Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!giza.cis.ohio-state.edu!manson
From: manson@giza.cis.ohio-state.edu (Bob Manson)
Newsgroups: comp.std.misc
Subject: Re: Standard keyboard
Summary: lots o' opinions
Keywords: keyboards are goofy
Message-ID: <87737@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu>
Date: 28 Jan 91 20:31:04 GMT
References: <742@caslon.cs.arizona.edu> <87723@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> <1991Jan28.183530.17856@unicorn.cc.wwu.edu>
Sender: news@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu
Organization: Ohio State Computer Science
Lines: 77

In article <1991Jan28.183530.17856@unicorn.cc.wwu.edu> n8243274@unicorn.cc.wwu.edu (steven l. odegard) writes:
>Testy subject here.  I agree with manson in article
><87723@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> with the following:

Yep. Lots of arguments about where the keys should go. I guess the
real point of my article was that a keyboard that could be
reprogrammed & with movable keys,or a wide choice of keyboards, would
please everyone.  It's not that much more expensive to offer several
keyboards; it's just sloth on the part of the manufacturers.

>but I feel that
>  \caps_lock\ should be immediately left of \control\.  It'll never be
>     hit there by mistake either.

Well, as long as the control key is double-size. The way it is on this
HP thing it is only single size, with the caps lock right next to it;
I tend to hit it accidentially from time to time (not hard to do).

>  \shift\ keys should be lowered from the bottom row of keys to be
>     next to the space bar (I taught myself to type on a mechanical

This definitely needs to be an option, although I think a lot of people
would yell at you a lot if this were the default. Possibly if the
manufacturers don't want to produce reprogrammable/changeable keyboards
they could have 5-6 options available, one being the "mechanical typewriter"
option.

>The entire QWERTY arrangement needs to be overhauled.  I taught myself
>Dvorak, but not enough machines I am required to use are capable of being

Decidedly. Again, an option could be Dvorak, with (hopefully) ONE
standard arrangement for the keys. But that's too much to ask.  My pet
peeve with this subject is that a lot of people complain, but no one
tries to do anything about it. Think about sending a letter to the
company that makes your most hated/liked keyboard, and tell them why.

>switched over.  Any manufacturer who has the insight to include such a
>switch should receive subsidy from the Powers that Be.  

Most computers I have used have a detachable keyboard. This isn't a
problem-if they'd make different keyboards. They don't. I'm not
talking so much about home machines as I am workstations. If I spend
$6,000 on a computer, I expect to get my choice of keyboards...If you
can get a workstation with an IBM PC keyboard connector, you're a lot
better off, but most workstations have a nonstandard keyboard connector.
Maybe that's where the standardization effort needs to go.

>Nobody knows what do do with \+=\, \~`\, \|\\, \del\, or the brackets and
>curly braces; they end up everywhere.

Strangely enough, this doesn't bother me (except for del/backspace) as
long as they don't add keys.  Whoever is was at Sun that added that
extra key next to return should be soundly beaten with a rubber
truncheon. But I can deal with them moving around, because I don't use
them as often as I use escape/control/delete.

If the keyboard folks are listening (they aren't, but I have sent
letters to companies about this in the past): I make my living by
typing on a computer. Changing the keyboard around is painful for me,
as it causes undue stress & frustration in getting my work done. I use
several different machines daily, and I'd really like to see
control/escape/delete end up in about the same place on every machine,
and have them be in resasonable places. I don't know why this is
difficult, except that you never ask programmers, you ask marketing
people or do some goofy study that shows that key X belongs here (which
is usually the most awkward place).

>about this.  Where sholuld the \break\ key be placed?  Please, not so close
>to backs

Break should be where it is on an HP, on the function key row (if you
insist on putting function keys on) in place of where many
manufacturers put escape. Hitting break usually has horrible
consequences, and isn't much used on a workstation, so why put it
where it can be struck easily?
							Bob
manson@cis.ohio-state.edu