The Myth of the Keyboard Shortcut & the Cure For It >>>

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Krowbarh
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The Myth of the Keyboard Shortcut & the Cure For It >>>

Post by Krowbarh »

I just got another of these off ebay today so I figured I'd share the info & angle...

First of all, in my book there is no such thing as a keyboard shortcut...Keyboards make horrible shortcut 'pads' and they are really no good as far as design for typing either...People just get used to them and "Hey MAN! It's what EVERYONE uses!".

Yeah, Well, I don't think so...I think a proper keyboard would be very circular, tight & dual level for the left-right hand and also an option of separating the two with redundancy built-in...

But hey...There are other ways...

This device is the Microsoft Sidewinder Strategic Commander and came out in the Windows 98 period. It is a heavy-duty beast capable of some 72 mapped shortcuts if you used 'em all. There are newer versions but do not have the similar function...

Image
Image

The software won't even function on XP though, But luckily some dev created soft to get it to work all the way up to windows 10. It's called the Strategic Engine & a copy is here-

https://archive.org/download/StrategicSetupv1.3

Using the soft you can map any button press to any key COMBO or SINGLE also you can specify if it is to be a continuous press or pressing just gives a 'one-shot'. Once you get it all laid out you can save the profile for the app you are using so using for as many as you want is no problem.

It also has swivel function and a N-S-E-W function...I at some time may try to figure how to get the swivel to say regulate pen pressure (this may work just fine in bodypaint).

Have tried to talk some into it but once they find out I'm talking about an 'old' piece of hardware, and HELL, Ryan Kittleson isn't using it then it must be garbage...No, It's actually superb!

So hop on over to Ebay & get one of these...No need to shell out any more than about 20 bucks (including Shipping) as that is approx what I pay...

This is something GOOD the gaming industry left behind...

By the way these are meant for your left hand & you still use your tablet or mouse in the right hand (For Right-Handed Peeps)...
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Re: The Myth of the Keyboard Shortcut & the Cure For It >>>

Post by Draise »

It kinda looks like a many button mouse. Curious concept.
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Re: The Myth of the Keyboard Shortcut & the Cure For It >>>

Post by marcel »

Ok. You can stick the mouse under the keyboard too.
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Krowbarh
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Re: The Myth of the Keyboard Shortcut & the Cure For It >>>

Post by Krowbarh »

The beauty of this thing is no need to move your hand off it...

And some ridiculous key combo like CTRL-ALT-Y or other garbage can be setup for one button press...
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Re: The Myth of the Keyboard Shortcut & the Cure For It >>>

Post by clintonman »

Krowbarh wrote: 30 Dec 2019, 14:46 ... CTRL-ALT-Y ...
:lol: Is that real or did you make that up?
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Re: The Myth of the Keyboard Shortcut & the Cure For It >>>

Post by Krowbarh »

No I did not make it up but I don't remember what app it was for but I have seen some real oddballs before...

But anything even coming near that baloney that needs keyboard 'martial arts' training is just garbage...Much easier to move over to hit a button onscreen even if you gotta go into a submenu or two.......
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Re: The Myth of the Keyboard Shortcut & the Cure For It >>>

Post by Krowbarh »

Almost have it as I remember it was a tutorial video & the tutor had a british or australian accent & was actually pushing the keyboard shortcut agenda by saying something like "Now while clicking on toolbar icons may get you where you are going you can greatly enhance your workflow by memorizing & utilizing keyboard shortcuts" or something very similar...Then very soon some command shortcut was given as CTRL-Y and the inverse of this was CTRL-ALT-Y...

The only reason I remember was that it seemed like a farce...This was like 10 years ago...

However Nichimen Mirai has some similar 3-way oddballs too & in that app they are really not needed at all!
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Re: The Myth of the Keyboard Shortcut & the Cure For It >>>

Post by Steinie »

How about Alt + Shift + Ctrl + K to bring up keyboard shortcuts? Sounds like a winner! :lol:
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Re: The Myth of the Keyboard Shortcut & the Cure For It >>>

Post by bitkar »

that mouse is a keyboard :D or... its a keyboard on a mouse :D
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Re: The Myth of the Keyboard Shortcut & the Cure For It >>>

Post by spacekdet »

Keycuts are a hit with me, not a myth.
Stabbing a key is faster than mousing no matter how close the toolbar is.
Having Move Rotate Scale, World Object Screen co-ords and Axis toggles adjacent is also nice.
I tried a thumb ball mouse for a while. I found it's nice for everything except 3D- I ended up back with a mouse I can move.
It felt more natural, like you were pushing and pulling on the actual object while modeling.
A good thing about tS is that you can change or add a keystroke for any icon to whatever works best for you.
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