h a l f b a k e r yQuis custodiet the custard?
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Sometimes in using a computer you get into a temporary repetitive pattern while, say, renaming a bunch of files. Down-arrow, F2, right arrow, right arrow, delete, "v1", left arrow, spacebar, enter; and then again: Down-arrow, F2, right arrow........
There are file renamers and automating macros aplenty
online, but do you have one installed? Do you know how to use it? Is it worth the time learning it for this one-time purpose?
I propose an external, battery-powered machine that's about one inch tall, as wide as a keyboard and has rubber "teeth" that can depress and retract as necessary. When a repetitive pattern comes, simply place the machine over your computer's keyboard, slide the teeth so they are over the correct keys, and then, to establish the pattern, tap the button on top of each tooth in the right order for one runthrough of your pattern.
Press SAVE, use the LCD display to enter the number of repetitions and delay between (a) keys, (b) cycles, and go get some coffee while the KeyPresser does the rest!
This snazzy tool comes in a variety of designer colors; it folds when not in use and easily hangs from a hook on your office wall. Makes a great gift!
Riverdance
http://www.youtube....watch?v=FLxTuBtQ7ak
Perhaps //a little robot dancing over the keys// [Amos Kito, Feb 13 2008]
Piano roll
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_roll
Includes reference to Vorsetzer [csea, Feb 13 2008]
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That would make a *great* installation art piece - a little robot dancing over the keys, typing in some culturally significant manuscript (I Robot, maybe). |
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Would have been great for Daley Thompson's Decathalon back in the Eighties. |
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This was actually implemented for the piano at the beginning of the 20th century, and I *don't* mean player pianos. (Which would be the stored macro idea.) There's another piece of equipment called a "pianola," that you fasten to any ordinary piano you like, and the pianola plays the piano (according to a punched paper roll just like player pianos use.) |
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Unlike the player piano, pianolas featured "expression control" levers that a human operator could use to vary the tempo and loudness exerted by the pianola on the piano. |
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Or we could go back to DOS, where you could do this sort of repetitive operations using the wildcard *. |
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My grandparents had a device called a "Vorsetzer," much as described by [LouisvilleDebugger]. See [link] for an overview. |
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Though the player is long gone, I still have the (wired) remote controller. It's a wooden box with ~10 large buttons, and backlit labels where one could write the names of the piano rolls. The cable connecting the remote to the Vorsetzer had silk-wrapped copper wires! |
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Ah, yes, 'do *' was a timesaver. I miss those simple days. |
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Did Macintosh have a command window? Remember, this thing will work on Mac (as well as any unfamiliar operating system) too. |
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It's been done, in the late 80's printers were too expensive to for the average consumer. Some brightboy come up with the idea to take output from a parallel port to a set of electronic solenoids. There was one solenoid positioned above each key. This was then fastened to the keyboard of an electronic typewriter. |
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Now speaking of art installations, I think it would be cool to come up with a program that prints itself out , effectively duplicating itself and execute itself.
A good name for it would be "Iterative Iteration." |
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I saw some depression-era motion-picture footage of an automatic typewriter which operated off a punched paper roll. |
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// I think it would be cool to come up with a program that prints itself out, effectively duplicating itself and execute itself. A good name for it would be "Iterative Iteration." // |
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Actually the name is "Quine". The've been around for years. The fun ones are mutiquines that print programs in other languages that print out the original program. |
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//I propose an external, battery-powered machine that's about one inch tall, as wide as a keyboard and has rubber "teeth" that can depress and retract as necessary.// |
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Do you know how to use it? Is it worth the time learning it for this one-time purpose? |
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//Actually the name is "Quine". The've been around for years.// |
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My favourite still being the one that I came up with when my father first set me this challenge at the age of about 12 or so, for the Sinclair Spectrum: |
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