I just bought an ergonomic keyboard because my wrists are starting to hurt.
Now that I have one, I am trying to get rid of some bad habits that
I've developed
over many years. One such bad habit (according to some ergonomic typing web
sites I've seen) is using the same hand to key a modifier and a letter (eg:
left-control and f to move forward in emacs and shells). Is there a way to
make such key combinations simply not work in fedora? For example, can
I make it so left control plus [asdfzxcvbqwert] does nothing?

Thanks...

David
--
users mailing list
users@lists.fedoraproject.org
To unsubscribe or change subscription options:
https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/users
Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines

On Saturday 01 January 2011 21:12:35 David L wrote:
> I just bought an ergonomic keyboard because my wrists are starting to hurt.
> Now that I have one, I am trying to get rid of some bad habits that
> I've developed
> over many years. One such bad habit (according to some ergonomic typing
> web sites I've seen) is using the same hand to key a modifier and a letter
> (eg: left-control and f to move forward in emacs and shells). Is there a
> way to make such key combinations simply not work in fedora? For example,
> can I make it so left control plus [asdfzxcvbqwert] does nothing?

Last time I checked X was mapping both left and right keypresses of the
modifier keys to the same action, rendering it pretty impossible to trace which
of the two keys was actually pressed. While the kernel does make a distinction
between *all* keys, X hides this information from userspace programs (except
from the ones which work inside a console).

So no, you cannot do that. The way X behaves, either both modifier keys will
work, or neither. It is beyond me why X devs would limit the functionality of
X in this way, but I guess not many people ask for advanced keyboard
customization like you (and me, back when I needed such things)...

Btw, why is it considered bad practice to type both the letter and the modifier
with the same hand? I do it on a regular basis (my little fingers being very
near the shift modifiers most of the time...), and am not aware of any
functional problems with that. Sometimes it can even be useful, if you ever
need to adapt to handling the keyboard with only one hand (the second hand
holding a beer or a baby or such... :-) ...).

Best, :-)
Marko

--
users mailing list
users@lists.fedoraproject.org
To unsubscribe or change subscription options:
https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/users
Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines

On Sat, 2011-01-01 at 13:12 -0800, David L wrote:
> I just bought an ergonomic keyboard because my wrists are starting to hurt.
> Now that I have one, I am trying to get rid of some bad habits that
> I've developed
> over many years. One such bad habit (according to some ergonomic typing web
> sites I've seen) is using the same hand to key a modifier and a letter (eg:
> left-control and f to move forward in emacs and shells). Is there a way to
> make such key combinations simply not work in fedora? For example, can
> I make it so left control plus [asdfzxcvbqwert] does nothing?
>
> Thanks...
>
> David

It's likely possible, by adjusting the keymap to map the left and right
mod keys to different modifiers, and then specifying which modifiers can
be used with each various key (actually, there might not be enough
modifiers available to do this with shift, ctrl, AND alt). It would be a
lot of work, but I can imagine there would be a small but devoted user
base for such a keymap :-)

-Chris

--
users mailing list
users@lists.fedoraproject.org
To unsubscribe or change subscription options:
https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/users
Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines

On Sat, Jan 1, 2011 at 2:06 PM, Marko Vojinovic wrote:
> On Saturday 01 January 2011 21:12:35 David L wrote:
>> *Is there a
>> way to make such key combinations simply not work in fedora? *For example,
>> can I make it so left control plus [asdfzxcvbqwert] does nothing?
>
<snip>
> So no, you cannot do that. The way X behaves, either both modifier keys will
> work, or neither.
OK, thanks.

>
> Btw, why is it considered bad practice to type both the letter and the modifier
> with the same hand?
I'm not really sure, but I read it and it kind of makes sense. If you can
avoid a slightly awkward hand position by using two hands instead of one,
I could see that would probably help.

> I do it on a regular basis (my little fingers being very
> near the shift modifiers most of the time...), and am not aware of any
> functional problems with that.
I do it all the time too, but my wrists are starting to hurt in my old age,
so I want to try something different. Of course I can try it without having
the operating system enforce it, but old habits die hard.

Here is one web site that talks about typing ergonomics:

http://xahlee.org/emacs/swap_CapsLock_Ctrl.html

Thanks,

David
--
users mailing list
users@lists.fedoraproject.org
To unsubscribe or change subscription options:
https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/users
Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines

On Sat, 2011-01-01 at 22:06 +0000, Marko Vojinovic wrote:
> Btw, why is it considered bad practice to type both the letter and the
> modifier with the same hand? I do it on a regular basis (my little
> fingers being very near the shift modifiers most of the time...), and
> am not aware of any functional problems with that. Sometimes it can
> even be useful, if you ever need to adapt to handling the keyboard
> with only one hand (the second hand holding a beer or a baby or
> such... :-) ...).

While it can be useful to do so, the reasons why you're recommended not
to are two fold:

It can lead to straining injuries. Anyone who's suffered them knows
what they're like. Unlike a musical keyboard, the typing keyboard
wasn't designed well for holding down multiple keys on the same hand.
And the mechanical typewriter keyboard really wanted to avoid typists
being able to do that, beyond the obvious "shift" and another key
combination. Some key combinations are really awkward to press, and
requires bending fingers in strange ways.

If you've been *taught* to type, it's a typing technique issue.
Professional typing techniques are all about speed and accuracy. It's
certainly the case with heavy mechanical typewriters that you want to
use opposite hands to shove the shift key all the way down, and THEN
make the hammer strike the page using the other hand. Try doing both
simultaneously, as a singled-handed method would do, and you're likely
to hit the page before the mechanism had shifted into place, or not have
the finger strength to manage it. Even electric or electronic keyboards
can suffer a similar "wrong character" problem if you don't engage the
modifiers before hitting the key.

I'm so glad I only had to put up with a year of bashing away on very
heavy mechanical typewriters at school.

Any telex operators on this list? I think it was the Australian version
of the console that had the letters all in alphabetical order, instead
of Qwerty, thanks to the telex operator's union not wanting any of their
members to lose their jobs to secretaries who could type.

--
[tim@localhost ~]$ uname -r
2.6.30.10-105.2.23.fc11.i686.PAE

Don't send private replies to my address, the mailbox is ignored. I
read messages from the public lists.



--
users mailing list
users@lists.fedoraproject.org
To unsubscribe or change subscription options:
https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/users
Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines