Article View: comp.sys.mac
Article #5051Re: MacPortable has non-ISO keyboard layout
From: Wayne Folta
Date: Fri, 22 Sep 1989 15:11
Date: Fri, 22 Sep 1989 15:11
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2718 bytes
" ... both of them in fact. The current arrow-key layout of non-extended
" keyboards with horizontal placement for the left and right-direction
" keys, vertical for the up/ down-movement ones has been replaced by a
" single line of four arrow keys in a row, below the (now larger)
" rightmost shift key.
...
"
" The <ctrl> key seems also to have been moved from the present (on my
" Swedish SE keyboard) position in the lower left corner up to a level
" above the shift key, switching positions with the caps-lock key.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
" Though the latter's relative importance (based on frequency of usage)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
" in no way matches its normal, prime position nor the physical size -
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
" usually larger than the shift key - its replacement is another
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
" needlessly reintroduced step backwards as far as I am concerned.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
" Besides that, the <ctrl> key's ISO-defined, usual placement at the
" very physically-felt boundary of the keyboard rectangle makes it more
" easily accessible than from the new position above the left shift key.
"
I was wondering where IBM got the weird keyboard layout for their PS/2s!
I guess that they are ISO-compliant.
If you admit that the Caps Lock key is way oversized and much too prominent,
while the Control Key is much more used, then why is a sane Control Key
placement/size a step backwards?
I believe that all of the keyboards that I have used in the last five
years have the Control above the shift. Placing the Control so far from
the home keys is a real pain for me. Especially since I don't tend to
touch type editor control sequences.
Anyhow, the keyboard layout you describe sounds exactly like the one I have
on my SE. It is evidently the US version of Apple's Standard Keyboard.
Wayne Folta (folta@tove.umd.edu 128.8.128.42)
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Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!utzoo!attcan!uunet!wuarchive!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!tank!mimsy!tove.umd.edu!folta From: folta@tove.umd.edu (Wayne Folta) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac Subject: Re: MacPortable has non-ISO keyboard layout Summary: ISO sounds terrible! Keywords: ADB keyboard ISO standard option doubble command keys Message-ID: <19748@mimsy.UUCP> Date: 22 Sep 89 15:11:42 GMT References: <1738@draken.nada.kth.se> Sender: nobody@mimsy.UUCP Reply-To: folta@tove.umd.edu.UUCP (Wayne Folta) Organization: U of Maryland, Dept. of Computer Science, GS Lines: 40