

How I (almost) use my computer without a mouse - psycovic23
http://victor.hwanger.com/blog/?p=366

======
yan
A few more of my tips through the years:

 _Windows_ : Alt+space, [n, x, s, m] (n for minimize, x for maximize, s to
change size. s, then arrow for which side of the window to drag, then move
with arrows. m for move, also with arrows). Ctrl+esc, menu bar. windows key+e
= explorer, windows key+r = run dialog. alt+print screen = system preferences.
(Haven't used windows in years, so not sure if these shortcuts persisted
through Vista and 7. I hear they did)

 _OS X_ : First, get Quicksilver. Seriously. Other then command+tab to switch
apps which everyone knows, command+` (tilde key) switches windows within apps.
I'm surprised how many people don't know that. Also, an awesome shortcut is
Command+tabbing to a minimized window, then before releasing command, press
down option, then let go of command while holding down option. That restores
the minimized window and switches to it, really not bad after you get the hang
of it. command+m minimizes. ctrl+f2 (might need to add 'fn' on laptops) puts
the selection in the menu so you don't have to use the mouse to select it.

 _bash_ : ctrl+r is invaluable. that will do a reverse search through history
on whatever you type next. only caveat: once you leave the search mode, you'll
actually be in that place in history, hitting up will go back even further. I
usually run an empty command (like echo) to get back to the bottom. Hitting
meta (esc in my case), then dot inserts the last argument of the previous
command. Great for edit,execute cycle. i.e. $ vi script.py $ ./[esc, .]
running '^str^strb^' in bash will run the previous command, replacing str with
strb. !! is previous command, !!:0 is first token of previous command (usually
the binary running), !!:1 is first arg, etc.

~~~
likpok
Better than win+r for run is just hitting windows which brings up the start
menu. With the new start menu, this is similar to Quicksilver and Katapult and
all those other things.

If you use zsh (and you really should. It is better than bash in almost every
way), you can just ctrl-C to get out of searches.

~~~
tdavis
zsh is rather amazing. Only so if you are familiar with how it is better than
bash (besides the fundamental ways) and how to configure it for maximum
ownage! Much like complicated editors like Vim, it helps to try to dedicate
effort to imprinting a new command in your mind per-week (or so), such that it
becomes second nature to use.

Some good stuff: <http://grml.org/zsh/zsh-lovers.html>

~~~
likpok
If you get a good zshrc, it Just Works, without much additional effort.

Admittedly, I mostly use those parts of zsh which are similar to most other
shells, but which it does better (argument completions, some directory stack,
etc).

------
mrshoe
By far my favorite mouse killer is the Ion window manager
(<http://modeemi.fi/~tuomov/ion/>).

Using the lua config I changed a bunch of the key bindings so that the entire
environment behaves like vim. I can easily change windows using the vim
directional keys, which are second nature by now. I never lose windows behind
other windows.

After a few days in this environment you start looking for apps that provide a
keyboard interface to all their functionality so you can throw away your mouse
entirely.

Vimperator is a good example. Also, I use irssi (<http://irssi.org/>) for all
chat and instant messaging. We modeled the chat interface for ShopTalk
(<http://shoptalkapp.com>) after irssi for exactly this reason.

~~~
mad44
Does anyone know of an emacs counterpart to this? (I am an emacs guy.) Thank
you.

~~~
surki
StumpWM + Conkeror + Screen

EDIT: StumpWM video <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKt_rVO960Q>

------
mtoledo
I don't use the mouse except for interacting with flash inside the browser.

For the browser I usually use a mix of firefox's "mouseless browsing" and
search with ' key.

The shell is bad for copy/pasting with only the keyboard. Even if ctrl+alt+c/v
copies and pastes, selecting without mouse is really troublesome. I run shell
inside emacs.

For changing desktops, I have hotkeys ctrl+alt+1/5 for each of my 5 desktops.
I usually keep 2 windows maximized at once so I'm always at most 2 (usually
just 1) key presses from any window (instead of following an alt+tab app cycle
or a alt+ctrl+arrow desktop cycle)

pretty much everything else you need to do can be done inside of emacs.

~~~
paddy_m
not if you run your shell under emacs. Running interactive processes in emacs
is such a powerful model (python, bash, sql, slime, moz-repl). it makes using
any of those processes signifcantly easier

~~~
pyre
Co-workers use term in Emacs to run sqlplus with libreadline-like
functionality (as opposed to none). I'm sure it could add that functionality
for other apps too. I just use rlwrap (a readline wrapper app) to add the
functionality.

------
dmm
Why would you want to avoid the mouse? You think it is faster? Have you
measured that? Human perception of time is unreliable.

~~~
silentbicycle
Because even my absolute favorite mouse* only has six buttons, while my
keyboard has well over a hundred, and the amount of information I can convey
by combining them is far greater than what I can express with a few buttons
and crude relative spatial positioning.

Because I work with tools where using the keyboard shortcuts until they become
reflex is an option, rather than only occasionally using programs and hoping
they're "intuitive" enough to use by looking for what I want to do and
pointing at it.

Because using language is more expressive than pointing at things all day.

Because you can't refer to something by name with a mouse unless it's already
on a menu. (Well, mouse gestures could be considered an attempt to do this,
but the set of "letters" is very limited.)

When a task is primarily spatial (typically, graphical editing; I'm not a
gamer), I use the mouse. That's about it.

* [http://www.amazon.com/Kensington-Expert-Optical-Trackball-64...](http://www.amazon.com/Kensington-Expert-Optical-Trackball-64325/dp/B00009KH63/)

------
zackham
OS X: I have lots and lots of email and feeds that come into a combined inbox
that I quickly filter into a lot of local folders... and it has always been a
pain. Just found this and fell in love with it:
<http://www.indev.ca/MailActOn.html>

All I use it for is moving mail into folders without the mouse (F3, space,
per(personal folder gets auto completed), enter, next!)

------
slmbrhrt
I've had a lot of fun with AwesomeWM, and ratpoison before that. It really
helps with workflow when you're not distracted by Evolution and Pidgin popups
every thirty seconds. Sure, there's a bit of configuration before you get
started, but isn't there always?

Really wish Gnome would throw in a feature that auto-maximizes windows like
the other two managers I mentioned do.

------
Gertm
StumpWM + Conkeror for browsing, terminal for everything else.

No mouse required. Try it. Love it.

~~~
thunk
Yup, same here. Being able to Slime into your WM is occasionally very useful.

------
sherl0ck
use xmonad or wmii. that force you to use keyboard, I use mouse just for
browsing.

~~~
psycovic23
You can even cut that out by using Vimperator.

~~~
likpok
For basic web browsing I find that the mouse model is pretty hard to beat (I
use vimperator).

~~~
otoburb
Use the "f" key to jump to links. It's probably just as fast as using the
mouse (some would argue it's slower), but as with most things, gets faster the
more you use it.

~~~
steveklabnik
And "F" opens in a new tab.

~~~
likpok
I've used both. They just don't feel quite the same for aimless web browsing.

Maybe it's because with a trackpoint my fingers don't leave home row, but I
find that it isn't that much better (especially on some link-heavy sites)

