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From: glen@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Glen Rosendale)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Datadesk 101
Message-ID: <7292@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU>
Date: 11 Nov 88 19:02:34 GMT
References: <454@nikhefk.UUCP>
Sender: news@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU
Reply-To: glen@cory.Berkeley.EDU.UUCP (Glen Rosendale)
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Lines: 50

>From Paul Molinar:
>I'm considering buying a Datadesk 101 (ADB) keyboard for my Mac. Despite the
>fact that the 'Cutting Edge' keyboard has a better layout in my point
>of view.
>
>Does anyone know whether the Datadesk is fully compatible with
>the Apple Extended Keyboard? Or does it need special drivers? (I'm
>not very fond of stuff that needs special drivers - too much chance
>of failure when new system versions are released).
>
>Any information is welcome!
>-- 
>        Paul Molenaar

I purchased the Datadesk 101 keyboard a few weeks ago, and so far I'm pretty
pleased with it.  It works (almost) identically to the Extended Keyboard,
albeit with a nicer feel. It requires no special drivers; just plug & go.
It comes with a keyboard macro program that's not bad, but Quickeys works
much better.
The only differences:
1) Only one control key, on the right of the keys.  This is a little
awkward; I'm used to it on the left.
2) There's a pushbutton switch slapped into the back of the keyboard to
emulate the power-on key for the Mac II. It works fine, but looks just a
little kludgy.
3) The numeric keypad is slightly different from the "calculator da"
layout--there's no "=" on it.  No big deal for me though.
4) The keys labeled "help" and "del" on the center section of the extended
keyboard are labeled "cut" and "paste" on the 101.  But their function is
determined by macros so they work identically to apple's.

The only software problem I've had is with falcon, which hangs like a horse
thief if I try to run it.  However, I switched to Sys 6.0.2 at the same time
as getting the keyboard, so I'm not sure which of the two is the cuprit (and
I haven't had time to investigate.)

Summary: I like the keyboard a lot, and it poses no compatibility problems
that I can see.  Their macro software is adequate (it's a cdev now, older
versions had a DA) and you can configure it to do just about whatever you
want.  With Quickeys I've mapped it to work just like a VT220 keyboard for
VersaTerm with no problems.


disclaimer: Since I have no employer at the moment, all opinions (such as
they are) are necessarily my own.  UC Berkeley certainly doesn't care.

Glen Rosendale (glen@cory.Berkeley.edu)
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