Couldn't find the left/right/up/down fn/screen-brightness zoom in/out F and J keys in the dark. Frustrating and potentially dangerous.
And please, no wrist slapping about driving and navigating. I have a a basic Honda Civic Automatic. Tach and speedo and idiot lights. Am/Fm CD and Air. That's it. My GPS is a little screen on a Ram mount that places it right next to the instrument cluster. I never use a cell phone while driving. My setup is far less complicated, confusing, an potentially disctracting than many other factory-loaded-to-the-gills luxury cars out there with blinking and dinging and indicating dashboards that resemble aircraft cockpits.
Tactilely locating keys would be safer than visually doing so while driving. Personallly I only want the fn, screen bright, zoom, up screen arrow and the F and J keys. From those points the opposite fuction is right next door. Swab off the finger oils with a little alcohol. I took a 3/16 hollow punch (or you can make one out of a similar id sharpened metal tube) and banged out half a dozen tiny round dots from adhesive fuzzy-side standard (heavy duty will be too thick) velcro pad. Stuck those little rascals smack in the middle of those keys, and it works wonderfully. From those points I can find my way around the keyboard very easily, eyes on the road. And the little fuzzy tabs don't interfere with regular typing at all.
And please, no wrist slapping about driving and navigating. I have a a basic Honda Civic Automatic. Tach and speedo and idiot lights. Am/Fm CD and Air. That's it. My GPS is a little screen on a Ram mount that places it right next to the instrument cluster. I never use a cell phone while driving. My setup is far less complicated, confusing, an potentially disctracting than many other factory-loaded-to-the-gills luxury cars out there with blinking and dinging and indicating dashboards that resemble aircraft cockpits.
Tactilely locating keys would be safer than visually doing so while driving. Personallly I only want the fn, screen bright, zoom, up screen arrow and the F and J keys. From those points the opposite fuction is right next door. Swab off the finger oils with a little alcohol. I took a 3/16 hollow punch (or you can make one out of a similar id sharpened metal tube) and banged out half a dozen tiny round dots from adhesive fuzzy-side standard (heavy duty will be too thick) velcro pad. Stuck those little rascals smack in the middle of those keys, and it works wonderfully. From those points I can find my way around the keyboard very easily, eyes on the road. And the little fuzzy tabs don't interfere with regular typing at all.
U can add a lcd light by cutting the end off a usb cord, hook the lcd wires to the red and white, connect to computer by way of the usb port. will provide light.. computer puts out 5.6 volts. LCD's can be gotten from radio shack, would recommend 6 volt to 12 volt, anything lower and u will be replacing lcd's more often...You can add more lcd's and make some type of light to hang/attach from your screen..
Great idea! What about a braille key board cover?... Maybe those are harder to come by for a laptop... A leather punch would also make nice dots... and offers different size dots, too. Make the LCD light red and it won't give you night blindness and reduces eye fatigue...
Wal Mart sells USB led lights - no need to make your own.
Quote:
Wal Mart sells USB led lights - no need to make your own.
.... No, never mind. I won't shop at Wal-Mart under any circumstances anyway, so it won't matter if they make them in red and give them away free.
...ken...
i don't care for wal mart either, but where i live i have a choice between them and a couple of gas station convenience stores...
Yeah, that's the reason I won't cross their threshold. They come into a community and wipe out all the other stores so you have no choices and fewer, often lower-paying jobs.
The really dumb thing is that we subsidize them to do that to us by giving them "tax holidays" and a pile of other concessions that we don't give to their competitors. How stupid we are....
I am fortunate that I do still have a choice, even though it requires me to drive a little ways further.
Sorry about the rant. We now return to regular programming.
One thing that I find helpful in lower light situations is that my netbook is white. Not that I care what colour the computer is. But I wanted one with a white keyboard rather than the usual black. That makes it hugely easier to see the keys in lower light, although it still won't help in complete dark.
...ken...
The really dumb thing is that we subsidize them to do that to us by giving them "tax holidays" and a pile of other concessions that we don't give to their competitors. How stupid we are....
I am fortunate that I do still have a choice, even though it requires me to drive a little ways further.
Sorry about the rant. We now return to regular programming.
One thing that I find helpful in lower light situations is that my netbook is white. Not that I care what colour the computer is. But I wanted one with a white keyboard rather than the usual black. That makes it hugely easier to see the keys in lower light, although it still won't help in complete dark.
...ken...
Amazon has "Logiix USB 10 LED Red Light" for $14.95.
As far as a usb light is concerned, it only narrowly misses my point. I started out thinking wibni the keys were either all lit, or programmable so that certain of the most useful ones might be. Then it occurred to me that being able to locate them quickly without actually looking at them would be better yet. The only reason I might have my hands on the keyboard while in a moving vehicle is for making adjustments to the map. I am not going to be planing routes, proofreading notes for an upcoming meeting, or emailing.
With those keys that are req'd for zooming in and out, dimming/brightening the screen, and map scrolling easily identifiable by touch, I don't need to look at the keyboard and hunt for keys night OR day. Despite my disclaimer above about safety while driving with map software activated, I must say that using the keyboard for anything (plannng routes or writing emails for instance) more than adjustments really ought to be done pulled over somewhere, or by the copilot.
A usb keyboard illuminator is really not much improvement on this. Heck, in a pinch I could just angle myscreen down a bit or hit the dome light if all I needed was visibility in the dark.
With those keys that are req'd for zooming in and out, dimming/brightening the screen, and map scrolling easily identifiable by touch, I don't need to look at the keyboard and hunt for keys night OR day. Despite my disclaimer above about safety while driving with map software activated, I must say that using the keyboard for anything (plannng routes or writing emails for instance) more than adjustments really ought to be done pulled over somewhere, or by the copilot.
A usb keyboard illuminator is really not much improvement on this. Heck, in a pinch I could just angle myscreen down a bit or hit the dome light if all I needed was visibility in the dark.