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From: bobr@zeus.UUCP (Robert Reed)
Newsgroups: net.info-terms,net.internat
Subject: Re: In search of a sane keyboard standard
Message-ID: <193@zeus.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 5-May-86 15:54:01 EDT
Article-I.D.: zeus.193
Posted: Mon May  5 15:54:01 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 10-May-86 12:35:39 EDT
References: <2071@cbosgd.UUCP>
Reply-To: bobr@zeus.UUCP (Robert Reed)
Organization: CAE Systems Division, Tektronix, Inc., Beaverton, OR.
Lines: 55
Keywords: keyboard, standard, ANSI
Xref: linus net.info-terms:453 net.internat:18

Tektronix has had a keyboard standard which has been employed through the
402X, 411X, 410X, and 412X families of terminals (more or less) and which I
find quite comfortable for touch typing and using editors which require the
use of control and escape keys:

   ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   | {  | !  | @  | #  | $  | %  | ^  | &  | *  | (  | )  | _  | +  | }  | DEL|
   | [  | 1  | 2  | 3  | 4  | 5  | 6  | 7  | 8  | 9  | 0  | -  | =  | ]  |    |
++++---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+ESC | ~   | Q  | W  | E  | R  | T  | Y  | U  | I  | O  | P  | `  |BACK  |LINE|
+    | |   |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    | \  |SPACE |FEED|
+++++--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+TAB | CTRL | A  | S  | D  | F  | G  | H  | J  | K  | L  | :  | "  | RETURN   |
+    |      |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    | ;  | '  |          |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|CAPS| SHIFT  | Z  | X  | C  | V  | B  | N  | M  | <  | >  | ?  |SHIFT  |BRK |
|LOCK|        |    |    |    |    |    |    |    | ,  | .  | /  |       |    |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                   |                 SPACE                 |
                   |                                       |
                   -----------------------------------------

Mark Horton's suggested layout suffers from an imbalance, placing most of
the keys under the right hand.  From the normal resting place of ASDF and
JKL; (as can be seen below), the left hand has one horizontal extension to
reach the edge of the keyboard whereas the right hand must extend three keys
from the home row to reach the edge.  The keyboard above balances this at
two and two.  Caps lock does not obscure the space bar, but is not
intervening between CTRL and A either.  Both TAB and ESC are closer to the
little finger, since it's easier to do a horizontal extension than a
vertical one (these keys are 1 and a half wide, as indicated by the plusses).

The {[ and }] keys have been moved to the top row so that the second row of
special keys can be brought in closer.  Backspace is moved to a more
accessible location, at the expense of pushing }] to the limits of reach.
With this arrangement, the entire keyboard can be learned by touch, although
admittedly, the extra characters required make the task of the little
fingers prone to error.

------------------------------------------------------------------------++++++
| ESC| !  | @  | #  | $  | %  | ^  | &  | *  | (  | )  | _  | +  | BACK + DEL+
|    | 1  | 2  | 3  | 4  | 5  | 6  | 7  | 8  | 9  | 0  | -  | =  | SPACE+    +
------------------------------------------------------------------------++++++
| TAB  | Q  | W  | E  | R  | T  | Y  | U  | I  | O  | P  | {  | }  | |  | ~  |
|      |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    | [  | ]  | \  | `  |
------------------------------------------------------------------------++++++
| CTRL  | A  | S  | D  | F  | G  | H  | J  | K  | L  | :  | "  | RETURN +LINE+
|       |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    | ;  | '  |        +FEED+
------------------------------------------------------------------------++++++
| SHIFT   | Z  | X  | C  | V  | B  | N  | M  | <  | >  | ?  |    SHIFT  +BRK +
|         |    |    |    |    |    |    |    | ,  | .  | /  |           +    +
------------------------------------------------------------------------++++++
           |CAPS|                SPACE                 |
           |LOCK|                                      |
           ---------------------------------------------