Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!wuarchive!uwm.edu!linac!att!pacbell.com!tandem!zorch!sega0!mykes From: mykes@sega0.SF-Bay.ORG (Mike Schwartz) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy Subject: Re: IBM keyboards? Oh my god... (Re: Wake Up Commodore!) Message-ID: Date: 24 Mar 91 05:58:58 GMT References: <1991Mar22.040419.27268@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> <1991Mar23.043826.15065@sugar.hackercorp.com> Organization: Amiga makes it possible Lines: 48 In article <1991Mar23.043826.15065@sugar.hackercorp.com> peter@sugar.hackercorp.com (Peter da Silva) writes: >In article jph@ais.org (Joseph Hillenburg) writes: >> Yep, actually, I wish that C= would use audible IBM-type keyboards. (The only >> thing IBM does right IS their keyboards...) > >What have you been smoking, and where can I get some? IBM designed the best >keyboard in the world for the IBM Selectric, and everyone (including DEC) >emulated it. Then for the PC they abandoned it for a layout that's totally >abyssmal. And you want CBM to follow in their lead? >-- >Peter da Silva. `-_-' >. As is typical of the Amiga, the keyboard layout is pretty well thought out. My only gripe is that the CAPS LOCK key isn't somewhere out of the way. I tend to hit it a lot when my fingers get off the home key or when I want to hit ^C to break a program... I also like the textile feel of the keyboards. Recently, I bought an OmniKey Ultra keyboard, which is basically an IBM PC clown (clone implies high-tech :) keyboard. My 2000 keyboard died (the CPU in it died) and I thought I would try a different brand. I like the OmniKey for typing, but it has a lot of wierdness to it. It has IBM style function keys in that screwed up configuration on the left side. It also has function keys across the top, but by default those are shifted function keys. In order to get them to be standard keys, I have to hit a key marked "SF Select" then "Esc" each time I reboot. Also, there are a lot of times when Control-Amiga-Amiga just doesn't work. The keyboard also has a reset button on it, but it also doesn't work when C-A-A fails. The documentation claims that the keyboard is meant to work with the Amiga, and it has dip switch settings for the Amiga. The keyboard has a lot of smarts to it (much more than any other I've used). They allow you to reconfigure where the CAPS LOCK key and other keys go and they give you some spare keys so you can rearrange the keyboard to what you desire. But they don't give you keys marked AMIGA, and the ALT keys are not the ones marked as ALT keys. I had to write on the key caps with a marker what the keys really are. You'd think that with all those years of R&D wasted on the PC that keyboards would be a bit better. I wouldn't recommend that anyone else out there buy an OmniKey - Commodore's works much better for the Amiga! mykes -- ******************************************************* * Assembler Language separates the men from the boys. * *******************************************************