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Keyboard Layouts for the 21st Century?
jules asks: "Trying to do some programming on an iBook the other day brought to my attention the fact that despite the constant improvements to the design of computer hardware and software, the keyboards we use are still a throwback to the early 1980s. I mean - my Mac doesn't have room for page up/down or home/end keys, but it devotes a whole key to a sort of double-S shape that I will never press. And my PC keyboards all waste plastic on a backwards-apostrophe key and a scroll-lock (+ LED!), while functions that you use all the time, such as switching between windows, cut/copy/paste, back/forwards, undo/redo etc, all have to double-up with other keys.. Have any organizations actually tried to re-invent the keyboard recently? (..not counting the manufacturers who stick a few 'multimedia' keys along the top for consumer PCs). Would this be doomed to failure because of the tens of thousands of legacy apps that expect things to be the way they are? What sort of keys would you include in your fantasy keyboard layout?" It's not just the keys on your keyboard that are important, it's also how you arrange them. What kind of keyboard arrangements might we see in the future?
Must not be a *nix user if he has no use for the tilde key!
In Soviet Rush, today's Tom Sawyer gets high on you.
Realize that the PC revolution was fueled by worprocessing and spreadsheet software, which both lend themselves to keyboard/keypad input devices. At some point -- aren't we living in the future yet? -- the input devices must make an evolutionary leap. If you look in the video editing and medical imaging field, the input devices reflect the nature of how the work is done (dials, sliders, toggle buttons). A fictional example of one possibility is the type of 3d input device used in Minority Report. We still are mostly creatures of the keyboard (damn blogs!), but at some point, the next killer app may bring about the emergence of a better input device. Oh yeah, and voice recognition might not suck so much someday ;-)
-duck
IIRC, the SysRq key was introduced with the 286 protected mode. It was thought that this key would provide access to operating system functions in that mode while a regular app is running.
It never served any real purpose.
"Light is faster than sound." - "Is that why people tend to look bright until you hear them speak?"
You can do useful things like sync your disk before you have to power cycle the machine. Or, kill all processes on the current VT.
--
Steve VanDeBogart
Salesman: Look, the new Cyrius Cybernetics keyboards can talk! Describe whatever layout you want, and the AI in the keyboard will implement it. His name is Marvin.
Customer: Hello, Marvin. What are all those blinking lights for?
Marvin: They hurt.
Salesman: Shut up, Marvin. They're primarily decorative, but Marvin can assign them to whatever LOCK keys you specify.
Marvin: I've had this terrible pain in all the diodes down my left side. I mean, I've asked to have them replaced, but nobody listens.
Customer: It seems unhappy.
Salesman: Well, Marvin would feel much better if someone took him home, if you take my drift.
Marvin: No I wouldn't.
Customer: Are you sure it will work with my Compaq 8000, at home?
Salesman: Definitely.
Marvin: They plugged me into a compaq once.
Customer: And what happened?
Marvin: It committed suicide.
Customer: Why are you so unhappy?
Marvin: I've got a brain the size of a planet, and look at what they've got me doing.
Customer: Do any of the peripherals here have better personalities?
Salesman: Oh, no...
Speaker: I wanted to let you know what a joy and a privelege it's been to make error sounds for your computer enjoyment! It's been really wonderful! Would you guys like to hear some public domain music? I used to be an elevator!
The good and new comes from no quarter where it is looked for, and is always something different from what is expected.
Also imagine the pure joy of virus writers when they realize just what they can do with the victim's keyboard.
Well, if Apple had their way, the keyboard would only have one key. ;)
"For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert"
why is that computer keyboards have the 1-3 row on the number pad at the bottom
Computers have 123 on the bottom because adding machines and calculators have 123 on the bottom.
while telephones have it at the top?
Telephones have it 123 on the top because rotary-dial telephones had 123 at the top of the dial.
Will I retire or break 10K?
This first post brought to you buy
??
I think i will keep my qwerty keyboard!