Showing posts with label keyboard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label keyboard. Show all posts

Monday, January 12, 2009

Keyboard Shortcuts - gOS and the Eee

Day 69

I'm beginning to see why people prefer the Eee-specific distro remixes. While gOS runs well on the Eee, has great wifi connection rates, and is far easier than the default Xandros to find repositories for, it has some major gaps. Perhaps this can be an open invitation for someone to make an Eee-gOS. In the meantime, I keep getting hit with small, inconvenient surprises around every corner. For example, most of the keyboard shortcuts are dead. Only the brightness function buttons work. I missed the volume controls in particular, so I set out to try and reactivate them.

It seemed easy enough. In the Preferences menu, there is a keyboard shortcuts option. When I opened it, I saw that the volume controls were assigned some nonsensical characters. I wanted to change them back to their Xandros defaults – Fn+F7, Fn+F8, ect. Strange thing though – gOS doesn't seem to recognize the Fn key. I settled on changing them to use the Ctrl key instead.


I did a quick test run, and I watched as the icon at the top right of my screen changed according to my keystrokes. How easy is that!?

A little too easy, apparently, because it doesn't actually work. The shortcut commands go through the motions, but it doesn't control the volume. I still have to click on the icon and manually mute the Eee. It's kind of like Bernie Lomax. He walked around. He threw parties. He even had relations with a woman. But he was still dead. And so are my Fn shortcut keys.

This is kind of what my keyboard shortcuts look like.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Keyboardr

Day 22

Web site keyboardr is an as-you-type search mashup of Google (including blog and image search), Wikipedia, and YouTube with blazing speed. Once you see a result you like, just use your arrow keys to navigate to the result, then hit Enter to open it.
- Lifehacker

One of my earlier gripes about navigating around the Eee was the inevitable hand cramps that resulted from the tiny keyboard and touch pad. This is particularly noticeable while surfing the web.

I may have found a solution to this problem while visiting my favorite social bookmarking site, Delicious. Keyboardr is a new homepage that can search, navigate, and select all from the keyboard. This is convenient on any computer, but even moreso on the Eee. It was just released, and it's clear there are some bugs. Hopefully these will be worked out, and a few more options will be added, but for right now, keyboardr is a nice remedy to the hand strain caused by the Eee's cramped real estate.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

That's What She Said

Day 12

My wrist hurts.

This can mostly be blamed on mousing around with the touch pad, but the tiny keys haven't helped much either. To put it into perspective, there are 35 keys crammed into a 3"X3" section of keyboard. I can still touch type on my Eee, but strain is becoming an issue.

That's a whole lot of keys in not a lot of space.

I would say I have average size hands, but folks with larger digits may want to steer clear of the Eee Pc. Here's a few guidelines - You should not buy the Asus Eee PC if:
  • Oven mits are a snug fit
  • The only shadow puppet you can make is of an eclipse
  • Elephantiasis is more than just a really good idea for a Halloween costume
  • Manicures require a cinder block instead of a pumice stone.