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- Path: sparky!uunet!zephyr.ens.tek.com!uw-beaver!cornell!batcomputer!rpi!psinntp!psinntp!cubetech.com!imladris!andrew
- From: andrew@cubetech.com (Andrew Loewenstern)
- Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.misc
- Subject: Re: Dvorak keymapping for NeXT (type at twice the speed!)
- Message-ID: <1992Jul23.152903.4589@cubetech.com>
- Date: 23 Jul 92 15:29:03 GMT
- References: <1992Jul20.084352.16733@research.canon.oz.au> <1992Jul20.215409.20745@metropolis.com>
- Organization: Cube Technologies, Inc.
- Lines: 46
-
- In article <1992Jul20.215409.20745@metropolis.com> robert@metropolis.com (Robert Munyer) writes:
- >
- >In article <1992Jul20.084352.16733@research.canon.oz.au>
- >greyham@research.canon.oz.au (Graham Stoney) writes:
- >
- >> Howdy,
- >
- >> You may or may not be aware that the common QWERTY keyboard to which most of
- >> us are accustomed is a direct descendant of the keyboard used originally on
- >> an early typesetting machine long before computers were invented. [...] By
- >> some curious and unfortunate quirk of fate, this is the same QWERTY keyboard
- >> most of the world uses today.
- >
- >Actually, what I heard was that when Dr. Dvorak presented his optimized
- >keyboard layout to the typewriter manufacturers, they thought, "Hmmm..... Type
- >twice as fast? That means..... half as many typists. That means..... half as
- >many typewriters. That means..... half as many sales. NO THANKS."
- >
- >> A much better alternative is the Dvorak keyboard. This keyboard is considered
- >> to be at least twice as easy to learn, and almost twice the speed of QWERTY.
- >
- >Not to mention twice as comfortable, and half as tiring.
- >
- >> [...] Then grab a pair of long-nosed pliers and start reefing off the
- >> keytops! [...] Your machine will now use a Dvorak keyboard for anyone that
- >> logs in on it (provided they haven't set their own personal Keymap), and any
- >> other machine you log in on will remain QWERTY. Now start learning to type
- >> again!.
- >
- >Another alternative that works very well is just to leave the key tops alone.
- >As you mentioned, the Dvorak keyboard is easy to learn. And leaving the key
- >key tops in the old 19th-century arrangement can help you learn Dvorak-style
- >touch-typing even faster, because it keeps you from being tempted to "cheat"
- >by looking down at the keyboard and your fingers. I've heard that some typing
- >schools have typewriters with BLANK keys, to prevent this sort of "cheating".
-
- Well, I have my machine setup for dvorak layout now and I like it...
- after a couple of days, I'm already picking up speed, but I can type 4
- times as fast on QWERTY still... It's cool though and something I've
- wanted to do for a long time.
-
- andrew
- --
- andrew@cubetech.com
- Andrew Loewenstern | "If I am not for myself, who will be for me?
- Cube Technologies, Inc. | If I am only for myself, who am I?" -Hillel
-