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in reply to The most useless key on my keyboard is:

The Windows key is still useful under Linux. My window manager, and I imagine most others, can use it as another modifier key. I think it maps to Hyper in mine. I have it set to do all sorts of things when combined with different letters: open an xterm, toggle window maximization, display the WM's window menu, etc. It's a nice place for shortcuts because it doesn't get in the way of regular application shortcuts like Ctrl or Alt would.

On the other hand, I have not used a program in the last 10 years that used F12 for anything. That key got my vote.

  • Comment on Re: The most useless key on my keyboard is:

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Re^2: The most useless key on my keyboard is:
by Perl Mouse (Chaplain) on Nov 17, 2005 at 10:17 UTC
    On the other hand, I have not used a program in the last 10 years that used F12 for anything. That key got my vote.
    I use the F12 key whenever I leave my desk: it locks my screen: 
    $ grep F12 ~/.fvwm2rc
Key F12 A N Exec xscreensaver-command -lock

    [download]
    Perl --((8:>*
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Re^2: The most useless key on my keyboard is:
by gawatkins (Monsignor) on Nov 17, 2005 at 18:22 UTC

    The F12 key accesses the boot menu on most newer Dell systems - other than that i can't think of any standard uses for it.

    Thanks,
    Greg W
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      I have syslog set to log mostly everything to vt12, so I use alt-F12 (or C-A-F12) to see what's going on fairly often. That's worth something, right?
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Re^2: The most useless key on my keyboard is:
by Chady (Priest) on Nov 23, 2005 at 14:41 UTC

    In Macromedia Flash, I use Ctrl+F12 to publish the flash movie.
    Some use F12 to publish and preview, but since it keeps trying to open IE, I never use it that way.

    In Adobe Photoshop, F12 is the default shortcut for "Revert" which gets some uses from time to time when you mess up something real bad.

    That's on windows. I have no use for it yet on my linux desktop.

    He who asks will be a fool for five minutes, but he who doesn't ask will remain a fool for life.
    Chady | http://chady.net/
    Are you a Linux user in Lebanon? join the Lebanese GNU/Linux User Group.
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Re^2: The most useless key on my keyboard is:
by fireartist (Chaplain) on Dec 03, 2005 at 23:04 UTC
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Re^2: The most useless key on my keyboard is:
by superfrink (Curate) on Dec 03, 2005 at 20:45 UTC
    F12 brings up a quick preferences window in Opera. It has options to toggle javascript, animated gifs, etc.
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