[PCB_FORUM] Re: Programmable Keypads
- From: "David Greig" <david@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <icu-pcb-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 17 May 2005 14:14:21 +0100
Hi George
Unfortunately some of the other CAD stuff does not support scripts, hence the
desire for deep key memory. Does seem like there
are some point of sale keyboards that will do the job.
Amusing, the turning point for "must have" something like Xkeys was the latest
hotfix.
I had control+F1 (save) and shift+F1 (shape edit) both aliased but they no
longer work.
Found that out when another one of those crashing calamities happened, no work
saved! With lots of slide and delay tune Allegro
does have a propensity to be a pig!
As far as customising the tool, I draw the line at basic ergonomics.
Life is too short, far too short, to spend time on stuff that should be there
already!
While it's easy and possible to design and build a keyboard, I've chosen to buy
one.
While it's easy and possible to re-engineer the Allegro core UI, I've
already bought one, it's just a bit wanting in a few
respects.
I do write a fair bit of engineering SW for problems that there are no tools
for, so I'm looking at the UI and functionality
from both sides of the fence.
Probably spend about 5-800 hours a year at this, so don't have a lot of empathy
for hard to use interfaces.
There may be a fundamental difference between us, I run my own company and pay
cash out of my own pocket for tools.
Best Regards
David Greig
______________________________
GigaDyne Ltd
Buchan House
Carnegie Campus
Dunfermline KY11 8PL
United Kingdom
t: +44 (0)1383 624 975
http://www.gigadyne.co.uk <http://www.gigadyne.co.uk/>
<http://www.gigadyne.co.uk/>
______________________________
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From: icu-pcb-forum-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:icu-pcb-forum-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
george.h.patrick@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: 2005-May-15 20:33
To: icu-pcb-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [PCB_FORUM] Re: Programmable Keypads
Why do you need to program that many strokes into a key?
All you need to do is program a unique sequence into each key. As an example I
use [a01], [b05] etc. to the unshifted keys;
[a11], [b15] etc. for the shifted keys (these are for the "Shift" in the xkeys
box), {A01], [B01], for when the shift on the
keyboard is held down, [A11] and [B15] for both shifts. This gives you a
possible 4 different macros per key, for a possible
232 available keys.
Then do a script that assigns the actual macro to the key (alias [a01] "iy
-$xk1;pop drill;next;pop swap" would be an example) .
This script is called from your "env" file (i.e. "source
$HOME/pcbenv/xkey_alias") to load the key macros on startup. This way,
you can easily change the contents of the "key" from inside allegro, giving you
MUCH more flexibility than entering the macro
into the aux keyboard yourself.
You could have a different set of aliases for each program if you wanted.
Now you have an unlimited number of "strokes" per key, more than 200 buttons,
and toggling between different aliases. The
layout is up to you.
BTW, if you are offended by the drop-downs, write a skill form that has
selection methods more to your liking that calls up the
actual form and makes the selection for you :)
I think the key thing is: The developers can't think of everything. I agree
that some of the things they do could be
alleviated by having actual, full-time, users consulted, and have occasionally
hinted at that on this forum. But the reason the
scripting and programmability of Allegro is there is to customize to the the
user's preference and experience. I am sure the
"softies" have comments about the "hardies" using the tool, too. Learn to
program the tool and you won't be at their mercy any
more and maybe understand why they sometimes do bonehead things.
(and you will be MUCH more marketable, to boot)
I haven't found anything with more keys or capacity than the xkeys product, but
am always interested in hearing about them if
anyone else knows. Now if they would come up with an easily changeable keymat
so you could remember what all the durned keys
are doing :D
--
George Patrick
Tektronix, Inc.
Central Engineering, PCB Design Group
P.O. Box 500, M/S 39-512
Beaverton, OR 97077-0001
Phone: 503-627-5272 Fax: 503-627-5587 <http://www.tektronix.com/>
http://www.tektronix.com <http://www.pcb-designer.com/>
http://www.pcb-designer.com
It's my opinion, not Tektronix'
-----Original Message-----
From: icu-pcb-forum-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:icu-pcb-forum-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of David Greig
Sent: Sunday, May 15, 2005 11:27
To: Icu-Pcb-Forum
Subject: [PCB_FORUM] Programmable Keypads
Has anyone come across a keypad that:
# can be programmed with more than 3 strokes per key (a couple of hundred would
be about right)
# can be toggled between a number of different cad applications e.g. SI, PCB,
thermal, VHDL etc
# is well laid out for a big left hand and has proper 'clicky' buttons
# 50 to 200 buttons
X-keys falls short on the number of strokes, so what else is out there?
While I'm ranting about user interfaces, anyone else offended and irritated by
those pathetically small drop down boxes,
material selection for example?
I've got a couple of hundred entries in my .dat file so having a scroll window
limited to about 10 just plain stinks.
There's plenty of other ones like that, and I aint too keen on manually
changing a great many forms files.
Would be nice if the softies developing CAD applications were actually tasked
with trying to use them for their intended
function!!!
They could do with being reminded that we all have screens (4k x 2k pixels for
example!).
Best Regards
David Greig
______________________________
GigaDyne Ltd
Buchan House
Carnegie Campus
Dunfermline KY11 8PL
United Kingdom
t: +44 (0)1383 624 975
http://www.gigadyne.co.uk <http://www.gigadyne.co.uk/>
<http://www.gigadyne.co.uk/>
______________________________
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Virus scanned by Lumison.
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