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From: crowl@rochester.ARPA (Lawrence Crowl)
Newsgroups: net.info-terms,net.internat
Subject: Re: In search of a sane keyboard standard
Message-ID: <18426@rochester.ARPA>
Date: Mon, 26-May-86 12:49:06 EDT
Article-I.D.: rocheste.18426
Posted: Mon May 26 12:49:06 1986
Date-Received: Tue, 27-May-86 07:31:19 EDT
References: <2071@cbosgd.UUCP> <429@mcgill-vision.UUCP>
Reply-To: crowl@rochester.UUCP (Lawrence Crowl)
Organization: U of Rochester, CS Dept, Rochester, NY
Lines: 40
Keywords: keyboard, standard, ANSI
Xref: watmath net.info-terms:997 net.internat:328

In article <429@mcgill-vision.UUCP> mouse@mcgill-vision.UUCP writes:
>I want:
>- Keyclick. Keyclick should be electronic, though
>   mechanical is acceptable if it does not introduce tactile feedback.
>- NO TACTILE FEEDBACK UNTIL THE KEY HITS THE BOTTOM OF ITS TRAVEL.

But I hate noisy keyboards.  The IBM PC keyboard annoys me because of
its noise.  I much prefer tactile feedback.

>- [/] and {/} keys, not [/{ and ]/}

An I prefer just the opposite.  I would also like to see () and _ and +
as unshifted characters.

I cannot stand QWERTY, and yet there seems to be little discussion of
alternative layouts.  Most of the discussion centers around keys that
have extremely little use except in computer languages (like vi, Pascal,
and others).

What about non-ascii characters?  The europeans have a whole mess of
characters they have had to graft around ascii.  Some of the ebcdic
characters (corners, lines, and such) would be real nice to have.  I
would like printable arrows in all four directions.  How about a real
divide sign?  How will we deal with these?

Let's face it.  No standard is going to please everyone.  I would venture
to guess that no standard will even come close unless people are forced
to use it so much that they end up liking it.  (Pavlov got his initial
ideas after observing secretaries using QWERTY keyboards.  Oh yeah, :-)

We need to work on a keyboard interface standard where people can provide
their own favorite keyboard.  This way, they can have their own favorite
feedback, keyboard layout, tilt angle, characters and designer monograms.

Any suggestions?
-- 

Lawrence Crowl             716-275-5766        University of Rochester
                                               Computer Science Department
...!{allegra,decvax,seismo}!rochester!crowl    Rochester, New York,  14627