Author Topic: Fiddly stuffs (Read 3986 times)

Clear Tranquil · « **on:** February 03, 2011, 12:27:39 AM »

Bought a laptop yesterday

It's my first one so I'm still finding my way around. Managed to set it up ok including setting up the net but I'm still experiencing some weirdness in getting used to it. So this topic is for asking questions as I think of them -

First off how do I select a specific piece of text for Copy + Paste with a touchpad laptop (no mouse)

Thanks

DjinnAndTonic · « **Reply #1 on:** February 03, 2011, 12:49:20 AM »

You should be able to do it the same way as with a regular mouse?

Hold down the left button, scroll over text by lightly moving fingers over touchpad, and then release left button. Then right-click over any portion of the selected text to copy. (Or use CTRL+C)

The more interesting part of touchpads is that they normally have a 'scroll bar' on the right edge of the pad. So if you lightly 'pull down' on the right side of the touchpad, a document/website's scrollbar will respond accordingly.

Clear Tranquil · « **Reply #2 on:** February 03, 2011, 12:56:46 AM »

Wow thanks Djinn!

I think I was doing this last night but for some reason the ability to do it had deserted me today

I will need to remember this and practice at it~

superaielman · « **Reply #3 on:** February 03, 2011, 03:03:24 AM »

It's definitely worth the money to grab a mouse and mousepad. It's just easier than a touchpad unless you're Andy and clinically insane enough to play FPS with a touchpad!

Dark Holy Elf · « **Reply #4 on:** February 03, 2011, 03:39:10 AM »

Touchpad superiority yo.

Even if you don't feel this way yet I'd recommend trying to get used to it just so you're functional in places where you can't carry a mouse around (busses and planes, for example).

Talaysen · « **Reply #5 on:** February 03, 2011, 05:59:38 AM »

You can click somewhere, then shift+click somewhere else to select all text between those two points. Way easier than trying to drag on a touchpad. Sometimes easier than trying to drag with a mouse depending on the program.

Grefter · « **Reply #6 on:** February 03, 2011, 07:26:25 AM »

Quote from: Dark Holy Elf on February 03, 2011, 03:39:10 AM

Touchpad superiority yo.

Even if you don't feel this way yet I'd recommend trying to get used to it just so you're functional in places where you can't carry a mouse around (busses and planes, for example).

No wonder you find mouse interfaces terrible.

I second the reccomendation to shell out for a mouse. If you are prepared to blow a bit on it there is plenty of really neat wireless portable mice that are good for travel.

Dark Holy Elf · « **Reply #7 on:** February 03, 2011, 08:34:39 AM »

Quote

No wonder you find mouse interfaces terrible.

Er what? I find mouse interfaces terrible because a mouse is a really shitty thing for precision control. Trackpads aren't much better, but at least I'm not moving my wrist all over my desk. That kind of low-control analog just makes for shitty control, and it has no place in action games to me (and in games like Civ I'll generally use it until I learn all the keyboard shortcuts in order to not have to).

Granted I am a total n00b for mouse design; if these days they make mouses that mimic one of the trackpad's best features (the fact that how fast you move it matters, not just the total distance, so you can vary your precision by your speed) that would at least help a bit. Still a shitty way to play something that calls for high-speed reactions like most games; you'll notice how no system actually -designed- for game-playing actually uses anything so stupid (except for Mario Paint lol).

Topic officially hijacked with stupid Grefter/Elf slapfest; sorry CT.

Grefter · « **Reply #8 on:** February 03, 2011, 11:55:30 AM »

The fact that you find a mouse imprecise still baffles me and a track pad refined even more so. You find an entirely abstract motion varied by accelleration more logical than a constistent tactile interface and that is just plain weird >_> But yeah if you are used to that then mouse interfaces are going to feel terrible, they are built with the expectation that you are interfacing with them in that way.

The precision comes from muscle memory knowing how far you move your hand = how far you move. That allows for rapid precise motions that you just can't really do with a track pad and games tend to call for it. So yeah not a judgement call, but it certainly explains a lot.

You could make a mouse that does that, but I have no idea why you would do that. If you need to move faster you move your hand further. If that involves to much hand movement then you need to up your sensitivity.

But yeah, not damning, just explains a fair bit honestly.

Back on track, in general if you want to get the most out of your laptop, learning hotkeys is a good thing.

metroid composite · « **Reply #9 on:** February 03, 2011, 02:32:41 PM »

Oh yeah, this reminds me I should buy a laptop before GDC. Recommendations?

And...let me comment briefly on the derailing....

Quote from: Dark Holy Elf on February 03, 2011, 08:34:39 AM

Quote
No wonder you find mouse interfaces terrible.
Granted I am a total n00b for mouse design; if these days they make mouses that mimic one of the trackpad's best features (the fact that how fast you move it matters, not just the total distance, so you can vary your precision by your speed) that would at least help a bit.

Umm...all mice do this by default? Or rather, the OS does after it receives the data.

Quote

Still a shitty way to play something that calls for high-speed reactions like most games; you'll notice how no system actually -designed- for game-playing actually uses anything so stupid (except for Mario Paint lol).

Topic officially hijacked with stupid Grefter/Elf slapfest; sorry CT.

And yet, the biggest videogame tournaments (at least in terms of the cash prizes involved) are all with games that use mice (Starcraft, CS 1.6). The reason that consoles don't use mice is that consoles are played from a couch, where it doesn't make physical sense to place a mouse.

By the way, remember the OS acceleration-interpretation I mentioned before? Serious tournament players disable it in their systems settings. For precision purposes, you don't want acceleration to result in different distances--you want 1 cm of movement to always correspond to the same number of pixels.

Shale · « **Reply #10 on:** February 03, 2011, 02:55:43 PM »

An analog stick is a poor substitute for a mouse when it comes to precision pointing, in adventure games, strategy or FPSes mainly. Likewise, a mouse is a poor substitute for analog when you need movement controls or the like.

Idun · « **Reply #11 on:** February 03, 2011, 08:30:42 PM »

I don't use a mouse with my macbook. That means I need proper seating. Granted, the clicker doesn't work (so far) on my compy anymore, so I'm straight out track padding. You're generally able to modify it (how many times you hit it, for example for certain clicks). Becomes first nature if you use a lot of clicking programs (PSCS)

Luther Lansfeld · « **Reply #12 on:** February 03, 2011, 08:40:07 PM »

I am goign to chime in to say that I bought a mouse for my laptop and I never use it. It's just fun to be able to put the lappy on your lap or on the bus or whatever.

Cmdr_King · « **Reply #13 on:** February 03, 2011, 08:46:30 PM »

I meanwhile got a laptop because I lack the space for a full desktop at home and can't imagine not using a mouse.

Grefter · « **Reply #14 on:** February 03, 2011, 09:25:03 PM »

OH right. Mouse acceleration is a thing that isn't off by default. I forget that. That is a thing.

Clear Tranquil · « **Reply #15 on:** February 04, 2011, 03:49:53 PM »

No worries NEB ;o

Thanks everyone

Thanks Tal that worked. Yeah I am going to try and learn more about hot keying too Gref. Never know when it might come in handy.

As for a mouse it would be nice to have two options to pick and use from as needed but I decided to buy a laptop desk, laptop bag (messenger style) and a headphone set first

Was in town to get those today.

I went for a hot pink one MC!

Specs -

DELL Inspiron N5010 (Pink)

Dual Core (R) Pentium (R) P6100 (2.0 GHz)
Memory: 4GB
320GB
DVD writer
Webcam
Skype
Windows 7

Etc

metroid composite · « **Reply #16 on:** February 04, 2011, 06:32:35 PM »

Quote from: Clear Tranquil on February 04, 2011, 03:49:53 PM

I went for a hot pink one MC!

Oh, yes! This sounds like a very important attribute I should get.

One thing that I tend to be indecisive on: should I get a laptop with a videocard so that it can play, say, TF2, but sacrifice heat and battery life, or just go for utility? (Or the mid-level option: what kind of specs do Touhou games require?)

Talaysen · « **Reply #17 on:** February 04, 2011, 07:10:16 PM »

I've played Touhou with an integrated graphics card so the specs can't be that high at all.

Grefter · « **Reply #18 on:** February 05, 2011, 12:14:19 AM »

Integrated graphics are alright for pretty light load. I would personally get dedicated video if you can afford it though. It really is a three way thing though, you can have price, you can have portability or you can have a powerful system. Pick 2 just like normal.

metroid composite · « **Reply #19 on:** February 15, 2011, 06:41:50 PM »

Oh yeah update: got a Toshiba Portégé. No graphics card at all; does fine on Touhou (runs MoF Sanae's cards at 60fps, so...yeah).

Obviously it won't run 3D, but after my last experience with a ($1000-cost) laptop that had a graphics card and failed at running TF2 smoothly because it was a stripped down laptop graphics card...yeah, I wasn't going to push the graphics card issue. I could have looked for a laptop with a desktop graphics card, but that'd be murder on stuff like battery life and overheating, so...2D it is!

Grefter · « **Reply #20 on:** February 15, 2011, 09:23:01 PM »

A fine choice. Odd that you had trouble running TF2 of all things previously. It runs alright on my laptop, but eh mileage and whatnot.

NotMiki · « **Reply #21 on:** June 16, 2011, 03:25:13 AM »

Links! Im'a click on all of them.

OblivionKnight · « **Reply #22 on:** June 16, 2011, 12:38:47 PM »

There were some great porn links I just deleted because, while they were related to computers, we have virgin eyes on the boards that need protected.

Please post porn links in more appropriate locations, like GameFAQs, CNN, or a Pittsburgh Pirates Game.

OblivionKnight · « **Reply #23 on:** June 19, 2011, 05:27:39 PM »

Nice pics. But I don't think that was the REAL Kim Kardashian

Captain K. · « **Reply #24 on:** June 19, 2011, 06:13:43 PM »

Man, I never get to see any of these links before they're deleted.

News:

Author Topic: Fiddly stuffs (Read 3986 times)

Idun