edwards@uiucuxc.UUCP (02/28/84)
#R:decwrl:-576300:uiucuxc:34500001:000:432
uiucuxc!edwards Feb 27 08:38:00 1984
I like the IBM Selectric keyboard too. What would be really
nice is to be able to mix keyboards and displays. If those modular
plugs that are finding their way into the keyboard industry were made
standard then you could buy the keyboard and the display you like
best.
Alan Edwards
US Army Corps of Engineers
Construction Engineering Research Lab (CERL)
UUCP {...,ihnp4,pur-ee}!uiucdcs!uiucuxc!edwardspreece@uicsl.UUCP (02/28/84)
#R:decwrl:-576300:uicsl:7000056:000:1024 uicsl!preece Feb 27 08:29:00 1984 Complaints about the placement of special keys on keyboards always strike me as pretty silly. You learn to use whatever arrangement you have. If there WERE a standard, that would make life a lot easier, just as a standard operating system would make life easier, but in the current environment it's silly to protest that keyboard A isn't like keyboard B because keyboard B has no better claim to righteousness than A. I'm glad you like the placement of keys on your Selectric, but I'm afraid mine doesn't have an ESC, an LF, or a BREAK. I confess that I never use BS, DEL, or LF, anyway, so putting them up with the function keys wouldn't bother me. I do use ESC, but my Ann Arbor already puts it up with the numbers, so an inch further up wouldn't bother me much. Putting the CTRL key that far away would be stupid, since you need to hit another key at the same time, but for a single key, already on the periphery of the typing area, you can learn to reach a little further. scott preece ihnp4!uiucdcs!uicsl!preece
edwards@uiucuxc.UUCP (02/28/84)
#R:decwrl:-576300:uiucuxc:34500002:000:263
uiucuxc!edwards Feb 27 19:12:00 1984
I didn't say I liked the placement of the keys. What I
like is the touch of the keys! They're responsive!
Alan Edwards
US Army Corps of Engineers
Construction Engineering Research Lab (CERL)
UUCP {...,ihnp4,pur-ee}!uiucdcs!uiucuxc!edwardspournell@sdcsvax.UUCP (02/29/84)
I don't agree with the "my Selectric doesn't have special keys, or even all of ASCII, so I know I'll have to get used to something else" sentiment (expressed or implied). IBM, notice, decided that this was true and put extra keys in odd and unique places. So did DEC. I agree that there must be extra keys (or you end up like Epson's VALDOCS keyboard, with the rest of ASCII hidden with the "graphics shift" key). I don't agree that this means that they must be scrambled all over the keyboard. Except for you who like pressing ^-H and ^-SHIFT-_ for BS and DEL, most of us would like the erase keys in the standard places (erase = BS or etc.). I woulnd't use <escape> much myself, but this miserable editor they gave me (vi; no emacs yet) requires it. Putting backspace up whre the left hand has to get it is certainly no fun for bad typists like me.
mar@Mit-Borax.ARPA (03/29/84)
From: Mark A. Rosenstein <mar@Mit-Borax.ARPA> It may be that no one keyboard can claim to be "correct", but for people who regularly use several different keyboards, it is very desirable for them to have similar layouts. I regularly use 4 different keyboards: VT100, VT52, H19, and an alto. They all have the control keys in the same places, only brackets, and braces differ. I also occasionally use a Selectric, which has the same arrangement. While I don't mind some of the more obscure punctuation changing, moving something as fundamental as shift and return makes a keyboard useless to a touch typist who uses several other keyboards that are all the similar. I also don't understand how one can get by not using backspace or delete. They are also common enough that they shouldn't change. As long as possible, I plan to boycott keyboards that don't follow the "selectric" format. -Mark