nick@cs.hw.ac.uk (Nick Taylor) (01/17/89)
What we really need (as usual!) is a standard. If the interface between a detachable keyboard and a terminal was standardised we could all have our own customised keyboards to suit our particular preferences. We could carry them around with us and just plug into a terminal which we wanted to use. This might even provide security benefits in places like schools and universities where access is difficult to control. I can't wait to get my hands on one of those keyboards which comes in two halves - one for each hand. They are supposed to reduce RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury) which, I recently heard, is rapidly gaining on back ache as a reason for days off work! This might be an exageration though - apparently RSI has started to affect journalists and so they are making a big hoo hah about it in the press and on the radio :-). Nick Taylor "I have seen the future - and it smirks" Who said this please? Department of Computer Science JANET : NICK@UK.AC.HW.CS Heriot-Watt University ARPANET : NICK@CS.HW.AC.UK 79 Grassmarket /\ / o __ /_ UUCP : ...!UKC!CS.HW.AC.UK!NICK Edinburgh EH1 2HJ / \ / / / /__) Tel : +44 31 225 6465 Ext. 532 United Kingdom / \/ (_ (___ / \ Fax : +44 31 449 5153
bzs@Encore.COM (Barry Shein) (01/19/89)
From: nick@cs.hw.ac.uk (Nick Taylor) >What we really need (as usual!) is a standard. If the interface between >a detachable keyboard and a terminal was standardised we could all have >our own customised keyboards to suit our particular preferences. At least two of the X-terminal vendors I've spoken to are using a PS/2 interface for their keyboards and one (I forgot to ask the other) has expressed a willingness to sell terminals without keyboards so you can go out and buy your own. Then again, it's not that easy to find some of these keyboard mentioned with PS/2 interfaces, but it does seem like a good start. Maybe there's a business opportunity there for someone just waiting to be jumped on? The X server is configurable for just about any keyboard with just some table changing and applications are supposed to go thru standard subroutines to get key mappings. -Barry Shein, ||Encore||
prc@maxim.ERBE.SE (Robert Claeson) (01/21/89)
In article <2124@brahma.cs.hw.ac.uk>, nick@cs.hw.ac.uk (Nick Taylor) writes: > What we really need (as usual!) is a standard. If the interface between > a detachable keyboard and a terminal was standardised we could all have > our own customised keyboards to suit our particular preferences. > We could carry them around with us and just plug into a terminal which > we wanted to use. I can't almost imagine what problems this would create with terminal definitions! If this is to become a reailty, there should really be a standard for keyboard layouts (including the number of function keys, their labels and their placement). I guess DEC's VT2xx/VT3xx keyboards comes pretty close, as does IBM's Enhanced keyboards (the ones with 12 F-keys on the top row). They are both quite widespread. -- Robert Claeson, ERBE DATA AB, P.O. Box 77, S-175 22 Jarfalla, Sweden "No problems." -- Alf Tel: +46 758-202 50 EUnet: rclaeson@ERBE.SE uucp: uunet!erbe.se!rclaeson Fax: +46 758-197 20 Internet: rclaeson@ERBE.SE BITNET: rclaeson@ERBE.SE