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From: Mike Horvath
Subject: Keyboards & games
Date: 20 Jul 2018 03:38:07
Message: <5b51915f$1@news.povray.org>
I've been working on this for well over a decade. If you like video 
games and keyboards, you might like this page I made:

http://isometricland.net/keyboard/keyboard.php

Not a lot of games supported yet. But it takes ~30 minutes to add a game 
to the database. Longer for new features.


Mike


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From: dick balaska
Subject: Re: Keyboards & games
Date: 20 Jul 2018 04:31:18
Message: <5b519dd6$1@news.povray.org>
On 07/20/2018 03:39 AM, Mike Horvath wrote:
> I've been working on this for well over a decade. If you like video
> games and keyboards, you might like this page I made:
> 
> http://isometricland.net/keyboard/keyboard.php
> 
> Not a lot of games supported yet. But it takes ~30 minutes to add a game
> to the database. Longer for new features.
> 
> 
> Mike

That is super slick.
My whole house has been addicted to Minecraft the last several months.
(I know, we're late to the game.)

I found it difficult to find it in the lists. That's on me because it
was in the first list, "Action".  But I was overwhelmed at the initial
categories. It's an action, adventure, MMO, Roleplaying, Strategy game.
I was looking for a text box that I could type "mine" into, like the
google selector.

The whole thing is very jQuery/css-y. Just gorgeous.  So I was surprised
on the keyboard page
http://isometricland.net/keyboard/keyboard-diagram-minecraft.php?sty=1&lay=1&fmt=0
that I had to click "Change" to select a different color scheme.  I
twiddled the Visual style dropdown and waited for something to happen.

No XPilot, eh? ;)
I just might have to add that.
http://www.buckosoft.com/xpilot/xpilotnt/keys.php

-- 
dik
Rendered 328976 of 330000 (99%)


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From: Mike Horvath
Subject: Re: Keyboards & games
Date: 20 Jul 2018 23:17:17
Message: <5b52a5bd@news.povray.org>
On 7/20/2018 4:31 AM, dick balaska wrote:
> On 07/20/2018 03:39 AM, Mike Horvath wrote:
>> I've been working on this for well over a decade. If you like video
>> games and keyboards, you might like this page I made:
>>
>> http://isometricland.net/keyboard/keyboard.php
>>
>> Not a lot of games supported yet. But it takes ~30 minutes to add a game
>> to the database. Longer for new features.
>>
>>
>> Mike
> 
> That is super slick.
> My whole house has been addicted to Minecraft the last several months.
> (I know, we're late to the game.)
> 
> I found it difficult to find it in the lists. That's on me because it
> was in the first list, "Action".  But I was overwhelmed at the initial
> categories. It's an action, adventure, MMO, Roleplaying, Strategy game.
> I was looking for a text box that I could type "mine" into, like the
> google selector.
> 
> The whole thing is very jQuery/css-y. Just gorgeous.  So I was surprised
> on the keyboard page
> http://isometricland.net/keyboard/keyboard-diagram-minecraft.php?sty=1&lay=1&fmt=0
> that I had to click "Change" to select a different color scheme.  I
> twiddled the Visual style dropdown and waited for something to happen.
> 
> No XPilot, eh? ;)
> I just might have to add that.
> http://www.buckosoft.com/xpilot/xpilotnt/keys.php
> 

I will add XPilot soon if you'd like. But do note that what you linked 
to is for German keyboards only!


Mike


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From: dick balaska
Subject: Re: Keyboards & games
Date: 21 Jul 2018 01:51:46
Message: <5b52c9f2$1@news.povray.org>
On 07/20/2018 11:18 PM, Mike Horvath wrote:

> 
> I will add XPilot soon if you'd like. But do note that what you linked
> to is for German keyboards only!
> 
> 
> Mike

Only is a strong word.  I don't know what keys are where on a German
keyboard [1] but those commands are exactly in the right place for my US
keyboard.  My guess is, at the raw key level, all western keyboards send
the same keys and then at a higher level 'y' gets swapped with 'z';
which is why software has to ask you what you have instead of it just
knowing.

[1] In Zürich I ran into a Swiss German keyboard. I know the y and z
keys are swapped because both of those were in my (non-echoed) password.

-- 
dik
Rendered 328976 of 330000 (99%)


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From: clipka
Subject: Re: Keyboards & games
Date: 21 Jul 2018 06:02:19
Message: <5b5304ab$1@news.povray.org>
Am 21.07.2018 um 07:51 schrieb dick balaska:
> On 07/20/2018 11:18 PM, Mike Horvath wrote:
> 
>>
>> I will add XPilot soon if you'd like. But do note that what you linked
>> to is for German keyboards only!
>>
>>
>> Mike
> 
> Only is a strong word.  I don't know what keys are where on a German
> keyboard [1] but those commands are exactly in the right place for my US
> keyboard.  My guess is, at the raw key level, all western keyboards send
> the same keys and then at a higher level 'y' gets swapped with 'z';
> which is why software has to ask you what you have instead of it just
> knowing.

That is indeed the case.

If for example you take a German keyboard, scratch off all the labels,
and re-label the keys according to the UK standard, you have a perfectly
fine UK keyboard.

(It's not that simple to convert a US keyboard to a German or UK one,
because the two differ not only visually but also mechanically, the US
layout being based on the 101/104-key ANSI mechanical layout and the
German and UK keyboards being based on the 102/105-key ISO mechanical
layout. The primary differences are in the shape of the return key, with
one other key placed differently as a consequence, and in the size of
the left shift key, which is more narrow in the ISO layout to accomodate
one more key. The English Wikipedia mentions a total of six different
mechanical layouts in common use worldwide.)


This actually makes it hard to build custom keypads with letters
arranged alphabetically, e.g.

    A  B  C  D  E
    F  G  H  I  J
    K  L  M  N  O
    P  Q  R  S  T
    U  V  W  X  Y
    Z  .  ,  -  ?

because the USB standard for keyboards does not deal in characters(*),
just in keys. So if you designed the above keypad for the US market, a
German user would instead find it producing

    A  B  C  D  E
    F  G  H  I  J
    K  L  M  N  O
    P  Q  R  S  T
    U  V  W  X  Z
    Y  .  ,  ß  _

(*If you happen to know otherwise, please let me know.)


The problem with games is that some deal with key codes, while others
deal with characters.


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From: Mike Horvath
Subject: Re: Keyboards & games
Date: 22 Jul 2018 04:29:58
Message: <5b544086$1@news.povray.org>
On 7/21/2018 6:02 AM, clipka wrote:
> Am 21.07.2018 um 07:51 schrieb dick balaska:
>> On 07/20/2018 11:18 PM, Mike Horvath wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> I will add XPilot soon if you'd like. But do note that what you linked
>>> to is for German keyboards only!
>>>
>>>
>>> Mike
>>
>> Only is a strong word.  I don't know what keys are where on a German
>> keyboard [1] but those commands are exactly in the right place for my US
>> keyboard.  My guess is, at the raw key level, all western keyboards send
>> the same keys and then at a higher level 'y' gets swapped with 'z';
>> which is why software has to ask you what you have instead of it just
>> knowing.
> 
> That is indeed the case.
> 
> If for example you take a German keyboard, scratch off all the labels,
> and re-label the keys according to the UK standard, you have a perfectly
> fine UK keyboard.
> 
> (It's not that simple to convert a US keyboard to a German or UK one,
> because the two differ not only visually but also mechanically, the US
> layout being based on the 101/104-key ANSI mechanical layout and the
> German and UK keyboards being based on the 102/105-key ISO mechanical
> layout. The primary differences are in the shape of the return key, with
> one other key placed differently as a consequence, and in the size of
> the left shift key, which is more narrow in the ISO layout to accomodate
> one more key. The English Wikipedia mentions a total of six different
> mechanical layouts in common use worldwide.)
> 
> 
> This actually makes it hard to build custom keypads with letters
> arranged alphabetically, e.g.
> 
>      A  B  C  D  E
>      F  G  H  I  J
>      K  L  M  N  O
>      P  Q  R  S  T
>      U  V  W  X  Y
>      Z  .  ,  -  ?
> 
> because the USB standard for keyboards does not deal in characters(*),
> just in keys. So if you designed the above keypad for the US market, a
> German user would instead find it producing
> 
>      A  B  C  D  E
>      F  G  H  I  J
>      K  L  M  N  O
>      P  Q  R  S  T
>      U  V  W  X  Z
>      Y  .  ,  ß  _
> 
> (*If you happen to know otherwise, please let me know.)
> 
> 
> The problem with games is that some deal with key codes, while others
> deal with characters.
> 



You can see how I number the keys here:

US 104 Key
http://isometricland.net/keyboard/keyboard-diagram-key-numbers.php?sty=15&lay=1&fmt=0

DE 105 Key
http://isometricland.net/keyboard/keyboard-diagram-key-numbers.php?sty=15&lay=3&fmt=0

FR 105 Key
http://isometricland.net/keyboard/keyboard-diagram-key-numbers.php?sty=15&lay=4&fmt=0

I didn't know the PC/AT keyboard was different in the UK. Not sure what 
to do in this case.


Mike


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From: Mike Horvath
Subject: Re: Keyboards & games
Date: 22 Jul 2018 04:38:38
Message: <5b54428e@news.povray.org>
On 7/21/2018 6:02 AM, clipka wrote:
> The problem with games is that some deal with key codes, while others
> deal with characters.

I originally planned Dvorak layouts too, but I couldn't figure out if 
the codes stay the same or not.


Mike


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From: clipka
Subject: Re: Keyboards & games
Date: 22 Jul 2018 10:44:58
Message: <5b54986a$1@news.povray.org>
Am 22.07.2018 um 10:40 schrieb Mike Horvath:
> On 7/21/2018 6:02 AM, clipka wrote:
>> The problem with games is that some deal with key codes, while others
>> deal with characters.
> 
> I originally planned Dvorak layouts too, but I couldn't figure out if
> the codes stay the same or not.

Dvorak just changes the characters. The key codes remain unchanged.


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From: Mike Horvath
Subject: Re: Keyboards & games
Date: 22 Jul 2018 10:54:19
Message: <5b549a9b$1@news.povray.org>
On 7/22/2018 10:44 AM, clipka wrote:
> Am 22.07.2018 um 10:40 schrieb Mike Horvath:
>> On 7/21/2018 6:02 AM, clipka wrote:
>>> The problem with games is that some deal with key codes, while others
>>> deal with characters.
>>
>> I originally planned Dvorak layouts too, but I couldn't figure out if
>> the codes stay the same or not.
> 
> Dvorak just changes the characters. The key codes remain unchanged.
> 

And I wonder how that affects games. For instance one control method for 
many games is to use the W,A,S,D keys for movement. What happens on a 
Dvorak keyboard? And what if the same game uses the I key for 
"inventory" and C key for "character sheet"? Do they get switched around 
or not?

There is no way to predict this for every game, and I have never seen 
game documentation including Dvorak keyboards.


Mike


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From: clipka
Subject: Re: Keyboards & games
Date: 22 Jul 2018 11:05:26
Message: <5b549d36$1@news.povray.org>
Am 22.07.2018 um 10:31 schrieb Mike Horvath:

> You can see how I number the keys here:
> 
> US 104 Key
>
http://isometricland.net/keyboard/keyboard-diagram-key-numbers.php?sty=15&lay=1&fmt=0
> 
> 
> DE 105 Key
>
http://isometricland.net/keyboard/keyboard-diagram-key-numbers.php?sty=15&lay=3&fmt=0

The keys 28 and 41 are actually technically one and the same, just in a
different place.

> FR 105 Key
>
http://isometricland.net/keyboard/keyboard-diagram-key-numbers.php?sty=15&lay=4&fmt=0

The French standard keyboard layout is technically identical with the
German one; only difference is the text on the keycaps.

> I didn't know the PC/AT keyboard was different in the UK. Not sure what
> to do in this case.

The same goes for the PC/AT keyboard in the US, or pretty much any other
contry for which the PC/AT keyboard was ever produced.

They've been outdated since 30 years, so I'd just ignore them.


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