Sore pinky finger from left-control key!
maxe...@my-dejanews.com
left-control key so frequently. A long time ago when all I could get my
hands on was MicroEMACS for the Atari ST, the keyboard for the Atari ST
placed the control key where MODERN keyboards place the caps lock key, just
to the left of the 'A'. But even getting a keyboard to reverse caps lock and
control won't help my poor little pinky finger!
Is there any solution to avoid using my left pinky finger for control
completely, i.e., use some other key that won't stress any one finger too
much? Has anyone heard of a foot pedal for alt and ctrl? Thanks for any help
or even good suggestions!
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William M. Perry
> I love Emacs, but my left pinky finger is really getting sore from using
> the left-control key so frequently. A long time ago when all I could get
> my hands on was MicroEMACS for the Atari ST, the keyboard for the Atari
> ST placed the control key where MODERN keyboards place the caps lock key,
> just to the left of the 'A'. But even getting a keyboard to reverse caps
> lock and control won't help my poor little pinky finger!
I've got very large hands, so it doesn't take much to hit the ctrl key
anyway. You migh try remapping left-shift to be the ctrl key... that might
be a little closer to where you normally keep your pinky finger.
> Is there any solution to avoid using my left pinky finger for control
> completely, i.e., use some other key that won't stress any one finger too
> much? Has anyone heard of a foot pedal for alt and ctrl? Thanks for any
> help or even good suggestions!
There are footpedals that plug into the joystick port... if you could get
Emacs or XEmacs to use the appropriate XInput extensions to recognize the
button presses, I'm sure something could be hacked together with
key-translation-map.
Check out http://www.moritzdesigns.com/sidekick/ for some nice cheap
footpedals.
-Bill P.
Joseph C Fineman
>Is there any solution to avoid using my left pinky finger for control
>completely, i.e., use some other key that won't stress any one finger
>too much? Has anyone heard of a foot pedal for alt and ctrl? Thanks
>for any help or even good suggestions!
I have found the ctrl key to be one of the most unlovely features of
lovable Emacs. With some small effort, I have made one of the
function keys on my keyboard equivalent to the ctrl key, but as a
_prefix_, like esc for meta. No stretching.
If it were not so late in life, I think I might do the same to the cap
shift.
--- Joe Fineman j...@world.std.com
||: A cosmology is an autobiography of the universe. :||
Chris McMahan
If it's the PC, then check out the following:
http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/voelker/ntemacs.html#capscontrol
Chris McMahan
maxe...@my-dejanews.com writes:
> I love Emacs, but my left pinky finger is really getting sore from using the
> left-control key so frequently. A long time ago when all I could get my
> hands on was MicroEMACS for the Atari ST, the keyboard for the Atari ST
> placed the control key where MODERN keyboards place the caps lock key, just
> to the left of the 'A'. But even getting a keyboard to reverse caps lock and
> control won't help my poor little pinky finger!
>
> Is there any solution to avoid using my left pinky finger for control
> completely, i.e., use some other key that won't stress any one finger too
> much? Has anyone heard of a foot pedal for alt and ctrl? Thanks for any help
> or even good suggestions!
>
> -----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
> http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own
--
(o o)
=ooO=(_)=Ooo==========================
Chris McMahan | cmcm...@earthlink.net
======================================
John S. Yates, Jr
> There are footpedals that plug into the joystick port... if you could get
>Emacs or XEmacs to use the appropriate XInput extensions to recognize the
>button presses, I'm sure something could be hacked together with
>key-translation-map.
>
> Check out http://www.moritzdesigns.com/sidekick/ for some nice cheap
>footpedals.
>
>-Bill P.
Another option are these pedals:
http://www.bilbo.com/bilbo.html
The keyboard passes through a box connected to the pedals on its way
to the keyboard port. The pedals are legitimate Shift/Control/Alt
modifiers. They work with Emacs right out of the box.
/john
Christopher R. Barry
> I love Emacs, but my left pinky finger is really getting sore from using the
> left-control key so frequently. A long time ago when all I could get my
> hands on was MicroEMACS for the Atari ST, the keyboard for the Atari ST
> placed the control key where MODERN keyboards place the caps lock key, just
> to the left of the 'A'. But even getting a keyboard to reverse caps lock and
> control won't help my poor little pinky finger!
>
> Is there any solution to avoid using my left pinky finger for control
> completely, i.e., use some other key that won't stress any one finger too
> much? Has anyone heard of a foot pedal for alt and ctrl? Thanks for any help
> or even good suggestions!
>
You might try using sticky-keys. Pressing and releasing Control and
then pressing a key has the same effect as if you held control and
pressed the key. So instead of pressing and holding three keys like
with the akward M-! (hold meta, shift and the `1' key), you can just
type them in sequence.
I don't know why this isn't enabled by default. Perhaps because it
would confuse newbies? It makes a large number of the standard
bindings waaay faster to type.
Christopher
David Steuber
-> You might try using sticky-keys. Pressing and releasing Control and
-> then pressing a key has the same effect as if you held control and
-> pressed the key. So instead of pressing and holding three keys like
-> with the akward M-! (hold meta, shift and the `1' key), you can just
-> type them in sequence.
I tried doing describe-variable and describe-function on sticky-keys
(because it sounded like a good idea) and I couldn't find a match.
I'm using XEmacs 20.4, so maybe that is the problem. Or is the
variable under a different name and sticky-keys just the human name
for it?
--
David Steuber
http://www.david-steuber.com
s/trashcan/david/ to reply by mail
"Hackers penetrate and ravage delicate, private, and publicly owned
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Michael J Downes
> Is there any solution to avoid using my left pinky finger for control
> completely, i.e., use some other key that won't stress any one finger too
> much? Has anyone heard of a foot pedal for alt and ctrl? Thanks for any help
> or even good suggestions!
I had left-pinky trouble too. My solution was to put nearly all of the
common editing commands on different keys. For example [home] instead
of C-a for beginning-of-line. At one time I even undefined most of the
standard Control-key bindings so that I would get out of the habit of
using them.
(global-set-key [f4] 'undo)
(global-set-key [f5] 'kill-line)
(global-set-key [f6] 'execute-extended-command)
(global-set-key [f7] 'isearch-backward)
(define-key isearch-mode-map [f7] 'isearch-repeat-backward)
(global-set-key [f8] 'isearch-forward)
(define-key isearch-mode-map [f8] 'isearch-repeat-forward)
(global-set-key [f9] 'find-file)
(global-set-key [f10] 'find-file-read-only)
(global-set-key [f11] 'exhume-buffer)
(global-set-key [f12] 'bury-buffer)
(global-set-key [delete] 'delete-char)
(global-set-key [home] 'beginning-of-line)
(global-set-key [end] 'end-of-line)
(global-set-key [insert] 'yank)
(global-set-key [kp-decimal] 'other-window)
(global-set-key [kp-enter] 'eval-last-sexp)
(global-set-key [kp-0] 'save-buffer)
(global-set-key [kp-1] 'delete-other-windows)
(global-set-key [kp-2] 'backward-kill-word)
(global-set-key [kp-3] 'kill-word)
(global-set-key [kp-4] 'set-mark-command)
(global-set-key [kp-5] 'backward-word)
(global-set-key [kp-6] 'forward-word)
(global-set-key [kp-7] 'exchange-point-and-mark)
(global-set-key [kp-8] 'kill-region)
(global-set-key [kp-9] 'kill-ring-save)
Ken Fisler
In comp.emacs,gnu.ecs.help maxe...@my-dejanews.com wrote:
> Is there any solution to avoid using my left pinky finger for control
> completely, i.e., use some other key that won't stress any one finger too
> much? Has anyone heard of a foot pedal for alt and ctrl? Thanks for any help
> or even good suggestions!
I've had really good luck and no problems for several months with
ctrl2cap.vxd
I lost the README for it and I don't remember where I got it, so you'll need
to search for it on the web. I tracked it down reading the several emacs
faqs. You might be able to do that too.
It works great. My MS95 crap is crashing all the time, but ctrl2cap always
works fine, and not just in emacs, but for all of 95... an incredible feat.
Hope this helps,
Regards,
KF
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David Combs
In article <773dft$b73$1...@alexander.INS.CWRU.Edu>,
Philip Lijnzaad
> > Is there any solution to avoid using my left pinky finger for control
> > completely, i.e., use some other key that won't stress any one finger too
> > much? Has anyone heard of a foot pedal for alt and ctrl? Thanks for any
> > help or even good suggestions!
I've got the same problem and often I just press with the middle digit of the
pinky, i.e. with the finger folded and touching the key with the joint. Or
so. My Silicon Graphics keyboard does have a right hand side Control key, but
I haven't yet bothered.
--
"Never drive a car when you're dead" Tom Waits
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Philip Lijnzaad, lijn...@ebi.ac.uk | European Bioinformatics Institute
+44 (0)1223 49 4639 | Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton
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PGP fingerprint: E1 03 BF 80 94 61 B6 FC 50 3D 1F 64 40 75 FB 53
citizen
> I love Emacs, but my left pinky finger is really getting sore from using the
> left-control key so frequently. A long time ago when all I could get my
> hands on was MicroEMACS for the Atari ST, the keyboard for the Atari ST
> placed the control key where MODERN keyboards place the caps lock key, just
> to the left of the 'A'. But even getting a keyboard to reverse caps lock and
> control won't help my poor little pinky finger!
> Is there any solution to avoid using my left pinky finger for control
> completely, i.e., use some other key that won't stress any one finger too
> much? Has anyone heard of a foot pedal for alt and ctrl? Thanks for any help
> or even good suggestions!
I agree with your concerns, but having a control key just to the
left of "shift" is far better than having 2 control keys off the
home row - that is on same level as "alt" keys are. Having to take
my hands off the home row for every emacs movement prevents me
from using emacs completely on a PC-type keyboard.
Maybe you can remap it to something else.
Georges KO
> If it's the PC, then check out the following:
>
> http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/voelker/ntemacs.html#capscontrol
Is there a way to do it without touching the registry?
--
Georges KO, Namur (Belgique) Alcatel Telecom Taiwan g...@gko.net
Lundi 11 janvier 1999
Eric Ludlam
My control is under shift, and to the left of the ALT and windows key.
As you folks point out, this would make ones pinky quite sore. I
suffered the unfortunate accident of breaking my left pinky several
months ago, which made emacs near impossible to use. (Of all the
fingers to loose.) What came of this situation is that I soon learned
to use my palm (just under my left pinky) to hit control. I can do
near full two handed typing of CONTROL keys in this manner, and never
have to move my hands of the home row. (C-z is the only tough one)
Enjoy
Eric
--
[====]___||. Eric Ludlam "The X Guy" The MathWorks x 7556
|[]| |= elu...@mathworks.com (work) http://www.mathworks.com
_|__|=====+ za...@ultranet.com (home) http://www.ultranet.com/~zappo
O-O-O[ ]\\ "We wern't last, Woo Hoo!" - Team Juggernaut @ Punkin Chunk
Johan Kullstam
> Chris McMahan <Chris....@lexis-nexis.com> a écrit :
>
> > If it's the PC, then check out the following:
> >
> > http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/voelker/ntemacs.html#capscontrol
>
> Is there a way to do it without touching the registry?
what can you do on windows without touching the registry? not much.
to lose the registry, you'll need to lose windows. follow the
instructions, i did and it works great! (i do admit to feeling weird
just entering seemingly random hexcodes and hoping i wouldn't make a
typo.)
--
johan kullstam
Christoph Conrad
maxepolk> stress any one finger too much? Has anyone heard of a foot
maxepolk> pedal for alt and ctrl? Thanks for any help or even good
Georges KO
> what can you do on windows without touching the registry? not much.
> to lose the registry, you'll need to lose windows. follow the
> instructions, i did and it works great! (i do admit to feeling weird
> just entering seemingly random hexcodes and hoping i wouldn't make a
> typo.)
I can't write in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE...
--
Georges KO, Namur (Belgique) Alcatel Telecom Taiwan g...@gko.net
Mardi 12 janvier, an 88 de la République de Chine
giacomo boffi
> I love Emacs, but my left pinky finger is really getting sore [...]
> has anyone heard of a foot pedal for alt and ctrl?
Dave Gallucci
i.e. just where the fingers connect to the hand on the starting edge of the
keyboard -
that whole section under the row of keys closest to you. I found that by
lifting my arms
and letting my hands hang a bit relieved the sore pinky thing. Odd how I've
been coding
for over 10 years and switching to emacs last year made me realize just how
ergonomically
incorrect I was....
citizen wrote in message <36990087.0@calwebnnrp>...
>In comp.emacs maxe...@my-dejanews.com wrote:
>> I love Emacs, but my left pinky finger is really getting sore from using
the
>> left-control key so frequently. A long time ago when all I could get my
>> hands on was MicroEMACS for the Atari ST, the keyboard for the Atari ST
>> placed the control key where MODERN keyboards place the caps lock key,
just
>> to the left of the 'A'. But even getting a keyboard to reverse caps lock
and
>> control won't help my poor little pinky finger!
>
>> Is there any solution to avoid using my left pinky finger for control
>> completely, i.e., use some other key that won't stress any one finger too
>> much? Has anyone heard of a foot pedal for alt and ctrl? Thanks for any
help
>> or even good suggestions!
>
>I agree with your concerns, but having a control key just to the
>left of "shift" is far better than having 2 control keys off the
>home row - that is on same level as "alt" keys are. Having to take
>my hands off the home row for every emacs movement prevents me
>from using emacs completely on a PC-type keyboard.
>
Kjetil Ødegaard
|
| I had the same problem, and found that I was resting the edge of my
| palms, i.e. just where the fingers connect to the hand on the
| starting edge of the keyboard - that whole section under the row of
| keys closest to you. I found that by lifting my arms and letting my
| hands hang a bit relieved the sore pinky thing. Odd how I've been
| coding for over 10 years and switching to emacs last year made me
| realize just how ergonomically incorrect I was....
May I recommend getting a rubber gooey strip thing (ok, so I don't
know the correct technical term); it really takes the stress of your
hands.
--
"Danger, Will Robinson!"
Kjetil Ødegaard - {kjet...@stud.ntnu.no}
David Combs
What I do is have a large table for the computer and
keyboard (all sun), and push it all as far back as I can,
then am tall enough or upper arms are long enough that
my lower arms lie ON the table, with arm-weight supported
mid lowerarm on the table; heels of hands also on table,
then hands raised up a bit with fingers resting (lightly)
on home-keys asdf jkl;.
Of course on decent keyboard control is just to left of
"a".
Also table allows me to slouch way back, arms now supported
by EDGE of table; hasn't bothered me yet.
Have tried using friend's pc -- HATE using eg vi on it,
with control key in HORRIBLE location...
David