paulm@nikhefk.UUCP (Paul Molenaar) (11/10/88)
I'm considering buying a Datadesk 101 (ADB) keyboard for my Mac. Despite the
fact that the 'Cutting Edge' keyboard has a better layout in my point
of view.
Does anyone know whether the Datadesk is fully compatible with
the Apple Extended Keyboard? Or does it need special drivers? (I'm
not very fond of stuff that needs special drivers - too much chance
of failure when new system versions are released).
Any information is welcome!
--
Paul Molenaar
"Just checking the walls"
- Basil Fawlty -glen@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Glen Rosendale) (11/12/88)
>From Paul Molinar: >I'm considering buying a Datadesk 101 (ADB) keyboard for my Mac. Despite the >fact that the 'Cutting Edge' keyboard has a better layout in my point >of view. > >Does anyone know whether the Datadesk is fully compatible with >the Apple Extended Keyboard? Or does it need special drivers? (I'm >not very fond of stuff that needs special drivers - too much chance >of failure when new system versions are released). > >Any information is welcome! >-- > Paul Molenaar I purchased the Datadesk 101 keyboard a few weeks ago, and so far I'm pretty pleased with it. It works (almost) identically to the Extended Keyboard, albeit with a nicer feel. It requires no special drivers; just plug & go. It comes with a keyboard macro program that's not bad, but Quickeys works much better. The only differences: 1) Only one control key, on the right of the keys. This is a little awkward; I'm used to it on the left. 2) There's a pushbutton switch slapped into the back of the keyboard to emulate the power-on key for the Mac II. It works fine, but looks just a little kludgy. 3) The numeric keypad is slightly different from the "calculator da" layout--there's no "=" on it. No big deal for me though. 4) The keys labeled "help" and "del" on the center section of the extended keyboard are labeled "cut" and "paste" on the 101. But their function is determined by macros so they work identically to apple's. The only software problem I've had is with falcon, which hangs like a horse thief if I try to run it. However, I switched to Sys 6.0.2 at the same time as getting the keyboard, so I'm not sure which of the two is the cuprit (and I haven't had time to investigate.) Summary: I like the keyboard a lot, and it poses no compatibility problems that I can see. Their macro software is adequate (it's a cdev now, older versions had a DA) and you can configure it to do just about whatever you want. With Quickeys I've mapped it to work just like a VT220 keyboard for VersaTerm with no problems. ============================================================================= disclaimer: Since I have no employer at the moment, all opinions (such as they are) are necessarily my own. UC Berkeley certainly doesn't care. Glen Rosendale (glen@cory.Berkeley.edu) ============================================================================= ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ||/\/\/\/\/\/\/\|| Glen Rosendale (glen@cory.berkeley.edu) ||/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\|| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
glen@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Glen Rosendale) (11/12/88)
>From Paul Molinar: >I'm considering buying a Datadesk 101 (ADB) keyboard for my Mac. Despite the >fact that the 'Cutting Edge' keyboard has a better layout in my point >of view. > >Does anyone know whether the Datadesk is fully compatible with >the Apple Extended Keyboard? Or does it need special drivers? (I'm >not very fond of stuff that needs special drivers - too much chance >of failure when new system versions are released). > >Any information is welcome! >-- > Paul Molenaar I purchased the Datadesk 101 keyboard a few weeks ago, and so far I'm pretty pleased with it. It works (almost) identically to the Extended Keyboard, albeit with a nicer feel. It requires no special drivers; just plug & go. It comes with a keyboard macro program that's not bad, but Quickeys works much better. The only differences: 1) Only one control key, on the right of the keys. This is a little awkward; I'm used to it on the left. 2) There's a pushbutton switch slapped into the back of the keyboard to emulate the power-on key for the Mac II. It works fine, but looks just a little kludgy. 3) The numeric keypad is slightly different from the "calculator da" layout--there's no "=" on it. No big deal for me though. 4) The keys labeled "help" and "del" on the center section of the extended keyboard are labeled "cut" and "paste" on the 101. But their function is determined by macros so they work identically to apple's. The only software problem I've had is with falcon, which hangs like a horse thief if I try to run it. However, I switched to Sys 6.0.2 at the same time as getting the keyboard, so I'm not sure which of the two is the cuprit (and I haven't had time to investigate.) Summary: I like the keyboard a lot, and it poses no compatibility problems that I can see. Their macro software is adequate (it's a cdev now, older versions had a DA) and you can configure it to do just about whatever you want. With Quickeys I've mapped it to work just like a VT220 keyboard for VersaTerm with no problems. disclaimer: Since I have no employer at the moment, all opinions (such as they are) are necessarily my own. UC Berkeley certainly doesn't care. Glen Rosendale (glen@cory.Berkeley.edu) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ||/\/\/\/\/\/\/\|| Glen Rosendale (glen@cory.berkeley.edu) ||/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\|| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
kehr@felix.UUCP (Shirley Kehr) (11/14/88)
In article <454@nikhefk.UUCP> paulm@nikhefk.UUCP (Paul Molenaar) writes: >I'm considering buying a Datadesk 101 (ADB) keyboard for my Mac. Despite the >fact that the 'Cutting Edge' keyboard has a better layout in my point >of view. > >Does anyone know whether the Datadesk is fully compatible with >the Apple Extended Keyboard? Or does it need special drivers? (I'm >not very fond of stuff that needs special drivers - too much chance >of failure when new system versions are released). > >Any information is welcome! >-- > Paul Molenaar I use the Datadesk keyboard on my 512e at home. I had no problems moving to Systems 5 and 6 (that I can attribute to the keyboard). I would suggest that you use QuicKeys to program it rather than the datadesk software. I did have some interactions with other DAs. (I bought the ADB versions for a couple of SE's at work and had the same problems. As I recall, I could not use datadesk software with the Lookup spelling checker. After I installed System 5 at work, using the hot key to turn on the special programming of the keyboard bombed the system. All problems went away after I threw away their software and just used QuicKeys. I still have occasional keyboard problems where it appears that the system thinks I'm holding down the command key. It's not a sticking key, because this happens without ever having touched the command key. I would not buy another Datadesk keyboard because it does not have a control key. The esc key is hard coded and is the only key you cannot program. If it has the code you want (I don't know what it is, but I believe it was intended to be compatible with the DOS escape key), then you'll do fine. Even though I like the feel of the Datadesk keyboard better than the Apple extended K/B, I'll stick with Apple's if I get an ADB machine. It's too hard to change keyboards between day and night. Shirley Kehr
iradx7@pawl.rpi.edu (Ira Lee) (08/09/89)
hmmm. i am wondering why the datadesk 101 keyboard is so popular. Is it me? or is the keyboard missing some important keys! like, the Alt key and the power on key in the upper right hand corner... where did these keys go? are there substitutes? iradx7 . See you. iradx7@pawl.rpi.edu