From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Message-ID: <6e35c0620708050853v5a74dbc1m5b5662526e92d022@mail.gmail.com> Date: Sun, 5 Aug 2007 08:53:44 -0700 From: "Jack Johnson" To: "Lucio De Re" , "Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs" <9fans@cse.psu.edu> Subject: Re: [9fans] The utility of a chording pad In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline References: <7204efbdee8bf0cec2284a4f8ed64276@csplan9.rit.edu> Cc: Topicbox-Message-UUID: 9e3981a8-ead2-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 On 8/5/07, Lucio De Re wrote: > > I'd just like to get some opinions, see what you think of chording devices > > and what potential utility they could have in Plan 9. > > If I recall correctly Rob Pike's comments in this forum a long time > ago apropos the issue of customisation, I would suggest that such a > chording pad would be more frustrating than useful. It goes almost > without saying that the generality of such a device lends itself to > insane re-configuration by each user, with dramatic, if potentially > humorous results. Though, interesting to think about in a modern context. Historically, the result of the chords might have been done in hardware, but if you did it in software then there would be only training issues to contend with, as with nearly every modern OS you have some way to identify yourself to the workstation and set up your session. In a Plan 9 environment, you should just be able to wander up to a workstation, log in, and have your chord customization follow you around, just like any other setting. -Jack