lum@osupyr.UUCP (01/29/87)
In <1249@ucbcad.berkeley.edu> edjames@ic.Berkeley.EDU (Ed James) writes: >In <275@netxcom.UUCP> ewiles@netxcom.UUCP (Edwin Wiles) writes: >>If you need a keyboard, then use the touch sensitive screen to create one. > >No user feedback! I hate membrane keyboards,.... [ The CPU, batteries, >ROM_stuff and keyboard could fold up against screen when being carried. >Keeping the folded package to around an inch or so thick is the trick. ] Right! Have you seen the HP-28C calculator? There is an ad inside the front cover of February's Scientific American. It has a clamshell case, with various keypads and displays inside both halves. While we're wishing for stuff we probably won't get, how about fitting all this into a notebook-size clamshell that unfolds both fully and partially, and can be locked open at various angles. The keys would still be cramped or small in a 8 1/2" x 11" format, though, so I'd prefer 9 2/3" x 12 1/2". We do have to lose the numeric keypad, or put it above the major keyboard (rotated maybe?). And while I'm at it, let's add a _real_ META (ie, 8th bit set) key and CTRL-lock and META-lock keys, for Emacs, which would be _much_ more useful than a silly SHIFT-lock key. Lum Johnson lum@ohio-state.arpa ..!cbosgd!osu-eddie{!osupyr}!lum
henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) (01/31/87)
> ... And while I'm at it, let's add a _real_ META (ie, 8th bit > set) key and CTRL-lock and META-lock keys, for Emacs... Let us not forget that the days of real 8-bit character sets are almost upon us. The ISO Latin set, now an ANSI standard as well, will solve a lot of problems, and software design which precludes its use (e.g. taking the 8th bit for something else) is extremely shortsighted. -- Legalize Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology freedom! {allegra,ihnp4,decvax,pyramid}!utzoo!henry
michael@crlt.UUCP (02/22/87)
In article <197@osupyr.UUCP>, lum@osupyr.UUCP (Lum Johnson) writes: > > While we're wishing for stuff we probably won't get, how about fitting all > this into a notebook-size clamshell that unfolds both fully and partially, > and can be locked open at various angles. The keys would still be cramped > or small in a 8 1/2" x 11" format, though, so I'd prefer 9 2/3" x 12 1/2". My keyboard is 11" by about 4" (or slightly higher if you include the row of programmable-function keys that never get used when it's just being a terminal). Thus, if you sat the "notebook" crosswise it would fit in the lower half of one 8 1/2" by 11" clamshell segment. (This keyboard, by the way, has standard key spacing. The 11" width doesn't include the clutch of cursor keys and the numeric keypad - but there's room past each end of the spacebar for about three more keys.) > We do have to lose the numeric keypad, or put it above the major keyboard > (rotated maybe?). And while I'm at it, let's add a _real_ META (ie, 8th bit > set) key and CTRL-lock and META-lock keys, for Emacs, which would be _much_ > more useful than a silly SHIFT-lock key. You can map a numeric keypad onto the standard keys by using a "keypad shift" key in that out-of-the-way space to the left of the space bar. (Pity you'd have to relearn so much if you also eliminated the top row of keys in favor of such a shift system.) When you're doing keypad entry, moving your left hand off the home position to operate the shift would be less of a hassle than moving your right to a keypad, though it is a weaker mnemonic and might promote typing errors. =========================================================================== "I've got code in my node." | UUCP: ...!ihnp4!itivax!node!michael | AUDIO: (313) 973-8787 Michael McClary | SNAIL: 2091 Chalmers, Ann Arbor MI 48104 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Above opinions are the official position of McClary Associates. Customers may have opinions of their own, which are given all the attention paid for. ===========================================================================
phil@osiris.UUCP (02/25/87)
In article <654@crlt.UUCP>, michael@crlt.UUCP (Michael McClary) writes: > My keyboard is 11" by about 4".... (This keyboard, by the way, has > standard key spacing.... Interesting.. my keyboard (TAB E32 ASCII terminal if you care) measures over 12" wide for just the QWERTY/ASCII section. 4" high sounds right, though. > You can map a numeric keypad onto the standard keys by using a "keypad shift" > key in that out-of-the-way space to the left of the space bar. I like this idea, even if it isn't original (look at an IBM keypunch if you can find one, they did just this). A comment on numeric keypads: BAG THE SEPARATE NUMERIC KEYPAD/CURSOR KEYS. Being first a typist and second a programmer, I HATE having to use a separate numeric keypad or cursor keys for ANYTYHING. In some of our user frontends, where the up- and down-arrow cursor keys are used to scroll through large datasets displayed through screen "windows", I invariably use the synonym ^J and ^K instead of the arrow keys. Drives everyone else here crazy. Putting the "keypad" onto the "uiojklm,." keys (or alternately "wersdfxcv" for those of us in our right minds :-) is a REAL GOOD idea. However, get it right, have the digits increasing as you go up - none of this AT&T "one on the top and zero on the bottom" silliness (which I believe was the case with the 026/029 keypunches). ...!decvax!decuac - Phil Kos \ The Johns Hopkins Hospital ...!seismo!mimsy - -> !aplcen!osiris!phil Baltimore, MD / ...!allegra!mimsy - "And you'll be my duchess, my duchess of prunes!" - F. Zappa