Date: Mon, 15 Jul 1996 12:06:50 +0200 (MET DST) From: grog@lemis.de (Greg Lehey) To: hoek@freenet.hamilton.on.ca (Tim Vanderhoek) Cc: chat@FreeBSD.ORG (FreeBSD Chat) Subject: Re: FreeBSD keyboard Message-ID: <199607151006.MAA04523@allegro.lemis.de> In-Reply-To: <Pine.SOL.3.91.960714000346.1694A-100000@james.freenet.hamilton.on.ca> from "Tim Vanderhoek" at Jul 14, 96 00:16:33 am
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Tim Vanderhoek writes: > > On Sat, 13 Jul 1996, J Wunsch wrote: > >> As Greg Lehey wrote: >>> touch-typist. That's why I'm still holding on to my dying Northgate >>> keyboards, which have the F keys on the left, where I can access them >>> without looking. Why did they ever move them away to where you can't >>> find them? >> >> 'cause fewer and fewer people know how to use a keyboard. > > What!? Those F keys are much easier to hit when their up at the top of > the keyboard! I wasn't talking about how to hit them, I was talking about how to get to them when touch-typing. I suppose I should make it clear at the outset that there's no way to access F keys as easily as the base keys, no matter where you put them. But I maintain that it's easier to do so if they're on the left than if they're above. > Now, you want to talk about misplaced keys, look at the <backspace>, or > better yet, <scroll-lock>, `~', ``', and <pause> --- they're too far away. What do you use ScrollLock and Pause for? And yes, one of the big disadvantages of my Northdgate keyboard is that it has the \ and ~ keys in ridiculous positions. But nothing's perfect (or even comes close). > The F keys, however are greatly placed! Just curl the thumb to hit the > <alt> and extend a finger and you're gone! I tried this with Alt-F1. The easiest way to do it is with the thumb on Alt and the forefinger on the F1. In this position, the other fingers are over the top half of the left-hand pad, which suggests it should be easier to reach than the top. > By tilting one's left hand to > the left, you can even hit <ctrl> at the same time! Yup, I can even manage that, but it requires the forefinger on CTRL and the middle finger on F1. > I love it! It hurts. > OTOH, I suppose if your fingers are less than 10cm each (that's 4 inches > for all the Americans here :) it could be a little harder... ;) This must be the problem. I never thought I had short fingers, but my forefinger is 7.8 cm (3 1/16") long, my middle finger is 8.7 cm (3 1/2"), and my ring finger is 8 cm (3 1/4"), if that's relevant to this discussion. > To be fair, I suppose the last time I did try the `F' keys on the left I > was about 10 (years).... However, trying to hit virtual F keys on the > left must be a pretty good approximation... :) What did you use them for? As I mentioned a while back, I use emacs a lot. A lot of the more complicated functions have key combinations like c-m-F1 (the example I was talking about). That's a lot easier to hit when F1 is on the left, though of course it's not as easy as c-m-S or some such. > Ahh.... The days when the mouse sold with your computer still had three > buttons... You mean you let them palm you off with less? Your own fault. Of course, mice are a whole different kettle of fish. Greg
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