Ubuntu – How to one-handed work in Ubuntu be eased

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My right hand is temporarily immobilized and I would like to do some minor general work on my computer. Mostly web browsing, mailing and file and directory browsing and editing. For this I currently use Firefox, Thunderbird, Nautilus and the GNOME terminal (I have already asked a specific question about Emacs). Are there ways to ease such, or any other general, one-handed work in Ubuntu?

I have found https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2391805/how-can-i-remain-productive-with-one-hand-completely-immobilized but that is not exactly what I am asking for. I want to ease whatever little time spent one-handed in Ubuntu and this is also interesting for situations where there is no injury involved, such as when one hand is occupied. I do realize I should avoid unnecessary strain.

The main thing that is much slower one-handed is writing. Since I am only temporarily immobilized it seems to make no sense learn a new keyboard layout. I would be surprised if I managed to learn and become more effective with a new keyboard layout (than one-handed QWERTY) before I can use my other hand again.

What I have already found:

Sticky keys for making it easier to enter keyboard commands.
When writing one-handed there are more cases of where it is useful to paste in phrases rather than to reenter them.
It is easier to use Super+S rather than CtrlAlt+arrow keys to switch work space.

Best Answer

Half Qwerty Half Keyboards Half QWERTY is for the user who recently was an excellent typist with two hands.

Half Qwerty uses the skills that have been acquired after many years of typing with two hands. Half Qwerty allows the remaining strong hand to do what it has always been trained to do, on the side of the keyboard on which it has always typed. enter image description here

Video clips here

Site content here

I do not promote this as such. I am providing an alternative.

Please read on.

Another option may be a speech to text software which is available Here

This allows a person to talk to the computer and produce text. Written in GTK+ very adaptable.

source here this is the front end for "eSpeak"

enter image description here

Tutorial

Open up a terminal, and create a folder within your /etc/X11/ directory called xorg.conf.d and navigate to it:

sudo mkdir /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d
cd /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/

Within this folder, make a file called 00-mouse-remap.conf, so bust open a text editor:

sudo gedit 00-mouse-remap.conf

The X Server should scan this directory for custom X11 scripts to load up at boot time. So the next step is to copy a config setting similar to this into the 00-mouse-remap.conf file you have just opened (customise to your will):

Section "InputClass"
    Identifier "Microsoft Bluetooth Mouse 5000 button remap"
    MatchProduct "Microsoft Bluetooth Notebook Mouse 5000"
    MatchIsPointer  "on"
    MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
    Driver          "evdev"
    Option          "SendCoreEvents" "true"
    Option          "Buttons" "8"
    Option          "ButtonMapping" "3 2 1 4 5 0 7 0"
EndSection

Since this is mapped for a specific product, you should have separate configurations for your left and right handed mice. :P

You can find the name of your device by entering in to terminal:

xinput list

You will then need to edit a gnome configuration entry, so run (in terminal or type it into a run session using ALT+F2):

gconf-editor

(In case you have upgraded to a version that uses dconf, that is, 11.10 and everything later, run dconf-editor instead)

And navigate to this entry, and uncheck the box next to the entry that says active:

apps > gnome_settings_daemon > plugins > mouse

(In case of dconf, is org > gnome > settings_daemon > plugins > mouse)

Just be aware, that this disables the Gnome mouse pointer settings for when you modify your pointer settings within the GUI. So if you want to use the Mouse Settings GUI, you'll have to reactivate this - although, it could take over your new lefty settings. ^^

Examples

For example, my xinput list is:

⎡ Virtual core pointer                          id=2    [master pointer  (3)]
⎜   ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer                id=4    [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Acer T230H                                id=8    [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Logitech USB Gaming Mouse                 id=9    [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎣ Virtual core keyboard                         id=3    [master keyboard (2)]
    ↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard               id=5    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                              id=6    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                              id=7    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Apple, Inc Apple Keyboard                 id=10   [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Apple, Inc Apple Keyboard                 id=11   [slave  keyboard (3)]

So I would configure my 00-mouse-remap.conf to look like so:

Section "InputClass"
    Identifier "Logitech USB Gaming Mouse button remap"
    MatchProduct "Logitech USB Gaming Mouse"
    MatchIsPointer  "on"
    MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
    Driver          "evdev"
    Option          "SendCoreEvents" "true"
    Option          "Buttons" "8"
    Option          "ButtonMapping" "3 2 1 4 5 0 7 0"
EndSection

References:

Ubuntu Forums Post by walkeraj

Ubuntu – How to turn off narrator of Ubuntu

System Settings -> Universal Access -> Seeing -> Screen reader -> Off

Or a hotkey "Alt-Super-S"

Best Answer

Please read on.

Related Solutions

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Tutorial

Examples

Ubuntu – How to turn off narrator of Ubuntu

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