Difference between revisions of "2150: XKeyboarCD"

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
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(Explanation: Headings)
(Rubik's Keys to Unlimited Key Travel)
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*'''54 Configurable Rubik's Keys'''
 
*'''54 Configurable Rubik's Keys'''
 +
The smaller cubes on a {[w|Rubik's cube}} resemble computer keys, so this feature makes fun of that by adding a spinnable Rubik's cube above the keyboard.
  
 
*'''Hardcoded Plastic Keys for the 5 Most Useful Emoji'''
 
*'''Hardcoded Plastic Keys for the 5 Most Useful Emoji'''
 +
This feature might actually be useful for what it's worth.
  
 
*'''Serif Lock'''
 
*'''Serif Lock'''
 +
{{w|Serifs}} are small lines on the ends of certain characters in fonts such as Times New Roman and Georgia. However, "locking" serifs doesn't make any sense, as there is no key you need to hold down, as with caps lock. Instead, serifs are dealt with in the font menu, which doesn't generally change suddenly.
  
 
*'''Unlimited Key Travel'''
 
*'''Unlimited Key Travel'''
 +
Some companies advertise unlimited travel, however it would be relatively useless to have unlimited travelling across the keys of a keyboard, since, on average, keys tend to be smaller than countries.{{Citation needed}}
  
 
*'''Diagonal Spacebar'''
 
*'''Diagonal Spacebar'''

Revision as of 14:00, 15 May 2019

XKeyboarCD
The key caps use LCD displays for all the vowels, so they can automatically adjust over the years to reflect ongoing vowel shifts while allowing you to keep typing phonetically.
Title text: The key caps use LCD displays for all the vowels, so they can automatically adjust over the years to reflect ongoing vowel shifts while allowing you to keep typing phonetically.

Explanation

Ambox notice.png This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: Created by a POWER USER. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.
If you can address this issue, please edit the page! Thanks.

In the same vein as the xkcd Phone series, the XKeyboarCD seems to be an overly inventive and borderline ludicrous keyboard intended for some unknown audience. It has an assortment of features (some fairly normal, some more exotic) which give it a..."diverse skill set".

  • 54 Configurable Rubik's Keys

The smaller cubes on a {[w|Rubik's cube}} resemble computer keys, so this feature makes fun of that by adding a spinnable Rubik's cube above the keyboard.

  • Hardcoded Plastic Keys for the 5 Most Useful Emoji

This feature might actually be useful for what it's worth.

  • Serif Lock

Serifs are small lines on the ends of certain characters in fonts such as Times New Roman and Georgia. However, "locking" serifs doesn't make any sense, as there is no key you need to hold down, as with caps lock. Instead, serifs are dealt with in the font menu, which doesn't generally change suddenly.

  • Unlimited Key Travel

Some companies advertise unlimited travel, however it would be relatively useless to have unlimited travelling across the keys of a keyboard, since, on average, keys tend to be smaller than countries.[citation needed]

  • Diagonal Spacebar
  • Arrow Key (Rotate to Adjust Direction)
  • 15 Puzzle-Style Numberpad
  • Ergonomic Design

Transcript

Ambox notice.png This transcript is incomplete. Please help editing it! Thanks.


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Discussion

Since this is xkcd, can someone check whether this 15 puzzle is solvable? I seem to recall that 1/2 of possible permutations fail. And this is the sort of Easter egg we have come to expect from our lord and master Randall Cyclic3 (talk) 13:51, 15 May 2019 (UTC)

Unfortunately, it’s unsolvable.
If the 15-puzzle is laid out like a numpad with 1 in the bottom left and the hole in the top right it is solvable. 162.158.154.49 14:23, 15 May 2019 (UTC)
Really? I got it on my fifteen puzzle.
It's also possible to do if you just put the blank in the upper left corner, so _123,4567,etc. Source: I just Googled and downloaded a solver with a very annoying input method (Why can't I just type the numbers?) Trlkly (talk) 21:06, 15 May 2019 (UTC)
Python solver at this link Fifteen puzzle solvability, Numworks Python: >>> solvable([1,8,4,12,7,0,11,3,15,6,10,9,2,5,13,14],4) --> False Elvenivle (talk) 18:18, 18 February 2021 (UTC)

"Key travel" is the vertical distance a key moves when you press it. "Unlimited key travel" would make it very hard for it to register that a key has been pressed.172.69.62.40 14:03, 15 May 2019 (UTC)

Perhaps the XKCD Company has partnered with ExampleName.Website.
Doesn't "unlimited key travel" mean that the key will fall out from keyboard and get lost? -- Hkmaly (talk) 22:51, 15 May 2019 (UTC)

I don't get the title. Is "XLeoparCD" some kind of typing pun I'm missing? GreatWyrmGold (talk) 14:05, 15 May 2019 (UTC)

You probably have the Substitutions filter on your computer and forgot about it. (I do too, it's great.) It's XKeyboarCD, and the capital letters spell XKCD (for if that wasn't obvious). 172.68.132.77 14:10, 15 May 2019 (UTC)
I don't think Substitutions looks for words that COULD be "keyboard" if there wasn't a letter in the way, and it definitely doesn't affect text in images. It was just a joke. GreatWyrmGold (talk) 13:36, 17 May 2019 (UTC)

What are the supposedly 5 most useful emoji? I recognize the laughing/crying one on position two and an Octopus on position three. 162.158.93.231 14:35, 15 May 2019 (UTC)

I think it's 'racehorse' & 'beer'. nachuo (talk) 14:44, 15 May 2019 (UTC)
The last one is 'aerial tramway'

A friend of mine loves Rubik's Cubes, so I immediately went looking for a Rubik's Cube shaped keyboard... Instead I found Rubik's Cubes with keys glued to them, but they aren't functional. Anyone know of a cube-shaped keyboard? A 3x3 is enough for letters, numbers, & most common punctuation; a 4x4 could include most important keys found on a regular QWERTY keyboard. Surely this is already a thing? I was ready to say "Shut up and take my money!"

For the Rubik's cube keys, it looks like the "stalk" goes through the center square on the bottom face of the cube. Wouldn't that mean there are 53 keys, not 54? 173.245.48.237 19:29, 18 May 2019 (UTC)

ProphetZarquon (talk) 15:20, 15 May 2019 (UTC)

The closest thing I can find is the Twiddler or the DecaTxt. 172.68.59.120 16:24, 15 May 2019 (UTC)
Because of all of the moving parts in a functional Rubik's Cube, a working keyboard would have to have several separate wireless components, which might get expensive fast. I agree that it should be possible, but I don't think we should expect to see it in mass-production in the next five years or so. That said, someone might find an ingenious way to combine existing technologies into a similar product. 108.162.242.13 01:25, 16 May 2019 (UTC)
Spent a little time thinking about this. I can see how to do it, should be pretty cheap (may be mass producible even). Surprised if somebody hasn't done it already (probably buried under all the non-functional ones). I am sure somebody will take up the challenge. 162.158.107.25 21:56, 19 May 2019 (UTC)
Back when The Matrix first came out, there was an unaffiliated website called www[dot]thematrix[dot]com (the movie used "whatisthematrix"), where the front page included a complaint that nobody from the movie even tried to buy his domain, nobody warned him, it didn't seem to occur to anybody that people would instinctively type in HIS address, and now he was flooded with visitors looking for the movie. Only other thing I remember about the site was that he had a menu CUBE. You slide the mouse over it to spin it - in literally any direction - each side had a single letter that when clicked brings you to a different page on the site. Fantastic piece of graphical scripting (PLUS functional as a click-able menu!), full 3-dimensional graphical animation... I also remember some note about "Don't ask for the code for the menu cube, just program things yourself". :) That Rubik's Cube made me think of it. I would imagine having ALL sides being buttons could be a problem (how do you put it down?), but I could imagine it being functional... 6 sides, 9 keys, so 54 keys... Alphabet is 26, numbers is 10, shift and caps lock and enter and backspace makes 40 keys, that leaves 14 keys left to cover symbols (with shift being able to double up assignments), IDK seems pretty workable. :)
Also reminds me of an episode of The Dollhouse. Summer Glau (of Firefly and Terminator fame) guested as an intelligent tech whose nerves were severed in her arm or something, making the arm dead. She had this ball-like keyboard which I realized was so she could touch-type one-handed! Made me want that keyboard. NiceGuy1 (talk) 04:00, 18 May 2019 (UTC)
The directional arrow key would be the existing production Lenovo's red Track Point button. [1] So this is close to a "real" button.

Confirmed that the numeric pad cannot be put into numerical order without removing keys and placing them in another order. There are 28 keys on the top row which usually is the function key row. Also the Ergonomic keyboard would cause serious physical and mental pain to everyone. Punchcard (talk) 22:32, 15 May 2019 (UTC)

I wonder why the galaxy emoji from https://xkcd.com/2131/ isn't shown as one of the "5 most useful emoji"?

In what dialect of English do the words “bird” and “turn” share a vowel sound? I asked three of my friends to say both words and we all pronounce the vowel sound differently (I mean, “bird” differently from “turn”; we all pronounced the individual word “bird” the same, and “turn” the same). The words “bird” and “tern” on the other hand, do seem to have the same vowel sound.173.245.54.37 03:27, 16 May 2019 (UTC)

Not sure where you're from, but to me turn and tern sound alike, making them homonyms. So yes, it's apparently a dialect thing; you and your three friends obviously speak the same dialect of English because you're all from the same area of the country. You probably should expand your sample beyond your closest friends. Ianrbibtitlht (talk) 04:53, 16 May 2019 (UTC)

“Bird” and “turn” share a vowel sound pretty much in a Scottish dialect - but “turn” and “tern” are very distinct. I would also suggest the expression “Unlimited key travel” is a pun on genuine travel passes (train, bus, tram) where a monthly pass will get you unlimited travel for a month. 162.158.158.121 07:18, 16 May 2019 (UTC)

Wonder if there will be a version 2 as there was more xkcd phones... --Kynde (talk) 13:38, 16 May 2019 (UTC)

I don't get any sense that the rubic's cube needs to be solved in any manner to configure the keys, just that the 9 squares on each of the 6 side are functional keys that can be reconfigured, for a total of 54 additional keys. Ianrbibtitlht (talk) 04:41, 17 May 2019 (UTC)

Configuring in this case would mean putting the keys in a certain arrangement. I.E., putting the keys that you are most likely to use in a convenient place relative to each other. If you were to do that, you would have to 'solve' it to an appropriate configuration, though depending on how few or how many keys you care about the placement of, many solutions (or none!) may be possible.162.158.59.166 14:16, 17 May 2019 (UTC)

Can the ‘ergonomic’ section of the keyboard resembling a tunnel be somehow connected to carpal tunnel syndrome? 172.69.10.142 06:13, 17 May 2019 (UTC)

Implementing SerifLock via CapsLock is made further difficult because it keeps state and doesn't generate a character, which can be problematic. Also, many applications load and track fonts on their own - making a key-mapping an application-by-application affair. (Im)Practically for Windows users, Microsoft deprecated Application.OnKey in Word (but not in Excel) *and* the KeyBindings approach leaves out Caps Lock, requiring a low-level keyboard hook to try to accomplish this. This is unfortunately bizarrely difficult to just tack in, but would be awesomely useful for those who don't mind coding their favorite serif font to an otherwise unused key... I appreciate the comic even more now! Chroisa (talk) 12:58, 17 May 2019 (UTC)

I feel the description should make mention of the fact that the 15-puzzle would presumably be lacking a '0' which is normally included in num pads.162.158.59.166 14:10, 17 May 2019 (UTC)

On many numeric keypads the 0 is not in the same rectangular block with the digits (usually 1-9), so this could be similar. 162.158.106.138 20:26, 19 May 2019 (UTC)

Had to preserve this for future readers: "Created by a LEOPARD USING AN XKEYBOARCD. Seems to be finished, could someone check it again before deleting this tag? Do NOT delete this tag too soon." HackneyedTrope (talk) 00:22, 22 May 2019 (UTC)

Isn't the spacebar more accurately described as vertical, not diagonal? 162.158.79.191 06:49, 29 May 2019 (UTC)


The retards who write this don't know what above, below, top, bottom, and vertically mean. There are no keys on the bottom of a real keyboard. And travel has nothing to do with keys but fare or stroke does. Serif lock could refer to the section of Unicode with serifed alfabet. Lysdexia (talk) 11:23, 24 July 2019 (UTC)

This is a wiki. You are free to improve the text if you feel that some terms are wrong, or by adding an alternative interpretation of e.g. serif lock. However you decided to instead spend your time on calling people retards, in hope that they will take your (partially deserved) critism and improve it instead. In my experience that is not a typical reaction of insulted people. --Lupo (talk) 11:59, 24 July 2019 (UTC)

hey wait what is that part above the arrow key before the ergonomic cylinder that is 4 raised keys? 172.68.55.36 14:46, 8 November 2021 (UTC)BUmpf I think the last emoji is "fire extinguisher"

Oh lord. that is a super complicated keyboard. WHAT THE #3ll, man. 172.68.2.85 18:33, 25 January 2024 (UTC)

The old(?) adage is true...
ALL CAPS TALK LEADS TO B1FF T4LK.
B1FF T4LK LE4D$ 2 W4r37_t4LK.
W4r3Zt/\1k L34d$ 2 31337 \/\//\r37_ |>0o|) 7/\|_|<,
4|\||) 7|¬3|23 7!¬3 |)/\|2|( 51|)3 |_13$
(With all due credit to Usenet...) 172.71.178.60 21:10, 25 January 2024 (UTC)