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Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watnot!watmath!clyde!rutgers!seismo!lll-lcc!well!msudoc!crlt!michael
From: michael@crlt.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: Flat Portable (Re: Flat Displays and Portable Computers)
Message-ID: <654@crlt.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 22-Feb-87 10:39:37 EST
Article-I.D.: crlt.654
Posted: Sun Feb 22 10:39:37 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 24-Feb-87 02:55:41 EST
References: <275@netxcom.UUCP> <1249@ucbcad.berkeley.edu> <197@osupyr.UUCP>
Organization: CRLT , Ann Arbor, MI
Lines: 36
Summary: My keyboard would fit (minus numeric pad).

In article <197@osupyr.UUCP>, lum@osupyr.UUCP (Lum Johnson) writes:
> 
> While we're wishing for stuff we probably won't get, how about fitting all
> this into a notebook-size clamshell that unfolds both fully and partially,
> and can be locked open at various angles.  The keys would still be cramped
> or small in a 8 1/2" x 11" format, though, so I'd prefer 9 2/3" x 12 1/2".

My keyboard is 11" by about 4" (or slightly higher if you include the row of
programmable-function keys that never get used when it's just being a
terminal).  Thus, if you sat the "notebook" crosswise it would fit in the
lower half of one 8 1/2" by 11" clamshell segment.  (This keyboard, by the
way, has standard key spacing.  The 11" width doesn't include the clutch of
cursor keys and the numeric keypad - but there's room past each end of the
spacebar for about three more keys.)

> We do have to lose the numeric keypad, or put it above the major keyboard
> (rotated maybe?).  And while I'm at it, let's add a _real_ META (ie, 8th bit
> set) key and CTRL-lock and META-lock keys, for Emacs, which would be _much_
> more useful than a silly SHIFT-lock key.

You can map a numeric keypad onto the standard keys by using a "keypad shift"
key in that out-of-the-way space to the left of the space bar.  (Pity you'd
have to relearn so much if you also eliminated the top row of keys in favor
of such a shift system.)  When you're doing keypad entry, moving your left
hand off the home position to operate the shift would be less of a hassle
than moving your right to a keypad, though it is a weaker mnemonic and might
promote typing errors.

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