I've been doing that as well as beatboxing (inward bass, subharmonics). The baby is seemingly trying to replicate some of it, but obviously they're not word-like sounds.
Too much source, eventually a human cannot follow it. A common software (and not only) problem.
Maybe sometimes once in 2-3 decades it's worth taking the lessons learned and re-doing the thing? Simplifying and streamlining it greatly in the process?
Like, this bug, the file holes - do we even need them now, with very good compression for once?
> 1. Where do you use FreeBSD? On your laptop? Remote servers? Routers?
Everything headless and sometimes kiosks.
> 2. Why do you use FreeBSD instead of Linux?
There's no such thing as "using Linux". You should ask why use FreeBSD over Debian, or why FreeBSD over Arch. Much easier questions with often quite obvious answers.
> 3. Why do you use FreeBSD instead of OpenBSD or another *BSD?
OpenBSD has no usable filesystem.
> 4. Do you find something lacking in FreeBSD? Is there something that is good in another OS that you'd like to see in FreeBSD?
Not really. Maybe swappiness and zram would be nice sometimes, but no biggie.
> 5. What is that one thing about FreeBSD that you would hate to lose if you were forced to use another OS?
Why don't the schools, regular ones, teach proper ten finger touch typing? But then, will it still be a common vital skill in let's say 20 years? (I think yes)
What is your definition of seriously? Dvorak has 70% keypresses on the home row, with the best left/right hand alteration approach possible, with ability to switch to Programmer version of it if needed. I don't know what real-world tests can leave all of these features unnoticed. Dvorak layout is a magnum opus of the guy who was willing to arrange the letters in a best possible way for human, while qwerty is a clever trick to fool a customer for the sake of selling typewriters.
From what I've seen, differences in key arrangement has effects on:
- Different keyboard layouts have very little effect on speed. Querty vs Dvorak vs a completely random layout will have little difference in typing speed after learning it for a reasonable amount of time.
- Learning time is probably reduced by using a more intuitive keyboard layout. This was one of the key points in August Dvorak's studies while researching the layout, and found that Dvorak was significantly easier to learn for new typists.
- Hand and finger movement is reduced by placing more commonly used (mostly optimised for english) keys on the home row. More words can be typed using only the home row keys on Dvorak and especially Colemak than on Querty, which also likely reduces rate of misspelling. This can also be an improvement for typists with RSI or other injuries.
Different layouts have different goals, as you've said Dvorak has a great approach for altering between left and right hands for commonly used letter pairs. Colemak optimises for inward finger rolls, which I might learn as they're very satisfying to type in the rare occasions they appear on my default of Dvorak. Layouts like Engram aim to reduce use of the middle column between the left and right hands.
While I can't unequivocally recommend alternate keyboard layouts to every person that types regularly, one thing I can say is beneficial for any layout is simply to remap Caps lock to Backspace for reduced finger movement. Think about how often you use Caps lock and then realise it's wasting valuable space on the home row, while usually requiring the typist to move one hand off the keyboard every time they want to correct a mistake.
If its that much better, but no one uses it, who the hell cares. You can espouse all the features you want, but if testing shows that it doesn't really matter to anyone, meh.
What is your definition of anyone? I am teaching Dvorak to some really young students, whose habits are not malformed with Qwerty. They are extremely thankful to me, no one is willing to return to Qwerty, time to gain a touchtyping skill is 10 hours from zero to hero. So, my "anyone" reports that Qwerty does not matter to him. Probably your observation is based on the fact that an old dog can not learn a new trick.
- Get a TKL keyboard, those extra 5 inches to stretch to your mouse are important
- Or try using your mouse IN FRONT of your keyboard, like, I usually have mine turned 90' counter-clockwise and resting somewhere under my left "Alt" key. If you never used it that way it may feel weird for like 5 minutes. Then it's natural for eternity
- And get a mechanical keyboard ("red" switches should be okay for most people)
Have you considered using a Trackpoint instead of a mouse? To me it's the most comfortable way to move a pointer on the screen, and coupled with a keyboard-driven GUI, I rarely have to rely on it anyway. This seems like the most ergonomic setup to me, and I haven't experienced any hand discomfort after many years of using it.
> And get a mechanical keyboard
I'm not convinced that mechanical keyboards help with reducing RSI, since they usually require more actuation force and key travel. I've found slim keyboards with low key travel, whether mechanical or membrane, to be the most comfortable to type on for extended periods of time.
> "Have you considered using a Trackpoint instead of a mouse?"
A mouse is a proxy for the pointer, you move the mouse and that moves the pointer a scaled amount, precisely, distance-for-distance predictable movement. A trackpoint is a joystick, you lean it in a direction and the pointer goes in that direction and you have to work with the timing and guess when to let go for the pointer to stop in the place you want. It's like controlling a pointer by poking it with a bouncy spring, there could hardly be a worse mismatch.
The opposite version of the mismatch is trying to control a driving game with a mouse, where the car only steers left as long as the mouse is actively moving left, so you have to continually swipe the mouse and pick it up and reswipe over and over to go round a corner.
Joysticks are not a good fit to control a mouse pointer.
> A trackpoint is a joystick, you lean it in a direction and the pointer goes in that direction and you have to work with the timing and guess when to let go for the pointer to stop in the place you want.
Have you ever used a Trackpoint? It's more than a joystick. It's pressure sensitive, which means that you can quickly cross large distances, or be precise across smaller ones, by adjusting the exerted pressure. There's no guessing where the pointer will stop, since there's no deceleration, and you're almost[1] always in full control.
I agree that it's less precise than a mouse, but not by much once you're used to it. I'd trade the comfort of always keeping my hands on the keyboard for a slight decrease in precision any day. And this is even less of a problem if you optimize your workflow to use keyboard-driven UIs as much as possible.
[1]: The only issue I have with it is that it ocasionally gets "stuck" in one direction, which fixes itself after a second of letting go of it. It's possibly related to dirt or dust, because of its high sensitivity, but I haven't found that cleaning helps much. Though this might be only an issue on ThinkPad laptops, which Lenovo hasn't cared to fix for many years now.
Re [1], if the pressure is constant for about a second the software assumes that you aren't touching it and what remains is error in the hardware. It then compensates for the error by introducing a constant offset which exactly counteracts your motion. The only way to fix it is to let go until the software recalibrates to the actual error with zero pressure. Since learning this I've mostly avoided it without consciously changing my behaviour.
Joysticks are pressure sensitive, the speed of e.g. game aircraft roll is proportional to how far you lean the joystick. Yes I have used a trackpoint, that's why I dislike it so much.
You know when moving a mouse to resize a column in some data view, only the developers made it so the hit target is a single pixel and it's excruciating to try and hit it? A trackpoint is like that all the time, for every use case.
It's exactly what i've been doing for the last 12 years. IBM Spacesaver keyboards + vim keybindings everywhere possible, and during the year, stretching forearms everyday.
