Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!abvax!iccgcc!herrickd From: herrickd@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com Newsgroups: comp.misc Subject: Re: Dvorak keyboard Message-ID: <1978.27410cfe@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com> Date: 14 Nov 90 14:23:10 GMT References: <90316.120552ESR@SLACVM.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU> <4360@auspex.auspex.com> Lines: 42 In article <4360@auspex.auspex.com>, hitz@auspex.auspex.com (Dave Hitz) writes: > In article <90316.120552ESR@SLACVM.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU> ESR@SLACVM.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU (Ed Russell) writes: >>I have a Northgate 102. One of the switch settings is to configure it as >>a Dvorak keyboard. Key caps are available for a nominal fee. I assume >>the other Northgate models have the same capability(?). > > The print articles I remember seeing about the Dvorak keyboard have > included pictures showing a keyboard that not only has different > letters on different keys than qwertyiop, but actually has keys > arranged so that they fit differently under the fingers. (I believe > that there were more keys around the thumbs, so that those dextrous > members could do something besides type SPACE.) > I have done a little reading on this subject, even communicating once with the Dvorak Association, but have never seen anything about a mechanical rearrangement of the keyboard. I think users of Dvorak's technology are willing to have the rest of us pay for the mechanical development of keyboards and only make a more intelligent assignment of characters to the available buttons. I'm also quite sure that is what Dvorak did in his original work. > But in netnews articles I always see people saying things like, "I > turned my keyboard to Dvorak by hacking the tty driver in the kernel > to ..." > > Is my memory wrong about the Dvorak keyboard, or have some clever > people actually figured out how to make the kernel tty driver (or in > this case a switch setting) move the plastic keys around on the > keyboard? There are mechanical hackers, just like there are programming hackers, and the author of a magazine article who does his job right should be able to find one or two and show their work in an article about mutilating the keyboard to make typing English easier and faster. I believe the Dvorak Association uses the name Dvorak Keyboard to mean a rearrangement of the labels on the traditional keyboard. > -- > Dave Hitz work: 408-492-0900 > UUCP: {uunet,mips,sun,bridge2}!auspex!hitz home: 408-739-7116 dan herrick herrickd@astro.pc.ab.com