More Stupid Anki Tricks– Using the G15 Keyboard.

 Japanese Language, Technology  Comments Off on More Stupid Anki Tricks– Using the G15 Keyboard.
May 052011
 

I don’t know how many Anki users are out there with Logitech G15 series gaming keyboards (mine is one of the older ones), but yes, they do work with Anki. And by that I mean that you can program the G-keys to do all the answering dirty work for you, just as you would with a controller.

Right now, I have the G1-G4 keys set up with a timed macro to hit the space bar, wait about 0.7 seconds, then hit the 1-4 keys, so it will save me an extra keystroke.

It’s one of those 微妙 kinds of things to try to make reviewing go just a tiny bit faster… or at least to make the physical aspect of reviewing juuust a bit easier. I don’t think it does a whole heck of a lot, but it makes me think it does, and that’s all that really matters. In other words, don’t go running out to buy a keyboard just to do this… but if you already have a programmable keyboard, it might be worth the effort to do it.

Then again, it might not.

Of all of the interfaces I’ve messed with for Anki, I still think the wireless gamepad controller is the best/most efficient. The tablets are nice, too, but for the absolute least amount of work, it’s hard to beat the gamepad.

Stupid Anki Tricks — Using a Gamepad

 Japanese Language, Technology  1 Response »
Apr 022011
 

This is something I stumbled upon last fall while trying to find an easier way to go through a ton of Anki reviews in a short period of time. I mentioned it on the Reviewing the Kanji forums somewhere, but I never posted it here. Well, here it is for posterity’s sake.

Problem: Using the keyboard to do Anki reviews is too much work, even for someone as lazy as you. Reviews are piling up. What will you do? What will you do?!?

OMG LAZY!

Solution: If you have a Logitech Cordless Rumblepad 2, you can use the Logitech Profiler to create a Game Profile for Anki. Just map keyboard shortcuts to the buttons on the controller that you want to use. I assigned the space bar to the shoulder buttons, then the number keys 1, 2, 3 and 4 to the numbered buttons 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. I also assigned the sync function ctrl-shift-y to the 9 and 10 buttons, to make syncing easy.

Now you just have to activate the Profiler when you run Anki, and you can slouch back and review in that half-catatonic gamer state you so dearly love, with barely a muscle moving.

Feeding tubes and adult diapers are optional.

It’s Not Perfect, But What Is?

There are a couple of downsides I have noticed: for some reason, the Logitech Profiler is kind of annoying, in that I have problems running other games with the controller. It wants to force the Anki profile remaps to all of the other games, so I only use this controller with my laptop, on which I don’t do much gaming.

Also, whenever I adjust the volume or screen brightness of my laptop, I have to switch to the Profiler screen, then back to Anki to “re-engage” the controller again. For some reason, the controller stops working in Anki whenever I fiddle with those buttons. It’s probably some sort of driver issue, but it’s not a deal-breaker.

In general, I find this interface to be the fastest and easiest way to do Anki reviews. It works even better when you hook up the HDMI-out from the laptop to your HDTV.

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