Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!munnari.oz.au!uhccux!mah From: mah@uhccux.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu (Michael Hoffhines) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc Subject: Re: Keyboard Weirdness --> An ANSWER Summary: No answer yet. Message-ID: <8889@uhccux.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu> Date: 6 Aug 90 20:32:12 GMT References: <1990Jul25.193016.9109@calgary.uucp> <1990Jul26.122045.2938@terminator.cc.umich.edu> <9005@potomac.ads.com> <1157@biar.UUCP> Reply-To: mah@uhccux.UUCP (Michael Hoffhines) Followup-To: comp.sys.mac.misc Organization: University of Hawaii Lines: 61 >In article <9005@potomac.ads.com> jtn@potomac.UUCP (John T. Nelson) writes: >>>I passed this problem to Mac Technical Support and they have verified it >>>is real and submitted a bug report to whoever it is that fixes such Having an interest in seeing this problem solved as I am bit by these problems on a daily basis, I would like to know if there is any new word from Apple on this problem. From my experience and from other postings there are at least two *very* replicable observations (not necessarily independent) that have been reported here before. In summary: 1. A minimun of 3-letter sequences that have 'oh', most frequently, as the last character if typed rapidly enough do not produce the 'oh' and seem to 'lock' out any further 'oh's from being typed until something else is typed. For example, I frequently get this behavior when I type the work 'problem'. Try typing 'pro' quicking on your keyboard. It shouldn't take too long before you generate only 'pr' and you can then try typing the 'oh' repeatedly with little success until you strike a different key. 2. Sometimes a ';' gets sent when the 'return' key is struck after a quick series of keys are struck, e.g. I see this most commonly when typing 'logout'. I had for sometime thought that I just wasn't hitting the return key until someone else posted this problem and I went back and reproduced it on my keyboard (extended keyboard with SE/30). I realize that the above has appeared before, but I would like to see this problem resolved soon so I can have all my keyboard back. They create real for anyone that doesn't watch the screen when typing and I would think that they make up a sizable portion of Mac users. In article <1157@biar.UUCP> jhood@biar.UUCP (John Hood) writes: >It's hardware. It's a design choice; keyboard manufacturers can design >keyboards to accommodate any number of keys being held down at a time, >or they can choose to only have the keyboard work properly with some >small number of keys (usually 2) held down, which is a bit cheaper. This is an interesting proposal. It fits with the observation that the smallest key-stroke sequence I have found to generate the problems above is three. However, certainly the Mac keyboard handles more than two simultaneous keystrokes, otherwise we would miss out on all those fun command-option-shift 'key' combinations. Secondly, I wouldn't consider the key combination given in 1 above to be simultaneous. If the keys are struck simultaneously, only one character appears. If, however, the keys are struck in very quick succession, an inappropriate character appears, as in 2, or the keyboard gets very modal as in 1. This may well be the answer (I hope not), but it demands a little deeper explanation I think. >It's a bit amusing that the tech support people didn't know this and are >treating it as a bug. I don't find it at all amusing. I hope the problem will be resolved soon, whatever is underlying cause. > --jh > >-- >John Hood, Mann Library, Cornell University >domain: jhood@albert.mannlib.cornell.edu bang: anywhere!uunet!biar!jhood - Mike >---------------------------------------------------------------------------< > Michael Hoffhines | INTERNET: mah@uhccux.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu < > ICS Department | < > University of Hawaii | Hey, hey, hey. Don't be mean. B. Banzai < >---------------------------------------------------------------------------<