Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!know!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!crdgw1!sixhub!davidsen From: davidsen@sixhub.UUCP (Wm E. Davidsen Jr) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware Subject: Re: Giving up on Northgate OmniKey Plus Message-ID: <2283@sixhub.UUCP> Date: 14 Nov 90 03:37:48 GMT References: Reply-To: davidsen@sixhub.UUCP (bill davidsen) Distribution: na Organization: *IX Public Access UNIX, Schenectady NY Lines: 42 In article marshall@wind55.seri.gov (Marshall L. Buhl) writes: | The new one came about a month ago. The problem above did not reoccur. | However, about one out of fifty words would have a double letter in it. | It could be any key. Many times it was the space key. This is | especially infuriating when reading news with nn. I kept flying by | articles. Also, the spacebar didn't always work when I hit it near the | left. Some people have trouble with the keyboard. I have noticed that it is sensitive, and some people report just what you mention, double keying. I have two home and one at work, and have no more than 1-2 doubles in a month, which I can justify with the nice layout. Others find tey just can't use it. I slap the keys, they gently stroke. I never noticed the noise you mention, I get noise out of all keyboards as the keys hit the stops. Some people have trouble with false keystrokes. The keyboard is sensitive, and if you someone is sloppy typist they will gets lots of errors. I do when I get tired. It's not the fault of the user or the keyboard, just a bad match. I think the maxi and keytronic have all the feel of typing on a loaf of fresh bread, but that's *my* taste, and I don't try to convince anyone that these are bad keyboards, I just try not to use them. People who are thinking about Northgate should try one themselves, and then make a choice. If you like the feel of the original AT, you will probably like the Ngate. If you like a softer touch, it's not for you. I personally like the 102 better in layout, and have never found any problem in the placement of the cursor keys. I don't mix cursor and page up often, so that doesn't mean that the 102 would make everyone happy, just that I have no trouble with it, and find it easier to feel for the keys when they are in distinctively shaped cluster. I also found one key, either the ` or \, which was in a bad place for me on the Omnikey, and I use them a lot for UNIX. -- bill davidsen - davidsen@sixhub.uucp (uunet!crdgw1!sixhub!davidsen) sysop *IX BBS and Public Access UNIX moderator of comp.binaries.ibm.pc and 80386 mailing list "Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -me