rokicki@navajo.STANFORD.EDU (Tomas Rokicki) (08/03/86)
[ Holy Intuition, Batman! ] The keyboards on the new Amigas (at least, the seven or so I saw at the show in Sunnyvale) have the keyboard references (those little pimples on the keys used to place your hands) on the D and the K, rather than the F and the J. These are the first keyboards like this I have seen, and are rather bizarre to a touch-typist. Is this intentional or a major goof?
st94wb@sdcc12.UUCP (wade blomgren) (08/04/86)
In article <771@navajo.STANFORD.EDU>, rokicki@navajo.STANFORD.EDU (Tomas Rokicki) writes: > > keyboards on .. new Amiga... > ... have the keyboard references (those little pimples) > on the D and the K, rather than the F and the J. These are the first > keyboards like this I have seen.... I know Macintosh is a dirty word, but just for intellectual interest, the Mac Plust keyboard also has the pimples on the D & K. Hmm. Wade ...!sdcc12!st94wb or ...!net1!wade
mitch@amiga.UUCP (Mitchell R. Gass) (08/05/86)
>> keyboards on .. new Amiga... >> ... have the keyboard references (those little pimples) >> on the D and the K, rather than the F and the J. These are the first >> keyboards like this I have seen.... > >I know Macintosh is a dirty word, but just for intellectual interest, the >Mac Plust keyboard also has the pimples on the D & K. Hmm. > >Wade The D and K keys are under your longest fingers. These fingers usually touch the keyboard first, thus you get feedback about your hand position sooner with marks on the D and K. You have an extra instant to decide where you are before you type that first wrong letter. There is also a Jovian keyboard with dots on the Z and \ keys, but it isn't currently sold in the U.S. Mitchell Gass {decwrl,hplabs}!pyramid!amiga!mitch
dpz@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU (David P. Zimmerman) (08/06/86)
> > keyboards on .. new Amiga... > > ... have the keyboard references (those little pimples) > > on the D and the K, rather than the F and the J. These are the first > > keyboards like this I have seen.... > > I know Macintosh is a dirty word, but just for intellectual interest, the > Mac Plust keyboard also has the pimples on the D & K. Hmm. > Also on the Apple // series, although big deal, right? David -- David P. Zimmerman "Unix RULES!!!" - anonymous Arpa: dpz@topaz.rutgers.edu Uucp: ...{allegra | harvard | seismo | sri-iu | ut-sally}!topaz!dpz
maj1@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP (Major Robinson jr.) (08/09/86)
This may be a second posting for some. Sorry. In article <1467@amiga.amiga.UUCP> mitch@horse.UUCP (Mitchell R. Gass) writes: >>> keyboards on .. new Amiga... >>> ... have the keyboard references (those little pimples) >>> on the D and the K, rather than the F and the J. These are the first >>> keyboards like this I have seen.... >> >>I know Macintosh is a dirty word, but just for intellectual interest, the >>Mac Plust keyboard also has the pimples on the D & K. Hmm. >> >>Wade > >The D and K keys are under your longest fingers. These fingers >usually touch the keyboard first, thus you get feedback >about your hand position sooner with marks on the D and K. >You have an extra instant to decide where you are before you >type that first wrong letter. > >There is also a Jovian keyboard with dots on the Z and \ keys, >but it isn't currently sold in the U.S. > >Mitchell Gass >{decwrl,hplabs}!pyramid!amiga!mitch It doesn't matter that the D and K are under your longest fingers because those fingers are not the ones that you're trained to use as reference. In typing class they teach you to home your fingers by starting at either end of your hands. I.e., with either the A and ' keys (working inward), or the F and J keys (working outward). Thus it is quite natural to use the pimples on the F and J keys; especially given that it's a natural instinct to point with the index fingers. The pimples are at a beginning, not in the middle somewhere. And honestly, it doesn't speed up the time used to home the fingers because it's still disorienting and hard to get used to when it's the only keyboard (of all that I use) which have the pimples on the K and D keys.
hamilton@uiucuxc.CSO.UIUC.EDU (08/10/86)
re: new keyboard's pimples on D & K not F & J >It doesn't matter that the D and K are under your longest fingers >because those fingers are not the ones that you're trained to use as >reference. In typing class they teach you to home your fingers ... >honestly, it doesn't speed up the time used to home the fingers >because it's still disorienting and hard to get used to when it's the >only keyboard (of all that I use) which have the pimples on the K and >D keys. i'm not trying to make a big deal out of this (i'm not a touch typist, so the pimples don't matter to me), but the argument above sounds an awful lot like the standard "but we never did it that way before" applied to all innovations.
gary@mit-eddie.MIT.EDU (Gary Samad) (08/18/86)
In article <148600121@uiucuxc>, hamilton@uiucuxc.UUCP writes about >>this new amiga keyboard being the only one that he has ever used with >>the pimples on the D and K keys. > > i'm not trying to make a big deal out of this (i'm not a touch typist, > so the pimples don't matter to me), but the argument above sounds an > awful lot like the standard "but we never did it that way before" > applied to all innovations. Jeez, there are standards, though. How would you like it if someone decided to switch the 'q' and 'z' keys because he didn't like their positions... Or to put the number keys below the alpha keys instead of at the top of the keyboard...
vanam@pttesac.UUCP (Marnix van Ammers) (08/18/86)
In article <2957@mit-eddie.MIT.EDU> gary@mit-eddie.MIT.EDU (Gary Samad) writes: >In article <148600121@uiucuxc>, hamilton@uiucuxc.UUCP writes about >>>this new amiga keyboard being the only one that he has ever used with >>>the pimples on the D and K keys. ... >> awful lot like the standard "but we never did it that way before" >> applied to all innovations. >Jeez, there are standards, though. How would you like it if someone >decided to switch the 'q' and 'z' keys because he didn't like their >positions... Or to put the number keys below the alpha keys instead >of at the top of the keyboard... How about a standard keyboard interface so that I can have my own keyboard made however I like it and can plug it into any computer? I get sick of having a different key arrangement everywhere I go. Marnix