crop up quickly lol...I'll have to youtube some videos or something. Sounds....interesting, if anything.