colonel@ellie.UUCP (Col. G. L. Sicherman) (05/14/86)
If there's a CAPS LOCK (or a SHIFT LOCK), there ought to be a signal light
too. I don't care how much it costs!
I'll waive the light if the key stays down till you hit it again.
"You saved my life, Captain Buffalo! Have a CIGAR!"
--
Col. G. L. Sicherman
UU: ...{rocksvax|decvax}!sunybcs!colonel
CS: colonel@buffalo-cs
BI: csdsicher@sunyabvalarry@kitty.UUCP (Larry Lippman) (05/14/86)
In article <1071@ellie.UUCP>, colonel@ellie.UUCP (Col. G. L. Sicherman) writes: > If there's a CAPS LOCK (or a SHIFT LOCK), there ought to be a signal light > too. I don't care how much it costs! > > I'll waive the light if the key stays down till you hit it again. Who looks at their keyboard? The ideal place for a CAPS LOCK and/or NUM LOCK (if you have one) indication is on the VIDEO TERMINAL STATUS LINE. That's where it is on all of our AT&T 4410, 4415 and 4425 video terminals, which suits me just fine. ==> Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp., Clarence, New York ==> UUCP {decvax|dual|rocksanne|rocksvax|watmath}!sunybcs!kitty!larry ==> VOICE 716/688-1231 {rice|shell}!baylor!/ ==> FAX 716/741-9635 {G1, G2, G3 modes} seismo!/ ==> "Have you hugged your cat today?" ihnp4!/
seifert@hammer.UUCP (Snoopy) (05/17/86)
In article <1028@kitty.UUCP> larry@kitty.UUCP (Larry Lippman) writes: >In article <1071@ellie.UUCP>, colonel@ellie.UUCP (Col. G. L. Sicherman) writes: >> If there's a CAPS LOCK (or a SHIFT LOCK), there ought to be a signal light >> too. I don't care how much it costs! >> >> I'll waive the light if the key stays down till you hit it again. > > Who looks at their keyboard? The ideal place for a CAPS LOCK and/or >NUM LOCK (if you have one) indication is on the VIDEO TERMINAL STATUS LINE. >That's where it is on all of our AT&T 4410, 4415 and 4425 video terminals, >which suits me just fine. The Ann Arbor XL series has a red LED in the caps-lock key. I think it is a good idea, and wish the 'print' key had one also. (and any other key that toggles something rather than just sending a char to the computer) Who looks at their keyboard? Well I do. I use different keyboards, thus I have to look at them to find where the <bleep> they put the square brackets or whatever. I don't want a bunch of extra crap displayed on the screen for caps-lock, etc. That uses up space on the screen I could be using for something else. In the case of caps-lock, the only time it gets used is when I need to type a bunch of caps and I'm typing with one hand because the other is busy. BTW, the Ann Arbor XL is pretty nice, especially the portrait mode one, except that the power supply hates glitches. Anyone looked into beefing up the power supply? Snoopy tektronix!tekecs!doghouse.TEK!snoopy
flaps@utcs.uucp (Alan J Rosenthal) (05/18/86)
In article <1071@ellie.UUCP> colonel@ellie.UUCP (Col. G. L. Sicherman) writes: >If there's a CAPS LOCK (or a SHIFT LOCK), there ought to be a signal light >too. I don't care how much it costs! Humorous anecdote: There is an apple(tm)-copy made by a local electronics store; they purchased a caps lock button with an indicator light on it, but they use the indicator light for something else. Very cheap of them and highly confusing! -- Alan J Rosenthal {linus|decvax}!utzoo!utcs!flaps, {ihnp4|allegra}!cbosgd!utcs!flaps "You can't expect me to do a decent reincarnation without orange smoke!"
tainter@ihlpg.UUCP (Tainter) (05/19/86)
>> If there's a CAPS LOCK (or a SHIFT LOCK), there ought to be a signal light >> too. I don't care how much it costs! >> >> I'll waive the light if the key stays down till you hit it again. > Who looks at their keyboard? The ideal place for a CAPS LOCK and/or > NUM LOCK (if you have one) indication is on the VIDEO TERMINAL STATUS LINE. > That's where it is on all of our AT&T 4410, 4415 and 4425 video terminals, > which suits me just fine. > ==> Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp., Clarence, New York I HATE STATUS LINES!! If I want that information then I am willing to look away from the display. Having constant display information glowing at me and burning the phosphor is just annoying. Keyboard indicators are great! As for not looking at your keyboard. You really never look at your keyboard? Do you actually have all the special keys memorized? Or never use them? If your using the GOOD TYPIST nonsense about never looking at your keyboard you still lose. A GOOD TYPIST looks at the original copy, not at the paper (yes, I know it isn't paper but this is an old borrowed typewriter argument)! Besides, If I do want a status line I want to put MY messages there, not a CAPS/INSRT/DPLX message! --j.a.tainter Personally, I dislike almost every AT&T terminal for one reason or another. Crummy character sets, AWFUL keyboards (layouts and feel), cheap looking construction.
henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) (05/19/86)
> Who looks at their keyboard? The ideal place for a CAPS LOCK and/or > NUM LOCK (if you have one) indication is on the VIDEO TERMINAL STATUS LINE. Actually, the *ideal* place for such an indicator is on the CURSOR, where the user's attention usually is. Most existing video chips are capable of giving you any one-character-wide rectangle as the cursor, so there would be no problem in (say) making a flashing underscore a bit fatter when a shift was in effect. As for putting it on the status line... I'd go for that as second-best, provided the indicator was for SHIFT LOCK, not SHIFT. Having a SHIFT sign going on and off in one corner of the screen is a really annoying distraction when you're typing at speed. -- Join STRAW: the Society To Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology Revile Ada Wholeheartedly {allegra,ihnp4,decvax,pyramid}!utzoo!henry