From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v624) In-Reply-To: <20061116134647.GA7319@sigint.cs.purdue.edu> References: <40c778b9827aa0d0f86786c232cda248@coraid.com> <20061116134647.GA7319@sigint.cs.purdue.edu> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed Message-Id: <40efd8873289f964f69fe27d4656f718@york.ac.uk> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit From: Abhey Shah Subject: Re: [9fans] Samterm up down key patch Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2006 13:55:57 +0000 To: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@cse.psu.edu> Topicbox-Message-UUID: e176ff1e-ead1-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 Well nobodies mentioned the fingerworks touchstream yet, but I thought it was the ideal thing for acme/plan 9 use. Basically it's two large touchpads that can be used as a keyboard and mouse combined. You tap with a single finger on "buttons" painted onto the keyboard, but using 2 fingers turns it into a mouse. Chording can be programmed in by using 3 fingers. Unfortunately the two founders are now working for apple and have stopped making the keyboards (which occasionally crop up on ebay for 1000 pounds+). On 16 Nov 2006, at 13:46, plan9@sigint.cs.purdue.edu wrote: > On Wed, Nov 15, 2006 at 09:49:56PM -0500, erik quanstrom wrote: >> On Wed Nov 15 00:13:41 EST 2006, rsc@swtch.com wrote: >>> http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR >>> -39116 >>> Also IBM makes external mouse/keyboards with the >>> 3-button thinkpad trackpoints on them. >> >> it appears that ibm no longer produces these goodies, >> unfortunately. i would like to try a desktop trackpoint >> keyboard. especially if it could be used in conjunction >> with a real mouse. > > Maybe they're not as good an idea as they seem. According to Douglas > and > Mithal, it's faster to reach for the mouse than to use a TrackPoint. > Isometric joysticks are too hard to control due to their sensitivity to > involuntary tremors in the actuating finger, which means you'll spend > more time trying to put the cursor where you want it that you'll save > by not reaching your hand to the mouse and back. > > Still, it might be nice for gross movements like scrolling or selecting > a window. Pie menus would be an ideal application. > > > The Effect of Reducing Homing Time on the Speed of a Finger-Controlled > Isometric Pointing Device [1] > > Differences in Movement Microstructure of the Mouse and the > Finger-Controlled > Isometric Joystick [2] > > [1] > http://portal.acm.org/ft_gateway.cfm? > id=191805&type=pdf&coll=&dl=acm&CFID=15151515&CFTOKEN=6184618 > [2] http://portal.acm.org/ft_gateway.cfm?id=238533&type=pdf >