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Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!ames!mailrus!ukma!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!osmigo
From: osmigo@ut-emx.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.windows.misc,comp.sys.next,comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: replacing the desktop metaphor
Keywords: desktop metaphor, graphical interfaces, computing environments
Message-ID: <8939@ut-emx.UUCP>
Date: 22 Dec 88 04:51:11 GMT
References: <4362@pitt.UUCP> <257@gloom.UUCP> <82702@sun.uucp>
Reply-To: osmigo@emx.UUCP (Ron Morgan)
Organization: Speech Communication UT Austin
Lines: 30

[replacing the desktop metaphor, for heaven's sake]

I've often wondered if wireless technology would ever hit computers. Many
top rock and roll bands, for example have a little 3" antenna sticking out of
their electric guitars instead of a clumsy cable. Then there are wireless
telephones, not to mention all kinds of "remote controls" that work via
infrared pulses. So how about a wireless keyboard and/or mouse?

To go the route:

Flat-screen monitor 2 inches thick, 3 feet square. Hang it on the wall. The
CPU and magnetic/optical storage device (!) are stuck under a desk or something.
The keyboard has a trackball on one end of it, and interfaces with a
small infrared sensor in one corner of the monitor. Want to use the computer?
Take the keyboard out of your desk drawer, hit the "on" button, and compute
away. When you're finished, hit "off" and chuck the keyboard back into the
desk drawer, your briefcase, or whatever. 

A monitor as described is a ways down the road, for sure, but I don't know
why a wireless keyboard would be far-fetched. It'd only have to send a
hundred or so infrared (or other) pulses: one for each ASCII character.
There are video/audio remotes on the market right now that do more than that.

Ron

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>  Ron Morgan      {ames, utah-cs, uunet, gatech}!cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!osmigo  <
>  Univ. of Texas    {harvard, pyramid, sequent}!cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!osmigo   <
>  Austin, Texas          osmigo@ut-emx.UUCP       osmigo@emx.utexas.edu       <
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