Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!rochester!cornell!uw-beaver!rice!sun-spots-request
From: chuck@trantor.harris-atd.com (Chuck Musciano)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun
Subject: Re: new Sun type-4 keyboards
Keywords: Hardware
Message-ID: <3801@kalliope.rice.edu>
Date: 12 Jun 89 13:55:05 GMT
Sender: usenet@rice.edu
Organization: Sun-Spots
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Approved: Sun-Spots@rice.edu
X-Sun-Spots-Digest: Volume 8, Issue 27, message 2 of 7

> On a system with a Type-3 keyboard we find:
>	:ku=\E[A:kd=\E[B:kr=\E[C:kl=\E[D:\
> but on my system with a Type-4 keyboard (a Sun 386i)
>	:ku=\E[215z:kd=\E[221z:kr=\E[219z:kl=\E[217z:\

Actually, these are the same.  The first lists the ANSI standard escape
sequences for cursor motion, the second, the Sun escape sequences for the
arrow keys.  To make the first definition work, you must have "setkeys
reset" in effect, so that the cursor keys generate the ANSI sequences.  To
make the second definition work, you must have "setkeys noarrows" in
effect, to make the keys generate the Sun sequences.  You might want to
make your .login check the machine type and execute "setkeys" accordingly.

Along the lines of previous posters, I am also disturbed by the loss of
the type-3 keyboard.  I have to believe this was a marketing decision, not
an engineering one.  Nothing is more frustrating than to lose a perfectly
good tool and to be told the reason is "because".  Why can't Sun offer
multiple keyboards, in the same way it offers multiple display options?

Has anyone fooled with the connectors of the type-4 to see if the pinouts
match the type-3?  Could a type-3 be fitted with a type-4 connector?

Is anyone at Keytronics interested in marketing a Sun-compatible keyboard?
Is the Sun world big enough to support such third party options?

Perhaps the most frustrating thing of all was to see that one reply from
someone at Sun which said "You'll just have to get used to it".  Maybe
someone at Sun could post some justification for the type-4 besides PC
compatibility.  Did Sun survey anyone from the existing customer base
before making this decision?

Chuck Musciano				ARPA  : chuck@trantor.harris-atd.com
Harris Corporation 			Usenet: ...!uunet!x102a!trantor!chuck
PO Box 37, MS 3A/1912			AT&T  : (407) 727-6131
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Oh yeah, laugh now!  But when the millions start pouring in, I'll be the one
at Burger King, sucking down Whoppers at my own private table! --Al Bundy