Simply type all the keys and shift, alt, alt+shift combinations and then you can print out an overview of your keymap for easy reference. (Or make a PDF, or take a screenshot, of course.)
Works best in Safari on the Mac, but most keys will be detected correctly with other browsers / operating systems, too.
(This is Apple's "ABC - Extended" layout, formerly known as "US Extended".)
Read the article - posted 2021-01-29
As most people who’ve used a keyboard in (another) European country can attest to, all the other countries use really crazy keyboard layouts. An effort like EurKEY tries to solve this by coming up with a keyboard layout that works for all latin script languages. Apple’s ABC Extended (formerly US Extended) is also a pretty good effort.
However, coming up with a really good keyboard layout is pretty easy. Getting people to abandon the keyboard layout they’re used in favor of a “better” one to is the big problem. (Insert old joke: standards are great, there are so many to choose from!) So what I wanted to do is come up with something that works for people who find themselves behind a foreign keyboard, but also those who appreciate having a layout that makes it easier to type their most-used language.
Image link - posted 2021-02-07
Back in 2003, Apple released the Apple Wireless Keyboard:
(Not to be confused with later keyboards of the same name that look like laptop keyboards.)
The keyboard still works with an ancient MacBook Pro, but it won't pair with anything from the 2010s. That's too bad, because I think it looks pretty nice. So I decided to see if I could bring its essence into the 2020s by transplanting the keycaps to my Drop CTRL keyboard.
Read the article - posted 2021-03-05
Eight years ago, I wrote Why I use a 20-year-old IBM Model M keyboard for Ars Technica. And now, after a slight (well, five-year) hiatus, I have a new story on Ars, about my new mechanical keyboard.
Read the article - posted 2021-03-08
The other day I noticed how dirty my VT420 terminal's keyboard was, so I decided to take off the keycaps to clean them.
Then of course it's always good to put the keycaps back where they belong. That's a task made a lot easier with a keyboard tester app such as the online one I made a while ago. However, I don't think the VT420 supports the latest Javascript features...
So I whipped up a command line keyboard tester: kbdtest.php. Save the page, rename to kbdtest.php, then run with ./kbdtest.php. Works on the Mac, haven't tested other systems.
I just had a moderate-size scare: I typed something into iTunes Music, and the miniplayer now showed playback controls:
This web tool lets you click on a list of accents to add those accents to text you've typed or pasted in a text box. Or remove accents with a click. So no need to remember those pesky alt codes or unintuitive key combinations!
Read the article - posted 2021-05-14
The Commander X16 is an upcoming new Commodore 64 like 8-bit computer built from currently available parts, as explained in Youtube playlist. After watching some of the more recent videos, I decided to download the emulator... and tried out some BASICODE on it.
The way the Amiga handles icons changed a number of times over the history of the platform, with the result that many older icons don't look right on Amigas running later versions of the OS. I made a tool to convert these old icons so they look like they should on later Amigas: Iconverter.
Original Amiga mice were never that great, and a few decades of use and storage didn't help. So if there's one part of the Amiga I have no problem replacing with something new, it's the mouse. (Don't feel bad, I swore of Apple mice, too.) So a while ago I got a USB-to-DB9 mouse adapter. That one worked fine with wired mice, which was a big improvement.
However, a few years ago I discovered the Logitech Anywhere MX 2 wireless mouse...
Five months ago, I put Kailh Box Orange switches in my Massdrop CTRL keyboard.
Today, I took them all out and replaced them with the Cherry MX Browns that the keyboard came with. There were just too many keys that generated an extra spurious press. So that would be "I typee" rather than "I type". This seems to happen especially with often used keys like e. So let's see what happens when I've used the Cherry MX Browns for five months.
Permalink - posted 2021-08-07
Two forum posts made me think of what it would take to build an Amiga using modern parts, and what should remain the same and what should change about a new Amiga to remain useful in the next decades.
Hint: it invloves HDMI and USB.
In this latest installment of Amiga short takes:
Image link - posted 2021-09-12
Seven years ago, I wrote Understanding old Nikon lenses: AI, AI-S, AF and AF-S. A few things have changed since then, so I thought it was time to do a follow-up that looks at how well different Nikon lens generations go with different Nikon camera generations.
I've had a few Nikon cameras, and those always come with a perfectly usable strap. The only issue is that putting the strap on a camera and getting the length just right is a rather involved process.
And sometimes I need a strap, but in other situations, it gets in the way. So I asked about straps that are easy to attach and detach in a forum, and one of the suggestions was for a Peak Design strap.
If you're into watching Youtube photography channels, you've probably seen the little black discs with a red edge that hang off of the sides of a camera before. The anchors click into the anchor links, which are of course attached to the ends of a strap.
This is a review of the Anchor Links set that lets you quick release your existing camera strap.
For some time now there's been a push to move the entire web from HTTP (no encryption) to HTTPS (with encryption).
I never felt it was necessary to encrypt static content. But the time has come to cave to peer pressure, and enjoy a few benefits such as the ability to post images to web forums.
However, I still feel very strongly about everything remaining accessible over HTTP. If you go HTTPS-only, you are now relying on a certificate authority (as well as your own ability to keep certificates up to date!), and you're cutting off some older systems and losing some performance. Also, having to change everything wholesale will be somewhat of a nightmare.
Read the article - posted 2021-11-20
Image link - posted 2021-11-21
When I got my first iPhone back in 2008, I hacked together a quick script that let me post photos from my iPhone to my website. However, iPhone photos are now 3 MB or larger, which is a bit much. So in practice I would edit the photos on my computer before posting them. But that gets old, so time for some automation.
The first photo I uploaded directly from my iPhone 3G, showing part of the script
Actually resizing images is easy enough in PHP using the imagecopyresampled() function. However, using the provided example script the result was that a photo that I took with my iPhone showed up rotated...
Read the article - posted 2021-11-28
If you've never seen the mandelbrot set, you absolutely need to go to David Eck's web-based mandelbrot set viewer right now. And if you've seen it before, you almost certainly haven't seen enough of it. Who knew that math could result in such trippy images?
Read the article - posted 2021-12-01
On the website of the Dutch newspaper NRC, Ben Tiggelaar writes that 'bad English' is the new world language. In it, he argues that talking with other people who have English as a second language is easier than talking to native speakers.
When I have work-related conversations with Brits, I'm always a little stressed beforehand because of the language. And afterwards I'm more tired than after other conversations. But when I have to talk in English with a group of Spaniards, Chinese or Germans, that doesn't bother me at all.Read the article - posted 2021-12-08
Image link - posted 2021-12-29