jr@inset.UUCP (Jim R Oldroyd) (11/13/85)
References: Xpath: stc stc-a >[To quote craig@dcl-cs.UUCP (Craig Wylie):] > >What we need is a re-configurable keyboard. Of usable size but with all >needed charaters displayed, as they appear on the screen, on the tops >of the keys. OK. Implant a matrix of LCD on top of each key and display the Have you tried using a keyboard where the keys are located in an unusual position? It is difficult enough to become acquainted with some of the non-standard layouts for so called `ASCII' terminals - and even more frustrating if one is faced with a French or Scandinavian etc keyboard. In the former, the keys ``qw'' are ``az'' and many others are relocated accordingly. In the latter, the ``<'' key is located where I am used to finding the ``z''. It takes WEEKS to get used to the new layout. However, as one is talking of using several alternative character sets, there is no immediate alternative. I do feel that this implies that a finite set of essentially compatible layouts must be presented to the individual user to avoid total confusion. The alternative is ``compose-character'' sequences - not suitable if the alternate set is to be used for a while. -- "The Software did it". -- ++ Jim R Oldroyd ++ jr@inset.co.uk (after Jan 1, 1986. `jr@inset.UUCP' before...) ++ ..!mcvax!ukc!inset!jr
craig@dcl-cs.UUCP (Craig Wylie) (11/16/85)
>>[To quote craig@dcl-cs.UUCP (Craig Wylie):] >>What we need is a re-configurable keyboard. Of usable size but with all >>needed charaters displayed, as they appear on the screen, on the tops >>of the keys. OK. Implant a matrix of LCD on top of each key and display the >>required character ...... >>... If a set contains more characters than available keys then one key changes >>between 'pages' of characters. FROM : Jim R Oldroyd >Have you tried using a keyboard where the keys are located in an unusual >position? It is difficult enough to become acquainted with some of >the non-standard layouts for so called `ASCII' terminals - and even >more frustrating if one is faced with a French or Scandinavian >etc keyboard. In the former, the keys ``qw'' are ``az'' and many >others are relocated accordingly. In the latter, the ``<'' key >is located where I am used to finding the ``z''. It takes WEEKS >to get used to the new layout. FROM: Russell Quin (req@warwick.UUCP) >I have enough problems coping with modes in editors (at lot of software seems >to have at least two modes where keys typed are interpreted differently), >without having to worry about what mode the *keyboard* is in as well! >This sort of information must be duplicated on the screen if it is to be >useful at all. In any event, I don't look at both screen and keyboard when >typing. Usually just the screen, in fact, unless the terminal is unfamiliar to >me (like this one). Another problem -- look at the buttons on your keyboard. >Are they clean? Not only do fingers conceal the keytops, but dirt wouldn't >help either, as well as the difficulty of getting an adequate connection to the >tiny display as it moves up & down. > > [goes on to suggest other issues for consideration] The point must be that the keyboard is completely reconfigurable, if you change country then you need not change keyboard, if you want e-grave to be where the 'e' is normally then you can have it put there or anywhere else you like. The problem with large character sets is not as great as might be thought. I remember reading about Chinese type setters having 'keyboards' with 5000 characters on them but only using a very limited subset of those characters. The paging of the character set could then be aranged so that the most commonly used characters are on page one and less commonly used characters on other pages. The other major points mentioned is that keys get dirty, you can't read the keys with you hands in the way, how would you connect the blocks of lcd ? Difficult certainly - dealing with the last point first : The blocks of lcd need not move. After talking with a physics graduate here it seems likely that if a prism were placed on top of the keyboard then the block could be fixed underneath this and the 'key' could move around the lcd display , this would remove the requirement for some sort of moving contact to the lcd, the prism could also offer some magnification. The other points : If you are aware of the layout of the keyboard (ie not looking at it) then you need not worry about your hands being in the way of the keys, you aren't looking anyway. The point about a re-configurable keyboard is that its main use is when the layout of the keyboard is unknown or likely to change. Personal hygene is a matter for the individual. Craig.
kupfer@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU (Mike Kupfer) (11/24/85)
If you have a good enough display, you can put an image of the keyboard layout on the screen. In Star, you press the Keyboard key, and a row of keyboard choices appears at the bottom of the screen, with a special indication of what the current keyboard is. You can either temporarily change the keyboard layout (i.e., it stays changed as long as you hold Keyboard down), or you can make the change permanent (until you next use Keyboard). You can also ask for a window to appear showing the current keyboard layout. In the new-and-improved Star (called "Viewpoint"), you can resize or move the window around so that it doesn't get in your way. Now, as somebody pointed out, if I want the "German" keyboard, I as an American want characters with umlauts and I want an esszett. But I don't want the Y and Z keys to be switched. And if you buy a Star in the U.S., that is indeed what you get. On the other hand (so I've been told), if you buy a Star in Germany, both the German and American keyboards have the Y and Z the way the Germans expect it (switched from American custom). How is this all done? By having very flexible low-level software and using lots and lots of conversion tables. -- Mike Kupfer Xerox ISD kupfer.pa@xerox.ARPA ...!ucbvax!kupfer (gets forwarded)