Any 3rd alternative to keyboard movement keys for laptops?

[RoGGa]

In the Dungeon Crawl Help (?) at the top of the List of commands (??), it mentions the keyboard movement via the number pad (NumPad) and the vi keys (non-intuitive on QWERTY kb).
In crawl-tiles, what do I do on a laptop if I don't want to always access the NumPad by pressing the Fn key?
I'm just surprised that there isn't already a 3x3 set of keys that can be easily used on a standard laptop keyboard.

I'm guessing I could remap some keys by following the instructions in: Macros and Keymaps (?~).
Is this a limitation that is caused by not being able to remap a set of 3x3 set of keys without affecting existing mapped keys (such as the following keys: i, t )?

I feel I am missing something to the whole picture? ...or is this just as much a dinosaur as QWERTY?

[Siegurt]

Vi keys are designed for a qwerty keyboard.

Put your fingers on hjkl, your leftmost finger, on h goes left, your rightmost finger, on l goes right, j and k go down and up. (Yes there's no particular logic to which is which, but it is way faster and less finger strain than moving your fingers.) Now the diagonals, yubn are all done with your index finger, and they are all relative to its home position on h.

If you for some reason can't get used to doing it the easy way you can use control d to remap anything on your keyboard (but be advised that some macros are written with the expectation that vi keys are mapped)

[tedric]

Some years ago I switched my keyboard layout to Dvorak, spent a month re-learning to type 60wpm with it, and haven't looked back. One interesting side effect is that the Vi keys (like all of the QWERTY-based Crawl controls) are spread out rather randomly all over the keyboard, and I forced myself to learn their positions so I wouldn't have to swap keyboard layouts all the time. Somehow this higgledy-piggledy setup feels infinitely more "intuitive" than the original Vi locations ever did. Plus I always get a laugh when someone takes a look at my screen while I'm playing and says "The way your fingers were moving all over the keyboard, I assumed you were typing!"

[xentronium]

Oh god......
I never knew until this thread that the hjkl keys can move you. I've been using arrow keys on my right hand and yubn on my left this whole time.

[Speleothing]

I use the number row at the top of my laptop keyboard, + arrow keys. Very inconvenient.

Someone on SA had his setup like this, to be WASD-like
http://i.imgur.com/39H9wiM.png



Reminder that the only reason vi keys are included is because Linley's keyboard had little arrows already drawn on the physical keys.

[Siegurt]

I use the number row at the top of my laptop keyboard, + arrow keys. Very inconvenient.

Someone on SA had his setup like this, to be WASD-like
http://i.imgur.com/39H9wiM.png



Reminder that the only reason vi keys are included is because Linley's keyboard had little arrows already drawn on the physical keys.

I had always assumed it was because every other terminal based game of the era also had vi keys, notably nethack and rogue, from which Linley obviously drew a lot of inspiration.

I would actually not be willing to play a roguelike without vi keys.

[duvessa]

wait wait wait I missed this when I read it two years ago

Now the diagonals, yubn are all done with your index finger, and they are all relative to its home position on h.

for my whole life i've been using my middle finger for u...

[Siegurt]

wait wait wait I missed this when I read it two years ago

Now the diagonals, yubn are all done with your index finger, and they are all relative to its home position on h.

for my whole life i've been using my middle finger for u...

That is the more correct way to do it (middle finger for u and n) but i have found when explaining them to a new user, it is easier to remember "diagonals are the keys around the index finger" for a novice.

[zhukant]

Some years ago I switched my keyboard layout to Dvorak, spent a month re-learning to type 60wpm with it, and haven't looked back. One interesting side effect is that the Vi keys (like all of the QWERTY-based Crawl controls) are spread out rather randomly all over the keyboard, and I forced myself to learn their positions so I wouldn't have to swap keyboard layouts all the time. Somehow this higgledy-piggledy setup feels infinitely more "intuitive" than the original Vi locations ever did. Plus I always get a laugh when someone takes a look at my screen while I'm playing and says "The way your fingers were moving all over the keyboard, I assumed you were typing!"

Thank you for this post. I didn't consider just trying to play with the layout as-is until I read it, and was struggling to figure out how to get started in the game with the given limitations. I gave it a shot the way you did, and now I'm used to the layout as well, although I still think it's kind of ridiculous. But hey, a small price to pay for getting to use Dvorak in general. –Tony

[bel]

Off-topic, but does Dvorak actually help you type faster or more easily? I've heard that it's mostly a myth.

[advil]

I know this thread is old but it doesn't ever seem to have received a real answer: crawl keybindings are entirely configurable, and there's a bunch of examples in settings, including a dvorak binding.

[Siegurt]

I know this thread is old but it doesn't ever seem to have received a real answer: crawl keybindings are entirely configurable, and there's a bunch of examples in settings, including a dvorak binding.

My first reply at the top of the thread does mention rebinding the keys in passing:

you can use control d to remap anything on your keyboard

but I don't get into any specifics or do a good job of pointing people at help resources. I'm also sure dvorak users would find the already-set-up keybindings very helpful (as setting them up yourself is sort of tedious).

[bel]

Is there a way to remap the Escape key to something else?