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From: jdb@mordor.ARPA (John Bruner)
Newsgroups: net.micro.mac
Subject: Re: Keyboard Layout
Message-ID: <15799@mordor.ARPA>
Date: Sat, 4-Oct-86 22:26:47 EDT
Article-I.D.: mordor.15799
Posted: Sat Oct  4 22:26:47 1986
Date-Received: Tue, 7-Oct-86 19:21:26 EDT
References: <260@iscuva.UUCP> <884@ssc-vax.UUCP> <650@rosevax.UUCP>
Reply-To: jdb@mordor.UUCP (John Bruner)
Distribution: net
Organization: S-1 Project, LLNL
Lines: 25

Keyboard preference is a very personal issue.  Some people like
low-profile keyboards, and others do not.  Some like Dvorak, and
others prefer QWERTY.  Some want a caps-lock key, others don't.
Some people need a numeric keypad.

It seems to me that a standard is needed, but *not* a standard layout
or a standard height, profile, etc.  Rather, I would like to see a
standard keyboard interface, which all computer and terminal
manufacturers would adhere to.  Keyboard manufacturers would build
units which met the interface standard, and each user could select
the keyboard s/he prefers.  The marketplace would probably cause
a small number of designs to become de facto standards.

There are keyboards which I like and some which I can't stand.  I
would love to be able to keep using one of the keyboards I currently
use [no, I won't tell you which one] when I migrate to a new machine.
(I was able to do this, after a fashion, with my Sun by plugging a
terminal into serial port A and telling the Sun to use it instead of
the Sun keyboard.  Unfortunately, this no longer works in SunWindows.)
I resent continually being subject to the whim of designers who keep
coming out with new and different designs.
-- 
  John Bruner (S-1 Project, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)
  MILNET: jdb@mordor [jdb@s1-c.ARPA]	(415) 422-0758
  UUCP: ...!ucbvax!decwrl!mordor!jdb 	...!seismo!mordor!jdb