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From: mrh@Shasta.STANFORD.EDU (Marc Hannah)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: MAC SE keyboards
Message-ID: <1975@Shasta.STANFORD.EDU>
Date: Fri, 28-Aug-87 19:27:54 EDT
Article-I.D.: Shasta.1975
Posted: Fri Aug 28 19:27:54 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 30-Aug-87 04:38:11 EDT
References: <2777@husc6.UUCP>
Organization: Stanford University
Lines: 28
Keywords: SE, keyboard
Summary: terminal emulation is the only other reason for me

In article <2777@husc6.UUCP>, waldman@husc4.HARVARD.EDU (benjamin waldman) writes:
> I'm planning to buy an SE soon, and I understand that there are two 
> different keyboards which I can purchase with it.  Although my school
..
> Can any of you out there offer some advice on this issue?  I hope that
..
> 				Ben Waldman
    I didn't have any choice, my Mac II came with the extended keyboard and
that works well for me. The only reasons which currently exist for having
the expanded keyboard are (in my opinion) as follows:

1. Terminal emulation. I regularly use VersaTerm as a VT100 hooked up to
our mainframe. With the current version (3.1 I believe) you can use the extra
keys with the extended keyboard to advantage. You can program the keys to send
up to 8 characters and in addition you can have F0-9 execute VersaTerm macros
tagged with option-0 thru option-9. This extra programmability is extremely
effective  in many cases. If you don't use your Mac regularly as a terminal
emulator then skip this reason.
2. Macro keys. Tempo 1.2 allows you to use the extra keys on the extended 
keyboard for Macro assignment which expands the number of available macros.
I imagine people would find the function keys a likely candidate for macro
execution.
3. Alternate operating systems. Both UNIX and MS-DOS probably work better
with the extra keys (although this may not be as important as Apple implies).

I haven't *yet* heard of any other uses which are currently available. 

David Gelphman   daveg%slacvm.bitnet@forsythe.stanford.edu