From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Tue Mar 30 20:15:57 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id UAA25946 for ; Tue, 30 Mar 1999 20:15:56 -0500 (EST) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Message-Id: <199903302344.SAA11205@life.ai.mit.edu> From: Norman Richards To: "Cube Lovers (E-mail)" Subject: Keyboard cube [was: Re: Wrist pains] In-Reply-To: <000001be7a68$23427d20$040a0a0a@laptop> Date: Tue, 30 Mar 1999 17:47:33 -0600 > [...] I was wondering if anyone had an idea for a "hands on > keyboard" approach that would allow you to naturally move the puzzles' > slices. > > There is a macro interface for the cubes to enter moves in UDFBLR notation, > but I am thinking of something that you could, with practice, manipulate a > cube in realtime using a keyboard. Oddly enough, I have been thinking about a method to manipulate a cube by use of the numeric keypad. It seems most moves can be completed rather naturally, but I do not know if it works in practice. Anyways, take a keypad like this: 7 8 9 4 5 6 1 2 3 This corresponds to a face of a cube quite nicely. Suppose you wanted to rotate the right face clockwise. One could enter 36 or 69, for example, which you could conceptually think of as the direction your hand would move to rotate the right face clockwise. Counter clockwise would be the other direction. (96 or 63 or even 93) The same technique could be applied to the left face or top face or bottom face. The middle slices could be rotated just as easil: 52 would rotate the middle vertical slice down. The question is how to effect rotating the front and rear faces. For me, 19 and 91 seem natural for F and F' because they basically mimic the twisting motion. The rear is more troublesome, but perhaps for symetry 73 and 37 might be used? Anyways, that could take care the turns, Cube rotations could be as simple as a shift followed by a direction. shift-5-2 might rotate the cube along the X axis such that U is now F and F is now D, etc... I do not know if keypad entry is any more or less prone to these types of entry, but I think that the general mechanism might work. ___________________________________________________________________________ orb@cs.utexas.edu soli deo gloria