Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!shadooby!samsung!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!texbell!texsun!newstop!sun!concertina!fiddler
From: fiddler%concertina@Sun.COM (Steve Hix)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple
Subject: Re: Dvorak Keycaps?
Message-ID: <127925@sun.Eng.Sun.COM>
Date: 15 Nov 89 20:00:20 GMT
References: <8911081129.AA18420@fs4.nisc.sri.com> <3503@mace.cc.purdue.edu>
Sender: news@sun.Eng.Sun.COM
Lines: 48

In article <3503@mace.cc.purdue.edu>, asd@mace.cc.purdue.edu (Kareth) writes:
> In article <8911081129.AA18420@fs4.nisc.sri.com> cwilson@NISC.SRI.COM (Chan Wilson) writes:
> 
> >I'm looking for the keycaps for a dvorak layout.  Presumably this is an
> >item available from Apple, yes?

No.  Well, it was once...long time ago, though.

> >(Don't believe me?  Switch the Q and the ' around. Notice they don't
> >fit in once switched.)

Any key that moves up or down from its own Sholes row automatically
doesn't fit.  They have different face angles, depending on their
row position.

> 1) Are these still available for our keyboards?

There were a few (<100) sets of Dvorak keycap sets made back when the
Apple /// was still being supported.  A new process (sublimation) was
being used to print characters on keycaps, and one of the engineers
had some Dvorak sets made up.  I got three sets.  They moved from my
Apple ///s, to //e's, to Macs.  Won't fit the ADB keyboards, though.

> 2) How much?

A fellow in Marketing around '84 set up a side business selling Dvorak
keysets for Apple owners.  A set cost something like $195 at the time.
He didn't have much success, and I think they ended up dumping the
leftover sets.

> 3) What should we tell our dealers to order?  ("Always know exactly what
>    you want when you go to one of these mental giants, it makes like
>    SOOOOOO much simpler."- My first law of dealing with dealers.  :)

While things may have changed, I haven't heard of any Dvorak keysets
made by anyone for either the // or Mac world.

What do I do now?  I made up a small chart of the Dvorak layout and taped
it at the bottom of my monitor.  After a week or so, I didn't need to look
at it any more.  (And that was back when I first learned the layout.)

The hardest part is switching back to Sholes if you have to use a
keyboard not set up for Dvorak (like my Sun here in the office).
------------
"...I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by 
reorganizing: and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion 
of progress, while producing confusion, inefficiency and demoralization."
	- Petronius Arbiter