Lisp Programming without a Keyboard

[pamoroso]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe. The Medley Online experience on mobile browsers is incomplete as, for example, keyboard input is not available. Early testing of the Darkstar Xerox Star emulator uncovered similar limitations of the noVNC based browser environment for controlling Medley or other systems online, such as mouse handling issues in the case of Darkstar.

Describe the solution you'd like Add to Medley Online an option to use desktop or mobile VNC clients (e.g. TigerVNC or VNC Viewer) in addition to noVNC.

To prevent noVNC and alternate VNC clients from stepping into each other the options of which to start should be mutually exclusive. It should be allowed to run either noVNC or an alternate client but not both.

Describe alternatives you've considered None that I can think of other than leaving thigs as they are.

Additional context This proposal originated from a discussion on early testing of Darkstar.

[masinter]

I don't understand "keyboard input is not available". I know there are problems with the keyboard handling in online, but I'm not sure how changing the VNC client will address the problems we have. I don't understand how multiple VNC clients step on each other. In fact, it would seem like better screen sharing when I am running medley and screen sharing in zoom, it uses a lot of bandwidth.

For example, maybe it would be better to "screen share" but connecting audio and leaving video by sharing the same "online" session.

[pamoroso]

Here's what I mean by keyboard input not being available. In a native Android app, to enter some text into a text editing field you tap the field and the virtual keyboard pops up. But tapping into Medley's Exec doesn't bring up the keyboard.

[masinter]

Someone got Maiko to run on an android tablet... that might make more sense than VNC to anything. But I think we need to solve the keyboard and mouse problems more generally than one patch at a time -- we need a way of using Interlisp applications without a keyboard through some deeper reconstruction.

[masinter]

@pamoroso I would say: rename the Issue "Lisp Programming without a Keyboard" or else mark it as closed and open a new issue with that title

[pamoroso]

Sure, I've renamed the issue accordignly.

[masinter]

The VIRTUALKEYBOARDS LispUsers package (if it actually worked) would give you a Lisp-based keyboard to type at. But this isn't a solution for the on-a-tablet because there is no way to press two keys at once.

Does anyone have a way to program in Lisp without a keyboard?