From Newsgroup: comp.misc

With physical control levers and knobs and whatnot, you can go by feel
once you get used to them. That doesnrCOt work with touchscreens; you
have to keep continually looking to see what you are touching.

I noticed this when I got my first smartphone over a decade ago. And
here is Victor Glover, the pilot on the recent Artemis II mission to
the Moon, saying the same sort of thing <https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/04/artemis-ii-pilot-describes-landing-in-orion-from-intense-to-pure-elation/>:

If IrCOm doing something where IrCOm so busy that I cannot stop and
look down at my hands to fly, this is the biggest difference. I
have to touch the screen, which means I have to look, because if I
touch right next to that arrow, it doesnrCOt work. In Orion, I have
a feel. I donrCOt have to look. I can focus on precision because I
can look out the window the whole time. ThatrCOs the difference. So
stick-and-throttle, or hand controllers, are vital depending on
the type of tasks.

The sentences before this try to suggest that there might be
situations where touch screens are better, but I think itrCOs telling
that he doesnrCOt give any example of that.
--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.misc

Verily, in article <10s42kg$ds2m$1@dont-email.me>, did ldo@nz.invalid
deliver unto us this message:

With physical control levers and knobs and whatnot, you can go by feel
once you get used to them. That doesn?t work with touchscreens; you
have to keep continually looking to see what you are touching.

Yeah, hard buttons are better. I like being able to work my remote in
the dark.

On a related note, who thought hidden controls were a selling point? I
regard it as a warning.
--
The True Melissa - Canal Winchester - Ohio
United States of America - North America - Earth
Solar System - Milky Way - Local Group
Virgo Cluster - Laniakea Supercluster - Cosmos
--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.misc

The True Melissa <thetruemelissa@gmail.com> wrote:

Verily, in article <10s42kg$ds2m$1@dont-email.me>, did ldo@nz.invalid deliver unto us this message:

With physical control levers and knobs and whatnot, you can go by feel
once you get used to them. That doesn?t work with touchscreens; you
have to keep continually looking to see what you are touching.

Yeah, hard buttons are better. I like being able to work my remote in
the dark.

On a related note, who thought hidden controls were a selling point?

All the Jory Ive's (and Jory Ive fanbois) in the design realm that want
to make everything "minimalist".

And of course the bean counters were overjoyed because more often than
not the "touch screen" replaced a whole set of BOM cost buttons, knobs,
and switches, such that even though the "touch screen" was itself more expensive than any one, the sum of all of them, plus the design cost
for designing the box/panel to hold them, was far larger than the cost
of adding a touch screen. So the bean counters saw "lower BOM costs" (translation -- more profit for the company, they seldom passed that
lower cost on to you the purchaser).

I regard it as a warning.

--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.misc

On 2026-04-20, The True Melissa wrote:

Verily, in article <10s42kg$ds2m$1@dont-email.me>, did ldo@nz.invalid deliver unto us this message:

With physical control levers and knobs and whatnot, you can go by feel
once you get used to them. That doesn?t work with touchscreens; you
have to keep continually looking to see what you are touching.

Yeah, hard buttons are better. I like being able to work my remote in
the dark.

On a related note, who thought hidden controls were a selling point? I regard it as a warning.

Reportedly it was Steve Jobs with his fear of buttons (I kid you not)
which got this started or at least accelerated. Not that he or Apple
*invented* it, no, but the idea got traction in the same way LLMs get
nowadays among CEOs and the like, probably just because it came from
Jobs or Apple.
--
Nuno Silva

Sent from a MacBook Wheel
--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.misc

Reminds me the time when I typed SMS on my Nokia 3210 at work while
pretending I am working ;/ After some practice a thumb was crazy fast.
--
none
http://none.rip
--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.misc

This message was cancelled from within Mozilla Thunderbird
--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2