lmc@denelcor.UUCP (Lyle McElhaney) (01/29/84)
Ok, I've listened to net.cog-eng talk about keyboards, and people in
net.micro.* excoriate various keyboards all over the place (the favorite
whipping boy at the moment sems to be the IBM pc keyboard, but I'm sure
that something else will inevitably take its place). And I have to agree
(I have an IBM, and its not the best placement, but not completely beyond
the pale) that the manufacturers have gone out of their way to confuse
within the confines of the ANSI standard. What I want to do is find out
what is the best (favorite? most useful?) arrangement of keys.
Lets assume the ANSI standard to begin with (ANSI X4.14-1971). There are
actually two standards: a logical pairing (i.e., ! with 1, " with 2, only
one bit difference between cases) and the traditional typewriter pairing.
! " # $ % & ' ( ) = ~ |
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 - ^ \
Q W E R T Y U I O P ` { _
@ [ _
LK A S D F G H J K L + * ]
; : }
SH Z X C V B N M < > ? SH
, . /
SPACE
Logical Pairing
! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _ + ~
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 - = `
Q W E R T Y U I O P ] |
[ \
LK A S D F G H J K L : " }
; ' {
SH Z X C V B N M < > ? SH
, . /
SPACE
Typewriter Pairing
(Note that the logical keyboard has an extra key - there is no defined
code for shift-0 and one key has underbar in both cases. The standard
allows that the shifted character might be DEL.) The ctrl key is to be
"outboard of the two shift keys". (!! The standard says that when using
the control key, the output code will be the same regardless of the use
of the shift keys - how many terminals handle that properly?) Undefined
are the positions of return, linefeed, tab, escape, ctrl, backspace, break,
and rubout. Lets leave function keys, the numeric cluster, and cursor
movement to some other time.
Well, then, what's your pleasure? I'm typing this on a Freedom 100, which
follows the typewriter arrangement (with one minor exception). The above
named keys are located as follows:
LE ! @ # _ + ~ bksp break
esc 1 2 3 - = `
bk tab Q W { } rub
tab [ ] n
. . . . . . . r/
ctrl SLock A S : " retu/ |
; ' \
Shift Z ? Shift lf
/
(LE is local escape)
I'd like to get some consensus-of-the-net (if possible). Reply to me via
mail, or if of general interest, to (hmmm.... let me see) net.cog-eng
(they seem to be slowing down now). I'm sending this to several groups
to catch everyone who may be interested...DON'T FOLLOWUP IN ANY OTHER
GROUP THAN NET.COG_ENG.
By the way, I pretty much like the arrangement on the freedom or vt100 -
except that I wish the ctrl key could replace the shift-lock. Never had
much use for shift-lock.
--
Lyle McElhaney
(hao,brl-bmd,nbires,csu-cs,scgvaxd)!denelcor!lmccustead@sask.UUCP (01/31/84)
denelcor!lmc's original article contained the following *diagram*:
! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _ + ~
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 - = `
Q W E R T Y U I O P ] |
[ \
LK A S D F G H J K L : " }
; ' {
SH Z X C V B N M < > ? SH
, . /
SPACE
Typewriter Pairing
UNFORTUNATELY, typewriters are a bit different than this. Specifically
the shift for ',' is ',' and the shift for '.' is '.' We have a VT220
and it uses the typewriter conventions for the shift of these chars.
They then took the '<' and ">" and placed these on a key BETWEEN
SHIFT and 'Z'. (where one is definitely not used to finding a key.)
This moved the shift to the left so 'no scroll' moves up to the top
row of function keys. As does ESC. As does SET-UP. Also on a VT100
the key with '\' and '|' is outside the RETURN. On the VT220 this key
is moved inside the RETURN. and BACK SPACE is gone. All in all the
rather acceptable VT100 keyboard becomes a brain-damaged thing intended
for Word Processing/Micro Computery things and as an afterthought
may be used as a regular terminal. (Other than this, the VT220 is
a rather nice terminal.)guy@rlgvax.UUCP (Guy Harris) (02/01/84)
> UNFORTUNATELY, typewriters are a bit different than this. Specifically > the shift for ',' is ',' and the shift for '.' is '.' We have a VT220 > and it uses the typewriter conventions for the shift of these chars. > They then took the '<' and ">" and placed these on a key BETWEEN > SHIFT and 'Z'. (where one is definitely not used to finding a key.) > This moved the shift to the left so 'no scroll' moves up to the top > row of function keys. As does ESC. As does SET-UP. Also on a VT100 > the key with '\' and '|' is outside the RETURN. On the VT220 this key > is moved inside the RETURN. and BACK SPACE is gone. All in all the > rather acceptable VT100 keyboard becomes a brain-damaged thing intended > for Word Processing/Micro Computery things and as an afterthought > may be used as a regular terminal. (Other than this, the VT220 is > a rather nice terminal.) 1) They placed a key between SHIFT and 'Z'? Following in IBM's brain-damaged footsteps? 2) Interestingly enough, some office machines have an ASCII-terminal style keyboard, rather than a straight typewriter style keyboard. The Xerox Star, the NBI System One Integrated Workstation come to mind, as do DEC's word processors (which may not count, considering they're built around VT52s and VT100s). Furthermore, early versions of Compucorp's "word processors" have a *Teletype*-style keyboard (you know, ( ) over 8 and 9, + over ;, etc.). The reason for this is probably that their "word processors" are really Z80-based small business computers with a good word-processing package which was written a bit later than the original system was designed. They probably designed the system just as a small-business computer, and of course, as everybody knows, computers have to have Teletype-style keyboards (TM). So it's not clear that a typewriter keyboard is necessarily the best thing even for word processors, although I've heard some secretaries complaining about the "< ," pairing (I don't know whether that's a matter of familiarity with the ", ," pairing, or unfamiliarity with the idea of a CAPS LOCK key, or what). Guy Harris {seismo,ihnp4,allegra}!rlgvax!guy
seifert@ihuxl.UUCP (D.A. Seifert) (02/02/84)
> UNFORTUNATELY, typewriters are a bit different than this. *Which* typewriters are you referring to? Remember, all typewriters don't have the same keyboard either! Some have the digit '1', some leave it out and you have to make do with 'l' (lower case 'L'). Manuals (as in non-electric) don't have a 'return' key, they have a *lever* that performs the CR-LF function. Some have fraction characters, e.g. things like 1/2 and 1/4 are a single character. Some have a few keys that you can change to get special language/math symbols. (not to mention the kind with the replacable ball) And so on, and so on... -- _____ /_____\ from the flying doghouse of /_______\ Snoopy |___| ____|___|_____ ihnp4!ihuxl!seifert