Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!abvax!iccgcc!herrickd From: herrickd@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com Newsgroups: comp.misc Subject: Re: Dvorak keyboard Message-ID: <2036.2743f772@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com> Date: 16 Nov 90 19:28:01 GMT References: <1941.273e9858@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com> <1990Nov13.190942.21986@bpdsun1.uucp> Lines: 46 In article <1990Nov13.190942.21986@bpdsun1.uucp>, rmf@bpdsun1.uucp (Rob Finley) writes: > In article Markd@Aus.Sun.COM writes: >>herrickd@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com writes: >> >>>In article , greg@turbo.atl.ga.us (Greg Montgomery) writes: >>>> I'm looking for anywhere I can get a Dvorak keyboard for my 386. If >>>> anyone knows any manufacturers or sellers of them, please let me know. >> >>>I think Jerry Pournelle said that Northgate has one. All it takes is >>>a different set of molded keytops. (I don't understand why Jerry >>>likes the Northgate keyboards so much. I bot one and it doubles keys >>>on me and does not have N-Key Rollover.) >> >>>If you don't have to have the names of the keys engraved on the >>>keytops, PC-Write lets you remap the keyboard. So do various >>>other programs. Hang a picture of the key layout on the wall >>>and do the remapping in software. >> >>You don't mention which OS you're using but if it's UNIX/XENIX, there >>are a variety of trivial ways to remap keystrokes. In Xenix there is a >>keymap file and for Unix you could write a fairly trivial filter. >> >>You also may find that your keyboard lets you move the keys around by >>gentle prying individual keys off. But check the actual method with >>your keyboard manufacturer first, OK? > > My only hangup with that is the keycaps are beveled to match which > row they are in originally. If you move them, the keycaps are > slanted the wrong way and it feels awkward. > > Before you move the caps around (or take them all off B-), check > to see if they all have the same physical shape. Fortunately, > Northgate fixed it in almost the correct way by offering an > alternate set of keycaps. > > Make sure that you can live with Northgate's lack of N-key rollover > if you are a wild typist. You will go blind if you are and it doesn't. I started this error and I'm probably going to be a long time getting over it. The rollover is done by the BIOS code in the computer, not in the keyboard. The 2-key rollover versus N-key rollover decision was made by AMI, not by Northgate. It is a bad decision, but I was wrong to blame it on Northgate. dan herrick herrickd@astro.pc.ab.com