[RFC] Device hierarchy for MPX

[Christian Aistleitner]

Hello,

On Mon, 17 Sep 2007 16:44:08 +0200, Peter Hutterer  
<mailinglists at who-t.net> wrote:

> Daniel Stone wrote:
>> This should be fine for keyboards, with the slightly odd semantics that
>> holding down Ctrl on one keyboard and pressing Q on another will quit
>> your app.  As I explained, sending both the individual and merged state
>> in the event will 'solve' this, but it's a question if these are the
>> semantics we want or not.
>
> I tried this with my server here, this behaviour is true for the mouse
> as well. Pressing button on M1 and moving M2 will drag things around.

most likely I am missing an important point, but I guess I use those  
semantics and _really_ like them (for keyboards as well as for mice.)
In the relevant part of my setup I have two keyboards attached to one  
working place and two mice attached to the same working place.
I'll now try to explain you why such a setup is sane and the given  
semantics fit really nice.


For the keyboard:
=================

One keyboard for the left hand (the left hand sits on the typical position  
for the left hand on that keyboard).
One keyboard for the right hand (the right hand sits on the typical  
position for the right hand on that keyboard).

Using one keyboard per hand, I can tilt each keyboard as much as I want  
and do _not_ have to twist my wrists. Furthermore, using one keyboard per  
hand, you do no longer have to bring your hands together in front of your  
body to be able to type. My left hand is on the left side of my body and  
my right hand is on the right hand side of my body.

I can press the CTRL key on the right keybard and the Q key on the left  
keyboard on the left keyboard to quit an application (as cited above) and  
that's exactly what I need.

For the mouse:
==============

I use my feet to control the cursor.
Both mice are customized.

For the left foot, I freed an old mouse of its housing and build a new  
housing (with LEGO bricks) providing three long arms and an about 8cm LEGO  
wheel. Each of the three arms is connected to one of the mouse button  
switches and turning the LEGO wheel with the mouse's scroll wheel.

I use my left foot for clicking and scrolling on this device.

For the right foot, I fixed a mouse underneats a trolley for plants.  
Putting my right foot on this trolley and moving it around I can nicely  
steer the cursor. There Is no possibility for clicking on this device.

So if I want to drag something with the cursor, I use the right foot to  
get the cursor to the starting point. The left foot clicks and holds. The  
right foot now moves the cursor until the left foot releases again.



Kind regards,
Christian