61–70 of 110 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
A lot of fighters have it even worse. Buttons around an MPD, or a T9-like system where number keys are overloaded for ~3 values each.
Yikes… “Type for me, Goose”
Interesting that the keyboard for these[0] is not a QWERTY keyboard but instead has the buttons arranged alphabetically. That must be a pain in the ass to type in. Is that because the tech is 50 years old from before QWERTY was the standard? Do newer planes have QWERTY? 0: https://acarsdrama.com/fmc.webp Unrelated, this one is cute: https://infosec.exchange/@acarsdrama/114194436695883209
> That must be a pain in the ass to type in. Only until you're used to it. Then it's just as natural as switching between a keypad with a 1 in the top left versus one with a 7 in the top left. Your brain just takes the wheel.
- I know what ACARS, is and understood less of what's going on here after reading the "What is ACARS drama?"
- It's an uncomfortable mirror, a reminder that not everything has to become puerile entertainment. I wouldn't call anything I read in the messages "drama"
- The odd obsession over framing it as "drama" & humorous, to the point it is difficult to understand the "what is this?", and collaborators are invited to "Feed the drama"
- Open endpoint for anyone to contribute "drama", meaning, anyone can feed anything they want, into this very official-looking feed, without any sourcing / clarification / anything
I see how this can read quickly as negativity unfairly directed at creative spirit, the motive power behind man.
What tipped me over into "well, it's worth expressing the ick" is that a full 20% of the comments, 14/64, are communicating, speculating, then riffing on, a passenger being molested.
Interesting that the keyboard for these[0] is not a QWERTY keyboard but instead has the buttons arranged alphabetically. That must be a pain in the ass to type in. Is that because the tech is 50 years old from before QWERTY was the standard? Do newer planes have QWERTY? 0: https://acarsdrama.com/fmc.webp Unrelated, this one is cute: https://infosec.exchange/@acarsdrama/114194436695883209
Every aircraft that I've ever flown has an alphabetical keyboard. Typically horizontal space is valuable, yet vertical space is less valuable, so it's easy to make the keyboard long but not wide. However, as others pointed out, it seems to be changing in newer jets.
Maybe someday ACARS will support lowercase
Interesting that the keyboard for these[0] is not a QWERTY keyboard but instead has the buttons arranged alphabetically. That must be a pain in the ass to type in. Is that because the tech is 50 years old from before QWERTY was the standard? Do newer planes have QWERTY? 0: https://acarsdrama.com/fmc.webp Unrelated, this one is cute: https://infosec.exchange/@acarsdrama/114194436695883209
Most of the messages I get. By why show the ones with only an ETA and FOB? Is FOB code for something interesting?
FOB is Fuel On Board. Nothing interesting.
Edit: oh they seem like small numbers. Like 24 or 36, I’m assuming hundreds of pounds?
Could it be they are displayed because they have relatively little fuel left?
Example: https://infosec.exchange/@acarsdrama/114196005649300274
Earlier quoted context omitted.
QWERTY was invented to make input slower on mechanical devices and prevent the mechanical equivalent of a buffer overflow.
That's mostly a myth. I've seen a YouTube video in the last couple of years that explained the true origins of the QWERTY keyboard. Originally, the keyboard was alphabetical and arranged two rows, based on a piano keyboard, the black keys went A-N left to right, and the white keys went O-Z, right to left. Then it got shortened in width and the letters got folded over (this is why at the right edge of the middle row y…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was imagining the panel could be designed such that you wouldn't need to fit it in a 5x6 matrix.
Avionics is the area that is the least tolerant of radical redesigns in human interfaces. This FMC form factor has been around a long time. There are newer ACARS/FMC systems that have an actual QWERTY keyboard. https://www.aviationtoday.com/2016/04/27/spectralux-launches... Remember, also, that not all countries use QWERTY. France, one of the homes of Airbus, uses AZERTY. What should they do about their keyboards?