Typically, I touch N computer keyboards daily:
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Lot of keyboards around me (Score:2)
A desktop and a notebook each for work and home, plus a Bluetooth keyboard for the tablet, plus the tablet's own virtual keyboard, plus the work Blackberry and the personal smartphone... That's eight a day, and that presumes that I don't work on any servers or others' systems directly.
Re:Lot of keyboards around me (Score:3)
Would I count my iPhone's touch screen as a "keyboard", or should I be saying, "My iPhone doesn't have a keyboard, you insensitive clod!"
Re:Lot of keyboards around me (Score:3)
dude you need to let go :)
Re:Lot of keyboards around me (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Lot of keyboards around me (Score:5, Interesting)
So does my cheapie Toshiba microwave, but I wouldn't call it a computer. Nor would I call my Plasma, or its' remote control, both of which contain much more powerful computing devices. Nor my clock radio. Nor my printers. Nor my LCDs. Nor my Wii, nor any of the Wiimotes (though they contain more computing power than the ENIAC). My router? Maybe ... but probably not.
BTW - the original ENIAC didn't have any ram - just 20 10-digit registers (aka accumulators). It got a 100-word ram addition in the early 50s.
Re:Lot of keyboards around me (Score:4, Insightful)
Well part of what makes a computer a computer is that it is a general purpose device. Your microwave, television, remote control, clock radio, printers, etc. don't really meet that definition. Sure, their internals might be capable of running arbitrary code, but the fact that I can balance a board on some apples doesn't make them wheels.
As for your Wii, that's actually pretty close to being a computer. The PS3 was able to run linux (for a while, I never paid attention to how that ended), so I'd say it qualified as a computer. And a tablet definitely should be considered one. It is, after all, just a laptop with a different HID and a few less ports.
Re:Lot of keyboards around me (Score:3)
Even the later upgrades (which only gave it 100 words of ram, which was more than the 0 words it started with) made it little more than a fancy collator.
Re:Lot of keyboards around me (Score:2)
I'm waiting for the Linux port to the Manchester Mark 1.
Re:Lot of keyboards around me (Score:2)
I use my phone more for web browsing, email, IM, connecting to SSH servers, performing mindmapping, and a dozen other things that I also do on computers. But aside from the first three, very little of what I do is common amongst anyone other than other Slashdotters or some IT folks.
Re:Lot of keyboards around me (Score:2)
I use a pocket note book as a diary, a small ziplock as a card holder and for some time soap bars instead of shampooing. I would still not consider note books to be part of the "diary" category, nor ziplocks part of "card holders" or soap bars as "shampooing".
Until smart phones, video games and such are commonly used as and called "computers", they will still be just smart phones, video games and such, regardless of how *you* use them.
Re:Lot of keyboards around me (Score:2)
Actually some HP printers even run WebOS.
Re:Lot of keyboards around me (Score:2)
Re:Lot of keyboards around me (Score:2)
Seeing as most cell phones and tablets have more computing power than the ENIAC, I think it's fair to call them computers. Besides, the only way to express true love to your computer is through punch cards -- sweet, sweet punch cards.
True, but the general case would be easier to state:
If you have a virtual keyboard, your device already qualifies as a computer.
Re:Lot of keyboards around me (Score:2)
It's also more than a year old, and not much from then does.
I'm willing to give up some performance for the sake of the keyboard. I'd love to have had a shot at a Pre3, but they're difficult to get at a price I can pay, and even then I would have to have switched carriers, making it even more expensive.
I touch all kinds of keyboards. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I touch all kinds of keyboards. (Score:5, Insightful)
You should use a laptop.
http://xkcd.com/243/ [xkcd.com]
Re:I touch all kinds of keyboards. (Score:2)
I particularly like your implied definition of the world "cool". Only on Slashdot!
People say I abuse mine. :/ (Score:2)
They say I type too loud for hitting the keys hard. Well, duh. They are clicky keyboards! I love Model M types! See http://aqfl.net/node/5825 [aqfl.net] for a poll and more details. :)
Complaining About Poll Options Again (Score:5, Insightful)
Isn't it more fun when they just post the numbers and let us work out what the significance of them is? Sure you'd lose the joke but you'd gain so much more. Also, what about parts of keyboards. If I get pissed off at my computer and smash the keyboard, and half of it flies behind the couch, then I clean up the mess that's within reach, then after a few years when I move the couch I clean up the rest... how should I count that?
My voice is my password. Validate me! (Score:2)
Is that really that inconceivable on a alleged tech site?
Oh, yeah, Kinect and/or powerglove, too.
Re:My voice is my password. Validate me! (Score:2)
Re:My voice is my password. Validate me! (Score:2)
Re:Complaining About Poll Options Again (Score:2)
Well that wouldn't be something that you typically do daily, now would it?
Re:Complaining About Poll Options Again (Score:3)
It's kind of a production line thing. I have several couches and several keyboards to keep the production rate up.
KingAlanI mad! KingAlanI smash! (Score:2)
I've sometimes broken the legs/clips that support the keyboard, with the keyboard itself remaining functional
(I just don't like the flatter typing angle, which is incidentally a reason I don't care for laptops)
Hrm.. lots more than obvious.. (Score:5, Interesting)
Sure, the desktop and the laptop are obvious. But thinking about it, there are a lot more in common use:
Maybe the TV remote is pushing it, but you could easily double up on a few here... more than one game console, handheld console, and a game keypad for the PC. This is probably (hopefully?) average for most slashdotters, some of whom may have multiple laptops, phones, etc.
Re:Hrm.. lots more than obvious.. (Score:2)
Re:Hrm.. lots more than obvious.. (Score:2)
In my case, at least, they're not (very different hardware configurations), though there are other common variations if you have a desk job... your primary game PC is probably not your employer-supplied workstation, for instance.
That said, "not general-purpose computers" doesn't really matter; the poll says "computer keyboards," and as touchscreen keyboards are just another hardware configuration (as would any special-pupose on-screen keyboard, assisted input device, chording keyboard, etc), there's no reason not to count them. It's more interesting to be aware of how many places you input text by specifying characters (rather than, say, speaking words, or just dialing numbers) than to be overly pedantic about having a single mechanical keypress per character which is attached to only one class of computing device.
Microcontroller-driven appliance (Score:2)
That said, "not general-purpose computers" doesn't really matter; the poll says "computer keyboards,"
Did you mean to count the keypad of a microcontroller-driven appliance such as a microwave oven or land-line phone as a "computer keyboard"? If so, then I voted wrong. If not, then one has to draw the line somewhere between the lever of a toaster and the keyboard of a desktop or laptop PC.
Re:Microcontroller-driven appliance (Score:2)
Obviously this is a bit more complex than it seems at first glance---as are most things---but if you can enter words into it in a character-by-character fashion, it's probably good enough to count. At a glance, you include most unusual keyboards/assistive input hardware/software that should be considered, along with smartphones, many of which are or can be full Linux systems and even have hardware keyboards.
Otherwise you start splitting hairs. Does an Android device not count as a computer because it doesn't have coreutils or a compiler? Is an iPhone not included because it happens to not be jailbroken? What about a Chromebook? A Windows PC that happens to be fairly locked-down by IT? This quickly degenerates into a No True Scotsman fallacy.
Have a general-purpose label maker you use daily? Might as well count it. Is it just a keypad with numbers and specialized buttons on an appliance? Probably not what was intended, but you be the judge.
When some hairs need to be split (Score:2)
but if you can enter words into it in a character-by-character fashion
"Typically, I touch N alphabetic keyboards daily" and I'll vote 3.
Otherwise you start splitting hairs.
Which is why I often try to get the hair-splitting out of the way first so that the discussion doesn't collapse later [c2.com].
Does an Android device not count as a computer because it doesn't have coreutils or a compiler?
Android has both SL4A and adb install and therefore counts as general-purpose.
Is an iPhone not included because it happens to not be jailbroken?
Yes. Jailbreaking an iPhone or Wii turns it into a general-purpose computer.
What about a Chromebook?
Because nobody in my family owns a Chromebook, I have not had a chance to explore its operating environment and therefore cannot answer this question definitively. But if a Chromebook allows the user to edit JavaScript files and save them locally on the machine, then it's as general-purpose as an Android-powered device with SL4A.
A Windows PC that happens to be fairly locked-down by IT?
Group Policy and other mechanisms can turn Windows from a general-purpose operating system to an appliance operating system. For example, Tetris The Grand Master III: Terror-Instinct and several other arcade games run Windows Embedded because they're appliances.
Days when I commute and days when I remote (Score:2)
Does your employer know what you've been up to?
On those days when I remote into work, he's probably aware that I use Remote Desktop from the same machine on which I play games. On those days when I commute, that still makes only three PCs: the laptop, the gaming PC at home, and the development workstation at work.
Re:Hrm.. lots more than obvious.. (Score:2)
Also...
ATM, PIN pad at checkout stand, alarm code entry pad...
Really, computers are everywhere these days, and we interact with them so frequently we hardly notice it.
Re:Hrm.. lots more than obvious.. (Score:2)
When I first upgraded to dual monitors I loved it but thought something was still lacking. Then I realised what I needed: dual keyboards!
Scientific work (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Scientific work (Score:2)
I thought of this too. My industry uses a lot of computer controllers that are self-contained boxes triggering a few dozen relays, everything is on the front panel of the controller. I play with several of these every day, but I finally decided anything in this genera (and my phone as well) was a keypad. For "Keyboard" I'm going with 1 for my laptop.
There's a couple of other computers in the house, but I don't use them on any regular basis.
Do virtual ones count? (Score:2)
I typically use 3 keyboards every work day. Two at work and my home laptop. I'll also use a virtual keyboard on my phone.
It's time for my annual bout of the flu (Score:2)
If you touch ten keyboards a day, you will forget to wash your hands before scratching your nose at least once.
Re:It's time for my annual bout of the flu (Score:2)
If you touch ten keyboards a day, you will forget to wash your hands before scratching your nose at least once.
THAT is what you're worried about? I'm much more concerned with people's toilet habits being less than stellar. The thought of touching my coworker's faeces/urine/semen/vaginal secretions/sweat/hair and pimple puss is enough to put me off lunch, that's for sure!
Re:It's time for my annual bout of the flu (Score:2)
Stimy? Is that a compound of sticky and slimey?
relative keyboards (Score:3)
Re:relative keyboards (Score:2)
Virtualization helped a lot for # of keyboards for me, as well, but that only helps server side. Client side requires hardware accelerated graphics, so I still have to sit at the head on those machines (VNC was banned due to security or something a few years back, so I can't use it, and stuff like Windows remote desktop doesn't work with Linux or work with hardware acceleration). Since I split my time between server and client work, I guess I use between 2 and 10, depending on the day.
Re:relative keyboards (Score:2)
Re:relative keyboards (Score:2)
Re:relative keyboards (Score:2)
Home, Work, Bed (Score:2)
I'm still waiting for that interface which can read my brainwaves or do facial recognition.
If you keep doing that, your face will freeze into a permanent 'WTF' expression!
Why so many keyboards? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Why so many keyboards? (Score:2)
Going out in the field to touch other peoples' computers, when it's important to watch them to see what they're doing wrong.
I support a little north of 200 computers.
All are precious snowflakes (Score:5, Funny)
keyboards != computers (Score:2)
Setting phones and ATMs aside, I work with just the one.
But I have 4 (primary) systems networked together around the house that happily run X clients for me. From this one keyboard.
50+, Easily (Score:3)
I teach ICT, and don't currently have my own classroom - there are some days when I teach in 5 different computer suites.
5 classes per day means I only have to assist ten pupils per lesson and I'm up to 50 keyboards touched, and that doesn't include the keyboard of the teaching machine, my work laptop or my home PC etc.
No wonder I seem to catch every bug going round...
You're doing it wrong Re:50+, Easily (Score:2, Interesting)
I used to work in tech support, and even now I volunteer with the elderly in a computer club. I long ago came to the conclusion that if I'm touching the computer (keyboard/mouse) while 'helping' someone, then I'm doing it wrong.
By having the user keep control of the computer, small side lessons get slipped in while still getting the main point across. If the user gets confused while we're working, then I'm not explaining clearly enough.
If I'm in a hurry it can be maddening seeing someone struggle to type something, or to click the correct place on the screen with the mouse. It's kind of a zen thing. I find it a constant reminder of how computers are perceived by REAL users. It also keeps me on my toes to describe things clearly and concisely.
Caveat: this is of course relevant to questions along the lines of 'how do I...". When the computer/software is broken, then I leave the user to accomplish something with their time, unless they're interested to see what I'm doing.
2-4. (Score:2)
Work keyboard and home primary desktop for certain every day. (Well, *NEAR* certain. When I'm on vacation obviously that drops.)
Often use my iPad physical Bluetooth keyboard - NEARLY daily. So MOST days I'm up to 3.
I have a few 'lab' machines at home that I TEND to use at least one of every day, so now I'm up to 3-4, depending on if I use the iPad keyboard. Usually, I will only use one lab machine per day, but sometimes I use more than one.
So on a typical day, I will use 4 keyboards, with some days as low as one, some can even get as high as 10, if I'm really busy messing with machines. (I have a few other machines at work I sometimes have to deal with - for example today I've already touched three keyboards.)
Zero?? (Score:2)
Assuming on a regular work/business day... (Score:2)
... I have three keyboards at work (production + test PCs), one at home, and my old school CASIO Data Bank 150 calculator watch. ;)
At least 4 (Score:2)
The Original (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:The Original (Score:2)
My violin doesn't have a keyboard, so that doesn't really help...
Re:The Original (Score:2)
Depends on what sort of key you are considering. I'd say there are two types of key (musical keys and the individual frets, since hammer-down can create a sound) and you've four independent keyboards for that second sort of key. That makes for a total of 5 - 4 physical and 1 virtual.
Re:The Original (Score:2)
My bad - I posted after reading the existing comments. and I guess I lost track of that important detail.
However, my piano is a digital Roland, hooked up to all sorts of MIDI stuff and to my computer, so it may still qualify.
I'd much rather it were a 1920's Steinway, but I have neither the space nor the budget for a really nice piano.
Three systems, one keyboard (Score:3)
I'm using synergy at work to work with three systems but through one keyboard and mouse.
[John]
Only company laptop -- virtual machines FTW (Score:2)
300 (Score:2)
Machine Support (Score:2)
In addition to my personal smart phone, laptop, desktop, I support numerous embedded systems in the course of my work. Many of the machines I work on have full on PCs to interface with the user, and they use combinations of keypads, mice, touchscreens, and regular old keyboards, and some have more than 1 PC. All of the machines with full on PCs have keyboards, in addition to the touchscreens mice, and keypads. Other machines have a somewhat simpler interface, using an LCD display and keypads with 4 Arrow keys, plus Start, Stop, Enter, and Cancel. At my largest site, there are 14 full on PCs, plus 8 machines with LCD Displays and Keypads only. Once I leave there, I am dispatched to similar venues via my Smart Phone, so it isn't uncommon for me to get my hands on up to 20 computers in a day.
4-10 ... but not helping co-workers (Score:2)
2. work laptop, used for remoting to client sites
3. personal laptop
4. NAS boxes at home (does it count as 3 keyboards if I'm using a KVM?)
5. gaming box at home
6. pc in bedroom
7. phone has a qwerty keyboard, throw that in
8. tablet while on the train
9. and typically my girlfriends laptop gets some bad-touch too.
crap... if I help co workers I go up into the next category of 'it support' I may have a problem...
1. (Score:2)
I work from home. My beautiful das keyboard ultimate.
It's the silent one, but my wife says it's way too loud anyway.
Mainly two, and they're both Model M (Score:2)
My keyboard at home is an IBM Model M (P/N 52G9658, AUG 1993).
At work, I bought my own keyboard. Since that PC is USB only (and USBPS/2 adapters suck), I got a Unicomp Customizer 105 USB [yahoo.net], which is the direct lineal descendant of the Model M. (They own the patents which used to belong to IBM/Lexmark.)
All hail the Model M! Buckling spring forever!
Regular, and irregular (Score:2)
Regular:
Home linux
Home gaming
Work terminal
Work root physical only login
Irregular:
Mobile nursing computers... 1-3 average a night; sometimes none, sometimes up to a dozen... but only with gloves. SERIOUSLY.
Mom's ancient G3 mac-mini... ugh, what the hell did you do now?
Netbook at Starbucks... for stuff I won't risk browsing at home.
If the various pop-up keyboard/search functions on my Ipod count, then +1 irregular.
Missing option: I provide my own keyboard (Score:2)
I work as a computer service technician, among others I do warranty work for HP and Lenovo, as well as regular old Joe Average "Mah computah is kinda funneh" walk-in service. On any given day I work on at least 12-16 computers. About half of these are laptops with their own keyboard, the other half is stationary computers for which I provide my own keyboard. The three keyboards I keep on my workbench have literally been plugged into hundreds of computers just the last few months.
Keyboard layout variations (Score:2)
Remote access, remote access KVMs, virtualization, etc... have led to touching far fewer physical keyboards. I couldn't be happier about that.
Hate to share (Score:2)
Its such a great way to spread viruses around. I avoid it at all costs. To help with this I use a left handed mouse configuration and tell others that its just too hard to deal with so go the fuck away. It sometimes works.
KVM Switch (Score:2)
I touch, commonly, 4 keyboards a day. And one of that keyboards are attached to a KVM Switch, in order to prevent yet another keyboard on my life! =]
Re:KVM Switch (Score:2)
virtual keyboards do not count.
That FSCKING thing on my Nexus One IS NOT a functional keyboard, for God's sake!
Keyboards are full of germs (Score:2)
Five before you count helping coworkers... (Score:2)
That's not counting the servers I interact with through vSphere. Although I guess those would count on the rare occasion I have to go down to the server room.
ehh, 4 to 10 (Score:2)
1. Netbook
2. Desktop
3. Laptop (maybe, I'm using this less these days)
4. Workstation at work
5. Maybe another workstation at work if its a day where techs>work stations or if that one doofus who refuses to use the other machine to make labels gets on mine again.
6. The workstation I get called to support
7. The server that needs to be rebooted.
8. The other server that needs to be rebooted. (we have 1,000's)
Really four or five is a reasonable daily guess, but it can far exceed it into the 100's on occasion.
It depends on what you mean by keyboard (Score:2)
I answered 1 as it's my own laptop.
However I could easily have said 3 - iPad, android phone - so do touch screens count?
Also what about door entry systems or cash machines?
The real question is, what type? (Score:2)
I've finally picked up mechanical ones. I never wanted to be one of "those" nerds but I'm in love :)
correlation (Score:2)
Suggestion for next poll:
Number of time you get sick in a month.
Re:Physical Keyboard? (Score:2)
I've done tech support for years now, over time I tend to touch less and less physical computers. Most work is done remotely. Visualization has cut down the number of servers drastically. About the largest number of physical computers I'll work on in a day is in small businesses that have legacy programs that behave oddly, but even that can normally be handled by remote desktop.
Re:Physical Keyboard? (Score:2)
Re:Physical Keyboard? (Score:3, Funny)
Doing support, I have recently caught myself occasionally reaching out to touch the user's screen, forgetting that desktops don't yet typically have touch screens...
Let me fix that for you:
Doing support, I have recently caught myself occasionally reaching out to touch the user's tits, forgetting that women typically like geeks touching their tits..
Re:Physical Keyboard? (Score:2)
Let me fix that for you: Doing support, I have recently caught myself occasionally reaching out to touch the user's tits, forgetting that women typically like geeks touching their tits..
Interesting typo, there.
Re:Physical Keyboard? (Score:2)
Re:Physical Keyboard? (Score:5, Interesting)
Is a smart phone a computer?
A smartphone is a "computer" (more precisely a general-purpose computer) if it supports the equivalent of "Unknown sources" or "adb install" without having to pay $99 extra per year. Otherwise, it's an appliance.
Re:Physical Keyboard? (Score:3, Funny)
And a creature is a human only if they have normal human emotional responses, otherwise they're an assburger. Fair?
Re:Distinguishing PCs from microwave oven MCUs (Score:3)
Bad analogy. I can define "human" as a child of an organism that has interbred with the H. sapiens population. Can you think of a comparably precise definition of "computer" that doesn't include computers embedded in appliances, such as the microcontroller in a microwave oven?
Aha, now I understand what the AC meant . . .
Re:Distinguishing PCs from microwave oven MCUs (Score:2)
Re:Distinguishing PCs from microwave oven MCUs (Score:2)
Can't SSH with no open APs (Score:2)
Or are you saying that tablets lack Wi-Fi and it's 3G from a certain shitty CDMA carrier (whom is the only one with a 5GB plan) whom I will not name or bust?
It's not tablets that lack Wi-Fi as much as the places they're used that lack Wi-Fi coverage. City buses don't have Wi-Fi coverage, for example. A lot of businesses are still "I'm sorry; we have no guest network." And without Wi-Fi or a cellular data plan, one is limited to the applications installed on a tablet and cannot use it as an SSH/VNC/RDP terminal to access applications on a computer elsewhere. So instead, I take my computer with me, which is why my Dell netbook's keyboard is one of the three alphabetic keyboards that I touch over the course of a typical weekday.
Re:Physical Keyboard? (Score:2)
I only touch a couple of keyboards, but I connect to many more computers with that one keyboard than the N=2 I answered (work and home).
Re:Missing options (Score:2)
[] Cowboy Neal does all my typing for me!
[] iPad/Android tablet - Keyboards are for rustics, you insensitive clod!
Re:Missing options (Score:5, Funny)
N = 0 (I do everything with the mouse)
Excuse me, but REAL programmers use butterflies.
oblig [xkcd.com]
Re:Missing options (Score:2)
N = 0 (I do everything by gesturing repeatedly at my webcam)
Re:Missing options (Score:2)
No problem. None of the affected people will be able to complain anyway.
Re:5 Keyboards seems normal (Score:2)
Re:5 Keyboards seems normal (Score:2)
When your child, the notorious rump scratcher and snot twiddler, who spends the workday in a sandbox and touching other kids faces, out of love offers you a wedge of satsuma with the little unwashed fingers, you will damn well put that infested tidbit in your mouth and swallow it like a parent, you insensitive clod!
Re:5 Keyboards seems normal (Score:2)
Re:5 Keyboards seems normal (Score:2)
As someone who's mother ran a daycare center (our home was part home, part daycare center) I can tell you that no, I will not. I learned all too well when I was younger just how disgusting and obnoxious children are (doubly so when you aren't allowed to be mean to them for say, sneaking into your room in the non-daycare part of the house and smearing a banana all over your favorite possessions).
Yes, I think that experience (not just that one banana incident, the whole daycare thing) was traumatic enough that I may choose to never have children (or possibly be mysteriously missing until the child is at least 12-13 years old and at least in theory capable of handling its own basic hygienic and nutritional needs).
Re:How about... (Score:2)