Just came across Mouseless and tried it immediately. It is a keyboard-first cursor control tool that lets you click anywhere on the screen without reaching for a mouse.
First impression is that it works better than expected. The interaction feels fast and precise.
It is useful for keeping hands on the keyboard while still navigating the system, and it also feels practical for situations where using a mouse is inconvenient.
I am sharing this because this genuinely surprised me.
That said, between i3wm shortcuts on XFCE and TrackPoint on my laptop I think my mouse usage is already very low. I’m also skeptical about becoming hooked on something like this. The better it works the more I’ll want or need to use it.
Curious if anyone else has tried it? If not, what is your impression after giving it a go?
Gotta try it… I’m used to try to handle everything with the keyboard, sometimes it seems easier, sometimes it seems faster. Been doin’ it for decades, as much as I can using the keyboard.
In the video I know he’s using a similar keyboard format to some members here like @unixdude
There was a share-your-keyboard type topic a while back. Ah this one:
My thing about Mouseless is muscle memory. It happened to me with WM keyboard shortcuts and now I have to setup those shortcuts even on full DE like XFCE on both desktop and laptop.
Am I going to eventually start reflex-typing these mouseless key strokes when I’m on laptop where trackpoint use is an already less expensive movement than using a regular mouse or touchpad.
Looks interesting but it also looks dangerous to me:
Software that controls keyboard and mouse is software that potentially sees and controls everything you do on your computer, including passwords you type etc. Since it is closed-source rentware that phones home, the liability is for me unacceptable.
Since it phones home (license check), it’s bye bye software when the company goes belly-up. I’ve seen that way too much to be comfortable with.
It is really a pity that they chose to licence it this way. A definite no-go for me.
While there is certainly something to be said in terms of fast, efficient typing for sticking to the keyboard - and to the home keys where classic typists rest their hands, but other studies probably sharply disagree with this.
In my own usage of graphical environments, I tried to use a combination of features - sometimes using Function Keys, sometimes using what in GUI interface terms are known as either Accelerators or Nmeumonic keys, combining these with the mouse occasionally, and NOT resting your palms on the keyboard, essentially keeping your wrist and hand in the air, supported only by the hands touching lightly on the home keys and navigating from that position - I’m SEVENTY years old now and I’ve never had repetitive key or hand syndrome, so I must have done SOMETHING right. Anyway, this is cool technology, but I’m not entirely sure whether it would be practical or helpful unless it’s associated with improving an already practical system OR providing the foundation for an entirely different writing and keyboard controlling interface.
What are the thoughts of others in the forum on this technology?
Back to @hydn and the question about mechanical keyboards. I have a geek friend who is truly a geek’s geek. He tried marriage and apparently he was more married to his toys than he was to his spouse. He’s long been a car buff and a computing buff.
I hadn’t heard much about mechanical keyboards until I saw him describing one. I don’t know if he kept it or not because he mostly has a collection of seven to nine laptops at a time, most of them are usually Thinkpad models or some other high end models, but he’s picked up a Chinese model or two, something like Chewy, but that’s not the spelling of the actual brand.
With cars, he was into Vettes until someone cracked one of his so he went to high output Mustang models, then he finally said that the price of gas forced him out of them so he settled on a Beamer, not sure, but it may have been a hybrid or EV variation; still an expensive piece of machinery - WAY beyond anything that I have ever owned.
Anyway mechanical keyboards have superior features, just the right touch, etc. but they also tend to be more expensive, plus they are an external peripheral; if you use one with a laptop there would have to be some kind of interface, so most of them are probably used with some type of desktop, especially something a gamer or anyone wanting really fast access can use to their advantage.
Who around here can speak with intelligence about the details - Hayden James perhaps?
