From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Wed Apr 7 17:25:37 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id RAA26422 for ; Wed, 7 Apr 1999 17:25:36 -0400 (EDT) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Message-Id: <4.1.19990404175025.02471a60@pop.ncsa.uiuc.edu> Date: Sun, 04 Apr 1999 18:12:32 -0500 To: cube-lovers@ai.mit.edu From: Tom Magliery Subject: Fwd: Keyboard cube [WAS Re: Wrist pains] >From: whuang@ugcs.caltech.edu (Wei-Hwa Huang) >First, represent the front face by > >q w e >a s d >z x c > >A "move" is represented by any two ordered keystrokes. If the two keystrokes >are in the same row, it represents a horizontal layer moving, else >if they're in the same row, it represents a vertical layer moving. ^^^ you meant to say "column" here > >Example: > "ed" = R' > "cd" = R > "sd" = slice move > "we" = U' > "qe" = U' > "qw" = U' this is sort of a grab-and-move interface (in my mental picture, one keypress "grabs" a face, and the next "moves" it). i think i might like this paradigm better than my own suggestion of before (unshifted single keystrokes for face moves, shifted single keystrokes for cube rotations). one nice advantage is that it makes it as easy on the keyboard interface as it is in real life to do RL' and R'L, for which i suspect most people's mental model is really a single turn of the middle slice. i think i'd prefer some different key assignments than wei-hwa suggests, though. for example, i think i'd like to "grab" with the middle key in the line, and then "move" with the outer one. for example: "de" = R "dc" = R' (according to wei-hwa's definition of "move", our two suggestions are compatible. mine only adds redundancy.) >This method does not have moves for rotating the three front to back layers >nor 180-degree moves. another suggestion for 180-degree moves: allow the user to tap the second key in the sequence 2 (or 3) times for 180 (or 270 aka 90') degree moves. thus, e.g., "wee" = U2. this is intuitive not only to me: someone else posted that in their keyboard interface of years ago, they didn't use the specially-assigned 180 keys, but in practice just tapped the 90-keys twice anyway. an additional suggested extension: let me do things with both hands! (this is my favorite aspect of my own keyboard interface, posted a few days ago.) perhaps a similar nonad(?) of keys could be used for R-face-relative operations analogous to the F-face-relative ones above. this is like wei-hwa's extension C, except i'd rather use my right hand in its "normal" typing position. how about a third set, in the middle of the keyboard somewhere, for doing D-relative things? mag -- ///X Tom Magliery, Research Programmer 217-333-3198 .---o \\\ NCSA, 605 E. Springfield O- mag@ncsa.uiuc.edu `-O-. /// Champaign, IL 61820 http://sdg.ncsa.uiuc.edu/~mag/ o---'