Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!decwrl!sun!jfarrell
From: jfarrell@sun.UUCP (Jerry Farrell)
Newsgroups: net.cog-eng
Subject: Re: Chord Keyboards wanted
Message-ID: <307@sun.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 4-Sep-83 17:34:05 EDT
Article-I.D.: sun.307
Posted: Sun Sep  4 17:34:05 1983
Date-Received: Sun, 4-Sep-83 23:42:45 EDT
References: houem.166
Lines: 28

I know of at least 2 exceptions to dvorak's observation that the chordsets
were never used with the Altos at PARC:
	A brown-bag editor oriented toward coding rather than document
	production (i.e., not Bravo), called "ugh" -- or "UG" for all I
	know; I only heard it.  Its adherents were enthusiastic about
	not trying to force block structured code into a sentence &
	paragraph text mold.

	MazeWar, the net networked search & destroy game, accepts
	commands from either the keyboard or mouse & chordset.  For
	non-novices. the chordsets improve performance by factors of
	4 - 10 or more.  That is, playing even, McGregor would shoot me
	9 or 10 times for every one I got him; using a chordset and
	restricting him to ASDFG for the motion commands, I almost could
	catch him.  Note thsat in this configuration, I used the chordset
	in my RIGHT (dominant) hand, for Step Back, Turn Left, Step Ahead,
	Turn Right, and Turn 180; the mouse is strictly a source of 3 more
	buttons: Peek Left, Shoot, Peek Right.  I eventually learned to
	imitate the experts' strategy:  run fast & shhot often;  don't
	bother hiding or peeking.

The proliferation of systems at Xerox which use big left-hand function
keys (Alto II keyboards with BravoX and others;  Star, various internal
development environments) could be seen as trading the mose-and-chordset's
indefference to handedness for labels on the keycaps & slightly easier
manufacture. [God, my typing is atrocious today.  apologies to my readers,
and curses to the implementor of this interface.]
`v