fiddler%concertina@Sun.COM (Steve Hix) (11/16/89)
In article <3503@mace.cc.purdue.edu>, asd@mace.cc.purdue.edu (Kareth) writes: > In article <8911081129.AA18420@fs4.nisc.sri.com> cwilson@NISC.SRI.COM (Chan Wilson) writes: > > >I'm looking for the keycaps for a dvorak layout. Presumably this is an > >item available from Apple, yes? No. Well, it was once...long time ago, though. > >(Don't believe me? Switch the Q and the ' around. Notice they don't > >fit in once switched.) Any key that moves up or down from its own Sholes row automatically doesn't fit. They have different face angles, depending on their row position. > 1) Are these still available for our keyboards? There were a few (<100) sets of Dvorak keycap sets made back when the Apple /// was still being supported. A new process (sublimation) was being used to print characters on keycaps, and one of the engineers had some Dvorak sets made up. I got three sets. They moved from my Apple ///s, to //e's, to Macs. Won't fit the ADB keyboards, though. > 2) How much? A fellow in Marketing around '84 set up a side business selling Dvorak keysets for Apple owners. A set cost something like $195 at the time. He didn't have much success, and I think they ended up dumping the leftover sets. > 3) What should we tell our dealers to order? ("Always know exactly what > you want when you go to one of these mental giants, it makes like > SOOOOOO much simpler."- My first law of dealing with dealers. :) While things may have changed, I haven't heard of any Dvorak keysets made by anyone for either the // or Mac world. What do I do now? I made up a small chart of the Dvorak layout and taped it at the bottom of my monitor. After a week or so, I didn't need to look at it any more. (And that was back when I first learned the layout.) The hardest part is switching back to Sholes if you have to use a keyboard not set up for Dvorak (like my Sun here in the office). ------------ "...I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing: and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress, while producing confusion, inefficiency and demoralization." - Petronius Arbiter
mackay@iisat.uucp (Daniel MacKay) (11/16/89)
In article <127925@sun.Eng.Sun.COM>, fiddler%concertina@Sun.COM (Steve Hix) writes: > The hardest part is switching back to Sholes if you have to use a > keyboard not set up for Dvorak (like my Sun here in the office). You've got that right, Steve! When I first bought my //c, I pushed the keyboard button, swapped all the keycaps around, and practiced. In a week I was up to about 70 WPM- 10 WPM faster than my best Sholes, and a full % better accuracy at 99%. But since I use so many different machines I had to switch back- and my Sholes speed never came back. It's still around 55WPM and 97%, which is pretty awful. Typing on the Dvorak vs. Sholes is as chess is to digging ditches. There's just wonderful, peaceful energy flowing, with no sweat, stretching, and pain. Did you know... that the world typing speed record was set on a //c with the Dvorak keyboard? Look it up. It was set by a lady who used to demonstrate the Dvorak mechanical typewriters in the '30s. -- +---------+ IIS Public Usenet | _ | From the Halifax, Nova Scotia | (_)===| disk of ... mackay@iisat.UUCP | | daniel ...{utai,uunet,watmath}!dalcs!iisat!mackay +---------+ MACKAY@DALAC.BITNET --
cwilson@NISC.SRI.COM (Chan Wilson) (11/16/89)
In article <127925@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> fiddler%concertina@Sun.COM (Steve Hix) writes: )In article <3503@mace.cc.purdue.edu>, asd@mace.cc.purdue.edu (Kareth) writes: )) In article <8911081129.AA18420@fs4.nisc.sri.com> cwilson@NISC.SRI.COM (Chan Wilson) writes: )) )) >I'm looking for the keycaps for a dvorak layout. Presumably this is an )) >item available from Apple, yes? ) )No. Well, it was once...long time ago, though. ) ) [Lots of interesting factoids that I didn't know before.] ) )While things may have changed, I haven't heard of any Dvorak keysets )made by anyone for either the // or Mac world. ) Ack. All I will say is "Interesting. What is the logic of having all those different keyboard layouts if you can only get *1* keycap layout?" )The hardest part is switching back to Sholes if you have to use a )keyboard not set up for Dvorak (like my Sun here in the office). Ooh, but you don't have to...just feed the term program the right setup. As soon as I find a spare moment, I'm going to write a dvorak setup for X windows & use that. Too bad the Sun4 keyboard wasn't ADB.... 1/2 :-) ................ Chan Wilson -- cwilson@nisc.sri.com <or> cwilson@nic.ddn.mil 'A computer operator at SRI International' (X windows hacker) "Nuts to all that X,Y,Z modem mess. I'm gonna build me a FTP emulator." ................-- --Chan Wilson `and now for something completely different.' Flamingo coloured penguins and banana coloured grapes. cwilson@nisc.sri.com or cwilson@nic.ddn.mil
UD041948@VM1.NODAK.EDU (Joe Carlin) (11/19/89)
Wasn't there a TV commercial a few years back for the Apple //c with some lady who was a real speed typist? She was talking about "130 words per minute" speeds and that her //c had no problem catching up with her. Was she using Dvorak? Joe
edward@pro-harvest.cts.COM (Edward Floden) (11/21/89)
In-Reply-To: message from UD041948@VM1.NODAK.EDU > Wasn't there a TV commercial a few years back for the Apple //c with some > lady who was a real speed typist? She was talking about "130 words per > minute" speeds and that her //c had no problem catching up with her. Was > she using Dvorak? I don't recall the commercial, but the woman (Barbara <something>) does use a Dvorak key arrangement (and coincidentally, so do I). The //c has an external switch to reconfigure the keyboard. I'm not sure if the //c keycaps are interchangeable, as I don't have one to experiment with, but I think that they might be -- I don't think that the //c keyboard is "sculptured", as the IIe and IIgs keyboards are. BTW, did you know that a Dvorak layout exists in the ROM of the IIe? The layout isn't entirely correct (three keys are mislocated), but it's there. I modified my IIe to access the layout; that's when I started using Dvorak instead of Qwerty (aka Sholes). :Edward UUCP: crash!pro-harvest!edward ProLine: edward@pro-harvest ARPA: crash!pro-harvest!edward@nosc.mil CIS: 73220.1624@compuserve.com INET: edward@pro-harvest.cts.com America Online: EdwardF4 BITNET: edward%pro-harvest.cts.com@nosc.mil GEnie: E.FLODEN
SEWALL@UCONNVM.BITNET (Murph Sewall) (11/22/89)
On Sat, 18 Nov 89 20:02:53 CST you said: >Wasn't there a TV commercial a few years back for the Apple //c with some >lady who was a real speed typist? She was talking about "130 words per >minute" speeds and that her //c had no problem catching up with her. Was >she using Dvorak? The TV commercial featured the aforementioned lady who holds the land speed record for fast typing. As I recall it's something over 200 words per minute (has someone got the Guinness Book handy?). Yes, she was using Dvorak (her alleged reason for the Apple //c being her personal computer of choice). /s Murph <Sewall%UConnVM.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.Edu> [Internet] or ...{psuvax1 or mcvax}!uconnvm.bitnet!sewall [UUCP] + Standard disclaimer applies ("The opinions expressed are my own" etc.)
fiddler%concertina@Sun.COM (Steve Hix) (11/23/89)
In article <5054.apple.net.info-apple@pro-harvest>, edward@pro-harvest.cts.COM (Edward Floden) writes: > In-Reply-To: message from UD041948@VM1.NODAK.EDU > > > Wasn't there a TV commercial a few years back for the Apple //c with some > > lady who was a real speed typist? She was talking about "130 words per > > minute" speeds and that her //c had no problem catching up with her. Was > > she using Dvorak? > > The //c has an external > switch to reconfigure the keyboard. I'm not sure if the //c keycaps are > interchangeable, as I don't have one to experiment with, but I think that they > might be -- I don't think that the //c keyboard is "sculptured", as the IIe They are. The //c keycaps are all the same shape. The only disadvantage to moving your keycaps around is that the "home" keys (D and K on a qwerty keyboard) have position bumps...puts them somewhere else. (Some time back, a magazine reviewer in an article on a new Apple// variant complained about the shoddy worksmanship of Apple keyboards. He went on to say that it took him a half hour to grind off the "flashing" he found on the D and K keys. Those of us at Apple at the time were literally struck dumb by the article.) > > BTW, did you know that a Dvorak layout exists in the ROM of the IIe? The > layout isn't entirely correct (three keys are mislocated), but it's there. I > modified my IIe to access the layout; that's when I started using Dvorak > instead of Qwerty (aka Sholes). *All* Apple computers (including Macs) have supported the Dvorak layout since the Apple///. One of the best-kept secrets of the age. Finding out exactly how to access the feature can be troublesome sometimes, though. ------------ "...Then anyone who leaves behind him a written manual, and likewise anyone who receives it, in the belief that such writing will be clear and certain, must be exceedingly simple-minded..." Plato, _Phaedrus_ 275d
gwyn@smoke.BRL.MIL (Doug Gwyn) (11/23/89)
In article <128302@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> fiddler%concertina@Sun.COM (Steve Hix) writes: >*All* Apple computers (including Macs) have supported the Dvorak layout >since the Apple///. One of the best-kept secrets of the age. This should give Apple a leg up on the competition in Oregon, since as I understand it state employees there are legally required to be given the option of using Dvorak (ASK) instead of QWERTY.