Test the keymat!

[levi]

Yeah, they're already taken for a higher purpose (keyboard modifiers). How easy it will be to configure them to be mouse events instead is left as an exercise for the reader.

 

[second exodous]

Shoulder buttons are mapped to Ctrl, Shift, Alt and Fn.

Oh, I guess those are handy but they're on the keyboard already. How hard is it to change their functionality? Maybe that can be put in the wiki? I was even thinking of having different setups for different tasks, like having special keys for Blender and one for desktop use.

I know someone coded a pnd to switch A and B to mouse click on the Pandora.

 

[ClockworkCoder]

Woohoo, got 34 views on my Pyra video, which is a lot for me, and 3 more subscribers!.

It was a good video, and well presented I think you'd be lucky, but I hope you can get a Pyra in time for the bike tour.

 

[Binky]

I know someone coded a pnd to switch A and B to mouse click on the Pandora.

This is still my favourite arrangement. Leftnub=mouse, Rightnub=scroll, AYB=mouse buttons
I've also got X mapped as a spare enter button, but I'm not sure if that would be useful on a pyra.

Given it's role in copy&pasting, I think the middle-click deserves its own button, somewhere.

 

[Caine]

Depending on how hard they are to reach (it is fine on a Pandora), the Start and Select buttons could be pretty decent left/right clicks as well.

Though I think I would personally prefer the Pandora mapping (unless the nub clicks work properly).

 

[second exodous]

It was a good video, and well presented I think you'd be lucky, but I hope you can get a Pyra in time for the bike tour.

Thanx, I learned a lot on the video. I won't get one before i leave though, I leave Tuesday for Salt lake to stay with a friend and then the following Monday I'm off to Mexico! It will actually take me a month to or two to get to the boarder as I'm riding my bike from there. I learned a lot making that video, I could already make it better just from what I learned while making it but I knew I had to get it out there.

Thank you for the video. I really appreciate you creating such and in depth review (45 minutes!).

All my videos are kinda long, I'm still learning how to edit. I didn't even say everything I wanted, that happens a lot when I go to record, I don't script anything.

 

[Askarus]

Woohoo, got 34 views on my Pyra video, which is a lot for me, and 3 more subscribers!

Quess what, your video was the first one for me to watch with my Pyra.

It run well @720p, even with only 260kb/s download speed and the processor capped to 1 GHz.
I have no speakers, so I had no sound but it as a nice experience to finally be able to watch videos on a Pandora like device.

@second exodus: Having the modifiers o the shoulder buttons is a great advantage
For example Alt+Arrow keys lets you navigate in the file manage and do "previous page" in the we browser.
Fn in at the bottom right, so the right hand Fn keys are hard to reach without the shoulder button.
Thanks to the Pandora I've eared a lot o those shortcuts and it has improved my life and speed a lot. Give it a try and you'll see great improvements in your workflow.

BTW: The Nubs are drag and drop compatible. As far as I remember they don't click any more at the rim but still recognize the press. And if not, at least for 3/4o the radio you can press them and move the mouse. All you lose is a little movement speed.
Anyways, right nub let click is s the better alternative to left nub left click.

@Everyone: look forward to get a Pyra, it'll be nice

 

[Grench]

I was away camping for the eclipse so I'm a bit delayed in this response.

Great video @second exodous. You had several comments around the nub-click and that you couldn't envision it working well. I might be able to explain how it was envisioned.

Much like the Pandora, the left nub is the mouse movement.

If you want to rightmouse click, you simply tap in the LEFT nub wherever you have navigated to. Consider this, "I'm exploring something on the desktop and want more information - I momentarily click the button that I used to get there."

If you want to leftmouse click, double click or click and drag, press, double press or press and hold the RIGHT nub and drag with the left nub.

Now, if you MUST, the above could be configured in mirror to the above. Navigate with the right nub and left click with the left nub, etc...

I had found the 'mushy' keyboard as 'best'. Odd that you liked the much stiffer versions. I see a key press as a collection of critical values. It has to be firm enough to prevent accidental strikes. Anything beyond that is 'wasted energy'.

Your Blender-laptop-pyra considerations gave me some thoughts. Assuming that blender runs on the Pyra - which it should. The 'long compute' portion is the renders themselves. That part can run unattended. If the device can be powered on all day while you ride - it won't matter so much how long the render actually takes just so long as it is done by the end of the day's ride. It sounds like you'll be staying at places that should have electricity.

In theory, the render could be started on the Pyra then packed away with a power pack type battery and left to run while you ride. There is a catch though - heat. You'll have the Pyra running at 100% CPU in an enclosed space. We need to figure out a way to get the heat from the Pyra -out- of the plastic saddle bags on your bike.

The size/weight of the power cell could rapidly become an issue as well. Biking inevitably involves hills. Any downhill steep enough to require braking could generate electricity with a flip on-off generator. We used to have these for headlights on bikes - they were worthless, inefficient and could lock up a tire on wet leaves. There has to be a modern version that is much more efficient though. If you had something like that you could potentially brake-charge the power bank on the downhills and decouple it for the uphills. The complexity of that system, though, might not be worth it if you have ready access to electricity in the evenings anyway.

The big question in this scenario - how do you reliably get 8W of energy -out- of a thick walled plastic jug/tote on a 40C day from a 65C hot spot (Pyra SoC)?

 

[levi]

Around five years ago or a little more, I bought a branded dynamo to fit my bike to charge my phone on the go. Turned out it only actually generated the required 5V for charging when bombing downhill, and you'd have to find a pretty steep hill for that because the extra drag made flats feel like moderate inclines, and quite significant declines feel like flats that you still had to keep pedalling through. So it seems that they hadn't really improved since the 1970s at least that long ago (although it's probably fair to say the unit I'd got was only really dreamed up for a publicity stunt). I'd have thought if you're spending long hours out in the open, a modern solar solution might be better suited.

 

[slaeshjag]

I would go for a hub dynamo instead. Hit 88 MPH and you can light a fluoro tube right across the terminals

 

[rygD]

Hit 88 MPH

What's that you say?

 

[Pyramancer]

Much like the Pandora, the left nub is the mouse movement.

If you want to rightmouse click, you simply tap in the LEFT nub wherever you have navigated to. Consider this, "I'm exploring something on the desktop and want more information - I momentarily click the button that I used to get there."

If you want to leftmouse click, double click or click and drag, press, double press or press and hold the RIGHT nub and drag with the left nub.

Hmm... now I'm somewhat confuzzled. One question for disambiguation, and one question for further details:

1. Does "leftmouse click, double click or click and drag" mean

a) "leftmouse click, leftmouse double click, or leftmouse click and drag"​

, or

b) "leftmouse click, normal [rightmouse] double click, or normal [rightmouse] click and drag"​

, or

c) "leftmouse click, leftmouse double click, or normal [rightmouse] click and drag"​

?

2. If a), how do you rightmouse double click? On the left nub, same as rightmouse click? And how do you rightmouse click and drag? If all on the left nub, how is the potential problem pointed out by second exodus of clicking and dragging with the same nub avoided? If b), how do you leftmouse double click and how do you you leftmouse click and drag? And if c), how do you leftmouse click and drag?

 

[Grench]

Hmm... now I'm somewhat confuzzled. One question for disambiguation, and one question for further details:

No idea why this is confusing, but I'll try to clarify.

1. Does "leftmouse click, double click or click and drag" mean

a) "leftmouse click, leftmouse double click, or leftmouse click and drag"​

, or

The right nub click is a button that does what the left mouse button does on a mouse. You can press it once, press it twice quickly or press it and hold it. It is a button. It does not care.

b) "leftmouse click, normal [rightmouse] double click, or normal [rightmouse] click and drag"​

, or

There is no such thing in standard Linux DEs as "normal [rightmouse] double click". You're of course welcome to click it as many times as you want. It is a button. It does not care.

There is no such thing in standard Linux DEs as "normal [rightmouse] click and drag".

c) "leftmouse click, leftmouse double click, or normal [rightmouse] click and drag"​

?

There is no such thing in standard Linux DEs as "normal [rightmouse] click and drag".

2. If a), how do you rightmouse double click?
On the left nub, same as rightmouse click?

There is no such thing in standard Linux DEs as "normal [rightmouse] double click". However, if that were an actual thing, there is nothing stopping you from double clicking the left nub (as right mouse double click). It is a button. It does not care.

And how do you rightmouse click and drag? If all on the left nub, how is the potential problem pointed out by second exodus of clicking and dragging with the same nub avoided?

There is no such thing in standard Linux DEs as "normal [rightmouse] click and drag".
Please provide one real world example within a Linux Desktop Environment where [rightmouse] click and drag is an actual thing. Not within a game or app - those can get remapped easily enough. Just within the DE.

If b), how do you leftmouse double click and how do you you leftmouse click and drag? And if c), how do you leftmouse click and drag?

Since the leftmouse is on the RIGHT nub, it can be clicked and held while the left nub moves in whatever direction intended. You can draw boxes on the background, highlight text and everything.

Hope that helps.

 

[Pyramancer]

The right nub click is a button that does what the left mouse button does on a mouse. You can press it once, press it twice quickly or press it and hold it. It is a button. It does not care.

Ah, yes, that is perfectly clear now.

Hope that helps.

Thank you, yes it does.

There is no such thing in standard Linux DEs as "normal [rightmouse] double click".

There is no such thing in standard Linux DEs as "normal [rightmouse] click and drag".

Fascinating! In over five years of using GNU/Linux exclusively, I've never noticed this! I work mostly in Emacs or in a terminal, and rarely use the mouse even when I'm using GUI-based programs, but that's really no excuse for being quite so unobservant. What a cormorant I am!

[Edit:]
Also I seem to have had my left and right clicks muddled up somehow! Of course, left click is the "normal" click, and right click is the alternative click. No wonder I thought something was confused! I must have forgotten to have my morning coffee.

 

[rygD]

For the record, if double click is the default setting you can (often) change it so you only need to single click to open or launch things. If you are used to single clicking it can lead to lots of wondering why things are taking so long to open when you move to a box requiring double clicks.

 

[levi]

One problem I can forsee with having right click on the left nub is that new users might often try clicking the left nub, to see how it works, but all it will actually do is open largely irrelevant menus every second press. Maybe having right click defined some other way - right nub click and hold, maybe? - by default could be a solution to that though.

 

[Neelix]

I still think the best solution to many of the "New users may have trouble with the controls" issues is to put a diagram of the control layout on the default wallpaper.

-Neelix

 

[rygD]

RTFM

 

[Grench]

For the record, if double click is the default setting you can (often) change it so you only need to single click to open or launch things. If you are used to single clicking it can lead to lots of wondering why things are taking so long to open when you move to a box requiring double clicks.

I have no idea why anyone would want the default action of the nub click to be a double click.

That said, I could see potential in something like Fn+RightNubClick = LeftMouseDoubleClick.

 

[rygD]

I meant that if it is required to double click the icon our whatever to open/launch the associated file/program you can change it so that only a single click is required.

I have no idea why anyone would want the default required action for the mouse to be double click. Maybe if you have certain conditions that cause accidental clicks it could help avoid frustration, however, with other conditions, that double click itself could be difficult (which is one reason why you can change the time between two clicks to be understood as a double click). Ya know what, screw it, kill all the mice and just use the keyboard to get around...or a touchscreen. (Not serious.)