le_bebna_kamni (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
le_bebna_kamni) wrote2009-09-09 10:21 am
le_bebna_kamni) wrote2009-09-09 10:21 am
Creative Solutions in Linux
Imagine for a *brief* moment that you're really, really clutzy. Now let's just suppose for a moment that in your clutziness you bumped a tray table so hard that you sent a glass of water toppling over onto your nearby laptop.
Pretend that you let it dry overnight, and the next morning some of the keys on your keyboard don't work. You know you need to get it repaired (and let's just suppose that it's really hard to do it yourself because your laptop is a Mac), but you're not handing your precious laptop over to an untrusted stranger without some serious backup.
But you can't type...heck, you might not even be able to log in, because the particular configuration of non-working keys includes some of your password letters. And worst of all, you're far away from home and don't have your collection of USB keyboards that might work in a pinch.
What do you do?
1) Pull out your handy-dandy Ubuntu CD or USB stick, which you always keep tucked in your laptop case for emergencies such as this. Yay!
3) Go into the settings for your keyboard layout and change it to Dvorak.
4) Open up a graphical text editor or a terminal -- anything you can put text that you can cut and paste -- and use it to enter any letters you really need, but can't get on your malfunctioned keyboard.
7) After all that trouble, take said laptop to Apple Store, find out they want to charge you an arm, a leg, and half your left earlobe. End up buying USB keyboard anyhow. :D
Pretend that you let it dry overnight, and the next morning some of the keys on your keyboard don't work. You know you need to get it repaired (and let's just suppose that it's really hard to do it yourself because your laptop is a Mac), but you're not handing your precious laptop over to an untrusted stranger without some serious backup.
But you can't type...heck, you might not even be able to log in, because the particular configuration of non-working keys includes some of your password letters. And worst of all, you're far away from home and don't have your collection of USB keyboards that might work in a pinch.
What do you do?
1) Pull out your handy-dandy Ubuntu CD or USB stick, which you always keep tucked in your laptop case for emergencies such as this. Yay!
(Or Knoppix, or any other live CD that has a graphical interface. What's this? You don't have one on you? Then start here...although you may need to do this on another computer)2) Plug in your backup drive, and boot into the live CD.
3) Go into the settings for your keyboard layout and change it to Dvorak.
If you're using Ubuntu 8.10, it's System -> Preferences -> Keyboard -> Layout). Hit the "+" to add a new layout, and look for United States Dvorak. Add it to your list, and select it as the default. Hit "Close".4) Open up your trusty-dusty Dvorak layout gif that you keep saved on your hard drive...or just visit Wikipedia.
Note: If you *already* happen to have your keyboard set to Dvorak, then flash your geek creds (c'mon, you know you want to), wipe that smug smile off your face, then switch to the QWERTY layout. ;P
4) Open up a graphical text editor or a terminal -- anything you can put text that you can cut and paste -- and use it to enter any letters you really need, but can't get on your malfunctioned keyboard.
(Hopefully your bad keys don't include the A or M, because these are the same in Dvorak. If this does happen, you'll have to find creative ways to do avoid those letters in what you need to do.)5) Leave the text editor or terminal open, but go back into settings and switch back to QWERTY. The original editor/terminal will remain in Dvorak mode as long as it stays open, but new ones will be in QWERTY.
If you're using a terminal, rely heavily on auto-completion of commands. Go back and forth between a Dvorak and a QWERTY terminal if necessary, cutting and pasting missing letters as needed. Or if you're doing everything via GUI interfaces, just cut and paste missing letters from the text editor.6) Make any backups and take any additional security measures that you want before taking your laptop for repairs. Huzzah!
7) After all that trouble, take said laptop to Apple Store, find out they want to charge you an arm, a leg, and half your left earlobe. End up buying USB keyboard anyhow. :D
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