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  • (January 12, 2023, 01:18:11 AM)

Author Topic: Typing without a keyboard!  (Read 3611 times)

Revka

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Typing without a keyboard!
« on: August 09, 2002, 01:20:51 AM »
Contrary to popular belief, typing without a keyboard can be done -- it just takes a shitload of patience from the user.

Here's the story... About a month ago I sent a keyboard and a mouse down to my parents house so they could use them to see if either of their computers would still work.  Yesterday I set up my dad's computer to make sure it would work.  I got the tower and monitor plugged in right away and I turned it on just out of curiosity -- mind you there is no mouse or keyboard hooked up yet.  It worked.  Now I need to make sure everything on it still works.

I went looking through the house to find the mouse and keyboard that I gave them, and eventually I found them.  The mouse hooked up just fine, but the adapter for the keyboard wasn't the right one for the computer -- it was from a really old computer and had the five-pin adapters instead of a PS/2 adapter.  I'm thinking "Great... this is gonna suck, but I can use the mouse to do just about anything in Windows 98", so I continue with my experiments.

After about 20 minutes of messing around, I realize that I need to look in the registry for something.  So I use the "Run" option from the start menu.  There were a ton of icons on the desktop with just about every letter of the alphabet, so I copied one letter at a time to type "regeDit".  It took a while, but I finally got there.  I realized afterwards that it would have been a hell of a lot faster through Windows Explorer.

So... now that it's over, I thought I would have to share this unique experience.  And I don't ever want to go through that again.

</RANT>

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Anonymous

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Typing without a keyboard!
« Reply #1 on: August 09, 2002, 01:31:25 AM »
You know... It would have been a lot easier had you had Windows XP installed on their with the "On Screen" keyboard thingie. I've never used it, but that would have saved you some time, too.

Also, how'd you manage to boot the computer? I know that some will bitch about there not being a keyboard, and therefore they cannot boot because they need the keyboard for some reason to boot. Strange things these computers do. Go figure.
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Revka

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Typing without a keyboard!
« Reply #2 on: August 09, 2002, 01:55:24 AM »
I was being lazy enough to not go out and get some utilities.  They have another computer there, too... a new one from Gateway.  Yippee.

I just hit the power button and it booted right up.  I hadn't even hooked up the monitor yet.
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Anonymous

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Typing without a keyboard!
« Reply #3 on: August 09, 2002, 06:32:17 AM »
Or you could just buy a ps/2 to AT converter for your keyboard...
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hob goblin

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Typing without a keyboard!
« Reply #4 on: August 09, 2002, 08:56:09 AM »
i've had to do that sometimes, when for instance my computer will freeze, and unfreeze -- but the keyboard won't work... then i will copy and paste letters from IM's until i can spell out "brb"
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Anonymous

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Typing without a keyboard!
« Reply #5 on: August 09, 2002, 11:45:20 AM »
Quote from: hob goblin
i've had to do that sometimes, when for instance my computer will freeze, and unfreeze -- but the keyboard won't work... then i will copy and paste letters from IM's until i can spell out "brb"


Net time that happens, try unplugging and then plugging the keyboard back in. That might work before you go ahead and restart the whole thing.
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Dark Shade

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Typing without a keyboard!
« Reply #6 on: August 09, 2002, 09:06:22 PM »
Dude, sounds horrible.

Did you break a limb?  :D
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hob goblin

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Typing without a keyboard!
« Reply #7 on: August 09, 2002, 09:19:17 PM »
it takes 30 seconds to restart my computer...soo....
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Anonymous

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Typing without a keyboard!
« Reply #8 on: August 09, 2002, 09:29:13 PM »
Mine used to take about that long to restart while I had windows 98 running. Now it's around 45 seconds with Windows XP. 15 more seconds isn't bad.

The whole thing about me not wanting to restart my computer is because of the insane uptimes that I cna usually get. I've gotten two weeks before.

Lately I've not gotten more than 5 days because stupid thunderstorms keep knocking out the power. Thank God I have a powerstrip. Not that they're 100% safe or anything...

\\DOMITIUS has been up for: 5 day(s), 3 hour(s), 45 minute(s), 56 second(s)
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gulfan

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Typing without a keyboard!
« Reply #9 on: August 18, 2002, 03:02:02 PM »
I use Dragon Naturally Speaking.  It’s rather good once you get it working.  When I first installed it I had to do over an hour of training to get it to at least work decent and it still screwed up on a lot of my sentences.
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Jon

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Typing without a keyboard!
« Reply #10 on: August 18, 2002, 03:51:41 PM »
This just came to mind while reading this.

"Keyboard not found! Press F1 to continue."
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DiZ

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Typing without a keyboard!
« Reply #11 on: August 18, 2002, 07:27:45 PM »
careful if ur unpluggin and pluging in anything ps2... ive blown more than 1 puter doing that! only school ones though  :D
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