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From: ee5391aa@hydra.unm.edu (Duke McMullan n5gax)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc,misc.wanted
Subject: Re: Dvorak Keyboards
Message-ID: <1570@ariel.unm.edu>
Date: 10 Feb 90 06:11:15 GMT
References: <1990Jan25.151952.23138@deimos.cis.ksu.edu> <362PD1w160w@gendep>
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Reply-To: ee5391aa@hydra.unm.edu.UUCP (Duke McMullan n5gax)
Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
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bdn@phobos.cis.ksu.edu (Bryan D. Nehl) writes:
> I keep hearing about how great Dvorak keyboards are, so here is my question:
> Where can I buy one and for how much?
> I would prefer one with styling like that of the Zeos RS keyboard.
> I would also prefer to keep the cost <=$100, is this possible?
> I can type on a qwerty keyboard, would it be difficult to pick up 
> a dvorak layout without having a class?

I borrowed a dvorak driver from a friend; it saved my backside until I could
get my keyboard hardwired as DVO. There are Dvorak keyboards available...I
don't have the $ available, but it was somewhere around $140. What I did was
to order a new keyboard from Jameco (it's their fancy one with the trackball
on the right end of the kbd -- I've seen it available from other sources, too)
for $99.95 and opened it up and started cutting traces and adding jumper wires.

It's not really a nice way to spend the day, but when it was over, I had a nice
Dvorak keyboard that did pretty much what I wanted.

There are some problems with this...one is sculptured keytops. On this partic-
ular board, it's not too bad. On others, my Trash-80 Model 4p, f'rinstance, the
effect is that the keyboard is in serious need of orthodontia. There are custom
Dvorak keytops available...there's a concern that advertises in Byte (the one
with all the colorful keytops in their ad) that sells them, but they're too
costly for what I would get.

I wanted the hardwired setup because the Dvorak TSR proved incompatible with
several other programs, such as Microsoft Works (because it came bundled with
the computer, that's why I have it) and a QuickBasic program written by a
friend. Execute either of these with the Dvorak TSR resident, and it's reboot
time. Additionally, the thing disabled Ctrl-Alt-Del and my 6MHz/12MHz speed
shift. It also used memory which, I begrudged.

Now, I'm disgusted. When I returned the software to my friends, I neglected
to write down the address of the outfit. If I can find it, I'll post.

I have a problem with the Dvorak keyboard. I first heard of it back in the
early sixties, and resisted learning to type on the QWERTY keyboard because
I knew there was A Better Way. I finally learned to type on my old Trash-80
Model I when a Dvorak software driver became available. The problem is that
I can't touch type worth a fig on a QWERTY board. That's my problem with the
Dvorak keyboard.

There are also, I discovered, "Dvorak" keyboards available with special setups
for the one-handed among us who need to type. I had never known of this; it's
neat!

I find it surprising that the keyboards themselves aren't completely program-
mable. That would be very nice, indeed....

I can't say how easy it would be to learn to use the Dvorak layout without a
class. I did it that way by hanging a small chart of key positions by my text
to be typed, and started typing. It's the "practicum" approach...the way the
cat learned to swim.

					Hope it helped (but probably not),
								d


    "Don't reinvent the wheel -- steal the plans instead."   - Don Lancaster
      Duke McMullan n5gax nss13429r phon505-255-4642 ee5391aa@hydra.unm.edu