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From: gaynor@hpuxa.ircc.ohio-state.edu (Jim Gaynor)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: Re: More info on the new Macs
Message-ID: <5823@nisca.ircc.ohio-state.edu>
Date: 18 Oct 90 15:01:56 GMT
References: <6296@ge-dab.GE.COM> <15317@burdvax.PRC.Unisys.COM>
Sender: news@nisca.ircc.ohio-state.edu
Organization: The Ohio State University (IRCC)
Lines: 52

In article <15317@burdvax.PRC.Unisys.COM> dave@PRC.Unisys.COM (David Lee Matuszek) writes:
>In article <6296@ge-dab.GE.COM> vita@sunny.dab.ge.com (Mark Vita) writes:
>>  [...about the new keyboard for Mac Classic and Mac LC...]
>
>Yech, this sounds really nasty.  The membrane keyboards I have seen in
>the past were flat surfaces, totally unsuitable for touch typists.  Is
>that the case here, or does it have reals keys, with the membrane
>underneath, done well enough so you can actually type on the thing?

	It's a real, live keyboard.  Real keys, and all that jazz.  I
only got to play with one for awhile, but the keypress feels just a
bit softer than the Standard Keyboard or Extended Keyboard.  I don't
think it'll make any difference to a casual typist, and it's certainly
a -lot- better than the Teleray keyboards I worked years ago...

>What is meant by "small keyboard"?

	It's got the same layout as the Standard Keyboard (numeric
keypad, but no function keys, no pgup/pgdwn/home/ect.), and the keys
seem to be the same size, it's just the case itself that is a bit
scaled down.  Smaller margins (?) bwteen the actual keyboard and the
edge of the case itself.

>Also nasty.  I don't know much about third-party keyboards; are there
>any out there that will support this, if I hate the keyboard that
>comes with it?

	Most stationary ADB devices I've seen, like drawing tablets,
trackballs, and keyboards, can be daisy-chained on the ADB.  It's
hand-held stuff like lightpens and mice that you can't plug other
things into (and who'd really want to plug their keyboard into the
side of their mouse?  <grin>)

>Please don't misunderstand; I WANT to like these machines, and I'm
>hoping someone will tell me the keyboards aren't as bad as this makes
>them sound.

>Will they also be able to make use of normal SIMMs?  Specifically, can
>I buy reasonably priced SIMMs, or do I have to pay Apple's absurdly
>inflated prices?  Can I install the SIMMs myself without voiding my
>warranty?

	Normal SIMMs are A-OK.  The folks from Apple at the
educational meeting I was at Wednesday went to lengths to assure us
that you weren't forced to buy weird SIMMs for memory expansion, ala
the Macintosh IIfx.

-- 
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| Jim Gaynor - The Ohio State Univ. - IRCC - Facilities Mgmt. - OCES  <whew!> |
| Email [gaynor@hpuxa.ircc.ohio-state.edu], [gaynor@agvax2.ag.ohio-state.edu] |
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