The big problem with the idea that a little keypad can do all those things just by reconfiguring the buttons (originally postulated during the show, and described in detail in the FJ Bridge blueprints) is, what does the helmsman do if he needs to use two different function configurations at once?
This is, of course, dealt with in the later films with more extensive keypads.
Well, you have a point, but remember, the helmsman normally isn't REQUIRED to do everything on the ship at once. There's an entire crew of 430 or so aboard who are all doing their own thing.
What this is, instead, is more like "the supervisory panel closest to the captain." If there's only one person on the ship who's able to function, that person will be at the helm console. It's not EFFICIENT for the helmsman to "do everything" but it's sure nice to have if you need it.
Think about what a helmsman does most of the time aboard a starship. He SITS THERE, waiting for the ship to arrive at its destination.
He may be the one person who's really paying attention to the current status of the ship. So he'll be keeping his eyes on a variety of status indicators most of the time. It sure would be nice to have that in front of him.
What status indicators are there on the bridge? Well... lots. You have full wall-panels full of them on either side of the main viewer. You have the main viewer itself (which is normally under the helmsman's control, though other officers can take over at certain times). And you have the helm board and "astrogator" board. Between those, you can pretty much know everything important about the status of the ship. Naturally, every station is within eyeshot of the captain's chair. And I believe that the sole purpose of the "overhead displays" in TOS was for the captain, not for the person working at that station (who would focus on the smaller displays below that main "big screen" panel).
I'm a bit confused by the comments about FJ calling the bridge consoles "configurable." I don't recall that being the case. I DO remember McMaster proposing that, and going into a fair amount of detail on helm console's applications.
In fact, I did my own "take" on McMaster's scheme (modified to a certain extent). I did this on scrap paper while sitting in a desert wearing a uniform and, most of the time, bored to tears, many years ago. When I got back I documented what I'd done. Some of you have seen this before, but for those who haven't, just imagine this done with the "programmable buttons" from above.
The various modes would be selected by the bottom row of buttons:
First, the "Fire control" panel. This provides basic control over weapons and defense (as well as the tractor beam). Note that there are better, dedicated facilities to do these things elsewhere on the ship, of course, but this allows the guy "closest to the captain" to do them immediately when required.
Next is the "Screen control" panel. The helmsman has primary control over the main viewscreen (which is, after all, just a computer monitor, and it's really the "monitor" for the helmsman's "workstation" when you think about it).
The third mode I really didn't go into, but it's a "programming interface" which allows the helmsman to set up preprogrammed maneuvers, or to set up special main viewer display modes, or so forth.
The fourth panel is the "status monitor." I also didn't go into that, but this would be where the little buttons would be used as "displays" showing basic ship's status functionality (like "hangar bay door" status, or "power drain to get back from the mirror universe" indications, for example).
The fifth panel would be the maneuvering control panel. This is what we normally think of as the helmsman's job... steering the ship directly (when necessary). Of course, in reality, very, very little of the helmsman's time would be spent doing manual maneuvering. But it's there nevertheless.
The three rows to the left are "roll, pitch and yaw" controls, with low-speed turn, high-speed turn, and "stop" functions.
The keypad to the right permits the helmsman to set a vector relative to the current direction of travel of the ship. The "caret" symbol is the "mark" we often hear when relative bearings are used in TOS. So... you can see how you'd set in a vector of 234.0 mark 6.7. That's 234 degrees from the current direction of travel (in the X-Y plane of the ship itself) with an elevation of 6.7 degrees.
Of course, you might want to use "absolute vectors" (relative to the established "galactic coordinate system" instead of the "relative vector" (based upon your own ship). That can be toggled there. You can clear a mis-entered course, and you can "set" the vector there as well.
Finally, the sixth panel is the propulsion control. Since propulsion can best be handled by the engineering team, the helmsman has a basic set of "presets" for controlling propulsion, and a keypad.
In the upper left are "override" warp engine controls. These are duplicates of controls found on the main engineering console, but the main console has much more flexibility.
"Warp shutdown" powers down the warp drive, and can only be selected if the warp engines are at "warp standby" mode.
"Warp stop" is used to bring the ship out of warp. It is only available if the ship is at warp.
"Warp standby" keeps the warp engines "hot" in case you need to return to speed quickly. This is only available if at "warp stop" or "warp shutdown."
"Warp ready" means that the warp drive is prepared to take a course input, and is fully powered up, but is not creating a "warp propulsion field." This is available only from any of the prior-listed modes, but will automatically cycle from "shutdown" to "standby" before entering "ready" mode.
"Warp program" allows the helmsman to set up his speed in the panel to the right. Once a correct "warp program" has been entered, "Warp Engage" becomes available.
For impulse, again, the main controls for this are at the engineering consoles. The helmsman has the capability of setting "zero thrust" or stepping the thrust output up or down by 25% steps. He can also set an absolute velocity (relative to the galactic coordinate system) in the keypad to the right, using the "reverse," "reset" and "enter" keys to do so.
There are four "macro" buttons at the bottom. "Flank speed" accelerates the ship at the maximum safe rate (available at impulse or warp). "Evasive" toggles through a series of preprogrammed evasive-maneuver operations. "Std Orbit" toggles through a series of standard orbit programs. "Nav Accept" takes a programmed course created by the navigator and enters it into the ship's course control system. Each can be "reset" without implementation, and must be "entered" to engage it.
Now, is it OPTIMAL for the helmsman to have to do all of those things? Of course not. That's why there are other crewmen aboard. But at times, it may save the ship if the helmsman can do all of those things, since he is the one person most aware of the ship's situation (moreso even than the captain).
Anyway, that's my take on it. And that keyboard I linked to is IDEAL for this sort of application, isn't it?
