The Joypad That Became A Rotary Controller

jaromil writes "Speaking of human/computer interface, so simple, so neat, a usb knob to switch among desktops can give us quite some feeling about operating a machine... how about such controls around the monitor?" The knob in this case is switching between different effects possible with EffecTV. This make me wonder what creative uses people are putting Griffin's PowerMate to.

Wow. big news.

[Awptimus Prime]

Wow! Knobs are useful? I never would have thought..(/sarcasm)

I only have 16 knobs attached to my PC via USB/Midi.

Re:Wow. big news.

[metlin]

Not just that, there has been something similar by Apple - don't remember what it's called.

And musicians have been using such stuff since time immemorial.

A sonification lab I used to work at has been using such an off-the shelf knob made by Apple for quite sometime.

De-Evolution?

[Man in Spandex]

We went from knobs that were attatched to our televisions to buttons that evolved by having remotes and such.

So today I look at this and I see, the knob but for computers of today and I ask myself, is this proof that old but simple technology is still useful today even though we evolved and changed the standard from knobs to buttons/touchpads/screens

Bad idea.

[Power Everywhere]

Having another button or a knob on the kayboard might be a good idea, but we're years off since no mainstream operating system supports multiple desktops at this time. Apple's close with Expose, but it's still a far cry from the real thing.

Re:Very bad idea

[Anonymous Coward]

Parent has never edited audio or video. Taking your hands off the keyboard is only bad for clerical work. Broaden your horizons d00d.

Re:Very bad idea

[flakac]

As any mouse user can tell you, taking your hands off your keyboard is damaging to your productivity.

My wife is a mouse user, and quite frankly, I don't think I'll ever convice her that the mouse is a productivity killer. While I mysef, having grown up with command line interfaces (MS-DOS 3.1 anyone?) on the PC, I really doubt that Joe User has any sort of shell installed (Cygwin or MinGW MSYS) at all. I may prefer to use command-line tools, but that doesn't mean that all people do. So to answer your point, most mouse users, just like my wife, need the mouse to function. Just because you or I may be able to work more efficiently without one doesn't mean that the vast majority of people could function without one.

Re:Good idea?

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

Call me old-fashioned but I find pressing Alt-number or Alt-arrow more than adequate.

Unless you happen to have a kajillion keyboard shortcuts, like I do in Gimp. Please stop thinking Windows + Word + Excell, or pretend you're so cool because "what's wrong with the old studd?", and realize many people actually use off-keyboard controls quite productively.

Innovations in computer controls

[Thai-Pan]

If you think about it, the major innovations in computer interfacing hardware have pretty much been the keyboard, the mouse, and the mouse wheel.. Not too much to it. I can't help but wonder if there's space for more to come along.

I think the iPod's new touch wheel that also tilts around is pretty snazzy. Imagine if they put one of those suckers on your laptop right next to the regular touch pad. "Turn the wheel" to scroll around, do so while pushing down on the right side to switch applications, press up or down on it to scroll a page at a time... Maybe I'm dreaming again, but I think it's a pretty versatile control system that really isn't used to its full potential.

Re:Innovations in computer controls

[arose]

I hate all touchpads and the like (haven't used an iPod, but should be the same), the problem is lack of tactile feedback except for the drag on your finger.