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Ask HN: Whats your least pressed key?

2 points by aitoehigie 16y ago

I want to know the least pressed key on your keyboard. Mine is the pause[break] key. whats yours?

kingsidharth 16y ago
The right click alternative on Keyboard.
mhd 16y ago
On my Macbook: The eject key. (At least the function keys get some usage due to their secondary functions, although I never use the keyboard lighting controls either) On my Model M: Scroll Lock
user24 16y ago
scroll lock. I actually stuck a big red panic button[1] over the light on my old keyboard. [1] http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/panic-button/index.html http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/panic-button/index.html
qjz 16y ago
My MacBook Pro 17" non-chiclet keyboard has a small 'enter' key on the bottom row between the right command key and the cursor keys. I don't think I've ever touched it. Newer models have an 'option' key there, so it must not have been popular.
lachyg 16y ago
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cowpewter 16y ago
On my Thinkpad tablet, the lil blue Fn key next to the left-hand Ctrl. It's not actually necessary for F# keys...I have those. It seems to turn the F keys into other things...basing on the icons, I'm guessing sleep, alternate display toggle, brightness controls, eject (eject what? this computer has no optical drive). Actually...no. I hit that key on accident sometimes aiming for Ctrl. Not sure if it counts as being on the keyboard, but the least pressed button on this computer is the 'Access IBM' button. I don't even have the tools or whatever it's supposed to launch installed, this laptop's been completely wiped and replaced with win7. Scroll lock and Pause are definite runners up.
byoung2 16y ago
The Windows key
bd_at_rivenhill 16y ago
I have the small version of the happy hacker keyboard, and I almost never press either of the Alt keys because it has a Meta key. I also seem to only use the left side Meta and Fn keys, so the right side keys are pretty underused.
iuguy 16y ago
On my Mac Mini - the volume keys on my wireless keyboard (My Mac Mini is plugged into my home theatre setup via an optical link). On my laptop, probably the right alt gr key.
jawns 16y ago
My five-year old Acer laptop inexplicably has a Euro key to one side of the "Up" arrow, and a superfluous "$" key to the other side. I've certainly pressed each of those keys numerous times unintentionally, and cursed the keyboard designer ... but I can't remember a single time in five years that I've pressed one intentionally.
ludwigvan 16y ago
Ins key. Even pause[break] has a function, at least on Windows, try Win+pause. I map scrolllock to scroll-lock function in emacs.

2 points by aitoehigie 16y ago

I want to know the least pressed key on your keyboard. Mine is the pause[break] key. whats yours?

kingsidharth 16y ago

The right click alternative on Keyboard.

mhd 16y ago

On my Macbook: The eject key. (At least the function keys get some usage due to their secondary functions, although I never use the keyboard lighting controls either) On my Model M: Scroll Lock

user24 16y ago

scroll lock. I actually stuck a big red panic button[1] over the light on my old keyboard. [1] http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/panic-button/index.html http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/panic-button/index.html

qjz 16y ago

My MacBook Pro 17" non-chiclet keyboard has a small 'enter' key on the bottom row between the right command key and the cursor keys. I don't think I've ever touched it. Newer models have an 'option' key there, so it must not have been popular.

lachyg 16y ago

cowpewter 16y ago

On my Thinkpad tablet, the lil blue Fn key next to the left-hand Ctrl. It's not actually necessary for F# keys...I have those. It seems to turn the F keys into other things...basing on the icons, I'm guessing sleep, alternate display toggle, brightness controls, eject (eject what? this computer has no optical drive). Actually...no. I hit that key on accident sometimes aiming for Ctrl. Not sure if it counts as being on the keyboard, but the least pressed button on this computer is the 'Access IBM' button. I don't even have the tools or whatever it's supposed to launch installed, this laptop's been completely wiped and replaced with win7. Scroll lock and Pause are definite runners up.

byoung2 16y ago

The Windows key

bd_at_rivenhill 16y ago

I have the small version of the happy hacker keyboard, and I almost never press either of the Alt keys because it has a Meta key. I also seem to only use the left side Meta and Fn keys, so the right side keys are pretty underused.

iuguy 16y ago

On my Mac Mini - the volume keys on my wireless keyboard (My Mac Mini is plugged into my home theatre setup via an optical link). On my laptop, probably the right alt gr key.

jawns 16y ago

My five-year old Acer laptop inexplicably has a Euro key to one side of the "Up" arrow, and a superfluous "$" key to the other side. I've certainly pressed each of those keys numerous times unintentionally, and cursed the keyboard designer ... but I can't remember a single time in five years that I've pressed one intentionally.

ludwigvan 16y ago

Ins key. Even pause[break] has a function, at least on Windows, try Win+pause. I map scrolllock to scroll-lock function in emacs.