Is Caps Lock Dead?

An anonymous reader asks "Recently I have noticed that I haven't used caps lock other for any purpose other than hitting it by accident. Once upon a time, COBOL was written in all caps, and other languages like BASIC and Fortran were not case sensitive. Capitals were the way to go for writing code. Does the caps lock key serve any purpose any more, and if not, should it be removed, moved, or replaced?"

Comments

No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[ClarkEvans]

especially useful in VIM.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[Anonymous Coward]

I find a drop of superglue under the key ensures its continued usefulness.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[Anonymous Coward]

ctrl x is fine too

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[dragonman97]

I did the same thing after I got fed up with the key, and found a nice utility to remap it on my Windows machine at work - life's so much easier that way.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[Cainam]

Why not just use the Esc key as your "ESC" key?

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[LS]

I understand your pain when it comes to moving your hands away from the home row. But there's another way to escape that doesn't involve remapping the caps-lock: it's ctrl-[

LS

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[Anonymous Coward]

Despite your low slashdot ID, you clearly didn't cut your teeth on a Sun mainframe. :)

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[mirko]

Or in Quake : I use it mapped to the "Always Run" function.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[phrasebook]

So, again, why not just use your Esc key as your Esc key?

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[Anonymous Coward]

For a touch typist esc is a farther reach than caps lock. Another poster noted that one can use CTRL+[ as well, but that's still less easy than caps lock. But something to remember when working on someone else's machine.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[Z4rd0Z]

I remap caps lock to ctrl, and use 'ctrl-[' instead of escape. I thought abouting remapping caps lock to esc, but realized I need ctrl a lot too. I get the best of both worlds this way.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[andy landy]

<pedant> That's not entirely correct. Old UNIX keyboards had Caps lock and left-ctrl the other way round. I still have a PC keyboard with this layout. </pedant>

That being said, the only use that I can think of for caps lock is to keep us sysadmins busy answering "Why doesn't my password work" queries!

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[EvilMidnightBomber]

The problem with making ANY remapping changes to your keyboard is that in a programming environment where you frequently have to hop on other people's comps to "drive", you instantly take on the role of "goober who can't type" rather than "superhero debugger". It's bad enough there isn't universal standardization of the all-important backslash key, which 2/3 of the time is a std-sized key below enter and 1/3 of the time a 2x length above it.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[efti]

The Windows key is a better candidate for this as it's not used for anything on a Linux system anyway.

Adding the following to your ~/.bashrc or similar will turn your left Windows key into another escape key:

xmodmap -e 'keysym Super_L = Escape'

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[Weirdofreak]

On my keyboard (UK) it's to the left of Z.

When I first got Linux up and running, it was using an American layout. To use backslash I had to press hash, and God knows where the hash key was mapped to, because the backslash key didn't do anything. I found myself copy and pasting from the Perl scripts I'd transported over from my parents' Windows box. Thankfully though, I only needed it in said Perl scripts. " was @ and @ was ".

Now, not only have I figured out how to change the layout, I've also managed to figure out how to stop num lock from being on when I log in. I've got nothing against the key, it's the LED that I hate.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[Per Wigren]

The Windows key is a better candidate for this as it's not used for anything on a Linux system anyway.

Except for opening the "Start"/"K"/"Foot"/"Whatever"-menu just like in Windows.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[davids-world.com]

You might want to join the Anticapslock community :-)

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[efti]

Ah yes, indeed you're right. But I normally use WindowMaker and thus I haven't noticed this. And therefore the windows key still has no use for me.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[maxwell demon]

But if you use the Caps Lock key as Ctrl, you've freed your Ctrl key for something else, like Esc.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[Lennie]

I also find it annoying to have the numlock on, it's 'the light in the corner of the eye', that bugs me as well.

Very strange that something can annoy me that way.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[woah]

Yeah, but I've got about 20 other LEDs, so one LED isn't gonna make a difference. Besides I use the number pad from time to time.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[kristaps.kaupe]

At least my KDE 3.1 does not handle Win key. (well, I believe it's possible, but by default Win key isn't working).

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[woah]

A useful thing to do is to map the Esc key to , but _also_ to map Caps Lock to . This way when I'm on a windows machine at work, I could hit and still get Caps Lock.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[woah]

Shouldn't that be ctrl+c?

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[keramida]

I usually leave it mapped to Ctrl too. Now that you mentioned it I might try mapping it to Hyper, Meta or some other modifier handy in Emacs :-)

--

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[plaa]

I guess a rather large number of Linux users have mapped their Caps Lock to some other function, the most common probably being Control or Esc.

I've mapped it to Enter instead, for a purely ergonomic reason: On the Finnish keyboard, the keys have been rearranged to allow for the letters ä, ö and å, and there are two keys between my right little finger and the enter key (from my right hand: j, k, l, ö, ä, ', Enter). When I started using IRC more, my right little finger started getting really sore from hitting enter. I added the Caps Lock enter, and the hurting stopped immediately. Now I'm not even sure which one I use more - it just comes naturally.

Of course, my big brother complains about this every time he uses my computer (not very often). He has his Caps Lock mapped to Control, and every time he tries to cancel some command using Ctrl-C, something awful happens... ;)

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[It'sYerMam]

Although some DEs don't have a menu as such - XFCE uses a desktop menu, instead.
I used to map windows to the Multi-Key, as it's very useful to be able to type proper german characters, sometimes.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[woah]

I could never type on other people's machines anyway. I get used to one keyboard (two including my home machine). Whenever I type on my colleagues' machines I hit the wrong keys, cause the dimentions are that little bit different. Besides my employer is windows-centric, so my machine has, probably, the only copy of vim in the whole company.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[tsadi]

The problem with remapping your keys, is that when you're forced to use somebody elses system, you get lost.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd rather see it stay... as a support desk person, at least you'll know that your job is secure for awhile because of the dumb users not being able to log in bacuse either a) they forgot their password, or b) the damn caps lock in on and they don't know it.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[trburkholder]

Try the "flashing VCR" repair, plain old black electrical tape.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[boomer_rehfield]

I didn't know the touch typist's esc key was a different distance than other typist's keys... :)

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[flossie]

I also find it annoying to have the numlock on, it's 'the light in the corner of the eye', that bugs me as well.

Ledcontrol is your friend! I use it to indicate when I have new mail but you could easily use it to turn the LED off altogether.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[Buran]

On my powerbook keyboard, it's a standard size key above a 1.75-length return/enter key and below a 1.5-length delete key, but on my PC keyboards, it's varied in size. I've got a new keyboard on the way and it'll probably change size yet again.

Sure wish narrator types on TV could tell the difference between / and \ -- getting tired of "visit blahblah.com backslash blah" ads over programs' end credits.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[HeelToe]

Why not just use C-[ ? That's escape, and keeps your hands on home row. I have used this for years.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[CmdrTHAC0]

If you're using pc104 or pc105 as the keyboard model in XF86Config, XFree86 will map Super (Mod4) to the left windows key by default. Then you can bind all your window manager shortcuts to the windows key. (Very useful on 1.x versions of GIMP that used Alt+Tab for layer cycling.)

Most other WMs also allow for shortcuts to be driven by the win keys.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[marcansoft]

On my Spanish keyboard it's Alt Gr (Right Alt)+the key left to the 1. Used to be a pain under Windows. But / is just slighty easier, it's Shift+7. At least Shift is used more often.

The absolute worst is ~ for home, since under windows I had to type ALT+NUMPAD1,2,3 at lest on old ones (ASCII code) and you know those 8-letterized filenames under DOS. Now under linux AltGr+4 is much easier (it works under Windows but it's treated as an accent i.e. you need to type a space after it, for example typing ~n makes ñ) but still, it's annoying when you type # or ½ due to missing the 4.

Spanish keybords are, IMHO, a complete mess symbols-wise. What's more important, or #? Well they've got mapped to shift+3 and # mapped to altgr+3.

I just learned that AltGr+7,8,9,0 is {[]}. They're usually AltGr+the keys left to Enter (so there are 2 possible ways of typing them). What a mess. '=' is also wretched, you need shift. Backticks are a grave-accent and thus need space.

I'd remap them, but I'm too used to standard keyboard and I wouldn't be able to type on others, let aside the fact that I don't know how to type without looking every once in a while, and having keys do something other than printed would be a mess.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[norsk_hedensk]

because its closer than the ESC key and you wont have to leave home position reaching it.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[ninana]

I have other problems as it is. Being a devout vim user and having vi keybindings everywhere (shell, mutt, window management), I already look like a "goober who can't type" when I try helping non-vi people. The streams of jjjjjjjjjjj's in a text editor usually get pretty good responses.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[Anonymous Coward]

Nope.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[Quantuminium]

Didn't you know all touch typists have small chubby fingers?

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[Anonymous Coward]

Ctrl-[ is best. How is it better when it's two keys instead of one? You don't have to lift your hands off the home keys. It also works with all versions of vi and requires no key remapping.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[zeroth]

I map my CapsLocks to another Tab key. With so much tab-completion available, the slightly shorter reach does pay off.

And in VIM, I use my Alt/Meta keys as Esc: When you are done inserting and want to move back a word, just type Alt+b (after properly configuring your terminal to send Esc+<key> rather than using the 8th bit).

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[SkaterGeek]

I really hate to break it to you, but unless you have especially small hands then you should be able to reach the ESC cey without moving from home row, and alot of people touch type (I don't though)

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[JGski]

> So, again, why not just use your Esc key as your Esc key?

An excellent question. For the youngsters here too young to remember pre-IBM PC keyboards, especially the vernerable DEC VT52 & VT100 and their predecessors on the real "original" PCs: the current PC caps lock location is where previously *everyone* had the control key. That was one of the peeves many of us had about the original IBM PC's keyboard.

Believe me, EMACS was so much easier on the left-hand ergonomics back then - just shift the pinky off the touch-type home key position and use the ring finger for ctrl-A and ctrl-S. Between this key change (with the routine unavailability of simple remapping on *other people's* IBM PC computers) and the more universal availability on Unix of vi, were what triggered my conversion from primarily EMACS (in college) to primarily vi (in the work world). ESC was always a problem with EMACS ergonomically also; statistically less common with vi.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[jrutley]

On a laptop at work, the \ key is to the left of the spacebar. What's up with that?

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[NurseMaximum]

On a laptop at work, the \ key is to the left of the spacebar. What's up with that?

Sounds like it may be (similar to) a UK keyboard - mine's between the 'Z' and the Left Shift key.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[tunah]

Windows key is _really_ useful for me in X. It's a modifier that no applications check for, so I can use it for global shortcuts, exactly the ones I want: win+arrow to change virtual desktops, win+d for desktop and win+r for run (XP got this right IMO) and a few for frequently used apps.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[Per Wigren]

Yes it is. You probably have "pc102" as your keyboardmodel in your XFree86/Xorg configfile. You need "pc104" or "pc105" or one of the specialized models (logitech desktop for example) so the X-server can see the keys. Most distros handle this by default but if you created your own configfile you may have missed it.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[ignorant_newbie]

>Despite your low slashdot ID,
>you clearly didn't cut your teeth on a Sun
>mainframe. :)

And neither did you, given that Sun doesn't make mainframes, and never has.

Misuse of the word 'mainframe' in popular media is starting to really piss me off ( just watched 'the Net' a couple of hours ago... ) but on slashdot? come on. too many of us are going to realize that you're 12 and running winme.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[Tiram]

Is that you, Stein?

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[Lennie]

Oh, that might be a nice replacement for what I use now (mailleds).

I would love to not only have it blink while I have mail, but also my two other house mates (as there are three leds on the keyboard, this should fit fine).

But looking at what I found at the site, it might not be what I'm looking for... although it's quiet flexible... hmm.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[flossie]

I would love to not only have it blink while I have mail, but also my two other house mates

That shouldn't be a problem. I use ledcontrol to check both my home and work accounts (home on numlock, work on scroll lock). The file '/etc/ledcontrol.conf' calls 'mail.sh' which extracts the number of new messages in each account using mailcheck.

/etc/ledcontrol:

...
COMMAND_1="led_mailhome"
SUCCESS_1="set s4 frequency 1 1000 3 100"
FAILURE_1="set s4 normal"
DELAY_1="60"

COMMAND_2="led_mailwork"
SUCCESS_2="set n4 frequency 1 1000 3 100"
FAILURE_2="set n4 normal"
DELAY_2="60"
...

/usr/share/ledcontrol/mail.sh:

STRHOME='some short string in home e-mail address'

led_mailhome () {
new_messages=$(su $USER -c mailcheck | sed 's/You\ have\ \(.*\)/\1/' | grep $STRHOME | grep new | sed 's/\([0-9]*\) new.*/\1/')
LOAD=$(($new_messages + 0))
SUCCESS="$SUCCESS $LOAD"
return 0
}

STRWORK='some short string in work e-mail address'

led_mailwork () {
new_messages=$(su $USER -c mailcheck | sed 's/You\ have\ \(.*\)/\1/' | grep $STRWORK | grep new | sed 's/\([0-9]*\) new.*/\1/')
LOAD=$(($new_messages + 0))
SUCCESS="$SUCCESS $LOAD"
return 0
}

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[Xilman]

... where the hash key was mapped to

Try Shift-3 which is probably labelled with the sign, aka GPB, aka Pound Sterling, aka &pound; aka &#163 on your keyboard.

I bet the symbol goes astray here ...

I occasionally have to use a system which is set up a physical UK keyboard and a logical US keyboard. A bit of experimentation soon turns up most things.

Paul

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[arkane1234]

no, he cut his teeth on an Commodore supercomputer.

WTF?

A Sun Mainframe?! That goes against the whole philosophy of Sun... They were originally geared towards cheap desktop unix systems.

Yeah.. they've swayed a little :P but not *that* much.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[stanbrown]

Mind shareing how you do that? It sounds really usefuel. I miss my HP keyboards that had the ESC key in a sensible place.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[eatjello]

Agreed. Caps Lock is useful in games when you need a locking (as in toggling) key, but numlock is too far away from the standard wasd configuration.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[andy_fish]

Because pressing the Esc key requires that you pick up your hand from home position to reach it. The awesomeness of Vim is that you can do almost everything from home position. You can even move the cursor around while staying in home position - by using the keys h,j,k,l. And I bet you would have assumed that the keys h,j,k,l would actually have the effect of typing an h,j,k or l. :)

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[Cainam]

I use vim as my primary text editor, and I have no trouble keeping my left index finger on the 'f' key while using my left little finger to hit Esc. Leaving my left index finger on the 'f' key makes it quite trivial to get my fingers back into the home position.

Still, Caps Lock as Esc is an interesting idea.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[Tukla]

"Home position"?

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[Tukla]

Ah. Touch-typist lingo. Never mind.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[TheCarp]

Of course, keeping your hands on the home row is likely to speed the demise of your wrists unless you get one of those weird funky keyboards.

I on the other hand learned to type naturally... you know by just doing it and letting my hands and wrists move in whatever way made the most sense. Now I touch type but without ever putting my wrists in bad positions.

Hence.. if you value your wrists, never take a typing class.

-Steve

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[drinkypoo]

The only thing more annoying than typing ^[ for ESC is that ^U is view source in mozilla/win32. I have an i-Opener which naturally has no escape key, but it has a key way over on the upper right for "help" (actually I think it was "Home" and not the home key either, but I swapped a couple caps around so home would be on the home key) so I remapped that keyscan code to escape. Still way up out of the way but I don't press it that often anyhow.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[drinkypoo]

Just for the record, anything that Sun made that isn't a workstation was either a minicomputer or a server depending on when it was produced. Of course, anything that's serving is a server, so that doesn't really mean diddly squat.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[gwalla]

I have mine set up to be my "Compose" key.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[contradyction]

I remapped the 'Caps Lock' Key to be the 'Any' key.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[raju1kabir]

the current PC caps lock location is where previously *everyone* had the control key

Not everyone. You may be familiar with typewriters? You know, those devices where the QWERTY layout made its dashing debut? Caps lock was always right above the shift key on manual typewriters, because it engaged a mechanism that physically held the shift key down until it was pressed to release it again.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[Chess_the_cat]

I touch type and I can't get near the Esc key without at least shifting my left hand forward so far that my knuckles are touching the number keys. Technically my fingers haven't left the home row but I don't know anyone who would type like that. Then again, I type on a Model M and it's a pretty big keyboard.

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[agent0range_]

So if we took away a key that produced all capital letters and replaced it with another key that did something else (useful, even) you couldn't remap it as well?

Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key

[JGski]

:-) True. Forgot about that (still have several typewriters in my garage). I'm been in the electronic world most of my life (early 70s) so for me the electronic keyboards have always trumped typewriters (even though I learned to touch-type on a manual tw).

Well my roomate has this...

[ForestGrump]

escape and caps lock key switch.
http://www.cs.ucr.edu/~beyert/articles/es cclock.ht m

-Grump
bet you tim!

Re:Well my roomate has this...

[Aeonsfx]

Grump, taking credit for my patch, huh? I wonder if my page is going to survive a slashdotting... Maybe?

Re:Well my roomate has this...

[ForestGrump]

don't mean to gloat tim...but its a first post too!
oh yea!
clickable url
-Grump

Re:Well my roomate has this...

[Anonymous Coward]

I wonder if my page is going to survive a slashdotting...

nah, it aint clickable. that is, until now

Re:Well my roomate has this...

[EvanED]

Sounds dangerous... with the number of times I've hit caps by accident, I don't think I'd want to hit esc by accident...

Re:Well my roomate has this...

[Anonymous Coward]

No it isn't.

Re:Well my roomate has this...

[TomDLux]

I use my knife to pry out the caps lock key and throw it away. I started doin this three years ago and my life has been significantly happier ever since.

Re:Well my roomate has this...

[kinzillah]

I hate having that empty space, so epoxy mine in the off position

Re:Well my roomate has this...

[TWX]

"I use my knife to pry out the caps lock key and throw it away. I started doin this three years ago and my life has been significantly happier ever since."

Wow. I did that back in 1995 or so when I was playing Quake and using a Mouse Systems ergo keyboard, except I pried off the Windows and Menu keys, affectionately referred to as the Lamer Keys, because they'd cause me to switch out of the game into the OS and would crash the game. Since I had the most powerful computer of the gamers I played with at the time I was usually the server, so if I broke it was really bad.

Anyone who writes a fairly serious amount of documentation likes having capslock key. Especially if it's MS-DOS commands with long pathnames.

Re:Well my roomate has this...

[Anonymous Coward]

hey, the windows and menu keys are useful - they work great as super and compose keys.

Re:Well my roomate has this...

[rhodes777]

True dat! The very reason why ESC is where it is is to prevent the user from accidentally hitting it. An accidental hit of ESC is much more damaging than that of CAPS LOCK (merely irritating). I would hate to accidentally hit ESC halfway(or more) through a lengthy dialog/form.

Re:Well my roomate has this...

[RenaissanceGeek]

I always had a preference for the keyboard that came with my first computer, which had Control to the left of "A", and Caps-Lock as a single-width, mechanically-locking key at the bottem left corner of the keyboard

You could touch-verify the caps setting, and didn't have to have any of those annoying status lights.

As a bonus, the keyboard had a full number-pad, but was amazingly compact (no function keys.) If it had had Page-Up and Page-Down keys, I've used it even longer than I did.

What was it? The ADB-interface (Macintosh compatible!) keyboard that came with the last of the AppleII-series, the Apple IIgs.

Still use it sometimes..

[angst7]

Mostly for entering product keys.

Re:Still use it sometimes..

[Anonymous Coward]

how about writing formal e-mails and printing cv's without capital letters? like this...whell i dont mind but do they?

Re:Still use it sometimes..

[UniverseIsADoughnut]

Eh, it's also very useful to people who type a lot, you often find times when you need to put things in all caps, it's still plenty useful.

Now there is plenty of keys i never use. like the ALT key, aside from CTRL ALT DEL back in the win98 days I have never used it. I don't need 2 ctrl keys, i never used Home PGUP PgDn End Ins Pause/Break, Scroll Lock. Actualy I hate the Page keys on my coolermaster keyboard since they put them on the edge of the main keypad so i hit them all the time when going for the enter key.

There is lots of near dead keys on keyboards now. Unless you are a CLI person, or all about Keyboard short cuts. but most people have moved to GUIs and use their mouse. So keys just sit doing nothing. Even F keys have some use, but they are rarely used.

Re:Still use it sometimes..

[jakek101]

Alt is very useful, Alt+F4 and Alt+Tab being the most common. Scroll lock is useful is you use spreadsheets often, but it really could be done in software. Pause is still used in some games, and I find PgUp, Home and their kin to be useful in word. To tell the truth I think Caps Lock and Num Lock could be eliminated. What was the last time anyone used the function keys that are on the numpad?

Re:Still use it sometimes..

[el_gordo101]

I use Home, PgUp, PgDn, and End all day long. Combined with the Ctrl and Shift keys, they are very powerful for navigating aound your documents, editing code, etc. Once you master using these keys and their Ctrl/Shift combos, you will rarley use a mouse again.

Re:Still use it sometimes..

[antispam_ben]

The problem with Cap-Schlock is it's where the Ctrl key was on the AT keyboard and most all 'standard' terminal keyboards before then. I almost never use it, not even to type an all-caps word like FORTRAN. Maybe if I really want to be a jerk and shout on Usenet I'll use it. All my assembly and other case-insensitive code is in lower case.

But the alt key? I've always used alt-F4 [it's really hard to TYPE that instead of using it] to close Windoze apps, and after popup windows started showing up on non-pron sites, (when was that, three or four years ago?), I became very adept and speedy at alt-F4.

The PS/2 keyboard really changed things, and it really sucked when it came out because IBM had finally got it right (I felt at the time) with the AT keyboard.

Gimme all the GUI you want, just as long as I can control it with my keyboard [Ctrl-ESC for "Start" then arrow keys to navigate, then enter to select... I can't stand using a mouse unless I'm doing CAD, and even then I often type in numerical coordinates]

Re:Still use it sometimes..

[HermesHuang]

I grew up on an IBM XT keyboard where the only arrow keys were the ones on the numberpad. To this day I still prefer that configuration for arrow keys - my fingers don't get in each others' way as much. Also useful to keying every single counterstrike command that I'd normally use to be easily reachable with one hand, but that's another thing entirely. I'm probably one of the few people left in the world who always sets bios and software to default to num-lock "off".

Re:Still use it sometimes..

[n3k5]

Eh, it's also very useful to people who type a lot,

No, it isn't. The cases in which a person in his/her right mind would like to type in all caps are rare and there is no significant correlation between how often you run into such cases and how much you type in general.

you often find times when you need to put things in all caps, it's still plenty useful.

No, you don't, therefore it isn't. I spent thousands of hours entering all kinds of text into all kinds of programs, and I never ever used caps lock in order to put something in all caps. I figure the key is most for people who find holding down shift while typing several letters difficult. Only rarely you really have to put a word in all caps; almost no one needs to put whole phrases in all caps. _Very_ few people need to make whole paragraphs all caps, e.g. with various kinds of legalese; however, this is about how you _format_ the text, not about how you _enter_ it.

When I used caps lock at all, it was mostly for playing games. E.g. when shift is 'run', I like caps lock to be 'always run' -- makes kind of sense.

Re:Still use it sometimes..

[scottv67]

>i never used Home PGUP PgDn End Ins

I take it that you never ran a VT terminal emulator on your PC and invoked the Extensible Versatile Editor in VMS.

Those six keys are crucial to having an enjoyable experience with EVE. Also, having the "Do" key mapped to Scroll Lock is the cat's pajamas.

In days gone by, I could do things with EVE so cool that it would almost cause a tear in the space-time continuum. But I am a VMS jockey no longer...

-Scott

Re:Still use it sometimes..

[jrockway]

Not really. Once you master C-a, C-e, C-v, M-v, etc, THEN you'll never use a mouse again. Home and its friends are just too far away from the home row to be really useful. Thank God for emacs keybindings :)

Re:Still use it sometimes..

[jonadab]

> What was the last time anyone used the function keys that are on the numpad?

Just now. The problem with the new-style cursor keys added in the 101-key
layout is that you can't reach them all at once. That makes them substantially
less usable than the cursor-control keypad.

However, the last time I used the cursor keypad for entering numbers was going
on a decade ago, before I learned to actually touchtype. If I want numbers,
I'll type numbers. The keypad is for cursor control. I'm actually using a
custom keyboard layout that prevents number lock from inadvertently getting
turned on.

Re:Still use it sometimes..

[jonadab]

> I can't stand using a mouse unless I'm doing CAD

I find the mouse is also quite useful in Gimp, and middle-clicking links on
the web to queue them in tabs is also handy.

I agree about the 101-key layout; the new keys in-between the main body of the
keyboard and the keypad: I never use them. I use the keypad for cursor control
still, to this day, because it's arranged so that I can reach all of the keys
on it without moving my hand.

Re:Still use it sometimes..

[jonadab]

> I figure the key is most for people who find holding down shift while typing
> several letters difficult

Yep, people who don't touch-type use the caps lock a lot, sometimes even when
they only need one capital letter. People who type a lot know that its faster
and easier to just hold shift and type the letters.

Re:Still use it sometimes..

[danrees]

>> you often find times when you need to put things in all caps, it's still plenty useful.
>> No, you don't, therefore it isn't. I spent thousands of hours entering all kinds of text into all kinds of programs, and I never ever used caps lock in order to put something in all caps. I figure the key is most for people who find holding down shift while typing several letters difficult. Only rarely you really have to put a word in all caps; almost no one needs to put whole phrases in all caps. _Very_ few people need to make whole paragraphs all caps, e.g. with various kinds of legalese; however, this is about how you _format_ the text, not about how you _enter_ it.

Just because you don't have to use caps-lock, it doesn't mean that it is not useful for anything else. Suppose I need to write a whole load of codes into a database like XXXX222.

To do so quickly and accurately is difficult without caps-lock. Otherwise you end up writing XXXx222 or XXXX@22 etc

Re:Still use it sometimes..

[cynic10508]

Alt+F4? What the heck is that used f.....!@$)&)(~&% *** CONNECTION TERMINATED ***

Re:Still use it sometimes..

[maxwell demon]

I just get a beep and a message "M-f4 not defined."

Re:Still use it sometimes..

[Spudley]

There are a number of keys I very rarely use too, (including caps lock), but just because *I* don't use them, I don't think that's a reason to get rid of any of them.

Here we have a bunch of programmers discussing reasons to get rid of a key they never use. But hardly anyone has mentioned any other use for the keyboard other than programming. Come on guys. Non programmers use keyboards too, and they use them very differently to the way we do.

In fact, shocking though it may seem, there are more non-programmers than programmers, and you know what? Most of them have keys they never use that we use all the time (eg why do british keyboards have a dollar sign? because it's used in programming). Do you hear them complaining about it?

Re:Still use it sometimes..

[jakek101]

In Windows it closes the program you have open.

Re:Still use it sometimes..

[n3k5]

Just because you don't have to use caps-lock, it doesn't mean that it is not useful for anything else.

There are even better examples than your data entry scenario, but only a tiny fraction of computer users run into these cases on a regular basis. I didn't intend to argue that the caps lock key is useless and we should get rid of it, I just meant to point out that it's absolutely _not_ generally useful for 'people who type a lot' and it's _not_ 'plenty useful' for the average user.

Re:Still use it sometimes..

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, yeah, no one's saying those keys aren't useful. But do you use the ones on the number pad, or the lame useless ones grouped bewteen the keyboard and the number pad?

Re:Still use it sometimes..

[Anonymous Coward]

This is a rare corner case. And if you really had lots of data to enter, you'd script it from a text input file, so you could easily do it again in the future. You know, computers, saving time, and all that.

All-caps really IS a formatting issue. If you need to enter data in all caps, your application should do the conversion for you. For 'legalese mode', I'm sure Word or whatever have special styles to handle that.

Yes

[linuxpoweredtrekkie]

Caps Lock is EVIL!

I remapped my capslock into an extra control key months ago. I never type more than a couple of words in capitals, and can easily hold down the shift key.

Capslock is just a problem when you accidentally hit it when reading something you are keying in.

Re:Yes

[falzer]

Here's how I made capslock an extra control in Windows 2000/XP.

Go to this path in the registry editor:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ Keyboard Layout

In that registry path, add a new binary value, like so:
Name: Scancode Map
Type: REG_BINARY
Data:
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
02 00 00 00 1D 00 3A 00
00 00 00 00

This required a reboot to take effect (for me, anyway).

Re:Yes

[DrEldarion]

Of course, when what you're keying in has a bunch of sentences in all caps, you'll sure as hell be glad to have that caps lock.

Re:Yes

[ptbarnett]

Here's how I made capslock an extra control in Windows 2000/XP.

If you still want a caps-lock for some reason, you can swap them with this binary value:

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
03 00 00 00 1D 00 3A 00
3A 00 1D 00 00 00 00 00

It's the first thing I do when installing Windows on new systems. If a client gives me a computer for use during a project (even a short one), I make the same change and put it back before I leave on the last day.

However, I'm considering dropping the caps-lock key altogether and making both into control keys. When I swap them, most people have a lot of trouble using my keyboard -- which is either a problem or a feature, depending on your point of view.

Re:Yes

[Anonymous Coward]

When would I need to do this? When sending email to an AOL user?

Re:Yes

[ejdmoo]

It's much easier to download this:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details. aspx?Fa milyID=9d467a69-57ff-4ae7-96ee-b18c4790cffd&Displa yLang=en

Then that has a nice little thingy called remap.exe. Let's you remap any key to any other. :)

Re:Yes

[Hatta]

tr '[:lower:]' '[:upper:]' from the shell. gUip in vim to uppercase the current paragraph. Any decent text editor will have a similar feature.

Re:Yes

[Audity]

For those too timid to enter binary codes into the windows registry, there's a program out there called KeyTweak for you. Thats for win2k/xp, nearly everyone else can head here.

Re:Yes

[Anonymous Coward]

You can do the same thing in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\KeyboardLayout, if you're forced to share the machine with someone less enlightened.

Re:Yes

[DanTilkin]

I find it humorous that in showing how to not have a caps lock key, you made a post that could have used the caps lock key.

Re:Yes

[JPriest]

Fixed link
Download is for "Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit"

Re:Yes

[falzer]

It is kind of funny, isn't it? Of course, the real reason I use control in the place of capslock is because that's where I prefer it, not so I can just get rid of capslock.

Re:Yes

[Saint Stephen]

I use Caps lock all the time when writing C code, and when entering various CD-kys when installing games.

Re:Yes

[rickst13]

Geeze, I need caps lock on just to type that path in.

Re:Yes

[blue trane]

ya i use caps lock for code constants. it would be a pain to have to type those out without caps lock.

Re:Yes

[cwis42]

It's much easier to download this:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?Fa milyID=9d467a69-57ff-4ae7-96ee-b18c4790cffd&Displa yLang=en

Then that has a nice little thingy called remap.exe. Let's you remap any key to any other. :)

Here is your link, without Slashcode-added-spaces: remap.exe.

Re:Yes

[n3k5]

ya i use caps lock for code constants. it would be a pain to have to type those out without caps lock.

Are you one of those who still use notepad.exe for writing code? _Lots_ of things would be a pain if you don't use a proper IDE.

Re:Yes

[n3k5]

Of course, when what you're keying in has a bunch of sentences in all caps, you'll sure as hell be glad to have that caps lock.

This is true, as long as you're talking about typewriters. On a computer, however, in the rare cases in which you really need to have a whole bunch of sentences in all caps, it's a matter of how you _format_ your text, not how you _enter_ it. You'll probably like to proofread what you just typed _before_ you put it in significantly less legible caps, so keying it in with caps lock on would be rather silly.

Re:Yes

[Gabrill]

You guys are forgetting that the caps lock key is older than your silly programming languages. There was and still are uses for all caps sequences in many facets of typing. Caps are more easily readable on envelopes, some database and spreadsheet entries, titles of chapters, and many more writing applications. Sheesh. Newbies.

Re:Yes

[Anonymous Coward]

thanks for that.

i just disabled all the windows keys. ;]

Re:Yes

[Anonymous Coward]

cd-keys are case insensitive

Re:Yes

[Saint Stephen]

Not all of them.

Re:Yes

[grommit]

So you spend time remapping keyboard keys while your computer is being hammered by a couple hundred viruses and worms? That's a bit dangerous if you ask me.

Personally, the first thing I do when installing a new OS is get any security patches installed. *Then* I deal with frivilous things like neutering the functionality of my keyboard.

Re:Yes

[Anonymous Coward]

"you can swap them with this binary value:"

last time I checked, binary was just 1's and 0's. when there are A-F, it's hex. But that's just want school taught me, they could be wrong.

Re:Yes

[Anonymous Coward]

the big problem is when you get used to your remap and you try to use it on another computer

Re:Yes

[stm2]

And when you want to reply to that friend from Nigeria who is asking your help to recover the cash from a dormant account.

Re:Yes

[bossesjoe]

Caps Lock is EVIL! This got modded "Score:5, Insightful"? Hmm let me try that next time, always need some to burn...

Re:Yes

[rkrabath]

It's more like curcimsizing then nutering, I think. Doesn't really change how it works much, but some people prefer it one way, some the other... :P

Re:Yes

[Frobnicator]

Caps are more easily readable on envelopes, some database and spreadsheet entries, titles of chapters, and many more writing applications.

I work with several different databases. All of our database data is stored in caps. Why? In decreasing order of significance:

• Postal Service Discount Requirements - Unless you like spending lots of money on mailings, use one of the discount mail formats, such as automatable mail. Automatable mail means CASS cerification, which means using all caps. Otherwise, the best bet is using an all-caps, 8-18 point sans serif, uniform stroke width font, 3/4 to 3 point space between characters. We found that 10 or 12 point ariel fits the requirements. If you use bulk mailing and you don't fit the requirements, the mail can be thrown out, not returned, so you wouldn't know that your mixed-case address had problems.
• Compression size - Your compressor should notice that almost all the data are of about 30 values {0-9, the common A-Z values, space}, and a few other symbols for the database system. That tiny alphabet, and considering the rarity of certain alphabet letters, will make dynamic huffman VERY happy. Mixed case would at least double the size of the compressed alphabet, meaning larger backups. If you do backups (you do, don't you?) it helps. If you have to distribute the database to different sites, it really helps. In one example I encountered recently, the client had about 6 GB of compressed data and wanted to send it to all of their stores nightly. Each store is equipped with a dedicated high-speed line, but 6GB daily (over 9 hours on dedicated T1) is too much for a nightly transfer. After looking at their data, simply converting everything to caps let it compress to just over 1 GB of data (under 2 hours over a T1 network).
• Uniform - It's easier to search for names that some people like to have different capitalization rules on (Shrudili/ShruDili/ShruDiLi, MacKay/Mackay, etc) Yes, you can do a case insensitive match (you insensitive clod) but it takes more CPU work; That's bad when a batch run already takes a long time for simple case sensitive matches.
• Readability - It's much easier to read names and addresses on the screen when they aren't mixed case.

The first one will save you lots of money in mailing. If your company is in to saving money, then your mailing lists already do that. Compressability of data is *very* important for large-scale systems, and can have significant improvements with an ALL CAPS DATABASE. The last two just help reduce system load and operator error; both are good things to reduce.

frob

Re:Yes

[Guppy06]

Yeah, let's all modfity our registries according to some post we saw on Slashdot! Maybe it'll remap yor Caps Lock key, or maybe it will set your IE homepage to goatse.cx...

Re:Yes

[Anonymous Coward]

In the MS-Windows registry, the term "binary" is used to refer to an entry that is not necessarily text, even though it's entered in hex.

Re:Yes

[Wateshay]

I certainly hope your database makes use of this modern thing we call a computer to automatically enforce the all-caps rule, rather than forcing all of your data entry people to remember to hit the caps-lock key before they type in any data.

Re:Yes

[hyc]

Hm, the last time I dealt with CASS for an automated mailing, the only requirement was a ZIP+4 barcode. Mixed-case address info was fine, the automated routing equipment only cares about the bar code...

Re:Yes

[hyc]

Irrelevant. Even on ancient manual typewriters it was never placed up there next to the 'A' key. The fact of the matter is that the CapsLock key is not a key that needs frequent access. Even when you use it, it's generally something you'll toggle on for a long stream of characters. Also, you will never press the CapsLock in combination with something else (unless you're entering the Easter Egg for some idiotic game).

On the other hand, the Control key is *always* used in combination with other keys, so moving it from the central row to a corner, placing it further away from a large number of keys, is stupid.

I totally agree that whoever decided to swap Control and CapsLock to their current "Microsoft Standard" locations was a moron.

Re:Yes

[Anonymous Coward]

And Windows is supposed to be user-friendly?

Re:Yes

[Anonymous Coward]

Awesome, man. Thanks for the link. Way cool of MS to give away all those utils.

Re:Yes

[bruthasj]

Not really, I just "clicked" all those in with the left button on a mouse.

Re:Yes

[Anonymous Coward]

This is how i "unmapped" Caps Lock, so that other people could use my machine and my fingers didnt keep fouling the damned thing.

It works for Any OS and can be performed by anyone.

1) Drink Coffee, smoke.

2) Find flat headed screw driver

3) Find keyboard.

4) Find Caps Lock Key (If you cant, perhaps the patch has been carried out..)

5) Insert Screwdriver under Caps Lock Key (Why does it say "Caps Lock" and not "CAPS LOCK"?)

6) jimmy it around till the key pops out

Hey Presto, not only does Caps no longer work, but you have a convenient place to store crisps, bits of tobacco and well anything really.

Next Week: The Windows Button

~dan

Re:Yes

[resprung]

Well... From a usability point, the modern keyboard is a mess...

As you are typing, you have to take pains to avoid Caps Lock AND the three Windows keys, all of which are prominently placed and will screw up what you are doing.

I hit Caps Lock in error maybe 40 times for every one time I use it for its purpose. Gamers always pull off the Windows keys.

Many of us use a keyboard for 8+ hours a day. It's incredible that these guys seem to be the only firm producing an old-school quality keyboard:

Tactile Pro

Re:Yes

[mnemoth_54]

If you don't know the registry well enough to know what it does just by the path alone, you don't need to be using regedit. period.

Re:Yes

[ptbarnett]

So you spend time remapping keyboard keys while your computer is being hammered by a couple hundred viruses and worms? That's a bit dangerous if you ask me.

I don't connect a computer to the 'Net, except from behind a firewall. When I got my first DSL service before you could buy a consumer-class router/firewall, I built my own.

Since Microsoft issues patches to patches without rescinding the broken patch, there are plenty of opportunities to make this change during one of the repeated reboots.

Re:Yes

[alex_ware]

thats not binary: thats hexidecimal

Re:Yes

[bit01]

the client had about 6 GB of compressed data and wanted to send it to all of their stores nightly.

I'm curious, was that 6GB of completely new data every night? I would've thought that there aren't many businesses that generate that quantity of new data daily. If not why don't you send the differences and save money and operator/transmission time? rsync is your friend.

---

User friendly Windows/XP.
User unfriendly Windows/XP license.

Re:Yes

[CFBMoo1]

Those are hexidecimal numbers not binary. If it was binary it'd be a much longer set of 0's and 1's to enter and nothing else like the 3's, D's, A's, etc here.

Re:Yes

[odie_q]

"Readability - It's much easier to read names and addresses on the screen when they aren't mixed case."

This puts you in the minority. I have worked with readability (mostly related to layout, contrast and fonts), and to the overwhelming majority of us all caps text is significantly more difficult to read than mixed or even lower case text.

And if your compression algorithm compresses all caps text twice as much as mixed case, your compression algorithm sucks. Text is not random characters, it contains a lot of compressable repetitions, the very small portion of these that are affected by mixed case is negligible.

Consider this example:

$ ls -l
total 2196
-rw-r--r-- 1 odie users 922449 Jun 6 12:03 ALL_CHAPTERS.TXT
-rw-r--r-- 1 odie users 177417 Jun 6 12:05 ALL_CHAPTERS.TXT.bz2
-rw-r--r-- 1 odie users 922449 Jun 6 12:01 all_chapters.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 odie users 182350 Jun 6 12:05 all_chapters.txt.bz2

Re:Yes

[maxwell demon]

I use Caps lock all the time when writing C code

Maybe you shouldn't use that many macros.

Re:Yes

[nessus42]

Irrelevant. Even on ancient manual typewriters it was never placed up there next to the 'A' key.

Incorrect. Manual typewriters certain did place the Shift Lock key next to the 'A' key. Sun, despite those around here who seem to think otherwiese, did not invent the keyboard, and it was Sun who swapped the traditional location fo the Control and CapsLock keys, not IBM and Microsoft.

|>oug

Re:Yes

[ptbarnett]

Those are hexidecimal numbers not binary.

The registry editor labels the value as type REG_BINARY, and the dialog box to enter edit it is labeled "Edit Binary Value".

If you want to argue about semantics, take it up with Microsoft.

Re:Yes

[hyc]

No, Sun was just following the standard practice that had already been around for over two decades by the time they hit the scene. Witness the ASR33 Teletype, which first was in use in 1965:

http://www.pdp8.net/asr33/pics/kbd_top.shtml?lar ge

Anybody who thinks computer keyboards "always had CapsLock there" and that *Sun* was doing something different obviously hasn't been using computers long enough to actually know.

Re:Yes

[unixbugs]

I know I'm trolling here, but isn't it nice to have an OS out there you dont have to reboot just to get something so simple done? I mean, *nix is supposed to be oh so complicated, but look at this crap...

Type: REG_BINARY
Data:
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
02 00 00 00 1D 00 3A 00
00 00 00 00

This is user-friendliness? Just for a key function swap???????? Might as well be using a hex editor to configure the whole system!


Microcaca is fun to say.

Re:Yes

[Artifakt]

Open the file in notepad first if you doubt it. Most registry inserts can easily be read enough to give you at least some idea of what they do and most are quite small. The full path for each entry is explicit. While it's possible to write somewhat obfuscated entries at the end of that path, even someone who's never seen the registry before can just about always tell what's being changed, if not exactly what the change is, for any legitimate patch. In your example,you're actually asking how you can tell a change in hardware configuration from a change to software, and the registry has sections like:

HKey_Local_Machine\Software\BlahBlah.
and
HKey_Local_Machine\Hardware\BlahBlah.

Without even looking at the patch, I'd just about bet it changes a setting with words like "Local_Machine" and "Hardware" or "System" in its path, and the hypothetical homepage re-router is going to a path starting with either "Current_User" or "Users", and probably having the word "Software" in its path (and more probably it would also include in the path "Internet_Explorer").
Granted, some people could still write a patch that instead of remapping the caps lock key to ctrl, remapped the letter z to number 9, and if Microsoft was representing the keys as numbers something like that might not be detectable at a glance. If you're concerned, I'd worry about a minor difference in what's claimed and what's actually done rather than such an obvious one as your example.

Re:Yes

[Frobnicator]

Your compression example isn't exactly relavent.

You are using a book, which has sentances which have much more structure than that data was. Yours in the form {1 CAP}{~50 lower case}.

In that particular data set, It was around 0-10 caps with 0-20 non-caps, for each entry. They were using an inconsistant entry rule, some all upper, some all lower, some mixed, mostly abbrviated words to fit on receipts.

It makes a difference. Even in your less relavent example, caps made a 3% difference.

Re:Yes

[odie_q]

Ok, that might complicate matters, but there is just no way compressed size can double. Consider the following example (still not completely relevant, I know):

$ ls -l
total 3316
-rw-r--r-- 1 odie users 922449 Jun 6 12:03 ALL_CHAPTERS.TXT
-rw-r--r-- 1 odie users 177417 Jun 6 12:05 ALL_CHAPTERS.TXT.bz2
-rw-r--r-- 1 odie users 922449 Jun 7 01:50 aLl_cHApTErs.TXt
-rw-r--r-- 1 odie users 198291 Jun 7 01:52 aLl_cHApTErs.TXt.bz2
-rw-r--r-- 1 odie users 922449 Jun 6 12:01 all_chapters.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 odie users 182350 Jun 6 12:05 all_chapters.txt.bz2
-rwxr-xr-x 1 odie users 100 Jun 7 01:50 random_caps.pl

We're talking 12% here, not 100%.

Re:Yes

[ejdmoo]

It's the circle of karma. I get karma for the orignal, you get some for fixing what I did wrong. :)

Re:Yes

[SGHarms]

Great post! Thanks!

Re:Yes

[geoffspear]

Oh. See, I'm an Objective C programmer, so I'd write those as OperationIdle, OperationWaitingToRun, etc. Maybe with a 2-letter prefix in front of each one to show which framework it came from. I don't feel the need to shout in my code.

Re:Yes

[silicon not in the v]

All of our database data is stored in caps.

Did anyone else read that and think of Zero Wing?

Re:Yes

[Merk]

How do you distinguish those constants from class names? To me, there are 4 ways of naming things:

things_like_this are variables. No uppercase, words are separated by underscores.

thingsLikeThis are methods/functions. The first letter is lowercase. No underscores allowed, and new words start with uppercase letters.

ThingsLikeThis are classes. They start with an uppercase letter, and each new word starts with an uppercase letter, no underscores allowed.

THINGS_LIKE_THIS are constants/#defines. (Note that I typed that with caps lock on). They're all uppercase, with the words separated by underscores.

Those are the things I've found useful to distinguish visually. Why? It's very important to know the difference between a constant value and a variable value, so they look different. It's also important to be able to distinguish variables from functions/methods. This is especially true in C-like languages where you can pass a pointer to a function around. And finally, in OO programming, I think it makes sense to have a convention where classes are named in a special way.

Re:Yes

[nessus42]

Although you speak it very boldly, you know not of what you speak -- first you claimed that manual typewriters did not place the Shift Lock key next to the "A" key, when they most certainly did, as did electric typewriters. You conveniently seem to have forgotten your original claim when it suits you. And now, with regard to your new claim that computer keyboards placed the Caps Lock key next to the "A" key as "standard practice" for over two decades before Sun: VT52's VT100's, H19's, Z19's, Decwriters, and IBM Selectric terminals all had the Caps Lock key next to the "A" key. Bringing up the ASR33 is a bit disingenuous of you, since it was certainly not designed to touch type on, and had no Caps Lock key at all.

|>oug

Re:Yes

[hyc]

Ah yes, you're right. I believe I owe you an apology. It's been way too long since I've looked at a DECwriter, but I still have bits of an ASR33 in a closet.

Re:Yes

[Potor]

My university administration caps all last names, which is very helpful since the student population of our university is rather international, and it is not always easy to figure out names like Zambak Aziz (Zambak AZIZ).

Re:Yes

[arkane1234]

Well, some people are Jehovah's Witnesses too. That doesn't make them right.

Preprocessor directives are pretty much always typed in upper-case to differentiate them from everything else.

I don't feel like using hungarian notation in my friggin preprocessor directives, either. Else, they start resembling variables. That'd be bad.

Re:Yes

[arkane1234]

Sorta feels like your back in Beginner C/C++ class, doesn't it?

It's a sad day when a C coder needs to justify the upper-case he uses on constants :P

Re:Yes

[nessus42]

It takes a wise person to admit when they've been wrong! And such wisdom is rare to find on the Internet. Thank you also for pointing out that the ASR33 put its Control key next to the "A" key. I had forgotten that.

Personally, I was just all-to-familiar with Sun's break with tradition because they caused DEC to also break with tradition when they changed to low profile keyboards. I still also used VT100's and Z19's when DEC changed to Sun's scheme, so it was very annoying to have to switch constantly between the two notions of how a keyboard should be.

Now, I just use a Kinesis Ergnomic Keyboard, and bring it with me whereever I go.

|>oug

Re:Yes

[pruss]

For the postal requirements, one can instead use a wordprocessor "all caps" format for the text, which means that the text will still be internally stored as upper and lower, which in turn makes it more useful (e.g., so the data could be automatically used within a letter, where one doesn't want to say: "Dear Mr. JONES").

Re:Yes

[blue trane]

no but I still use vi. Love those cursor movement keys.

It should be replaced...

[Anonymous Coward]

...with another Windows key.

Re:It should be replaced...

[klk206]

Actually, another qustion is: How often anyone use the M$-added "windows" or "menu" buttons?

In my opinion, the extra keys should not be removed even if they are obsolete. They can be easily remapped to something good, like 'capslock' to 'esc' or additional 'control', 'win' key to 'mod' etc.

Re:It should be replaced...

[Anonymous Coward]

Windows key? Often. I use Win-R and Win-E on a regular basis.

Menu key? Never, pretty much.

Re:It should be replaced...

[localhost00]

I use Winamp and I certainly love having my Win+Z,X,C,V,N,{arrow keys} hotkeys to control Winamp.

Re:It should be replaced...

[kirun]

Windows-M: Minimise all windows

I use this one a lot when I'm on Windows.

Any way to get KDE to do the same thing?

Anyway, must stay on topic somehow. So I present my Capslock HOWTO

Re:It should be replaced...

[dslbrian]

How often anyone use the M$-added "windows" or "menu" buttons?

I never use them. All they do is get in the way when I'm reaching for ALT or CTRL. I wish I could make the CTRL key double wide and lose those stupid things...

Re:It should be replaced...

[whiteranger99x]

All I know is that everytime I play Diablo 2 or another game, the Windows Key become the absolute BANE OF MY EXISTENCE! X(

Re:It should be replaced...

[Anonymous Coward]

To make KDE do this (I'm using whatever version comes with mandrake 10. too lazy to check) go to "configure your desktop" then "accessibility" then "keyboard shortcuts"

In there under "panel" is a section called "toggle showing desktop" click on it and go to custom, select "multi key mode" and hit windows key and M. Actually, the correct key sequence would be windows key + D, since that's the toggle in windows, but map what you like.

Re:It should be replaced...

[Anonymous Coward]

Win-L ==> Lock Workstation (XP and higher)

Re:It should be replaced...

[HermesHuang]

I probably use it more then the ALT or the CAPS LOCK keys. It's set to switch between my virtual desktops on FVWM, so I end up pressing them all the time to switch back and forth between different things.

Re:It should be replaced...

[EvanED]

"Actually, the correct key sequence would be windows key + D, since that's the toggle in windows, but map what you like."

Both work actually... M is for minimize, D is for desktop. M is a holdover from Windows 95 when the Win keys were first introduced, D was added because it corresponds to the "Show Desktop" button down in the quick launch area.

Re:It should be replaced...

[EvanED]

Menu button? Uh... I think I pressed it a couple times to see what it did.

But the Windows key is very useful... my current keyboard doesn't have one, and I miss it. Win+E opens explorer, Win+M (or D) shows desktop, Win+F opens search (though I'll usually do Win+E, go to folder, then hit F3), and apparently Win+L locks computer (I didn't know that one until I read this discussion, but it'll be handy to know when I get a new keyboard).

Re:It should be replaced...

[cbreaker]

heheh

Yea. I avoid keyboards with windows keys, which is to say I use old keyboards. But they still work, after 8 years, and I love to type on them. I have this old Wang keyboard from where my mother used to work, and it has all these extra keys across the top for when you were using the mainframe terminal emulator. They thing is a tank. It's heavy and it's very comfortable to use.

I go to my friends house from time to time and use his keyboards, which have windows keys. God, I was hitting them so much that I actually just popped them off the keyboard. I got a little tired of getting disconnected from my game because I tapped the wrong key.

I've never found the windows keys to be useful anyways, even when the computers at work have them. Lately, I've been seeing the windows keys get smaller and smaller, and even dissapear completely on many notebook computers. People just aren't using them.

Re:It should be replaced...

[SiChemist]

Any way to get KDE to do the same thing?

The default in KDE is ALT-CTRL-D (hmmm. Used CapsLock for that string.)

To change it, go to KControl->Regional & Accessibility->Keyboard Shortcuts, scroll down to the "panel" section and double click "Toggle showing Desktop". Choose the "alternate" radio button, and type your hotkey combo. Save and you're done!

Re:It should be replaced...

[Sanat]

Some of those Wang Keyboards had 'hall-effect' switches in them and so they nearly never failed. Or if they did have a problem occasionally it was easy to pop the key apart and clean it if it was binding or switch the internals with a seldom used key.

Which city did your mother work for Wang? I worked for them for 15 years until they went bankrupt in the 80's.

Re:It should be replaced...

[Gooba42]

I try to stay out of Windows, but control+esc is just too easy to bother with having an extra key devoted to it. And for gaming it's the absolute worst. Especially with some games that don't seem to properly switch control back to the OS when you minimize them. I alt-tab out of the game, pick up email or something and come back to find all of my mouse and/or keyboard activity was also messing with my game.

Re:It should be replaced...

[JWSmythe]

Just on one machine. It's a Win98 print server. If for whatever reason it falls off the network and I can't VNC into it, I plug in a keyboard and monitor. Just plugging in a mouse doesn't work til you reboot. So I navigate Windows with no mouse. It feels wierd, being a Unix guy even working on a Windows machine, but I get real funny looks doing it without a mouse. :)

It's anything but an excuse for Microsoft to define a couple extra keys, so they'll get their logo on every new keyboard.

Re:It should be replaced...

[swimfastom]

I remapped my windows key to be a control key. If you really have a need to hit the windows key, you can just hit ctrl + esc.

Re:It should be replaced...

[Anonymous Coward]

In MS-Windows 95, it asks if I want to log out.

Re:It should be replaced...

[Fo0eY]

i can't use a keyboard with out a windows key =\

i'm addicted to win-e to open explorer
and win-r to open run, plus the ever useful win-d to minimize everything

plus it's really nice when you combine it with a program that lets you define hotkeys
like my win-q to open explorer, win-i to open IE etc, never have to worry about conflicts with app hotkeys that way

but i'm just a keyboard junkie and hate using my mouse whenever possible

Re:It should be replaced...

[Freultwah]

Well, it's not solely the useless equivalent of Ctrl-Enter.

When I am in Windows, Win-R is a very convenient way to pop up the Run line in one go. Plus I find Win-M and Win-Shift-M very convenient when I have to use the desktop but all those 10+ windows are blocking the view. Much more convenient than using the mouse for achieving the same result. Win-E opens a new Explorer window. Under XP, Win-L locks the computer (though Ctrl-Alt-Del Enter is much more ingrained). Also, Win-Tab is another way of task switching and some may argue that it creates less visual clutter.

Even KDE can use many of those shortcuts when it is switched to the Windows behaviour. Why you would want to is another question, but it's there when you (or your grandma) needs it.

Re:It should be replaced...

[CanadianCrackPot]

You know I used to think the same thing. So I switched keyboards with my 286, and you know what happened I realized that I had gotten used to using the Windows key to bring up the start menu. I'd switch again now that I'm using Linux but... the damn \ key is in a strange place comparatively now. Oh and don't get me started on Sun keyboards....

Re:It should be replaced...

[kirun]

Ahh... I've looked through that thing far too many times, for "minimise all windows", or similar.

So it's been in front of my face all along, hiding under a different name...

Re:It should be replaced...

[ronfar623]

A knife, or hell... even a ballpoint pen will take care of that problem on most keyboards; just pop the damn keycaps off.

It looks a little tacky at first, but it's easy, and saves enough headache with games that refuse to be minimized that it's very worth it in the end. None of my game playing friends have them on their keyboards anymore.

Re:It should be replaced...

[Craig Davison]

What if you need to use win-E or win-R or win-D?

Re:It should be replaced...

[Anonymous Coward]

omg.. Dad??

thwart

[radoni]

piracy

eliminate capslock key

OF COURSE IT SERVES A PURPOSE

[blue_adept]

how else are you supposed to shout?

Re:OF COURSE IT SERVES A PURPOSE

[abhisarda]

yeah, how else will those nigerian spammers get their message across that they have FORTY MILLION DOLLARS(40,000,000 $) AND ARE WILLING TO GIVE YOU A SHARE OF IT IF YOU ARE A NOOB.

Re:OF COURSE IT SERVES A PURPOSE

[randyest]

hold down shift?

Re:OF COURSE IT SERVES A PURPOSE

[Anonymous Coward]

Obligatory Maddox quote

SEVEN SIXTEENTHS OF ONE INCH

THAT'S THE DISTANCE YOU'D HAVE TO MOVE YOUR PINKY IN ORDER TO NOT SOUND LIKE AN IDIOT. I know the burden of pressing shift to capitalize is a great one, but c'mon Turing, you can do better than that. I used to type emails in caps like yours, but then I decided that I didn't want a job mixing concrete.

Re:OF COURSE IT SERVES A PURPOSE

[bigben7187]

but if you SHOUT WITH CAPSLOCK ON11 you still have to hit shift for "!" to come out, so you might as well not use caps...

Re:OF COURSE IT SERVES A PURPOSE

[isthisthingon]

Kidding (somewhat) aside, if you've ever read anthing in legalese there is ALWAYS at least one obligatory section that warrants being written in all caps.

I call this the:

"If you don't read anything else in this contract read this one,
or our hungry attack lawyers will eat you and your young
for lunch."

clause.

Re:OF COURSE IT SERVES A PURPOSE

[jurv!s]

I get around this on my OS X box by enabling sticky keys in System Preferences -> Universal Access pane. Two taps on the shift key = a true caps lock key. Can be a pain if you accidentally hit shift (cause then you have to hit shift twice more to cancel it) but I find it to be a real help...

Re:OF COURSE IT SERVES A PURPOSE

[Tokerat]

Something I like about Macintoshes in general is that a caps lock is not a shift inverter. Put on Caps Lock on your PC and now hold the shift key and hit a letter, and watch yuorself type a lowercase character. On the Mac, a shift is a shift is a shift, and it's always uppercase. kEEPS ME FROM yELLING lIKE a dUMBASS ;-)

Re:OF COURSE IT SERVES A PURPOSE

[Jeff DeMaagd]

The AOLers probably have a program to permanently set the caps lock on.

Re:OF COURSE IT SERVES A PURPOSE

[thomasdelbert]

... which is also the most difficult section of the contract to read because it's in all caps.

Just my $0.02

- Thomas;

Re:OF COURSE IT SERVES A PURPOSE

[Anonymous Coward]

all the more reason we should abolish capslock... to discourage such inane behavior.

EASY IQ DETECTION

[Anonymous Coward]

If caps lock were gone, how would morons get their misdirected points across?

Re:EASY IQ DETECTION

[Anonymous Coward]

If caps lock were gone, how would morons get their misdirected points across?

IT'S SPELLED MORANS, YOU DUMMY.

Re:EASY IQ DETECTION

[ameoba]

i THOUGHT IT WAS "mORMANS".

Re:EASY IQ DETECTION

[t1m0r4n]

IT'S SPELLED MORANS, YOU DUMMY

Hey, I resemble that comment!

tmoran_depere

Re:EASY IQ DETECTION

[multipartmixed]

Funny, I thought it was "mormons"

Re:EASY IQ DETECTION

[Anonymous Coward]

... it's pronounced christian.
It's one of those odd english word anomolies... Kinda like knife.

Re:EASY IQ DETECTION

[bluebagger]

My head hurts.

__
Need cheap web hosting?

Some programming still requires..

[Anonymous Coward]

all caps. Such as programming Galil motion controllers.

Yes.

[HenryKoren]

Naming convention in C++: Constants in ALL CAPS

Re:Yes.

[geoffspear]

And do you give your constants names so long that you really need to use your caps lock key instead of just using shift?

Re:Yes.

[thestarz]

Naming convention in C++: Constants in ALL CAPS

Not to mention AUTOCONF MACROS.

Re:Yes.

[Pooua]

Some people actually know how to type, which means they use all the fingers on both hands to reach the necessary keys. More to the point, it means that holding down the shift key with one finger while trying to touch-type puts an odd strain on the hand and is poor typing posture. The shift key should only be used for at most 3 letters in sequence, and probably should be avoided for more than a single capital letter in a word.

Re:Yes.

[blindbat]

And all the programmers say LEAVE IT ALONE.

Re:Yes.

[Talking Goat]

And I suppose I'm not supposed to even slightly glance down at the keyboard at any time either? I got enough of this fascism in grade-school, further propagation via /. won't be necessary. Somehow, believe it or not, some of us have managed swimmingly. I think typing-nazi's belong in the same group with instructors at finishing schools and clerks at the DMV, which would also be the first group, coincidentally, against the wall...

Re:Yes.

[Anonymous Coward]

You look at the keyboard when you type?

Must make typing with one hand while masturbating lose the thrill.

Re:Yes.

[MillionthMonkey]

You look at the keyboard when you type?

I don't look at the keyboard at all when I type. But it's pretty easy to see the green CAPS LOCK light in my peripheral vision, and that's enough feedback to tell whether it's on or off.

Re:Yes.

[Jugalator]

I agree about that when it comes to #define's.

However, those have nothing to do with C++ in particular, which const have on the other hand. And I don't use caps for those. Dunno why I don't like it, but maybe because const is just a modifier to a variable and not a preprocessor directive.

Re:Yes.

[Anonymous Coward]

"the first" ... "against the wall..."

When? When the revolution comes? What revolution? The typing-class revolution?

Re:Yes.

[geodude]

I had the classic facist typing teacher in hs (long time ago). At the time I absolutely hated that experience.

Now, many years later, I can honestly say that course comes into play everyday - learning how to touch-type w/o looking at the keyboard or leaving the home row was something that I didn't appreciate way back when. Now it pains me to watch "finger-pokers".

I've often thought of sending that nasty teacher a thank you note, but she was simply too nasty.

Re:Yes.

[Likosin]

Hmm...I have set up my caplocks key to blink in response to network activity, faster when there is more, slower when there is less. I've got the Scroll Lock for cpu, and I haven't thought of a use for Num yet. This great hack can be done with a program called ledcontrol.

Re:Yes.

[n3k5]

I think typing-nazi's belong ...

Yeah man, you're to totally right! By the way, you should have typed 'typing nazis'.

Re:Yes.

[n3k5]

I don't look at the keyboard at all when I type. But it's pretty easy to see the green CAPS LOCK light in my peripheral vision, and that's enough feedback to tell whether it's on or off.

It's even easier to see that everything you type is in, you know, all caps. (Well, okay, I often type something and loke somewhere else entirely, like a book from which I'm copying a quote, or the TV, but when you're both concentrated and skilled enough to type like that, would you really hit the caps lock key by accident?)

Re:Yes.

[caseih]

Capslock is useful for touch typists, However it would probably be best if it worked as it did in the old days: Pressing capslock puts the keyboard into upper case until the shift key is pressed. Then it should go off.

Re:Yes.

[Eideewt]

Well, that's kind of funny, but that's more Grammar Nazi behavior than Typing Nazi behavior.

Re:Yes.

[polv0]

Typing SHIELDEDPROTONMAGNETICMOMENTTONUCLEARMAGNETONRATIO with the SHIfT key twice an hour adds insult to injury (coding in Fortran).

Re:Yes.

[noda132]

Pressing capslock puts the keyboard into upper case until the shift key is pressed. Then it should go off.

While I think this is a clever idea, it would nullify the point above. People who use capslock to type in long constants would have to press it after each underscore. As any decent programmer will tell you, ACONSTANTNAME is much worse than A_CONSTANT_NAME.

I personally touch-type and hold down the Shift key for long constants; I find it faster than synchronizing my Shift keypresses with my '_' keypresses.

Re:Yes.

[astroboscope]

Use emacs. Type normally, then M-b M-u, and presto, THEN. Or just repeatedly hit M-/ and watch it read your mind.

Disabling caps lock is well worth it before you spend a few minutes trying to unlock the screen with your password without realizing that caps lock is on.

Re:Yes.

[photon317]

Since I never learned to type properly like typists do, I ended up evolving into a slight variation of proper typing that I'm sure is common among programmers. I essentially do the same thing as standard typing, but I learned to only use three fingers of my left hand for characters, leaving the pinky free solely for Shift and Ctrl. Which means when I have to type SOME_LONG_UPPERCASE_CONSTANT_NAME_OR_SOMETHING, I just hold my pinky down on shift and keep typing int he same pattern I always do.

Re:Yes.

[CanadianCrackPot]

Believe me typing properly really helps out in the long run.

Re:Yes.

[maxwell demon]

I think the most common naming convention in C++ is to use all caps for macros, and only for macros.

And of course the most common advice for C++ is to avoid macros whereever possible.

Together that gives: Avoid all-caps in C++ wherever possible.

Re:Yes.

[BardicStorm]

Yeah, I hear ya. I started as a finger poker. Never took a typing course in my life and I seriously do not regret it.

Now my finger poking uses all eight fingers, and an occasional thumb or two and I can type about 60-70 wpm so long as I'm not reading something at the same time. Then I get reduced to about 45 wpm.

The disadvantage is that I have to glance at the keyboard for spatial reference for my hands. The advantage is that I don't actually ever search for a key and since I'm not locked to a specific hand position, I have never.. NEVER had wrist or hand problems. Also, since both my hands are free to roam about the keyboard at will, no key combination ever feels awkward to me.

disclaimer: all caps in this post were done with the shift key.

Re:Yes.

[Oligonicella]

Those who didn't learn and now can't.... whine.

So, The parent is a "typing-nazi", but your advocation of REMOVING the caps-lock is not?

Hypocrite.

Re:Yes.

[Laebshade]

You can glance down but I wouldn't recommend it. Each time you glance you're putting strain on your neck. It also slows you down because you have to hunt for the key (even that split-second is crucial). With practice, one can be reading a book, typing from it, and not watching the screen or keyboard with almost no typos. Eventually you'll get up to speed somewhere around 100+ wpm with 95% efficiency.

This comes in handy for those jobs that require nearly any typing, and especially on /. for those of us who like to comment a lot. Even the fastest typists look at the keyboard every now and then because, let's face it, some of the keys are used very rarely. I myself have to glance down every now and then because I switch from a regular keyboard at work to my ergonomic natural keyboard at home. Posture also affects accuracy and speed.

On topic, I rarely use the caps lock, and I haven't accidentially hit it in years. Caps doesn't need to be moved and there's no real reason to remove it. It is one of those rare keys that nearly never get used, but that doesn't mean it never gets used. Some word processors make it unnecessary to type at all in caps because there is a built-in function to uppercase a selection. With CSS, text can be made uppercase, capitalized (first letter uppercased), or lowercased (even).

Re:Yes.

[John Starks]

You mistyped SHIFT. Perhaps you should have been using the CAPSLOCK key?

Re:Yes.

[scotch]

An decent editor will allow you to do word completion or define an abbreviation or something. I wouldn't type that in more than once in a great while in any "case".

Re:Yes.

[Anonymous Coward]

By this logic, there should be a key to allow you to type long strings of _'s, as well as the other punctuation characters that aren't normally shifted up using caps lock. I don't see anyone clamoring for this. Some scripts don't even have a concept of case.

Caps lock sounds like it might be useful for that guy who has to write extensive areas of his script in capitals (although maybe that should be a text editor/word processor function, rather than a dedicated key on the keyboard). A text/word processor function also has the advantage of being applyable to whole areas of text, using selection, for example.

The problem I have with caps lock is that it's a toggle. You have to remember to turn it on and off. That tends to interrupt my workflow when I have to think, OK, I'm going to type a bunch of capitals, better hit caps lock... OK, done typing bunch of capitals, time to revert. Most of the time, I just end up typing all the way through, or if it's really long, I end up deleting extra capitalized characters at the end of my thought.

Re:Yes.

[tehcyder]

And I suppose I'm not supposed to even slightly glance down at the keyboard at any time either?

You obviously didn't take much notice of either the composition-nazi or grammar-nazi at school either.

Not everyone is a programer

[Dark Bard]

Writers and layout people use cap lock all the time. Most will use it from time to time in standard word processing. Computers aren't just for programers. Some of us use the software they write.

Re:Not everyone is a programer

[Slayk]

Legal docs have quite a few all-caps sections, I believe.

That's about all I notice when I skim over a license agreement, anyway.

Re:Not everyone is a programer

[gnu-generation-one]

"Writers and layout people use cap lock all the time."

Well they can have mine; it's been forcibly removed from the keyboard...

Re:Not everyone is a programer

[icannibal]

Most if not all text in an engineering drawing are in CAPS.

Re:Not everyone is a programer

[neosonicsyndicate]

If there is designers who use only caps those are bad designers.

Re:Not everyone is a programer

[Epistax]

Wait, software end-users aren't programmers? Better not tell that to the *nix camp, or else they might crap themselves.

Re:Not everyone is a programer

[FrostedWheat]

The Amiga had a Help key. I believe it was where the PC's Escape key is. Or it could be on the other side not sure, been a while. The thing that always amused me was the fact that for most programs, even Workbench, the help key did nothing. Not a thing.

They might as well have renamed it the 'RTFM' key.

Re:Not everyone is a programer

[mrjackson2000]

pretty anything done in CAD is caps, i use it all the time at work, it's on for days at a time sometimes

Re:Not everyone is a programer

[Anonymous Coward]

No no no, that's because they have n00bs who just got online write those license agreements.
Any person savy enough with the internet would bluntly refuse to write most of those license agreements.

Re:Not everyone is a programer

[M. Silver]

Writers and layout people use cap lock all the time.

What for?

There's a setting for that, just like bold and italic and whatnot. Indeed, some of us are sufficiently old-fashioned to prefer small-caps for acronyms and whatnot within text, but in these days of electronic "fonts" [sic] where "small caps" just means an electronically reduced size of the same font (and not a smaller font of the same typeface, or even a distinct small-caps font). Bah.

(Yeah, okay, I learned typesetting from a Baskerville.)

Re:Not everyone is a programer

[martingunnarsson]

The help key was located between the regular and the numerical keyboard, if my memory serves me right.

Re:Not everyone is a programer

[Anonymous Coward]

You may not have had your AmigaOS installed properly, or perhaps were running on a floppy-only system. The "Help" key always brought up the relevant AmigaGuide document (hypertext, like "info" done right...) for me, as harddrive-installed programs dropped their help files into HELP:

Re:Not everyone is a programer

[stoical]

The Amiga's Help key did serve a purpose. Many applications utilized it to launch their documentation. Even later versions of Workbench used it. Most Amiga's had Workbench replacements (DirOpus) that utilized the key... All things considered... it was better to RTFM, so from that standpoint, you're correct.

Re:Not everyone is a programer

[Anonymous Coward]

M-x upcase-region

Re:Not everyone is a programer

[CHICK543]

Phone surveyors use caps lock as it is very easy to quickly check spelling and grammer errors. Caps lock is not dead, just underused.

Re:Not everyone is a programer

[SuperDave913]

I know a lot accountants and finance people that use the CAPS lock key for all entries into their software. I would imagine they would be very annoyed if they had to hold down the shift-key... or have to install some sort of "utility" to enable this function.

Re:Not everyone is a programer

[Anonymous Coward]

My College English-103 instructor was using it a lot when grading papers in digital form - it drove me nuts when he did that. Get rid of the stupid key.

Re:Not everyone is a programer

[Tlosk]

Your memory serves you correct:

http://www.amiga-hardware.com/a1000keypic_big.jp g

Re:Not everyone is a programer

[Propaganda13]

Yeah, unfortunately not every programmer is a user either. I have several work-specific programs that require case-sensitive input. Of course, the case-sensitive input is always in CAPS. So I constantly use Caps Lock at work.

Re:Not everyone is a programer

[Xetrov]

And in word processors, after you write your paragraphs of text which are supposed to be all caps, you can cycle the different capital options (all caps, first letter caps, no caps iirc). It's Shift-f3 in MS Office) if I am not mistaken.

Otherwise, if you want that functionality on a keyboard, there should be a "font" key, and a "center-align" key and a "kill clippy" key.

Re:Not everyone is a programer

[verbatim_verbose]

This is a really good point. Of course, it could also be argued that the button could be replaced with a triple-click of Shift, or Ctrl-Shift, or something similar. Then the Caps Lock button space could be used for some other various (hopefully useful) purpose.

Re:Not everyone is a programer

[Zoinks]

Well if they would just use emacs, they could just do "M-x upcase-region"!

Let the emacs flames begin... :-)

Re:Not everyone is a programer

[astrosmash]

It's not that caps-lock doesn't have its purpose, but, save for those useless relics num and scroll lock, it's unlike any other key on the board: It's never used in combination with any other key, unlike control and alt, and it's sticky (it toggles a mode). Yet, it's given extremely prominent real estate on the keyboard.

Personally, if I compare number of times I could actually use caps-lock verses the number of times I hit it by accident and have to go back and fix my work, it's not even close. Not to mention how much more often I use the control key; cut and paste and such.

They can stick the caps-lock key under the keyboard or behind the monitor for all care, but its proper place is under the shift key. And it should have an extra-stiff spring to prevent accidental hits. It is 2004, after all.

I have been remapping my caps-lock key to control for years, but that doesn't help me on other people's computers, on which I look like a fool.

Re:Not everyone is a programer

[markt4]

Don't you know that law firms use Word Perfect, for DOS, exclusively. It's like a religion with these people. Something about the mysterious "Reveal Codes" feature being critical to their work.

Re:Not everyone is a programer

[lrucker]

Solaris has a help key. Hit it by mistake in Workshop, and Workshop dies.

Re:Not everyone is a programer

[GamerGeek]

Sure, I understand. It's not like a word processor would have a way to select large amounts of text and change it's case to all capitals. ;)

Thats

Tools-> Change Case -> UPPERCASE

in Word and

Format -> Case /Character -> Uppercase

in OpenOffice

That being said, my company requires me to write code in all caps. *Shiver* I don't think I'll ever get used to it.

DATABUS CHAR 10

PACK DATABUS WITH 'ALL CAPS IS UGLY'

Re:Not everyone is a programer

[eraserewind]

but you can change between caps and no caps easily in any word processor or editor.

Re:Not everyone is a programer

[Anonymous Coward]

No, everyone sure is not a programmer, but everyone who use a computer should learn at least some programming language (and then also use it!). Having a computer and still not learning some kind of programming language is just stupid. Once upon a time people were also told that reading and writing was too hard for ordinary people. That was in part right. Reading and writing sure is hard, even though most of us today take these skills for granted. Reading and writing are skills that requires years of practice. Still we all do it rather well.

Compared to how much time most of us has once spent in school on learning how to read and write, the time most people get to spend on learning computer programming in school is really almost nothing. This is despite the fact that computers are becoming as important tools in many jobs, as are pen and paper. Still, most computer users sadly know less about programming after graduation than a young child would know about reading and writing after finishing their first year in school. And still a lot of people believe programming is unimportant (probably because they don't know it themself).

I sometimes see friends or collegues who have little or no programming skills, spending hours on performing tasks on their computers that they could have solved in a few minutes with a simple five- or ten-line program (or sometimes even a oneliner). If I tell their boss that I think they should learn some programming, I sometimes get an answer like "They don't need those skills, they are not supposed to be software designers". Well, most of us are not writers or novelists, but all we still know how to read and write. So why shouldn't people who use computers in their daily work learn programming just because they aren't going to be software designers? Sure someone can look at the pictures in a book too, even without any reading skills. People can communicate their thoughts to others using only drawings, and it sure is possible to use a computer without knowing any programming too.

However, knowing how to read and write makes life much easier, and it makes us much more efficient in our work. In todays increasingly computerized world, the same is often already true for programming too. People without programming skills just don't realize how useful those skills would be (and in fact, people with programming skills sometimes seems to like having skills that most other people have not, and they sometimes even seem to like to keep it that way).

Regarding Caps Lock. Yes, I remap the key into something more harmless. Usually into an additional shift or control key. However, I am sure time invested in learning programming will save people much more time than any time spent on remapping Caps Lock (or time lost from not remapping it). People who use computers without knowing programming should go get and learn some freely available, easily learned, cross platform programming language now. I would suggest Python (http://www.python.org), which is a really nice language, but there are other languages that are almost as good too.

/Anonymous Coward

(Don't complain about my writing skills, English is not the native language of this Anonymous Coward :-) )

Re:Not everyone is a programer

[malfunct]

When I was trained to type, I was told that if you needed to capitalize more than 2 characters in a row you should use caps lock. Its far more efficient and does not strain your hands nearly so much.

From the responses I've seen I think the sad truth is a rare few programmers have been formally trained in typing. If you had this article would sound completely ridiculous to you as well.

Re:Not everyone is a programer

[mr. methane]

So if we get rid of the caps lock, we cleanse the world of lawyers?

/me will run for congress with this excellent brainstorm.

Re:Not everyone is a programer

[ratsnapple tea]

Yes, writers and layout people need software that works for them, too. That's why Caps Lock should be split into right and left curly quote. Leaving it up to the software to guess which one the writer meant by straight quote is messy and error-prone.

Re:Not everyone is a programer

[Anne Thwacks]

Surely its already named the "WTF" key?

Re:Not everyone is a programer

[martingunnarsson]

Ah, the Amiga 1000. The later models, such as the Amiga 500 had a more familiar looking keyboard layout (see link).

Re:Not everyone is a programer

[vondo]

Exactly. Typewriters had a shift lock key long before computers existed. But, off the top of my head legal documents and titles of chapters are the only things I can recall seeing in all caps.

Re:Not everyone is a programer

[Anonymous Coward]

IIRC, the 8-bit Atari XL range (1982?) was the first mainstream personal computers to offer a 'Help' key; this 'feature' was singled out in the flyer but never had any function.

Re:Not everyone is a programer

[booch]

That's not a very good reason to have a CAPSLOCK key. What if you later decide that you want to change it so that the section is no longer all-caps? The correct way to make a section all-caps is to flag the program to display the section in all caps. The same way you'd make a section bold, or italic, or small-caps. By your reasoning, we should have a bold-lock key as well.

As for programs that require you to enter all capital letters, the program should simply take the lower-case letters and convert them to upper case. This is very easy to do -- you can even do it in HTML forms with some pretty simple JavaScript.

You guys (and apparently some programmers) seem to be missing the fact that the whole point of using a word processor or other software versus a typewriter is that the output is somewhat independent of the input.

Anyway, I think the question is about removing the CAPSLOCK key, not the the CAPSLOCK mode. You could keep the mode without keeping the key. I believe the NeXT keyboard used Command-Shift, which even lit up a light on the Shift key. Hitting Shift would disable the mode. (BTW, Windows has an option in the Control Panel to turn off CAPSLOCK when you hit Shift.) Windows (and the Linux console) already has StickyKeys -- you hit Shift twice to enable Shift-lock. (You may have to turn the feature on in the Control Panel.)

Re:Not everyone is a programer

[Anonymous Coward]

Very few law firms use WPDOS any more, in fact most of them are now probably using Word. Also, "Reveal Codes" was never that much use to lawyers because their documents have little to no custom formatting.

Computer freeze check

[TheOtherAgentM]

I use Caps Lock to check if Windows has completely frozen up. If the light on my keyboard doesn't come on, it's time to do a hard reset.

Re:Computer freeze check

[Cerv]

But Num Lock and and Scroll Lock make Caps Lock redundant if that's all you ever use it for.

Re:Computer freeze check

[daviddennis]

True, but you could use NumLock to perform the same function.

D

Re:Computer freeze check

[Ost99]

I use Num Lock for that...

Re:Computer freeze check

[hattig]

Same here, except with FreeBSD on this VIA Epia motherboard.

(Seems that FreeBSD does USB death on USB devices for some reason on this system, requiring a quick unplug-replug cycle.)

Re:Computer freeze check

[NuclearDog]

I can't. The idiot that designed my laptop didn't give it a numlock key... (or a FN+NumLock, or anything)

ND

Re:Computer freeze check

[Anonymous Coward]

So use the num lock.

Re:Computer freeze check

[netsharc]

I used to do this too (well with Num Lock), but then I got a wireless keyboard, which doesn't have any LEDs! :( , got me confused a bit in the beginning, but my system rarely hangs now so I didn't miss the "check engine" feature.

Re:Computer freeze check

[-kertrats-]

well, Scroll Lock can do that too, and its much more used than Caps Lock, so thats one reason to keep Caps Lock shot down.

Re:Computer freeze check

[TummyX]

If your computer has frozen to the point where the keyboard lights won't respond then it's likely to be a hardware failure not windows.

Re:Computer freeze check

[TekniQue]

Even though we use scroll lock more than caps lock, Dell made scroll lock into a meta key on their CP series laptops. I have to press Fn+numlock to get scroll lock :(
However, is there a single DOS/Windows user who has ever touched the scroll lock key and even knows what it does in a real operating system?

Re:Computer freeze check

[Janek Kozicki]

since wy wireless keyboard lacks lights, I have to ping my computer from the other machine. If ping responds, then ssh, and kill offending processes :)

Re:Computer freeze check

[Pikhq]

Nope. Didn't have a clue what it did until I switched from Window$, and had the scroll lock key on, at a BASH prompt.....

Re:Computer freeze check

[Lehk228]

no, it's a low level windows fault, when the keyboard drivers are no longer functioning it is windows which has crashed

Re:Computer freeze check

[Paul Jakma]

If your computer has frozen to the point where the keyboard lights won't respond then it's likely to be a hardware failure not windows.

Utter baloney. It can easily be a driver problem. Eg, interrupt handler that gets wedged or inefficient drivers that like to disable interrupts for critical paths.

Re:Computer freeze check

[shoppa]

But Num Lock is where God intended the PF1 (aka Gold) key to go.

Re:Computer freeze check

[SnakeJG]

But given how often Windows freezes up, the location of the Caps Lock key makes checking easy.

Re:Computer freeze check

[jellomizer]

The lights for the keyboard are actually controlled by the OS and Bios. I use to have an old DOS program that gave the keyboard different lighting patterns (with the Numb Lock, Cap Lock and Scroll local lights) So One light was on when someone was logged onto my BBS, 2 lights were on if it was downloading FidoNet Information, 3 lights were on if they decided to run a door based program. It was great for checking to see if someone was online and what they were kinda doing at the time without having to turn on the monitor. So if I saw that all lights were off I could pick up the telephone and make a call.

Re:Computer freeze check

[hashwolf]

Come to think of it, what do you use SCROLL LOCK for?
For me it's even more useless than CAPS LOCK.

Re:Computer freeze check

[Xrikcus]

I'm a linux user half the time and I've used it a total of once, and I can't remember what it did then. Admittedly being previously a regular windows person that is likely to blame, otherwise I'm sure I'd have learned.

Re:Computer freeze check

[Anonymous Coward]

The trick worked even better in the DOS days (some programs took over the keyboard completely, but usually you were aware of that). "more advanced" operating systems tend to sometimes stall pretty badly during stuff like spinning up hard drives.

Re:Computer freeze check

[Anonymous Coward]

It's the switch-key for my KVM-switch, you insensitive clod.

Re:Computer freeze check

[JaxWeb]

In FreeBSD, you can use it to look through what has previously been printed out, but pushed off the screen, in the CLI. That is very useful.

Microsoft Excel uses it so that when it is on, the cursor keys scroll. Needless to say that just confuses people.

Can't really think of any other use for it.

Re:Computer freeze check

[Syberghost]

Or time to replace the little green light.

I agree 100%

[Anonymous Coward]

I do wish it was moved away from the 'a' key, I aCCIDENTLY hit that key when I am trying to hit the 'a' key.

Move it up to the top row, or over into that block of other keys I never use, insert, home, page up, page down, delete, end and Page down.

Re:I agree 100%

[Drooling Iguana]

I always thought that it should be moved to the same place that the Caps Lock light is now.

We should keep capslock

[inode_buddha]

else it would be *very* discriminating against all those AOL'ers.

OMG!

[Ikari Gendou]

oF COURSE cAPSlOCK IS STILL USEFUL! iMAGINE ALL THE USERS OF THE WORLD NOT ABLE TO SEND LONG SHOUTING EMAILS IF cAPSlOCK WAS REMOVED! wHAT WOULD THEY DO THEN?! sTaRt UsInG aLt-ShIfT? tHE HORROR!

Re:OMG!

[timothv]

Using shift would avoid that problem you have where you instinctively press shift on some words causing those letters to become lowercase when caps lock is on.

Re:OMG!

[Anonymous Coward]

Alt + Shift doesn't do squad here, you lieing bastard!

Re:OMG!

[Krellan]

I often wonder why the keyboard driver isn't programmed to do that by default: aUTOMATICALLY tURN oFF cAPS lOCK wHEN tHE sHIFT kEY iS pRESSED.

My grandmother's old manual typewriter did this! When you pressed Shift, it mechanically turned off Caps Lock, so once you released the Shift key, you were back to lowercase letters.

BTW, Caps Lock was in the middle of the far left column of keys, right where it is now. So, there is precedent for having the Caps Lock key in this location (not Ctrl, as some would like to see placed there instead).

And finally, this keyboard happened to have no "1" key, and you were expected to type a lowercase "L" instead - starting a horrible habit! To this day, you can recognize documents typed by those who are not computer literate, as they will have things like "l999" in them for years/numbers....

Re:OMG!

[wizrd_nml]

(CAPSLOCK)I(CAPSLOCK) have met so many people that use (CAPSLOCK)CAPS(CAPSLOCK) (CAPSLOCK)LOCK(CAPSLOCK) to capitalise just the first letter of every sentence (or every word in a title). (CAPSLOCK)I(CAPSLOCK) call that the (CAPSLOCK)C(CAPSLOCK)an't-(CAPSLOCK)P(CAPSLOCK)ush -(CAPSLOCK)M(CAPSLOCK)ore-(CAPSLOCK)T(CAPSLOCK)han -(CAPSLOCK)O(CAPSLOCK)ne-(CAPSLOCK)K(CAPSLOCK)ey-( CAPSLOCK)A(CAPSLOCK)t-(CAPSLOCK)T(CAPSLOCK)he-(CAP SLOCK)S(CAPSLOCK)ame-(CAPSLOCK)T(CAPSLOCK)ime syndrome.

Re:OMG!

[Prof.Phreak]

Too bad it's hard to post on slashdot with all caps... Damn lameness filter!

Naming Conventions

[tunabomber]

I occasionally use it in java to type in public constant variable identifiers, which are in all caps by convention. Words in all caps are still common in some languages, like DTD.

It's useful.

[Rhesus Piece]

For me, it's closer, more convenient ctrl. Try it, just uncommment a line in your X server setup, iirc.

Re:It's useful.

[The FooMiester]

Ever use an apple][e? It had the capslock key where the left control is, and the control key . . . you guessed it, where the capslock key is now.

For checking if system is dead

[ivansanchez]

Well, as I am using a mixture of Debian/Sid/Experimental and lots of unstable (and non-official) packages, my system freezes once in a while. However, pressing Caps Lock helps me check if the keyboard driver is still live (so that I can use the MagicSysRq Keys) or I must reboot by hand. Could use NumLock for that matter, but CapsLock is usually nearest to one of my hands. The truly useless key is ScrollLock, BTW...

Re:For checking if system is dead

[jchawk]

Scroll locks uselessness is actually useful if you have a KVM switch and have to toggle back and forth between multiple computers. Most vendors of KVM switches prefer to use the scroll lock key because almost nothing (that I can think of) depends on it.

Re:For checking if system is dead

[Anonymous Coward]

I disagree. In FreeBSD, you can freeze the terminal window by pressing Scroll Lock, and while it is freezed, the scrollback buffer can be read by using Page Up/Down keys.

Or was it arrow keys.. Dunno, it's kind of a reflex..

Re:For checking if system is dead

[JamesTRexx]

ScrollLock useless? No way, I use it often when I sit at the console of one of my FreeBSD servers/workstations to scroll back up. It's those damned Windows keys that are useless and annoying and get in the way of typing fast.

Re:For checking if system is dead

[ivansanchez]

I use it often when I sit at the console of one of my FreeBSD servers/workstations to scroll back up.
Shift+PageUp/Down works for me and my xterms (as the mouse scroll in Konsoles). :-)

It's those damned Windows keys that are useless and annoying and get in the way of typing fast.
Not so useless if you bind them to another keyboard modificator and bind some key combinations to launching apps. Icons on the desktop? Nah. "Quick Launch" bars? Shit. Just press Ctrl+Win+Alt+C and see Kopete popping up...

Re:For checking if system is dead

[platipusrc]

I use it often when I sit at the console of one of my FreeBSD servers/workstations to scroll back up.

Shift+PageUp/Down works for me and my xterms (as the mouse scroll in Konsoles). :-)

What, might I ask, does your xterm have to do with a console?

Re:For checking if system is dead

[DavidD_CA]

Scroll Lock actually has a use in Microsoft Excel. Can't say I use it every day, but if you have it turned on, it will scroll the window left/right/up/down rather than move the cursor.

Works much like the "wheel" on newer mice.

The useless keys, in my opinion, are the ones that OEMs put on there for links to things like shopping, support, to control the CD with their crappy pre-loaded software, and other junk like that.

Re:For checking if system is dead

[TrixX]

I usually use NumLock for that...

Scroll lock is useful to stop the console scrolling (in linux VCs) when some program is spewing lots of data to stdout/err

It can be dangerous. I remember once pressing it accidentally while burning a CD. cdrecord locked trying to write its progress to the console, the CDwriter buffer emptied, and I lost the CD.

Re:For checking if system is dead

[Anonymous Coward]

the "wheel" on newer mice.

Wow. Newer? How long did you stay in the cave? You must be a bat and actually enjoy it. Or maybe a historian and it makes you sort of feel closer to the dinosaurs. Still waiting for that newfangled fresh invention of the wheel to catch on before making the leap of faith youself?

Sorry, that's all I've got, no more insults in this post. Perhaps you care to curse back a little for fun and good leisure? It's not like it's possible to be off-topic for this its saturday-night and I'm not feeling all-right slashdot article.

Re:For checking if system is dead

[JamesTRexx]

Yeah, but that's in a terminal, not the real console, as platipsurc said. In a terminal it's either scrollwheel or the sidebar I often use.
First thing I thought when I learned about the ability to scroll back in a console was why didn't dos have that abilty. *lol*

And I know I can bind some other function to the winkeys, but then they would still get in the way when I press one accidentally. I can disable them too, but then they're really uberuseless.
For me, the keys alongside the spacebar should be modifiers, and not active keys. That way I'll only get a typo, and not a different application in front of me if I mistype.

Re:For checking if system is dead

[shyster]

Belkin KVM's use (and Avocent too, I think) 2xScrollLock as a control key to switch PC's. ScrollLock in Excel does something where it'll scroll the entire page instead of by cell....I've never really used it for that, but I'm sure somebody has.

Of course it does!

[Karpe]

What would you use when you have to SHOUT AT SOMEONE!?!?!

What a silly question

[Overly Critical Guy]

Of course caps lock is necessary. It's necessary for whenever you want to type in all-caps without holding shift the whole time. I can think of dozens of examples of this. Hell, where I work, the blank fields on our contracts must be typed in all caps. I wrote a screenplay once, and you need caps all over the place. When I'm coding, I write some macro names in all-caps.

No, the caps lock shouldn't be removed or replaced. It's handy to have a key that allows you to toggle lower to upper caps so you don't have to hold shift.

Pointless Ask Slashdot question!

Re:What a silly question

[NuclearDog]

But sometimes you also get people that use CapsLock instead of shift. That annoys the hell out of me.

[capslock]t[capslock]he dog at the food. [capslock]h[capslock]e was hungry.

ND

Re:What a silly question

[Anonymous Coward]

Ask anyone who works in the military or the government - acronyms abound and half my typing is done with the CAPS LOCK key depressed. Now how about that SCROLL LOCK key, does anyone EVER use that one?

Re:What a silly question

[DrEldarion]

Agreed. If you're going to get rid of a key, maybe scroll lock would be a better one. I don't think I've ever actually seen anyone use it for anything besides playing with the pretty lights.

Now, I'm not saying that it's NEVER used by ANYONE, because I'm sure someone will reply and tell me that it does some obscure function in some obscure program.

While you're at it, get rid of SysRq.

Re:What a silly question

[Janek Kozicki]

While you're at it, get rid of SysRq.

SYSRQ KEY DOCUMENTATION v1.2

Good use for SysRq was introduced long time ago. And still it is *very* useful. Eg. in bleeding-edge 2.6.x kernels

without sysrq key I could have lost some important documents, I can't see a life without this key.

Re:What a silly question

[globalar]

The key is handy, but not universally so. A better question is should capslock be moved somewhere else on the keyboard?

Re:What a silly question

[EvanED]

"Now, I'm not saying that it's NEVER used by ANYONE, because I'm sure someone will reply and tell me that it does some obscure function in some obscure program."

Only if you consider *nix an obscure program. Scroll lock in those (at least those that I've tried it in, which means a couple different flavors of Linux and FreeBSD) stops the screen from scrolling so you can read it. FreeBSD will even let you scroll up with the arrow keys so you can see text that has scrolled off the screen. It's actually quite useful. (For instance, you're maknig something with dependencies and a message comes up that you should actually read but it starts to compile the next thing, you can still read it. Also removes a lot of the benefit of piping stuff to more or less.) I would imagine there's a way to set this up under Linux too, but I haven't yet seen a distribution that has it working out of the box and I don't know how to configure it.

Re:What a silly question

[Anonymous Coward]

Once you have mastered the fast typing without the left pinky, you will find that the shift key suffices, and will begin exploring the universe that is called 'alternate assignments for the caps and right-shift keys'.

Btw, does anybody know what what key with the four blocks and flag-like graphic is for? It sort of looks like a window that is being blown away.

I have another mysterious key with a mouse pointer and pulldown menu that seems to be malfunctioning. Do I send my keyboard back to the manufacturer for a warranty repair?

Re:What a silly question

[Soul-Burn666]

Microsoft excel. With no scroll lock, it moves the current selection cursor. With scroll lock, it moves the whole sheet (as if u used the scrollbar) and doesn't move the selection.

Re:What a silly question

[hackstraw]

It's necessary for whenever you want to type in all-caps without holding shift the whole time.

That is a software issue not a hardware one. Caps lock have nothing to do with >>99.9% of computing, and 99.9% of the time it is invoked accidentally, and it has negative effects on the users computing experience. The password entry should never be in all caps, neither should commandline interfaces, most editors (emacs, vi, etc) dont make sense when cap locks is enabled, and for some reason, all caps is difficult to read, and it LOOKS LIKE SOMEONE IS YELLING AT YOU!!!

I always disable it in windows, my mac, linux, etc. Its one of the 1st things I do when I get a new computer. Let the damn thing be emulated in software if its needed.

Re:What a silly question

[Cosmic_Hippo]

I work with Autocad at work and all of my drawing notes are in caps. My caps lock key is on more often than not. I use most, if not all of the keys on my keyboard. I have a fairly streamlined set of key shortcuts that I use daily and if any keys were eliminated, my tendinitis would be much worse than it is now.

Re:What a silly question

[tlianza]

If you're going to get rid of a key, maybe scroll lock would be a better one. I don't think I've ever actually seen anyone use it for anything besides playing with the pretty lights.

I use it every day - it's a common shortcut key for KVM switches (Belkin, at least). Scroll Lock - Scroll Lock - Machine #.

That's still somewhat a testament to it's uselessness though. I'm fairly sure the KVM makers thought to themselves "we need a shortcut key on the keyboard... one that is almost never used for anything else..."

Re:What a silly question

[BJH]

Scroll lock works in the Linux console, but there's a better thing for stopping scrolling - Ctrl-S/Ctrl-Q, which works in any normal terminal. Shift-PageUp/Shift-PageDown move up and down through the buffer.

Re:What a silly question

[Anonymous Coward]

Same here, except that in Autocad I only use half the keys. All my shortcuts are left hand only, so that my right hand never has to leave the mouse.

Re:What a silly question

[doom]

Overly Critical Guy wrote:

Of course caps lock is necessary. It's necessary for whenever you want to type in all-caps without holding shift the whole time. I can think of dozens of examples of this.

And just think of all the tech support people who would be put out of work if they couldn't respond to "I can't log-in!" with "Have you tried turning the Caps-Lock key off?"

Re:What a silly question

[Eideewt]

While you're at it, get rid of SysRq Yeah, but that's also the printscreen key, used to take screenshots by many users of the obscure "Microsoft Windows" family of operating systems.

Re:What a silly question

[noda132]

I can think of dozens of examples of this. Hell, where I work, the blank fields on our contracts must be typed in all caps. I wrote a screenplay once, and you need caps all over the place. When I'm coding, I write some macro names in all-caps.

Just because the output must appear to be in caps doesn't mean you should write the caps. Word processors have style options to set properly-capitalized selections to all-caps or small-caps.

I'd expect any screenplay-writing program to automatically capitalize where necessary.

Capslock does more harm than it does good.

Re:What a silly question

[Anonymous Coward]

Pshaw. Type in all lower caps and then use your editor's "upper-case selected text" command. You are using an editor good enough that it has that command, right?

Re:What a silly question

[DrEldarion]

Never said get rid of the whole key. I use it at least once daily.

SysRq and Break are just up there taking up space on two perfectly legitimate keys. I say throw PrintScrn and Pause onto one key, get rid of scroll lock, and use the space for something useful. What, I don't know, but I'm sure they can think of something.

Re:What a silly question

[Anonymous Coward]

That doesn't make sense. You want to keep a key around because Linux is too buggy? Why not use some other obscure key combination instead of SysRq?

Re:What a silly question

[Janek Kozicki]

ROTFL! HAND

Re:What a silly question

[Overly Critical Guy]

That is a software issue not a hardware one. Caps lock have nothing to do with >>99.9% of computing, and 99.9% of the time it is invoked accidentally, and it has negative effects on the users computing experience.

Oh, well hackstraw said so. It's a "software issue." And now all the sudden caps lock has nothing to do with 99.9% of computing?

Lots of things have "negative effects on the users computing experience." Caps lock is a necessary key. GIVE ME A BREAK. Like I said, just one example is the contracts my company uses. When fields are filled in, they are done in all caps. Legal documents all use a lot of caps.

Just because you've arbitrarily decided that "99.9%" of your personal computing usage doesn't require caps lock doesn't mean the rest of the entire computing world adheres to your mold.

Re:What a silly question

[akuma(x86)]

Why not type it in non-caps and then highlight the region of text and make it caps later. Much like 'bold' or 'italics' in word processors. Bold/italic/underline are useful too but you don't see people screaming for bold/italic/underline keys.

Caps-lock is just as useless.

Re:What a silly question

[Anonymous Coward]

What I think is silly is the exclusive-OR that reverses the function of the Shift keys when Caps Lock is on. While it could be useful to a very few people, most of the time it looks like a very stupid idea. Just because you can do something doesn't say you should.

I'd welcome a way to disable this reverse-Shift function.

Re:What a silly question

[Anonymous Coward]

YOU wrote a screenplay? You can barely shoehorn a few cohesive arguments into a post, with still laughably incompetent English.

Re:What a silly question

[zenobe]

ESC-u

Emacs yields !
(Aka Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift)

Re:What a silly question

[x-caiver]

Overload the shift key then. Hit the shift key twice in rapid succession and have it 'lock' until you hit it again.

People are getting used to the concept of a key doing more than one thing (4=4, shift+4=$,fn+4=F4 or internal/external monitor control on laptops, etc). Since pretty much all of the computers that would be working with these new keyboards would also be running some type of operating system there isn't that big of a need for a hardware-based solution to caps-lock.

Used it in the past five minutes.

[PktLoss]

I actually just used it to enter in a sample key sequence for someone writing a script.

All in all, I don't use it that often, but I think there are less usefull keys on the keyboard if we want to start cutting them out.

Re:Used it in the past five minutes.

[randyest]

All in all, I don't use it that often, but I think there are less usefull keys on the keyboard if we want to start cutting them out.

Such as? I'm not trolling or trying to flamebait -- just wondering which keys you think are less useful. CAPS LOCK is at the bottom of my list.

Re:Used it in the past five minutes.

[Anonymous Coward]

Less useful keys:

Print Screen|SysRq ?whatever SysRq does
Scroll Lock
The Windows Logo Key
The key next to the right Ctrl
The right Ctrl
The right Alt
End

A related question, does anyone else HATE those new Microsoft compressed keyboards? You know, the ones with INS/DEL/HOME/END stacked... and the arrow keys all funked-up too.

Re:Used it in the past five minutes.

[PktLoss]

Insert, I know what its for, but I don't think its needed enough to warrent a key

Delete, pretty much the same story, control-backspace would be sufficient (or some other key combination)

scroll lock

the controll and alt on the right side of they keyboard

Re:Used it in the past five minutes.

[nwbvt]

I find Print Screen useful when I need to make a copy of the current screen. The windows key and menu key are nice if I don't feel like using (or can't use) the mouse. I never use the right Ctrl or Alt keys, but other people may be used to them. A plague on you and your family for suggesting that the End key is useless. It and the Home keys are two of my favorites.

And finally, as far as Scroll Lock is concerned, bookmark this in your list of pointless sites that should never have been created.

Re:Used it in the past five minutes.

[meiocyte]

I think F4 is much less useful.
Now, if I could only get a "commodore" key on my powerbook, I'd be set..

Re:Used it in the past five minutes.

[EvanED]

I agree... I don't think I would want to see ANY key go, and that includes the Windows key. Oh wait... there's one: the menu key. I forgot about it because I don't think I've ever seen a good use for it. I would get rid of Pause/Break before Caps, but only because I haven't done any programming in a while. Right alt key. Then probably F11 and F12. Only then caps.

Re:Used it in the past five minutes.

[Eideewt]

End

End! You must not write code, or indeed type anything longer than a paragraph.

Re:Used it in the past five minutes.

[demogorgonx]

Alt-F4 works great for closing multiple (browser) windows quickly.

Re:Used it in the past five minutes.

[demogorgonx]

The menu key? I don't have that one! Pause is useful when you're running in command prompt. Or if you're running a script and want to pause it. F11 is nice for stepping into code functions.. F12 I don't have a use for.

i think...

[moondo]

it's there to get annoyed at when you hit it by mistake and to play with when you wanna turn on the LED in your keyboard.

come on, don't tell me you never tried pressing caps lock, num lock, and scroll lock in an interesting sequence to see those fuckers light up... umm, yeah, and that's what it's for.

Re:i think...

[Anonymous Coward]

you need to stop getting on your pc when you are high

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Now now young man

[kunudo]

Keep it as a tribute to the coders of old. It's like having a museum in your keyboard. You can even play with the exibit.

Re:Now now young man

[MoonBuggy]

In a similar vein, what's that 'Pause/Break' key supposed to do? I'm guessing it was used for something before my time.

I'll probably be mocked for newbieness but it's been bugging me.

Re:Now now young man

[prog-guru]

I use it often when working on hardware, to pause the boot process so I can read where my IRQs are going, what controller my drive is on, etc.

Re:Now now young man

[Martin Foster]

I was actually introduced to a fairly useful use of that key recently. When booting up a dual-processor Opteron machine I could not see if any errors were being generated.

When booting up pressing Pause/Break will pause the screen and give you time to read what is taking place. At least it worked on that board, but judging from support it's not an isolated feature.

Re:Now now young man

[jooniqzb1tch]

that one actually is still usefull if you want to look at the first few screens your pc displays when booting - hit pause and use enter to resume. quite nice with those new systems that boot the OS in a few seconds :)

Re:Now now young man

[Anonymous Coward]

In a similar vein, what's that 'Pause/Break' key supposed to do?

I have a rather neat use for this key.
If you're on windows xp, and you don't keep the 'My Computer' icon on your desktop, you can hold down the windows key, and press pause/break to get to your 'System Properties' page. This is identical to right-clicking my computer and selecting properties, or going to Control Panel->System. But much easier, and you don't have to move windows around to get to it. There's quite a few gems with the windows key and other combinations, as well.

Re:Now now young man

[doormat]

You can still use ctrl-break to stop execution when debugging software.

Re:Now now young man

[/dev/kev]

Naturally, it was put there 20 years ago in anticipation of the mp3 craze. The purpose is for you to manually remap it to play/pause your mp3s. I have my fvwm setup to run xmms --play-pause when I hit it. I thought this would be blindingly obvious, given the name of the key. ;)

Re:Now now young man

[Anonymous Coward]

WoW. ITs LIKe haVING Your oWn LITtle BESTbuys sTOre!

Re:Now now young man

[Anonymous Coward]

I guess I belong in a museum?

Some of us still have to endure coding COBOL for a living.

Re:Now now young man

[josh3736]

I'm not really sure, but I just realized that my laptop has both a "Pause" key and a "Break" key. I'd like someone to explain that. Pause works like a standard keyboard's Pause/Break but the Break key doesn't seem to do anything.

Odd.

Re:Now now young man

[maxwell demon]

Well, in the old DOS days, Break (Ctrl+Pause) was basically a BIOS-supported ^C. That is, it was to flag the program to break (thus the name).
Also, Pause was basically ^S at BIOS level (works already before the OS starts up!)

Re:Now now young man

[Craig Davison]

Break could be useful if you want to send a VT100 BREAK over your serial port, assuming your terminal emulator supports that.

It's useful for lamers in chat rooms...

[spudthepotatofreak]

Well, we know there's no use for it on /. Lameness filter encountered. Post aborted! Reason: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.

remove it

[benjonson]

I can't speak for coders, but as a technical writer I hate the thing. I pop the key off on my keyboards so I don't keep hitting the thing. Who uses it?

for actually using a computer (writing documents?)

[atarione]

Notice the capital "N" at the start of this sentence. When actually writing something, the caps lock key is quite useful indeed. Most people (maybe not on slashdot) but in the real world most people use their computers for writing documents and whatnot and Caps Lock is indeed most usefull for these things.

Actually

[Malach]

It's damned convenient... just map it to something useful.

Under enlightenment, (for me) the capslock key maximises the current window vertically - shift capslock maximises it completely.

Very handy.

Necessary with pcAnywhere ...

[Anonymous Coward]

when someone leaves the Caps Lock on the pc you're dialing into, then the only way to cancel it out is enabling your own Caps Lock

Move the key

[88NoSoup4U88]

Just move the caps-lock key to the scroll lock button ;). Anyone ever uses -that- button anymore nowadays ?

Re:Move the key

[bastardsquadmuzz]

Anyone ever uses -that- [scroll-lock] button anymore nowadays ?

Actually, you can use it for paging up the screen in a FreeBSD terminal (Shift-PgUp doesn't work).

Re:Move the key

[Alternate Interior]

I do, actually. In VB6 development, I use Ctrl+Scroll lock to break out of execution.

Re:Move the key

[sg3000]

Macs today don't have a scroll lock button, so that isn't that annoying for us.

What is annoying is the Help key (right next to Home, above the forward delete). Under Mac OS 9, when you pressed it accidentally, you would have to wait about 20 seconds for your Mac to open the Help application. God, that was annoying! One mistype and you were sitting around for 20 seconds, cursing the moron that thought that was a good idea (what about having that key just toggle Balloon Help on/off?). It was bad enough that I avoided using the forward delete at all for fear that I would accidentally press the dreaded Help button.

These days, Under Mac OS X, pressing the Help key seems to do different things. In iTunes, it mimics the annoying Mac OS 9 behavior of opening the Help Center. In the Finder, it does nothing. Safari is the oddest. Pressing the Help key makes the cursor turn into a question mark. Aside from providing a visual representation of what you're probably thinking ("hmm... what does the Help key do?" to which your computer answers, "?"), it doesn't seem to do anything.

To me, that's a great symbol of poor user interface design and a contempt for users: making the Help button on the keyboard unhelpful.

Re:Move the key

[Eideewt]

Safari is the oddest. Pressing the Help key makes the cursor turn into a question mark. Aside from providing a visual representation of what you're probably thinking ("hmm... what does the Help key do?" to which your computer answers, "?"), it doesn't seem to do anything.

I think you're supposed to click on something.

Re:Move the key

[sg3000]

> I think you're supposed to click on something.

Clicking doesn't do anything unique. If you click on a web page, it beeps. If you click on a widget, it acts like a regular click on the widget.

Re:Move the key

[Eideewt]

That's very odd.

No way,

[incal]

How else these people shouty people on chats could write? No chat between normals will be complete WITHOUT THESE AGE SEX LOCATION questions.

Don't be so elite. John and Mary Smiths need their CAPS LOCKS.

SQL

[Anonymous Coward]

I WRITE ALL MY SQL STATEMENTS IN CAPS (I DON"T KNOW IF IT MATTERS), BUT I THINK IT LOOKS BETTER THAT WAY!

SELECT * FROM DORK
WHERE DORK = HOTCHICKS!

(agh! the lameness filter is saying i can't post this because of all the caps!)

not caps, not caps, not caps, not caps, not caps, not caps
not caps, not caps, not caps, not caps, not caps, not caps
not caps, not caps, not caps, not caps, not caps, not caps
not caps, not caps, not caps, not caps, not caps, not caps
not caps, not caps, not caps, not caps, not caps, not caps

Re:SQL

[polyp2000]

I tend to do a similar thing, with the difference that its only the reserved sql words that i capitalise. To use your example; my variation would be ...

SELECT * FROM dork
WHERE dork = hotchicks!

This seems to be the general convention in my favorite mySQL book.

nick ...

Re:SQL

[NuclearDog]

I capatalize like you, Nick, except that I use shift for the whole thing. Just easier that way for me. Not that big of a hassle either, it's a laptop keyboard so all the keys are pretty small and close together.

ND

IT HAS IT'S USES

[mizhi]

FOR IMPERSONATING PHBS IN EMAILS.

And for getting denied a posting on slashdot.

Yes, it is

[Ice_Balrog]

Yes, Caps Lock is useless and annoying. Infact, I find it so annoying when I accidentally hit my Caps Lock that I added this to my xorg.conf (XF86Config for those still using XFree86):

Option "XkbOptions" "ctrl:nocaps"

There are quite a few other things you can do with your Caps Lock key in Xorg/XF86, just Google for them.

Re:Yes, it is

[Anonymous Coward]

xorg.conf (XF86Config for those still using XFree86)

Oh. That's why I couldn't find the file. *nose in the air*. I didn't realize you're STILL using XFree86. Hmm. Hm? No, there's nothing WRONG with that... I mean if you've got better things to do I suppose. It does take a lot of commitment to maintain a GNU/Linux system. I use a customized HURD/OpenBSD hybrid on my Alpha, but that's not really for the average computer user. Well, I suppose we'll make do. I'm going to go ahead and make a soft link to the new correct location. That's like a shortcut on a Win.. oh you know what it is? Okay, good. All is not lost then.

Re:Yes, it is

[JeremyALogan]

here's how I did it:
1) find screwdriver (preferably big and flat-headed)
2) gently insert it in the space below the CAPS LOCK key. Make sure that the screwdriver is parallel to the keys.
3) Move keyboard to the edge of the desk so that the screwdriver is hanging off several inches. Ensure that the screwdriver stays properly aligned while doing this.
4) Apply generous amounts of downward force on the screwdriver with your hand. I used the "karate-chop" method. The more damage, the better.
5) If you can find the key, then collect it and put it into your recycling bin (the real-life one).

Re:Yes, it is

[Anonymous Coward]

You need to get protectors for those long toes of yours, and then both you guys need to discover that big room with the really high, and usually blue or grey roof where the rest of the world is passing you by.

Crap, and mee too... what the $#%!#@! am I doing here on saturday evening?

Re:Yes, it is

[LS]

I tend to avoid customizations like this. In the past, I've customized my computer a lot, and whenever I go to someone else's place or a public terminal, then I get very annoyed that it doesn't work as I'm used to. I find that if there is a work around that involves training or learning (i.e. get used to not hitting the caps lock key on accident) then I don't customize it. I'll customize things like folder layouts etc, but not the keyboard.

Re:Yes, it is

[Grizzlysmit]

Yes, Caps Lock is useless and annoying. Infact, I find it so annoying when I accidentally hit my Caps Lock that I added this to my xorg.conf (XF86Config for those still using XFree86):

Option "XkbOptions" "ctrl:nocaps"

There are quite a few other things you can do with your Caps Lock key in Xorg/XF86, just Google for them.

Yep me to but my solution is more basic, new keyboard, pick up small screw driver, pop capslock key is out, drop capslock key into draw, all done.

Caps Lock? Who cares about Caps Lock?

[sycomonkey]

They still haven't even bothered to get rid of the Scroll Lock button yet... What makes you think Caps Lock is going away any time soon?

how about 1337 caps?

[edson at lies.cl]

** pressing 1337 caps ** d0 y0u u|\|d3rt4nd wh4t 4m s4y1|\|g? ** pressing 1337 caps again ** very useful for irc chat, h4x0ring and get chicks

Changed since 2000?

[verbal]

In 2000 we decided it should stay...

Re:Changed since 2000?

[verbal]

Or actually, just that it should not be another enter key... sorry

Re:Changed since 2000?

[Anonymous Coward]

That was pre-9/11. In the post 9/11 world, CAPS LOCK is a tool of terrorism and must be abolished.

Re:Changed since 2000?

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, it's a way to associate those using it with a terrorist organization. Did you notice that pressing a CapsLock sends the data about you to an unidentified IP?

I dont understand

[prostoalex]

How will you type your e-mail then?

I thought AOL required this format.

I don't like Caps Lock

[Alternate Interior]

Like the submitter, I never use Caps Lock. Found a program to disable it. Toggler. I'm not the author, but I was a user whilest I ran a Windows box.

Map it to another key or key combination.

[yo5oy]

I map mine to control.

Cool Noises

[DeeRuss]

What you may not know is that the real purpose of the CAPS lock key (on Windows systems) is to make noises each time you press it. It is configurable through the accesibility options and at the very least the PC speaker will tell if you accidentally press it.

No way.. I'll sue you

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey I am the guy who writes and maintains the no warranty section in about 3 dozen EULAs. Caps lock is a god given gift and if you take it away you will lose no warranty as I won't be able to type it properly anymore.

And I can't type this in caps due to slashdot's lame filter.

For AOL Newbies

[mbadolato]

It's so AOL Newbies can write out their email.

Re:For AOL Newbies

[Eideewt]

You imply that the experienced AOLers have some alternate means to make their messages legible to their brethren.

Re:IT HAS *ITS* USES

[mizhi]

*grumble*

Damn me for not using the preview button. :-/

Bad Habit

[RCAMVideogames]

Not only do I use the caps key to check if Windows has become frozen but I have a horrid habit of using the Caps Lock key instead of shift.

I remove all mine . . .

[randyest]

. . . especially on Sun keyboards, where my pinky hits them without me realizing it. I just pull off they key caps and cover the area with a little post-it that says "sanitized for your protection."

People at work think I'm weird, but no one who has had to use a keyboard after me has ever complained about the lack of that dreadful key.

Nigerian businessmen!

[Anonymous Coward]

IF YOU GET RID OF CAPS LOCK I CANT REQUEST YOUR KIND HELP TO SEND $100,000,000 (ONE-HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS) FROM THE LATE COLONEL MUSHA. WHO DIED AT THE WEEKEND IN A TERRIBLE TRADEGEY.

PLEASE, THINK OF THE CAPS LOCK
GOD BLESS.

blehblehblehbleh slashdot is moaning about yellllllllllllllllllling blah blah stupid thing.

Re:Nigerian businessmen!

[Jeremy Erwin]

Most 411 scams are written in a peculiarly obsequious form of the Queen's english, reflecting, perhaps, the educational priorities of colonial administrations past.

Still Useful, But Annoying

[Anonymous Coward]

The company i work for, a chain of car dealerships, still uses an app (Eralink32 from Reynolds and Reynolds, Inc.) that REQUIRES users to be in capslock mode when using the computer. I always end up forgetting to turn it off when working to fix a user's machine. Annoying as all hell.

GG GUYS

[SsShane]

I THINK IT SHOULD BE MOVED oops, sorry bout caps...was playing some Quake

WAHT TEH HELL R J00 TOKKING ABOUT@Q!?

[Anhaedra]

CAPS LOK IS NAWT TEH DED

Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[mikael]

I am still amazed that after 20 years of the desktop PC, we still have to press the key labelled [F1] to get any type of GUI help, rather than having a key labelled [HELP], although Microsoft did find a way of squeezing in a key with the Windows logo.

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[dizzyduck]

Most (all?) of the new Logitech/Microsoft keyboards have bastardised the F keys to do this.

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[AsimovBesterClarke]

20 years, eh? Seems like 20 years ago, most every dumb terminal I used had a 'Help' key. And it has probably been nearly 5 years since sitting at a Sun console, but I seem to recall a help key there, too.

Now, in the over 20 years, I have never expected pressing this key would actually provide anything resembling help, but the key has been around.

Oh, and this gets an "Insightful"??? and scored 4???

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[0racle]

There's a big ass, well ok double wide, Help key on the Sun Type 5 I have. I like the way it feels really, I wish i could use it on these systems.

If you talked to most people you'd probably find F1 for help is the only function key they use, and they'd have a whole list of 'useless keys.'

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[thestarz]

I am still amazed that after 20 years of the desktop PC, we still have to press the key labelled [F1] to get any type of GUI help, rather than having a key labelled [HELP], although Microsoft did find a way of squeezing in a key with the Windows logo.

On my keyboard the F1 key has the word 'Help' on it, below the 'F1'. If yours doesn't and you really want it to, may I suggest a pen?

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[phazei]

Is there a way to map the windows key to short cuts? There are some default windows key shortcuts, like Win+[r,l,e,d,pause,etc], and you can map ctrl and/or shift and/or alt, but I haven't found anyplaces to map custom Win shortcuts, it would be so usefull for a single universal shortcut key... anyone know any programs that will do that for the windows key? Or perhaps, the caps lock key :)

-Adam

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[moosesocks]

Apple has done this already.

It's right above the delete key in place of the infrequently used insert key.

Unlike the PC makers' latest trend of adding a bajillion buttons to the keyboards that will never be used, apple added four buttons above the numlock pad in place of the "lock" lights (which in place are located directly on their respective keys). The four (incredibly useful!) buttons are:
Volume Down
Volume Up
Mute
Eject Disc (less useful than other 3, especially if you have more than one optical drive. Still, since Mac OS requires a software dismount, it's necessary.

Oh yeah... did I mention that it has a USB hub in it? Why the hell are we still shipping PCs with 12-year-old PS/2 technology?

I just miss the power button. Even so, apple's relocated it to the monitor (another thing PC makers should have done years ago), which in my mind is the 'proper' place for the system's power button.

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[Drathos]

Close.. F1 doesn't say help, it says "New" and in order to use it as F1 instead of New, I have to hit the F-Lock key.. :(

Total list of the non-F-Locked F-keys:

New, Reply, Forward, Send, Undo, Redo, Print, Save, My Com(puter), My Doc(uments), My Pic(tures), My Music.

There's also the Start/Alt/Option and Alt/Apple/Loopy-square-thingy keys..

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[fuvm]

My Apple keyboard has a nicely labelled "Help" button. It's right there under F13.

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[bigben7187]

well, actually, i relabeled that whole row of keys, to help my memory. Ive got "Help Monkey", and "New Shizzle", and "Frank" and "Fred", and "Mary" and "Satan" and "The Hizzouse" and "Your Fate" and "Fine Women" and "Love Hotel" and "Cambodia" and finally "CowboyNeal"... Now when friends are playing on my computer they ask, how do I quick save? and I say, just push Satan...

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[VGPowerlord]

We still ship PCs with PS/2 technology for one reason: Windows

Windows 98/ME: Safe Mode doesn't load the USB drivers. As you can imagine, without a PS/2 keyboard, this makes it impossible to fix any problems that cause Windows not to boot.

I'm not sure if you can even install Windows 98 or ME with a USB keyboard.

Windows NT 4/2K/XP:

Windows has a rare bug where it will forget that you have any USB hubs. As you can imagine, it makes it quite difficult to log in as an Administrative user to fix the problem when your keyboard doesn't work.

If you switch motherboards, Windows won't recognize most of the systems devices until a user with Administrative privileges can log in. This includes USB. This results in the same problem as mentioned in the previous paragraph.

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[netsharc]

Aah, the Mac Help key.. I remember in highschool, we'd annoy each other by pressing the Help key, leaving the victim having to wait about 15 seconds before the old Performa manages to open the Help window for ClarisWorks. We'd close the window, and someone would just as quickly hit the Help key on our keyboard.

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[Anonymous Coward]

The help button is present on Apple extended keyboards made since the introduction of ADB, around 1987 iirc. The non-extended keyboards didn't get a help key until the iMac keyboard was released about ten years later. Almost every third party USB keyboard I've seen, particularly those aimed at the Mac market (which I guess includes an awful lot of pure USB keyboards), have had a help key.

I should note, however, that the help key is my single most hated key on the keyboard. It's usually positioned right where I can brush against it accidentally when I'm reaching for the delete key. You see, when I'm deleting something, chances are I'm already annoyed because I'm fixing a mistake, but then having some enormous PITA help program load up that takes the better part of a minute to tell to piss off, is truly salt in the wound.

First thing I do when I get a new keyboard is rip off the help key.

Does anyone really find typical online help very useful anyway?

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[Anonymous Coward]

Ah, so you use a Logitech keyboard, eh? I got rid of my Logitech because the F-Lock key pissed me off that bad.
I boot up my machine, start using it, do something, then I want to refresh, so I press F5, and it moves a file back somewhere, because it was mapped to Undo! Sure, I can turn on F-Lock, then when I turn off my monitor at night, I have a glowing button on my keyboard for no reason. Sure, I can remove the LED, or tape over it. Then I can't tell if it's on. So, I go to Best Buy, and pick up a new Microsoft keyboard that doesn't do this, along with a Logitech optical mouse because the old one fried. And the cashier asks me, "Oh, GOD! Why aren't you getting a Logitech keyboard?"
I explain the situation, and he responds, "so just turn the f-lock key on!" The point is: I shouldn't have to! Quit changing fundamental keyboard concepts, goddammit.

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[Anonymous Coward]

Is there a way to map the windows key to short cuts?

Yes, but Microsoft does not provide UI for it.

anyone know any programs that will do that for the windows key?

LiteStep will, although it's simple enough that there's almost certainly apps that do exclusively this. I don't know of any in particular.

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[CaptBob]

On the Mac, there is a key called help, in the place of the otherwise useless insert key (though neither insert nor help is present on my laptop.)

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[damiam]

On my MS keyboard, they're Help, Undo, Redo, New, Open, Close, Reply, Fwd, Send, Spell, Save, and Print, in that order. So F1 is "Help" on some keyboards.

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[Gary Destruction]

But BIOS's have an option to enable USB Legacy support.

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[Anonymous Coward]

I dont have a key labelled "Help". Maybe you purchased a newbie keyboard?

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[Gary Destruction]

Mice and keyboards are simple devices that would have nothing to gain by going to USB. The only possible advantage would on systems without IOAPIC's. You would gain extra IRQ's by using USB mice and keyboards.

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[SamSim]

I bought a Logitech keyboard recently which has about a dozen additional keys on it. These are all marked with helpful things like "webcam" and "shopping". It also had one marked "iTouch", a button whose sole purpose was to open your browser and take you to the iTouch website - iTouch being the software that was bundled with the keyboard. WOW, SO USEFUL.

Fortunately you could use the software to customise these. You also had an "F-Lock" key which could switch your 12 function keys between 12 other (also programmable) functions. I spent a while programming all these for more useful things, but it was a week later when I realised that the F-Lock key always defaulted to "on" when I turned my computer on. Always. Numlock, Capslock and Scroll Lock all remembered their previous state, but I had to turn off F-Lock every time I powered on because I use function key shortcuts so often. This became so annoying that I eventually uninstalled the software.

In conclusion, the Logitech Cordless Desktop MX ain't worth the cash overall, but the MX700 mouse is worth every last penny.

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[EvanED]

There's gotta be a way to have that not turn on by default at boot. I had a Logitech wireless keyboard (wireless duo pro or something like that) that I used until I sorta poured a cup of water into it*, and my function keys worked right... I may have had to change a setting though.

It's also possible newer models and newer versions of the software don't let you do this. I *still* use the iTouch software because of the on-screen notifications; I like them.

*Following which I replaced it with a Packard Bell keyboard I got at Goodwill for a buck twenty-five that doesn't even have windows keys...

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[shiftless]

Oh yeah... did I mention that it has a USB hub in it? Why the hell are we still shipping PCs with 12-year-old PS/2 technology?

Um, because PS/2 still serves a purpose?

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[EvanED]

"It's right above the delete key in place of the infrequently used insert key."

Oh my gosh... I'd kill someone for taking away my insert key... I'd rather have one of my shift keys go than that.

"Why the hell are we still shipping PCs with 12-year-old PS/2 technology?"

Because it works just fine?

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[Anonymous Coward]

I've got one of those too, and it's a complete pain in the arse. Want to hit ALT-F4? You'll have to press the F-lock key first. I can't seem to find any way to default the F lock to "on".

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[maw]

Why the hell are we still shipping PCs with 12-year-old PS/2 technology?

usb will be obsolete and no longer used before my model m keyboards break down.

Some day, I will use ps2 -> usb -> something else -> yet something else converters between my keyboards and my computers.

It'll be annoying. I say keep the ps2 ports.

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[Anonymous Coward]

Your sig:

South Bend is located on the south bend of the St. Joseph River. North Bend is located on the north bend of the Coos Bay estuary.

I just thought you'd like to know. :-)

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[runderwo]

Oh yeah... did I mention that it has a USB hub in it? Why the hell are we still shipping PCs with 12-year-old PS/2 technology?

Easy. Because USB is not a perfect replacement for PS/2 input devices.

• There is a large amount of latency on the USB bus as well as software latency incurred due to processing the USB packets. There is practically no wire latency with PS/2 and the protocol is dead simple to parse. You can create a little microcontroller project to interface almost any simple device to a PS/2 port. With USB, you need a separate ASIC to even begin to get anything done.
• USB controllers typically share interrupt levels with other PCI devices. On systems without an IO-APIC, this translates into increased software overhead on every interrupt, because the interrupt handler for every device sitting on that interrupt is invoked. Whereas with PS/2 devices, you have an IRQ reserved for the keyboard and an IRQ reserved for the mouse. Since they are edge triggered ISA interrupt lines, there is no possible way for them to be shared even if you wanted to. Therefore the correct interrupt handler (and ONLY the correct one) is invoked in response to a PS/2 event.

In short, there is no possible way on any but the fastest of current machines for a USB mouse to approximate the responsivity of a PS/2 port mouse being sampled at 200Hz (the maximum rate the port will tolerate).

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[Drathos]

I've read about a couple of registry hacks for windows that will flip the functions of the f-keys so they are f[1-12] when f-lock is off and the funky keys when f-lock is on. Never tried it tho. I'm sure that you can remap the keys in Linux easily enough.

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[Eideewt]

Why the hell are we still shipping PCs with 12-year-old PS/2 technology?

Because it's damn hard to get a decent USB keyboard. Most of the keyboards around these days have awful key action. Newer keyboards are the worst. Even the one I'm using now (my other keyboard is much better, and older), which is ten years old, is pretty bad. Mushy. What we all need is less focus on adding new buttons, and more on making the ones we have work right.

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[Eideewt]

Ah, good. I was thinking about finding that out for myself, but you've saved me the trouble.

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[Eideewt]

Did you scratch off the old labels as well? That's a fun rainy day project.

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[__aaahtg7394]

Boy, you must have some serious teflon on your mouse to be able to notice the difference between clean USB and PS/2.

The key thing here is that the USB mouse plugs into the hub on the USB keyboard, which plugs into a hub directly next to the controller. If you plug your camera or palm or cd drive into the other side of the keyboard, you'll see the bad side of USB. But if you keep the USB path clear, you shouldn't be able to notice the difference.

I'm all for keeping bit-banging interfaces (PS/2, especially, because they didn't make USB Model Ms!), hell, i've made ISA cards before. But USB HID is a great solution to the input problem. PS/2 input devices need to die, as do cheap crappy input devices in general. Everyone will be happier for it.

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[runderwo]

Even if your input devices are not competing for USB bus bandwidth, the protocol still takes more CPU time to handle and interrupt level sharing is frequently an issue. When the system gets loaded, this translates to dropped samples on a USB input device where the simpler PS/2 device is still responsive, because it takes hardly any CPU time to service compared to a USB event.

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[qvek]

WinKey.

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[Anonymous Coward]

My Microsoft keyboard ("Microsoft Internet Keyboard") has F1 and Help printed on the F1 key.

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[VGPowerlord]

But BIOS's have an option to enable USB Legacy support. Enabling Legacy USB Support in the BIOS generally doesn't make it work in Windows. This is probably because Windows loads its own Input drivers. I ran into the problem where my motherboard died, and when I replaced it (same chipset, different brand), Windows XP didn't recognize the USB keyboard... not even when Legacy USB support was on and I pressed F8 when it first started booting (to bring up the boot menu). Although, as I understand it, it's a good idea to reinstall Windows when you change motherboards anyway.

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[VGPowerlord]

But BIOS's have an option to enable USB Legacy support.

Enabling Legacy USB Support in the BIOS generally doesn't make it work in Windows. This is probably because Windows loads its own Input drivers.

I ran into the problem where my motherboard died, and when I replaced it (same chipset, different brand), Windows XP didn't recognize the USB keyboard... not even when Legacy USB support was on and I pressed F8 when it first started booting (to bring up the boot menu).

Although, as I understand it, it's a good idea to reinstall Windows when you change motherboards...

I'm used to using forum systems that automatically insert paragraph breaks...

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[scot4875]

I dunno. I think if your system is so loaded that it's having trouble responding to human-triggered interrupts, you're pretty much screwed whether the handler is 1000 cycles or 10000 cycles long.

--Jeremy

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[Anonymous Coward]

That extra overhead is important when you run those FPS benchmarks and ya want to be the 13373$+ dude with the highests frame per second benchmark

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[lavaface]

An easy keyboard shortcut to poweroff is cmd-option-ctrl-eject(F12) sounds complicated but I powerdown macs in a lab all the time with this "four-finger" salute.

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[Gary Destruction]

Hmm. It must be due Windows not having real mode drivers for USB.

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[Jace of Fuse!]

The Amiga has a [HELP] key. It's right next to the delete key.

On the other hand, the Amiga only has 10 function keys (which is precisely 10 more than most programs need.)

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[menscher]

I just miss the power button. Even so, apple's relocated it to the monitor (another thing PC makers should have done years ago), which in my mind is the 'proper' place for the system's power button.

Oh, yes. That way we can be forced to buy 1000 monitors for our 1000-node beowulf. Brilliant. Well, if you're a marketing droid. Otherwise it's a pretty stupid idea.

Personally, I'm still pissed that PCs went to the soft power switch. When I was a kid, off meant off! None of this "hold it in for 10 seconds and hope for the best" crap.

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[flupps]

It depends on the purpose. When playing games PS/2 keyboards seem to lack the ability to send a "held down" key repeatedly if you do it on more than 3 keys at once.
Imagine your little space shoot-em-up game and you're flying your little ship in a diagonal (pressing up and right, for example) and of course you have your autofire on your fire-key held in. Then something hits you and you have to activate something, which might be space. It will just beep because it can't send more than it is.

Maybe this isn't a flaw in the PS/2 interface, just in the keyboards that use it, but I've never had this problem with a USB keyboard.

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[runderwo]

It's not a matter of having trouble responding to the interrupts. (You'd be in big trouble if you were getting more interrupts than you could process). The problem is that the ratio of time spent in the kernel versus time running your program is increased in the case of USB input devices, which has a deleterious effect on responsivity of the program if the program (such as a game) is aggressive enough with CPU usage to contend with the kernel for CPU time.

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[tunah]

Mice and keyboards are simple devices that would have nothing to gain by going to USB.

I can't press down most combinations of three non-modifier keys.

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[Anonymous Coward]

THAT THING IS AN ABHOMINATION!

Keyboards featuring it cause untold grief among mouseless Doom players. I mean, come one, two identical keys when at least the left of ourkeyboards could have been spared?

And I used CapsLock in this post.

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[Lost Engineer]

I agree. Giving the computer the decision not to turn itself off is the annoying as hell. At the very least the functions should be reversed -- hard powerdown on letting up the key unless you hold it for 3 secs in which case it hibernates.

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[CaptainPinko]

If a keyboard has a USB hub in it (which is what I want) it would provide a convenient place to plug in peripherals like USB flash drives. I'm not in need of more bandwidth for my keystrokes but for a usb hub on my already crowded desk. perferrably the ports would be on my left not to interfere with my mouse. although on on the right for the said mouse would be appreciated.

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[HeghmoH]

Because you would never ever ever want to plug more than one mouse or keyboard into a computer, or hotplug them, or simply consolidate your ports so you don't have madness on the back of your computer.

Re:Replace it with a key labelled [help]

[anynameleft]

The power button is great, indeed. Luckily our 6400 still has it :-) And then to imagine that Apple's ADB, essentially USB with another connector, already existed 15 years ago...

The Mac keyboard misses something else, however, and that is the scroll wheel. My Logitech keyboard, when used with USB->PS/2 converter, has a scrollwheel which just generates arrow-up and arrow-down sequences. It is really practical for scrolling through longer lists.

How do I map CAPS to ESC on a Mac?

[ClarkEvans]

In particular, on an PowerBook?

Re:How do I map CAPS to ESC on a Mac?

[c4Ff3In3 4ddiC]

You want uControl.

Re:How do I map CAPS to ESC on a Mac?

[Anonymous Coward]

Does this work on an PowerBook ? I know it will work on a desktop... but powerbooks are funky and I haven't found a mapper that works.

We still use it :)

[Ragnarr]

In the military it is still a popular key. It seems that whenever you're typing official documents (such as order requests, or log books), people like it in black and white. I find myself using it more often than not during the duty day!

Off-topic request

[Beek]

Can anyone find that Slashdot story where someone found those prepared CNN death stories for a bunch public figures? I remember Ronald Reagan was one of them.

Slashdot

[Anonymous Coward]

News for nerds, Stuff that matters?

Which one is this?

Re:Slashdot

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd say it fits rather nicely the true motto of this site: "News for matter, Stuff that nerds."

we do all purchase orders in caps

[mobiux]

This is to avoid confusion in part numbers, between 1 - l - L - i - I, etc

Re:we do all purchase orders in caps

[Limited Vision]

I've never understood why companies allow one, "el", zero and "oh" in license numbers that have to be manually entered by end-users -- why not tell your license generator to exclude those four characters and save everyone the trouble?

Re:we do all purchase orders in caps

[Chris Tyler]

So why doesn't your purchase order software put your text in caps for you?

Re:we do all purchase orders in caps

[Alan Shutko]

Why don't your purchase orders just use a font where those letters can't be confused?

CAPS AT WORK

[Tkaos]

I am required to type all comments in caps, as we routinely cut and paste documentation. Its essential to my job function. I would HATE to have to hold the SHIFT KEY DOWN THE WHOLE TIME (whew! that was tough)

Damn lamness filter

[libra-dragon]

.

WHAT'S THE CAPS LOCK KEY?

Ahhh, the arrogance of /.

[sixpaw]

'Gee, *I* never touch this any more. That must make it useless!' Seriously, I know weekends are slow, but come on -- how did this ever make the main page? What's next, discussions about indentation styles?

Re:for actually using a computer (writing document

[Anonymous Coward]

You used the capslock key to make that uppercase N? I'm sorry, we'll have to revoke your Slashdot account.

one step ahead...

[complex]

my keyboard doesn't have a caps lock key... happy hacker keyboard

Re:one step ahead...

[Eideewt]

How do you use that thing? You can really live with pressing that Fn key whenever you need an F-key, or page up, page down, an arrow key, pause/break, delete, home, end, or Ctrl? And it uses rubber dome keys! Those aren't even comfortable! That keyboard takes everything that's right, and makes it worse!

USN

[mysterious_mark]

Actually, in the US Navy and other branches of the service radio messages all always in all caps. These were a pretty routine part of life on ship (for Officers / admin personnel etc) We would compose the messages on a PC w/ word processor, print hard copy, then have approved by CoC. Radio men would send them out encrpyed, hard copies were always kept for paper trail. A ship my send dozens or even hundreds of these a week, so the're quite common. There are a few who may need cap locks who aren't programmers. M

Re:USN

[hackstraw]

the US Navy and other branches of the service radio messages all always in all caps

cat data | perl -pe '$_ = uc'

Re:USN

[Anonymous Coward]

I surely hope you weren't writing messages with important content. The're my all last hope.

Re:USN

[Anonymous Coward]

One has to wonder why they didn't use lower case to begin with. I suppose it looks less 1337 that way if the message to LAUNCH ALL NUKES NOW comes in puny letters.

I just use the shift key

[zraider]

For me, using the shift key is faster than using the Caps Lock key. I've even seen some people use the Caps Lock key to capitalize letters at the beginning of sentences, people's names, etc... Drives me nuts.

Remove they key.

[Hatechall]

If if is a pain, as I found, I just remove they key from my keyboard. I also did this with my scroll and insert (two keys I had problems with in the past). However I do not believe that the CAPS LOCK key has outlived its usefullness, and a keyboard without it would be premature. I know that some gamers and coders use it for shortcuts. And without the CAPS LOCK key many blog hosts will be out of business. Please think of our economy.

Re:PL3453 N0!!!11

[geoffspear]

Trust me, the script kiddies would be just as annoying if they used proper capitalization.

Re:for actually using a computer (writing document

[Ieshan]

Are you trying to say that you hit the caps key twice for every capital letter you need to type that's not in a big row of them? You really hit the caps key at the start of every sentence?

Yeesh, mate. Shift. SHIFT.

Hey what about the

[geeber]

$ key. Recently I have noticed that I haven't used the $ key for any purpose other than hitting it by accident. Once upon a time, I used "print $" in Basic, but since I have been outsourced I don't program and have no money. Shouldn't it be replaced?

Still Useful

[Detritus]

It's still useful for situations when you need to type something in all-caps with one hand. Take your mind out of the gutter.

I'm not a touch typist, and I often just use my right hand to type, leaving the other hand free for holding books, documentation, operating equipment, etc. Caps lock is useful when I have to type in hexadecimal constants, or source code that is all in upper-case (FORTRAN, Assembler).

console keys,

[Bender Unit 22]

I have these strange keys on both sides of the arrow up key, on my IBM keyboard. never done anything in Windows, but under Linux they switch between the virtual tty's on the console.
Odd.

Why Not

[FalloutJoe]

Replace it with a quick google key. Now there would be a key that would find itself being used more then caplock

Swap caps lock and control

[ultrabot]

More useful than switching with escape is switching caps lock with Control.

You should have:

Option "XkbOptions" "ctrl:swapcaps"

In the InputDevice section for your keyboard (in XF86Config, of course).

Voila'! Ctrl assumes its rightful place on the keyboard. Ergonomic implications are massive.

Equivalent hack is available for NT too. It's done via registry, but I can't be bothered to google for it right now.

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[ForestGrump]

But the reason we have both swapped esc and caps lock is because caps lock is so rarely used, while esc is used alot in VI(changing modes) and chat boxes (close window)

i feel ctrl is fine the way it is (ctrl+x,c,v)
But i'll give caps/ctrl a try.

thanks
-Grump

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[Aeonsfx]

This was my rationale, as explained on my page:

1) to emulate the feel of the HP 9000 ITF HIL keyboard.

2) the UNIX vi editor was designed with the same keyboard layout in mind

Finally, I don't know about you, but I don't use emacs. Real men don't use their editor to play audio files.

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd say more "resumes" than assumes, since on the original PC/XT 84 key keyboards Control was located where Caps Lock typically is now adays. (Capslock on the 84 key keyboards was where the right Control key is now)

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[jesup]

Ah. A vi user. If you're an Emacs user, having the capslock key mapped to control is the ONLY way to fly. As others have said, that's the One True Position for the control key. (Check Sun keyboards, for example.)

My "CapsLock" keys have the legend worn off of them, and one even has a groove from where my pinkie's fingernail hits it.

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[aardvarkjoe]

You might try hitting 'ctrl+[' instead of escape; it took a little getting used to, but I can use vi much faster now than when I had to use escape. Having caps lock be escape probably is a bit easier for that, but having the control key in a convenient place makes many, many things easier.

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[Soul-Burn666]

Oh man!
The horrors of clicking caps-lock by mistake in VI...

suddenly hjkl do stuff like finding a man page for a command or removing a newline instead of moving around.........

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[Alrua]

Same thing for Windows (2k at least)

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[Octorian]

Yeah, but again, what about the CapsLock key? I'm using a Sun keyboard, and it still has a CapsLock key. Just in a different place. However, it also has several additional keys I really like. For example, it just wouldn't be EMACS without the "Meta" key. :-) "Compose" also kicks ass for sticking those little áccent märks on things, or a simple Que pasa? (no character map programs needed)

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[Toddlerbob]

More useful than switching with escape is switching caps lock with Control

Amen!! Before the advent of the GUI, back when the original IBM PC's were real PC's (and small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri were real small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri) that's exactly where the CTRL key was.

I'm planning on exploring one of the other posts in this thread which promises a solution to this problem.

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[jrockway]

But real men SURELY don't have clippy tell them how to use the editor.

I don't see that 'feature' in emacs ;)

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[doom]

jesup wrote:

Ah. A vi user. If you're an Emacs user, having the capslock key mapped to control is the ONLY way to fly. As others have said, that's the One True Position for the control key.

That's the traditional position, I agree -- and I've never understood what the moron's were thinking who moved the standard control key location under the shift. But I'm an emacs user who's also using one of the kinesis contoured-model, programmable keyboards, and the Control and Alt keys are already very accessible under the thumbs (my numb-pinky-syndrome went away when I switched to the kinesis, I highly recommend them for heavy emacs abusers).

There are a few really big flaws in the kinesis layout though, one is the damn Caps Lock next to the A, the other is a tiny chicklet Escape key way up in left field. But the Kinesis layout is easy to re-program, so I tried a few different re-arrangements and evenutally settled on making the key next to A another Escape, just like mister Vim-User recommends.

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[Ctrl-Z]

I think that vi user keyboards should have one big ESC key in the middle. Either that, or near the space bar.

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[jonadab]

> If you're an Emacs user, having the capslock key mapped to control is the
> ONLY way to fly.

No, there is another. I have ctrl under my right pinky (home position). BTW,
shift is under my left pinky (home position). I have an Avant keyboard, so my
layout is as custom as I want it to be. It's *mostly* QWERTY, but I've made
some very key[1] changes. Central to these changes is removing the need to
hyperextend my pinkies on a constant basis.

Incidentally, there is no CAPSLOCK in my layout; if I want capital letters,
I'll type capital letters using shift; that's part of what it's there for.

I do have a ctrl key in the bottom left, which I can use for Ctrl-C and Ctrl-X
and Ctrl-V when my right hand is off the keyboard (e.g., on the mouse), but for
most ctrl combinations I use the right ctrl, which as noted is a home position.

[1] I didn't even *notice* that pun until I hit Preview. Honest.

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[CamTarn]

My regular haunt in Uni is a Sun lab, but I find the keyboards rather irritating, because of the Control in the 'wrong' place. The thing is, although it's useful for VIM, it makes using ctrl-[z|x|c|v] really awkward because of the requirement to rotate the hand about 20-30 degrees or use strange finger-tucked-under-hand positions.

I have to agree about the coolness of compose, however: I have the 'Windows Context Menu' key on my Linux box mapped to Compose, and although I rarely use it, it's a wonderful thing to have handy.

I wish I knew what the 'Help' key on the Sun keyboard was meant to do, though. Neither it, nor the unmarked key in the upper left, actually do anything (on the machines in the lab, running Solaris with KDE)

Ah, well, at least I'm used to switching key layouts, considering I regularly switch between my (US layout) laptop, a UK-ish-layout laptop-style keyboard on my desktop, UK-layout regular keyboard on Linux box, and Sun keyboard at Uni...

--
http://camtarn.org

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[presto8]

More useful than the control key to me is remapping CapsLock to be a Windows key. My laptop (Thinkpad) doesn't have a Windows key, so this is the only way to get one.

And, yes, I've seen the numerous posts already about how evil the Windows key is. I like it for easily locking the terminal (Windows-L), minimizing all windows (Windows-D), and bringing up the run dialog (Windows-R). Some of these are possible with Ctrl-Esc, but not all...

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[Feztaa]

Well, I'm currently using an ergonomic keyboard, and there's a big hunk of plastic above the space bar and inbetween the (T,G,B) and (Y,H,N) keys. It's not doing anything as it is, just wasted space... it'd be the perfect spot for a huge ESC key ;)

(btw, I'm impressed that this hasn't turned into a huge vi/emacs flamewar ;)

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[1u3hr]

I've never understood what the moron's were thinking who moved the standard control key location under the shift.

The (conspiracy) theory I've heard is that both Gates and Jobs were trying to kill off all the old DOS wordprocessors that used control keys extensively in the late 80s, particularly WordStar. So hardly any control keys were used in early Windows apps (mostly ALTs if anything), and Gates "encouraged" keyboard manufacturers to follow his layout that made Control less convenient. After the DOS apps were well and truly dead he allowed control keys to be used more. Perosonally I have CAPSLOCK and CONTROL swapped.

Here's an interesting article excerpt:

Ctrl-Z/X/C/V for Undo/Cut/Copy/Paste did not exist in the x86 world until IBM moved Ctrl out of the home row and Microsoft started moving its Mac applications to Windows. Through version 2.03, the applications bundled with Windows used Del for Cut, Ins for Paste, and F2 for Copy. Alt worked as it does today, and Ctrl sat there dead as a doornail. Check out Windows: the official guide to Microsoft's operating environment copyright 1986 by Nancy Andrews (Microsoft Press, ISBN 0-914845-70-5). It wasn't enough to have a (minimally) consistent interface; just like Jobs's (minimally) consistent interface, it had to be as inconsistent as possible with any other system folks might come across.

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[Feztaa]

If you're an Emacs user, having the capslock key mapped to control is the ONLY way to fly.

As a vi user, I admit that I have often found myself trying to type input into command mode and trying to enter commands in insert mode... I think I hate vi, but I'm just used to it and every time I try emacs I go away frustrated with all the wonky commands. I want to like emacs, but it's just not happening.

Just now, I tried the emacs tutorial, and by the time I had gotten down to the part explaining C-a/C-e/M-a/M-e, my pinky hurt from constantly having the control key held down while trying to press other keys.

So I tried that caps/control swap thing. I'm using Fedora 2 and the relavent section of my /etc/X11/xorg.conf looks like this:

Section "InputDevice"

Option "XkbOptions" "ctrl:swapcaps"
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "keyboard"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

What's wrong with this? I restarted X and caps is still caps, while control is still control.

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[naiv]

but insert was never used for pasting in traditional word processing. in word processors, insert did what we do now in all typing. we type with insert standard. when you press insert, it turns insert off. originally, you pressed insert, yoru system froze, the screen moved all the text below it down, you typed what you wanted to go there, you pressed insert, it froze, it moved back. in later models, the insert function didnt freeze or move the text, it just let you type new stuff in next to instead of over. i dont see why insert would be different for dos if the key was based on the insert function. perhaps it was changed later on as a paste, on a program by program basis... but it is not traditionally a paste function. *conspiracy half killed*

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[LittleBigLui]

Counter theory: The only mechanical typewriter i've ever played with (was a kid at that time, so played is the right term) also had caps-lock right above shift. (Not to mention that shift lifted a big and heavy part of that typewriter around half a centimeter, so caps lock saved your pinky if you had to write more than one or two letters caps.)

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[maxwell demon]

I don't consider 'Ctrl+AltGr+8' easier than ESC (German keyboard layout!).

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[Anonymous Coward]

videre is 2nd conjugation, so you'll want videtur rather than viditur

cura ut valeas!

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[Anonymous Coward]

If by feature, you mean bug...........

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[Bazzargh]

I had one like that; the caps lock key actually required you press shift AND lock, as the lock key did exactly what it says: it inserted a little shim under the shift lever to lock it in place. Pressing lock again released the shim and the platen came back down with a deafening thud.

Its the platen (the roller) that got lifted, as the hammers on the typewriter look like this:

[a][b]
[A][B]
| |
| |

(except reversed!) so lifting the platen causes the upper-case letters to hit the ink ribbon instead of the lower-case letter.

When typing up reports I had to do it in a closed room upstairs while everyone else was watching telly, or I got complaints about the noise. You're dead right about the placement, anywhere else and the mechanics of what it was doing would have been difficult.

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[LittleBigLui]

Yeah it must have been exactly like this. Good thing someone with better memory explained it much better now.

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[binarytoaster]

I actually had one that did something like this. I think it had tab and backspace there, and I forget what the third key was. It's been a while since I have seen one like this, though.

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[brendan_orr]

Yes, but we emacs users do have doctor-mode:

I am the psychotherapist. Please, describe your problems. Each time you are finished talking, type RET twice.

should I listen to people on slashdot?

Why do you say should you listen to people on slashdot?

I don't know, that's why I am asking you!

Is it because you are asking I that you came to me?

eh?

Can you elaborate on that?

no, can you tell me what the hell you just said in clearer English?

I would appreciate it if you would watch your tongue!

blah!

Perhaps you could continue.

^X^C

Quite a waste of time :) ...but more wanted than that damn paper clip asking if I would like help writing a letter.

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[Anonymous Coward]

According to xev, the blank key sends NoSymbol, suitable for mapping to "void" in vim insert mode.... ;)

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[Anonymous Coward]

This is for all those folk who miss their Sun keyboards. I've never accidentally hit capslock on my Sparc!

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[Patik]

My "CapsLock" keys have the legend worn off of them, and one even has a groove from where my pinkie's fingernail hits it.

Are you this guy?

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[Crazy Eight]

I followed ForestGrump's link [see above] to Aeonsfx's page, and from there clicked a link to a vim.org forum entry. One poster there suggested mapping shift+space to escape which sounds very speedy and convenient.

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[Necr0maN]

my Sun type 5c board has the caps lock and control keys in the right place, I have also had them with the capslock-under-shift configuration. It just seems that from time to time you find one with the control-under-shift configuration, and I tend to hang on to those.

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[Necr0maN]

I have one that has the spacebar divided in two, and the left side of it is backspace, the right side is regular space...

It's nearly impossible to type on it since I tend to hit the spacebar with my left thumb, but I sense this must be useful if one can ever get used to it.

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[scruffy]

I do that, too, but I was using xmodmap. The change to xf86config will apply to all users.

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[pknoll]

There is also the option that I use:

Option "XkbOptions" "ctrl:nocaps"

This makes both the CapsLock and Control keys function as Control.

I'm happy since I can use CapsLock for Control, but when others sit at my board to drive, they're not messed up by the switch.

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[4of12]

Yes, I learned Emacs using a VT100 style keyboard before the IBM-PC keyboard became common.

The swap capslock and control is indispensible for me on a PC keyboard to avoid pinkie finger cramp.

Even better is just using one of these.

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[silicon not in the v]

As others have said, that's the One True Position for the control key. (Check Sun keyboards, for example.)

I think typing BLOCKQUOTE is about the only use I have for caps lock now. :) Really though, you mention the Sun keyboard thing, but Sun wasn't consistent with that. When I was in college, there were two UNIX labs next door to each other in one of the engineering buildings. Apparently one of them was a little newer than the other. The machines were about the same, but Sun had apparently made a keyboard switch during that time interval, so one lab had keyboards with the Control key next to A, and the other had the Caps Lock key next to A. That drove me crazy not being able to form a habit on either one. I couldn't always go to the same one because they would sometimes schedule one or the other lab for classes to use, so we couldn't always get in to work there. We were mainly using them for VHDL simulation programming, so there was a lot of Caps Lock usage. I don't remember if it was strictly case-necessary, or just for style.

At work, it is very frustrating, too that I have a switchable monitor hooked up to a Sun Solaris workstation and a Windows PC. One keyboard is on the desk and the other on a slide-out tray underneath. Having the Control and Caps Lock keys opposite on those two keyboards keeps me from getting used to either way.

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[Soul-Burn666]

Btw, don't get me wrong, VI is my editor of choise.

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[smeenz]

I grew up with an old 88 key XT keyboard. It had no separate arrow or home/end/ins/del/pgup/pgdn keys. That was what the numlock key was for. You turned ir on, and you got numbers on the numeric keypad. You turned it off, and you got the arrows and other navigation keys that you can still see printed on 10[12345] key keyboards today. I got pretty good with them, and it was years after I got my first 101 key keyboard before I started to use the separate arrow keys in preference to the numeric keypad. When playing games that require up/down/left/right control, I still prefer the numeric keypad, because I can get four fingers (okay, one finger is actually a thumb) onto the four keys at once. Try that with the new arrow key layout.

I mention this because the question of where the One True Location for the control key is, and lots of people seem to think it is easier to hit when located half way up the left side of the keyboard where the caps lock key is.

I disagree. To use it there, you have to use your little finger (pinkie for american readers), which limits the reach of your hand to somewhere around R,F and V. In contrast, if the control key is located at the bottom left and right of the keyboard, I can easily press it with the palm of either hand, leaving my fingers free to press any other alphanumeric key.

I guess if you use a real finger to press ctrl, then that would realy slow you down, but there are other parts of your extremeties, besides your fingertips, that can be used for data input.

I press left shift with the bent over end-section of my little/pinkie finger, for example (the finger is pulled in like it would if you make a fist with your hand. This position allows me access to all the keys up to T/H/N with my left hand, and the 'fist' position means I don't hit ctrl at the same time.

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[drinkypoo]

Interesting. My old boss Guntram blames his carpal on EMACS, and also ended up with a kinesis keyboard. Perhaps the strongest argument for vi is that it doesn't cause repetitive motion stress disorders as rapidly as emacs does :)

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[tehcyder]

In DOS Word the ESC key was used to access menus, which was always fantastically inconvenient for touch-typists.

Re:Swap caps lock and control

[zloof]

I got fed up with the Capslock about a year ago, plus I had basically worn out the keyboard, so I looked around for a new keyboard that I thought I would like and I stumbled accross this.

I'd say its the best keyboard I've ever owned. Very comfortable and it has the control key on the home row. Plus, it's got the escape key in the typical ~ location. Very handy.

For a coder - for a secretary.

[SharpFang]

For a coder it's pretty much useless. True you can write #define in caps, but that's about it.
But I watch people writing documents, papers, such stuff and now and then caps lock comes in handy when you need i.e. to write the institution name in all caps, put some extra notice or just change font to 72px and write a short anouncement like "NO SMOKING" or "WASH GLASS AFTER USE".

no, no!!

[big tex]

I use caps lock all the time at work.

I make lots of calculation sheets in excel - text in caps is consistent, easy to read at small print when you shrink big sheets down to size.

Also, in CAD caps is used pretty much exclusively. Once again, consistently and readability at small sizes.

uControl nixes Caps Lock on Mac OS X

[Limited Vision]

uControl is a nice little Mac OS X hack that disables/remaps Caps Lock and other modifier keys on PowerBooks.

I also used it to remap the "Enter" key to the right of the spacebar on my 15" TiBook to "Command" -- I have no clue why Apple thought that was a good idea, but uControl saved the day.

It's very well designed -- if it thinks there's going to be a conflict when booting into an upgraded OS it will disable itself (vs. barfing and causing a system panic...)

Re:uControl nixes Caps Lock on Mac OS X

[Anonymous Coward]

i'm pretty sure that the extraneous enter on the powerbook keyboards is for use with the pseudo-numpad. can't say for sure cause i can't use that numpad feature since the keys are kinda crooked. it's an annoying button though, cause it works as enter all the time (ie, not just when the numlock is on).

OMG WTF STFU RTFM LOL!!!!!!111!!!!1!!1!!

[VisorGuy]

That about sums it up...
Caps lock is virtually useless.

Not that necessary

[challahc]

I think it could easily be replaced with a two key combo. Maybe hold both shifts to toggle it.

I use it sometimes to see if my windows machine is dead or if it's just really slow. Usually if the Caps Lock light doesn't toggle on/off it's time for a hard reset. Of course there is allways num-lock for that.

I think the least useful lock is the scroll lock.

I LOVE MY CAPS LOCK

[caffeinefiend]

There is no reason to remove the Caps Lock key, I for one love it. How else is one to effectively flame someone?? I think we can all agree "YOU ARE AN IDIOT" is much more compelling than "you are an idiot"!

What writers?

[patniemeyer]

As both a developer and a writer I have to say that I don't think I've ever used the caps lock in my life... And it frustrates me to no end that I cannot reliably map it to control on all platforms because of the damned stickiness.

Pat Niemeyer
Author of Learning Java, Exploring java, O'Reilly & Associates.

A easy fix...

[Anonymous Coward]

Just pop the key off and cut the snub

OH YEA, MAKE SURE ITS OFF FIRST...

Are you retarded?

[JNighthawk]

Shift key.

Happy Hacking

[yet another coward]

Use the Happy Hacking keyboard. It has no Caps Lock. Its Control key is in the right place.

Re:Happy Hacking

[Anonymous Coward]

Wheres the F-keys?

Personally I think Logitech's Elite Keyboard is the best.

Re:Happy Hacking

[Anonymous Coward]

The F-keys? Who cares about those, where are the CURSOR keys???!?

Re:Happy Hacking

[Anonymous Coward]

No, the Control key is in the very very wrong place.

Re:Happy Hacking

[tuffy]

Look closer. The numbers double as F-keys when used with the Fn key, and the arrow keys are under the [ ; ' / keys. As I recall, the left alt can also be mapped to the Fn key. Fn+tab can also function as a caps lock, but I've never missed having a physical key for it.

And the Control key is in the right spot, just like on the old Sparc keyboards I used to use.

Re:Happy Hacking

[Anonymous Coward]

I have a Happy Hacking keyboard and I don't like it much. The keys feel mushy, like a cheapo $5 keyboard, and it's too minimalist for my taste. Also, the alt, fn and compose keys are way too small. My current keyboard is an IBM Model M -- yes, the one that sounds like a machine gun and weighs as much as one.

I remapped the Caps Lock key to be a Left Control, and also put Escape left of the "1" key. The old Escape key closes the current window. Now I'm in business.

Re:Happy Hacking

[Eideewt]

It's much like typing, but without the efficiency. I'd rather use a thumb keyboard. Wait, look at the control key! From the looks of things, it defaults to alt. I imagine some key combos must be rather difficult, since control and alt are on the same key.

Re:Happy Hacking

[CanadianCrackPot]

Good Lord I hate it when the control key is in that spot. All the time I had to do programming in my schools learning center (University Computer Science) I'd keep going for control and hit caps (these were sun keyboards), so not everyone would be happy with that kind of a switch.

Re:Happy Hacking

[dwerg]

There is a version with cursor keys.

Re:Happy Hacking

[RisingSon]

I've been using the Happy Hacking keyboard for about 3 years now. I spend most of my day in vim, so the HH treats me very well. Amazingly enough, when I'm using a "normal" keyboard, I have no problems immediatly switching my mind back to non-HH mode.

Another advantage is that it keeps others at work from using my PC. They see the keyboard, get intimidated and ask me to do things. This seems like it wouldn't be a problem - especially with WindowMaker. That keeps away most people. But my boss loves using other peoples computers for some reason. Very annoying.

I do miss the keypad at times.

Re:Happy Hacking

[carwyn]

I have one of these and am very happy with it. The best feature is the lack of numeric key pad. This means that the mouse is some 4" closer to the keyboard which is much more comfortable. They keys are all full size and have full travel. The Mk2 at least doesn't feel tacky at all, on the contrary it's one of the better built keyboards I've used. Other subtle benefits:

• Much larger shift key on the left (than UK keyboards at least).
• Backspace key is closer to home row.
• Control is closer to home row.
• Escape is much closer to home row.
• PgUp, PgDn, Home, End are in a more logical inverted 'T' layout (function key used to alter functionality of directional keys).

It's pitched as a "hacker" keyboard as anyone using Emacs or Vi (especially Vi) will notice their hands moving less than with most keybaords.

Re:Happy Hacking

[carwyn]

Look at the last picture on this page. There's a function key to get to the "F" keys and the Mk2 has cursor keys at the bottom right.

AutoCAD

[Anonymous Coward]

The convention at my workplace is to use all caps in the body of the drawings for text, not to mention all the various documentation that I need to fill out on a daily basis. Saves my pinkies a lot of wear and tear.

CAPS LOCK KEY IS IN THE WRONG PLACE

[billstewart]

Coders of old? I resemble that remark! The Caps Lock key on PC keyboards is where the Control key belongs. I've occasionally had programs that would remap it to be an extra control key, or at least to beep without doing anything else, but unfortunately every version of Windows seems to do something else to kill that, or I can't find one to reinstall when my hard drive flakes.

Re:CAPS LOCK KEY IS IN THE WRONG PLACE

[Anonymous Coward]

Amen to that.

The military use it

[moderators_are_w*nke]

The military write everything in caps. Goes back to the days when they only had teleprinters which could only do caps.

Re:The military use it

[Dun Malg]

The military write everything in caps. Goes back to the days when they only had teleprinters which could only do caps.

A funnt thing happened to me once in the military regarding the ALL CAPS thing. I was a 98C - SIGINT Analyst. Most of what I dealt with was typewritten hardcopy from either Voice Intercept/Translators (98G) or Morse Code Interceptors (05H). The morse code intercept guys would type everything in caps. First thing they'd do upon sitting down was hit the CAPS LOCK. I once asked one of them if he could type lowercase for me because it made it easier to differentiate letters and numbers. He said "Nope. We always do uppercase." I asked him why, and he said "'cause it comes in as uppercase."* I never asked again.

* morse code is just letters-- it has no case.

Re:The military use it

[benj_e]

Yeah, the Hogs were crazy. I was an 05G (the buddy fuckers). The 05H barracks at Devens had a big ass pig painted by the CQ desk. They had nice looking chicks though.

Re:The military use it

[Dun Malg]

Yeah, the Hogs were crazy. I was an 05G (the buddy fuckers).

Heh. One of those bastard COMSEC guys, eh? I heard they rolled you guys into 97G...

The 05H barracks at Devens had a big ass pig painted by the CQ desk.

Hah! I heard about that! I went to the F8 school (Tactical Intel Analysis) at Devens and used to hang out with those poor 05H slobs. Fun thing to do to Dit-Dahs while drinking: lightly tap the tabletop in an irregular pattern, slowly getting louder and louder. They won't notice at first, but soon they'll start twitching, trying to decode the morse code that isn't there and type it on a typewriter that's not in front of them.

They had nice looking chicks though.

What was the deal with that? They were pretty hot when I was there too. I was there in '88. You?

Re:The military use it

[benj_e]

COMSEC rulez! I remember one intercept I had, where some chick called a guy. She was married to a guy he worked with and was having an affair with this dude. We listened for a while (couldn't tape it), and then turned on the timer tones. Gawd, I thought they were going to have a heart attack. Majorly funny.

Re:The military use it

[red floyd]

Though, later data systems (cf. TACFIRE) used 6-bit ASCII, and were constrained to upper case.

Caps Lock and friends

[drgonzo59]

I never use caps-lock except back with windows 98 to test if the sytem totally froze. If it is so bad that the keyboard driver doesn't even get to run it's interrupt to switch the little light, it's time to restart. But with keys like Scroll Lock and Pause, even the Windows key - they are just as useless for me. I guess I am too lazy to find out how to remap them, I'd rather have them gone and have a bigger control key or a programmable macro key like some keyboards have.

Off the top of my head...

[wviperw]

Caps lock is still useful for a variety of things. It can be used to differentiate text from other text (much like bold and italicize do). I use caps to in domain names as well (just as tradition I guess). And FORTRAN still uses caps (or at least, it is better w/ caps). Now Scroll Lock on the other hand...

convert case

[SuperBanana]

Writers and layout people use cap lock all the time. Most will use it from time to time in standard word processing

Most serious page layout and word processing programs have a "convert case" function which handles most forms of capitalization. Title style, all caps, all lower, start only.

That said, I think gamers(run/walk control) are probably more common. Well, and WebTV users(the "new" AOL users)

Re:convert case

[bug_hunter]

But nobody ever walks in 3D person shooters when there's a run option anyway.
The key is quickly running out of friends.

Re:convert case

[y0bhgu0d]

unless, say, the game requires stealth sometimes.
like No One Lives Forever and its sequels.

Re:convert case

[one4nine4two]

That's when you hold down shift. I think it's a bit dangerous to toggle walk, because when you accidentally walk into a big group of enemies, you're gonna panic and try to run away... very slowly. It should be an active process.

Re:convert case

[y0bhgu0d]

shift scrolls through the inventory. as far as i know there is no "walk while i hold this button" button

Remap the key, keep the functionality.

[rusty0101]

Having a predelection towards holding onto and repairing old hardware, I have a couple of old typewriters. (Including ones where to type the number 1, you use the lowercase L key, because there is no '1' key.)

In most cases the 'Caps Lock' key takes two fingers to engage, and one to disengage. Mostly the two fingers are required because the mechinism is so disused that the key doesn't want to respond, but in any case it is a heavy key to use. To disengage the Caps Lock feature you hit the Shift key.

I would suggest that the Caps Lock key on it's own be treated as a Meta key, or Escape key, however if you do a 'Shift'-'Caps Lock' combination it engages the caps-lock, and if you hit and release 'Shift' again without another key (or perhaps with only a letter key) it drops the Caps Lock status.

Granted I suspect that most typists who learned on mechanical and early electric typewriters have adjusted to the computer keyboard, so you probably are not going to 'impress' anyone with the feature, but it would make sense as a result.

Just a thought....

-Rusty

Re:Remap the key, keep the functionality.

[Trillan]

Maybe rename the key entirely, but keep the caps lock behavior for when both shift keys are pressed at the same time.

Re:Remap the key, keep the functionality.

[iphayd]

why not go one step further, get rid of the caps lock key completely and lock the caps if both shifts are pressed.

Yes!

[Aurora NS]

YES! Caps lock IS dead! The only use is being able to easily tell who's on AOL on IRC...

Re:for actually using a computer (writing document

[colinramsay]

"Notice the capital "N" at the start of this sentence."

Yeah I see it. You're surely not suggesting that you used the caps lock key for that little "N" are you? If you are then not on is that a truly awful example of why caps lock is useful, it also shows that you have no idea of how to efficiently use your keyboard.

Re:for actually using a computer (writing document

[Nykon]

but isn't there a SHIFT key right under the CAPS lock? I'd think for capitalizing the first letter of a word, it's be easier to hit SHIFT then to toggle CAPS LOCK on and then off to finish the rest of the word?

scraping the bottom of the barrel!

[bratgrrl]

This is one sad excuse of a story. Aren't there any leftover SCO blurbs to fill in?

Re:scraping the bottom of the barrel!

[spazoid12]

Mod parent up before CmdrTaco dupes this sorry crappy story. (you know he will)

Re:scraping the bottom of the barrel!

[UserAlreadyExists]

Did you use your Caps Lock to type "SCO"?

Re:scraping the bottom of the barrel!

[Anonymous Coward]

SCO ARE weenies
Microsoft ARE thugs

Where did you learn your grammar from, the back of a cereal box?

adhesive strip

[l0wp0ly]

I take new keyboards apart and place adhesive strip where the caps lock key rubber hits the circuit. Could I remap? Of course.

Some of us still use it

[talis1691]

Those of us poor schmos who are still writing in assmebler love it. I think it stays on all day when writing code.

slow news day?

[dubiousdave]

You know it's a slow news day when slashdot is opening debate on the relevance of the capslock key. It's a topic that never occurred to me.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Square one

[DarkVein]

Personally, I love remapping ctrl to the capslock space. I have two USB keyboards with CTRL just under TAB. I love it.

However, the keyboard should probably be entirely rethought. Control? Shift? Alt? I've kind of fallen in love with the Apple keyboard's Option, Command, Control and Shift. Now I can type en dashes, em dashes, ligerature, greater/less than equals to, both right and left double and single quotes, and quote braces. This is all stuff that you should be able to do on a standard keyboard without contrievances. Yet, I can still realize the Mac keyboard is suboptimal. It's an improvement, but it could be so much more.

However, it'd just be dandy if we replaced the standard PC keyboard with the Mac Keyboard (with all 15 function keys!), and replaced the capslock with either Command (place-of-interest glyph) or Control.

Better use..

[ToasterTester]

Caps Lock == Popup fave online pizza order form.
Shift Caps Lock == start coffee pot.
alt-Caps Lock == toggle office lights.
ctrl-Caps Lock == popup vi and kill nmap.
atl-ctrl-shift Caps lock == ignite thermite and melt hard drive.

It can be useful

[cockroach2]

On the swiss german keyboard, Caps Lock + ä gives you Ä (similar for ö and ü) while SHIFT-ä is à. That's the only use for it I can think of.

Caps lock

[Silik0n]

Sure you can kill the Capslock for PC based stuff, but there's still a ton of legacy apps that require cap's lock... there are even apps out there that require you to actually know the commands are no help available at all.

One of Sun's truly good achievements in computing

[Anonymous Coward]

Make the caps-lock key your *control* key. Put the *alt* key down the bottom left corner of your keyboard (where your Ctrl might currently be). You will be MUCH happier. This layout is typically known as the "Sun keyboard" and it is _awesome_, I have used it for years and am very, very glad I made the switch.

for fucks sake,

[Anonymous Coward]

hasn't any body in the uk ever typed their postcode?
For you americans, a uk post code is all caps and numbers, like SW6 4EX.
The caps lock makes this easy to type.

The real question.

[programgeek]

Well, does it's purpose suit it's position next to the biggies, such as the "a" key, tab, and shift? I think not. Perhaps we can actually remove caps, move tab down, and move esc next to 1. There, case closed.

as/400

[l33t_shaggs]

alot of my users keep their stupid caps lock on in as/400. So when I plop down to fix something, i've always gotta turn it off.

Re:as/400

[Duhavid]

In what state do they keep the smart caps lock key in?

I loved the 5250 terminal keyboards. 24 function keys.

it sould be replaced by..

[lc_overlord]

For Windows: instant reboot of system key.
For Mac: a second mousebutton replacement key.
For Linux: play that anoying sound clip of linus pronoucing linux key.

Well...

[jdoe407]

Well... it still has more of a purpose then the scroll lock key. http://users.aol.com/elmothecow/scrollock/scroloff .htm is a good example of scroll lock's main function.

german umlauts

[Anonymous Coward]

I use it to write the capital german umlauts (Ü Ä Ö)

Is Caps Lock Dead?

[Anonymous Coward]

NO, but the notion of slashdot reporting news is!

Without CAPS LOCK...

[Anonymous Coward]

How can we type like ZIPPY???

I still use it from time to time...

[Trillan]

Every now and then, I download something to disable it and then find I miss it. But yes, I use it more often by mistake than on purpose.

I've often thought it should require an extra key to activate, such as shift. Shift-capslock to turn it on, capslock again to turn it off. Best of both worlds. Alternatively, it could just be moved to somewhere other than the home row.

Our use of caps lock

[AtariKee]

I'm a real estate appraiser, and we type out our reports in all caps. Due to the amount of work we do and the nature of our reporting, typing in caps just makes things a whole lot easier.

Oh No!

[mancontr]

My CaPs LoCk Is BlInKiNg AnD i DoN't KnOw WhY nOr HoW tO fIx It!!!

Character Codes

[Detritus]

Many of the old character codes, such as Baudot (5-bit) and the various 6-bit character codes, were upper-case only. The military used Baudot for many decades. Do they still use it for RTTY links?

Re:Character Codes

[Anonymous Coward]

Many of the old character codes, such as Baudot (5-bit) and the various 6-bit character codes, were upper-case only.

Not to mention Morse.

The military used Baudot for many decades. Do they still use it for RTTY links?

I do not know, but I would guess so. Use standard 7-bit or 8-bit ASCII and the enemy will have some information about every 8th bit. He will also know that certain characters almost never appear in messages. These may provide enough of a crib to allow a break.

Why keyboard?

[azatht]

I would ask this question instead: Why are we still using keyboard and mouse? Havn't all those voice-reccon software gain better? and havn't we also touchscreens?

i got an idea

[fresh27]

replace it with one of those cool looking xbox "jewels" that are so useful for filling in vacant space

A quick tip for Linux users, caps to control

[Anonymous Coward]

Here's a way to turn you Linux PC keyboard to function like a classic Unix style keyboard.

Execute the command

loadkeys -d

It will tell you what the default keymap is. You will usually find the map itself in the directory

/lib/kbd/keymaps/i386/qwerty/

Edit that map file and modify this line:

keycode 58 = Caps_Lock

change it to this:

keycode 58 = Control

Then use the command loadkeys -d to load the new map.

I USE IT

[pizza_milkshake]

CAPS LOCK IS GREAT FOR YELLING!!!1 OTHERWISE I'D HAVE TO TYPE WITH ONE HAND ON THE SHIFT KEY. LOLZ!?!!11111ONEONE

but seriously, i just wrote this line to get past the lameness filter.

Re:for actually using a computer (writing document

[scottmartinnet]

I was helping to teach a typing class in school and there was a kid who did precisely that. He thought that the shift key was broken on all the keyboards he had used because when he pressed the shift and letter key simultaneously (not shift before the letter), it usually came out lowercase. I tried to get him to stop, but the habit had already become ingrained. He's probably still doing it years later.

Sun-style keyboards.

[Anonymous Coward]

I like the Sun-style, which is like a PC's, but caps lock and control have switched places. If you've used this layout enough, you know that that is the "Right Place" for control.

For my PC, I bought a PS/2 keyboard with a Sun-style layout, and for my laptop, I have rebound caps lock to control.

Re:for actually using a computer (writing document

[atarione]

MY BAD, I ADMIT I WAS OUT FOR A BIT LAST NIGHT, and I'm not in top form i indeed got mixed up with the SHIFT KEY.

I appologize to Slashdot and to the "Shift Key" for any Confusion on my part.... again my bad.

in a pinch caps lock might work as a "ANY" key???

Re:Caps Lock? Who cares about Caps Lock?

[Anonymous Coward]

Not to mention that pointless Windows key...

Re:for actually using a computer (writing document

[dottedlinedesign]

I think you read the article wrong man. You couldn't possibly use Caps Lock everytime you uppercased a letter. That's almost as bad as turning off your car everytime you come to a stoplight.

Re:Caps Lock? Who cares about Caps Lock?

[silverfuck]

Whilst scroll lock is merely useless, capslock is useless AND (note I held shift there without even thinking) irritating as hell. How many times in a week do you use caps lock? How many times do you hit it accidentaly? Even worse for those of us who don't touch-type (not because I can't, mind, just I prefer to see the keys), you don't notice for a whole sentence or more...

Num Lock

[Fred Or Alive]

It's NumLock that's the really stupid one. Especially computers that start up with it off (at one point Windows 2000 liked to reset the NumLock status to Off every time I started up - Arghhh!), I just expect it always to be on (like Macs), as a numerical pad is more useful than replicating the set of keys immediately to the left. It's a relic from really old PC keyboards, and only really useful nowadays on notebooks, where it serves a slightly different purpose.

Although i don't use the number pad that much, but it annoys when I find I've been typing stupid arrow keys instead of numbers. I should note I also use Macs, which don't have NumLock at all, so that might be part of my problem. ;-)

Now, can someone explain what Scroll Lock actually does? :-)

Re:Num Lock

[thorgil]

Scroll Lock.

Often used as "shift" key for arrow keys.
When locked, arrows move spreadsheet instead of moving cursor as an example. /T

Re:Num Lock

[hendot]

The best bit about num lock on a mac is that it is a "clear" key.
Anyone who has done a few calculations in a row on the windows calculator would know that it sux changing between mouse and keypad to clear the previous calculation.

Re:Num Lock

[dk.r*nger]

Press the ESC ... sure it's a long way from the numerical keyboard, but it's there...

Macros!

[Zombie]

Doesn't anybody program in C anymore? Has Slashdot degraded to an audience of non-programmers? The convention is to use caps for macro names, and they tend to be very long because they're global, so they'll need a namespace identifier, and descriptive.

Re:Macros!

[Jeremy Erwin]

Macros are unsafe. You should use a combination of const variables and templates.

Re:Macros!

[Cmdr TECO]

Templates? Doesn't anyone program in C anymore?

Re:Macros!

[maxwell demon]

Real programmers don't use descriptive names, that's only for Quiche-Eaters! :-)

Engineering Drawings

[pipingguy]

95.84% of all engineering drawings (for bridges, airplanes, refineries, etc.) use all caps. Even though we textually shout at the fabricators/contruction guys, every now and then someone installs a checkvalve backwards or forgets to grout some 10,000# machinery.

I figure the original forced use of caps on these drawings is (was) to force the draftsmen to raise the writing instrument for each letter, so as to avoid the sloppy penmanship that usually accompanies cursive.

Re:Engineering Drawings

[starling]

Even though we textually shout at the fabricators/contruction guys, every now and then someone installs a checkvalve backwards or forgets to grout some 10,000# machinery.

Y'know that could be because ALL CAPS is harder to comprehend than lower case. I don't have a link but I've definitely heard of studies that prove this.

Maybe it's time to rethink the standard now that engineering drawings are computer printed and handwriting isn't such an issue.

Re:Engineering Drawings

[pipingguy]

Y'know that could be because ALL CAPS is harder to comprehend than lower case [...]
Maybe it's time to rethink the standard now that engineering drawings are computer printed and handwriting isn't such an issue.

You may well be right, but keep in mind that reading, interpreting and understanding an engineering drawing is not exactly designed to be "light reading" where you can grasp the gist by scanning the text.

Re:Engineering Drawings

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, I think it's because ALL CAPS is more readable when low quality copies are made: blueprints/bluelines, faxes or microfilms.

The smaller features of lower case get muddy faster.

I use ALL CAPS daily, and wasn't proud of it, until now!

Re:Engineering Drawings

[Anonymous Coward]

"95.84% of all engineering drawings (for bridges, airplanes, refineries, etc.) use all caps"

I read it was 95.67%... can you provide a citation? ;-)

Re:Engineering Drawings

[starling]

I think caps are more amibigous in poor quality copies. For example, B and 8 can look very similar.

The smaller features of lower case get muddy faster.

True, but those features are more varied than the ones used in upper case, so they're less likely to be mis-recognised. The difference between O and Q is much less than that between o and q. Sure there are counter-examples like i and l, but I think lower case has the edge.

Re:Engineering Drawings

[starling]

True, and when you're reading, say, a part number it's important to get each character right. A simple change which reduces the chance of error sounds like a no-brainer.

Re:Engineering Drawings

[grocer]

Actually, they are all caps to maintain spacing...i.e. it's easier to hand letter all caps than a mix of upper and lower case so that all letters are the same size.

In theory, every letter and number should occupy the same size rectangle (at a ratio of 1:3, iirc) on a blue print...even if it's hand lettered. However, even CAD drawings don't necessarily follow this rule and I've seen a couple jobs that seem to be detailed on napkins...

Re:Engineering Drawings

[pipingguy]

In theory, every letter and number should occupy the same size rectangle

All the best designs start out with napkineering.

I suppose (your theory) that's why kerning is important. Not that I know a lot about the presentation of the printed word, but sometimes it just "looks wrong".

MySQL

[Anonymous Coward]

and queries in different SQLs use caps for formatting, eg.

INSERT INTO table WHERE id = 'xxx';

It's not absolutely necessary for the query to work but it is the generally accepted style, and for a long query that means a lot of typing with the shift key.

Insert Key

[hendot]

I think that damn insert key should go before caps lock.

Re:Insert Key

[thorgil]

No way... I use the insert key daily...

mark text
Ctrl+Ins = Copy

Shift+ins = Paste.

Works in most programs on both windows and linux...
---

Re:Insert Key

[Pidder]

and why would you use that instead of ctrl+c, ctrl+v? Why use two hands when you can use one?

Re:Insert Key

[Anonymous Coward]

It trace it back to my old days doing 68K asm with DOS edit and I'm pretty sure borland pascal and c IDEs (the ones in turbovision) were using shit-ins / ctrl-ins as well. This was the standard.

Now I'm using XP at work and this crazy mofo sometimes refuses to copy/paste with anything but ctrl-c / ctrl-v. So after what, nearly 15 years? microsoft tells me to piss off and use the new and improved ctrl sequences. Oh! did I mention, those (I mean ctrl-c) have a completely different meaning in unix? ctrl-s as well... I say... conspiracy!!!!!

Re:Insert Key

[toddestan]

Because hitting Ctrl-C on Dvorak can be a pain in the ass?

Re:Insert Key

[mlippert]

ctrl-ins (copy), shift-ins (paste) and shift-del (cut) only need one hand (your right) to press on a normal keyboard.

And it's way easier to use them with my right hand when my left hand is on the mouse!

It is very aggravating when I have to use some application that doesn't support those keystrokes.

Mike

Re:Insert Key

[mlippert]

As I implied above, the ctrl x,c and v are just fine if you're right handed, and use the mouse with your right hand, but when you use the mouse w/ your left hand they are a real pain, and ctrl-ins, shift-ins and shift-del are the way to go being much easier to press with your right hand while using the mouse w/ your left.

Applications really should support both.

Used every day at work in Oracle

[gramernatsi]

Every single day of work, I enter data into an Oracle database window. My company has standardized on ALL CAPS for its data entry, so everything in the database is in caps. It's very eighties; look for it at a corporation near you.

So yes, I still need the button, but I'd give my left pinky to be rid of it.

COBOL isnt dead

[Tr0mBoNe-]

Someone said that COBOL was the only real language to use the lock, and that's almost true. But hey we can all forget FORTRAN, ADA, and even ASM or asembler was first written all in caps.

My univeristy still teaches a course in COBOL, its the first data processing course and it really was useful. Mainly because most major corperations that have mainframes still use COBOL for their data warehouses.

COBOL ain't dead... well... it may be. but it's still warm.

and where would we be without the all caps flame wars of the fark forums and irc??

Re:COBOL isnt dead

[khuber]

The mainframe editors I've seen like ISPF edit capitalize everything without needing caps lock.

Re:COBOL isnt dead

[Alsee]

COBOL ain't dead... well... it may be. but it's still warm.

Sounds like someone hasn't been attending to their Necrophilaic's Anonymous meetings.

-

Re:COBOL isnt dead

[speighd]

I'm not quite dead yet!

Look at monster.com or other job sites.
COBOL still has some life left.

Re:COBOL isnt dead

[Tr0mBoNe-]

yeah... we programmers are quite... interesting.

Some people don't give it two thoughts, but my school is quite buisness oriented, so our profs know that the buisness world does indeed use COBOL still.

and any program that takes ~40 lines of code to open a file and print its contents is great for me!

Re:for actually using a computer (writing document

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, yes, I use SHIFT whenever I need to type a small letter when Caplock is on. Is SHIFT useful for anything else?

I use it.

[mooredav]

In fact, I'm developing an application right now that requires Caps Lock.

Press CAPS LOCK to proceed.

Press SCROLL LOCK to cancel.

Please don't take my CAPS away from me!

Re:I use it.

[Sax Maniac]

Excellent... as long you make sure to put CAPS LOCK on the left!

Re:I use it.

[manduwok]

I actually wrote a program using both Caps and Scroll Lock in my Intro to Assembler class once. The gist was that it read the Caps, Scroll, and Shift registers and told you if they were depressed or not. The only way to break the loop and exit the program was to press a certain combination of shift, Caps Lock, and Scroll Lock. A rather useless program, but it served its purpose (reading and interpreting registers).

Re:for actually using a computer (writing document

[tftp]

What if he types with only one finger?

Re:Caps Lock? Who cares about Caps Lock?

[localroger]

My KVM switch uses Scroll Lock (hit twice within 1/2 second) to enable the other keys for switching machines. If we don't have some useless keys on the keyboard, devices like my KVM switch would have to hijack functions I actually use once in awhile, which would be annoying.

Re:OMG! (too much trouble)

[$$$$$exyGal]

The caps lock key *is* useful, but it is more trouble than it is worth. Do you know what the #1 tech support answer for everything is?:

"Ok sir, your password is not working? Ok then, have you tried turning off your caps lock? Yes sir, the caps lock key. That's a key on the left side of the middle of your keyboard. Try pressing it once and then typing in your password again. Working now? Very good sir, have a good day."

Productivity in the US may increase by 10% if we got rid of the stupid thing. If you *need* to type in all caps, pick a menu-option in your word processor or other application.

switch it with left ctrl

[Anonymous Coward]

Caps lock is in a very easy to reach position, making it a perfect place for a ctrl key (on sun keyboards it is a ctrl key). So, just remap the caps lock to a ctrl and the left ctrl to the caps lock. That way you don't lose the caps lock but a much more frequently used key gets a easier to reach position on the keyboard.

I definitely use it.

[Icephreak1]

I actually include the capslock key in my touch typing. It's kinda hard juggling left and right shift when typing strings of capital letters.

- IP

Not the scroll lock key!

[eRacer1]

Without the scroll lock key I'd have to crawl under the desk and press a button on my KVM every time I needed to switch computers.

Re:Caps Lock? Who cares about Caps Lock?

[iswm]

Hitting the scroll lock button twice makes my KVM toggle between computers. Still a pretty useful button for me.

Remapping? Think analog!

[SpamJunkie]

I rip the damn key off my keyboards. That way I can't accidentally hit it and I am still compatible with other people's keyboards.

Nigerian business men

[jlar]

Of course caps lock is still necessary. I receive lots of emails from Nigerian business men in all capital letters. Without caps lock it would be terribly difficult for them to write all these excellent business proposals.

The Military, for starters

[Akardam]

I'm a navy reservist, and although the Navy and the other branches of the armed forces are moving towards computerization of almost every aspect of information management, oft times you'll find that because of some arcane requirement for filling out a form or other type of data entry, you're required to use all caps. However, in many cases, the program that was written to replace forms with this requirement won't enforce the capitalization, much less actually automatically capitalize everything. You say it's dumb, I say it's dumb, and all the staff we have say it's dumb. But, in the mean time, they have to live with it, and having the caps lock key makes it all the more bearable.

Re:The Military, for starters

[Linegod]

If you would have been awake during the Message Drafting course, you would know that your system ties into an international network. The network in some places is quite old, so your message is automagically translated to an old teletype system. These systems are 'CAPS ONLY'.

Not having to know if it is going to go internal or external is a good thing. It's called a standard, get use to it.

What about users?

[Anonymous Coward]

You may not use it, but I've seen many a user who does. What if you're sending an old style TELEX? Or entering PART NUMBERS into an inventory system?

2nd shift

[SmileR.se]

Ive made mine into a 2nd shift key with the following code in my ~/.Xmodmap:

remove lock = Caps_Lock
add shift = Caps_Lock

Now if I hit it by accident I wont even notice :)

Re:for actually using a computer (writing document

[sholden]

A person I used to work with typed like that, they would hit caps-lock,key,caps-lock to type a single capital letter.

They were a much better typist then me, and it didn't seem to do too much harm.

I always thought about how annoying it must be for them to login on systems which pop up a little tool tip or something whenever caps locks is on when typing in the password field.

SCREAMING!!!!

[danZenie]

i use it for screaming at those FBI guys in IRC. and also for my lil' jon moments.

WHAATT!!! OKAYYYY!!!

Sun6 usb keyboard

[SHEENmaster]

On my Sun keyboard, a control key is in the same place a PC keyboard would have its caps-lock. Caps-lock is to the left of alt, where a PC would have it's control key.

It's not dead

[BradNelson]

Trust me. I work in customer service and handle emails from old people using a computer for the first time.
CAPS LOCK IS NOT DEAD. BUT IT CERTAINLY SHOULD BE.

Re:Caps Lock? Who cares about Caps Lock?

[fuvm]

My Apple keyboard has no silly Scroll Lock button.

Scroll Lock is now a KVM button

[apankrat]

Scroll Lock is used by modern Linksys and Belkin KVMs to either switch between the machines (for 2-node KVMs) or to enter KVM console mode. And it's certainly a better choice compared to the older Ctrl-Ctrl switching sequence.

CapsLock on other hand is not only useless, it occupies valuable real estate under a left pinky. So, let's stay on the subject, shall we ? :)

Re:Scroll Lock is now a KVM button

[BJH]

Maybe it's better if you're using a 2-node KVM, but for switches that can handle four, Ctrl-Ctrl is better.
The reason is that double Left-Ctrl takes you "leftwise" through the connected machines, and double Right-Ctrl takes you "rightwise".

Re:No!

[and by]

You do realize that you used uppercase "I" many times in that, right?

Here's the official way of remapping keys:

[Futurepower(R)]

Here's the official way of remapping keys in Windows XP and Windows 2003 Server:

1) Download the Resource Kit Tools.

2) Run Remapkey.exe to Remap the Windows Keyboard Layout anyway you want.

For some very strange reason, this sometimes does not work reliably in a DOS window when using a PS/2 to USB converter for the keyboard. Since the remapping is done at a fundamental level, the failure is difficult to understand.

Re:Here's the official way of remapping keys:

[connorbd]

It's incredibly easy to do on MacOS Classic -- a ResEdit hack on whatever KCHR resource you're using at the time. There's even a nice graphical editor mode. Unfortunately, ResEdit is no longer supported, and ResEdit 3 (for Copland) was never completed. And I actually don't know how to do it on OS X, though it can't be that hard -- probably an XML file somewhere, or maybe they're still using KCHRs.

Re:Here's the official way of remapping keys:

[Anonymous Coward]

The behaviour of the caps lock key on ADB keyboards (like those built in to all apple laptops) is a bit broken, as it does not send a normal key release signal to the keyboard handler. This means that considerable trickery is required to correctly map caps lock to a modifier key.

uControl is the only utility that can correctly remap the caps lock key on all OS X based computers.

Re:Here's the official way of remapping keys:

[juca2]

"Since the remapping is done at a fundamental level, the failure is difficult to understand" Dude. Read carefully: Windows XP and Windows 2003 Server. DOS Window. What's so difficult to understand?

Re:Here's the official way of remapping keys:

[John Starks]

What's so difficult to understand is that DOS is now emulated by Windows. So it should obey the same keymappings. Dude.

Think of the children

[tisme]

If you are teaching young children how to type on computers, you would almost certainly still find a use for caps lock.

While some of them can handle Shift + letter, many of them rely on Caps Lock to get a capital letter through, especially when they are just getting started.

Thats the way it has been done till now...

[howman]

The question of should the key be removed or moved as well as is it still useful can't be easily answered. As with any system there are always a number of people who love it or hate it, use it or abuse it. From an engenering point of view if it ain't broke don't fix it comes to mind. From a vernacular point of view, people have always had it there above the shift key, ever since the time of manual type writers, and messing with something that has become standard for most people is a no no unless you are redefining the vernacular. For example, changing a phone pad to a calculator layout would be a no no, and would just confuse the majority of non-iwannahaveittobedifferent types, but creating a whole new juggle scroll a la iPod, ok.
I have to admit it causes me no end of hassle as I use TAB all the time and am constantly hitting Caps Lock by accident.
I just wish it had a click on click off feel to it like the old type writers rather than just a silly light. At least that way it would take a little effort to get it to engage and /or would provide some tactile feedback that the key is being pressed or is depressed.
Well I should shut up now as I am not likely to build a new keyboard.

Um...

[Anonymous Coward]

...so, what, your shift keys don't work?

WHAT IS THIS CAPS LOCK YOU SPEAK OF?

[Anonymous Coward]

PLEASE EXPLAIN

I use it.

[hardcode57]

It's convienient when you're typing with a mug of coffee in one hand and you've got a capitalised string to enter.

CAPS LOCK EXISTED BEFORE COMPUTERS

[Anonymous Coward]

All typewriters have CAPS LOCK. Thus,CAPS LOCK was not invented for programming, just for typing. Besides, less than 1% of computer users are programmers. This is a tiny minority which is irrelevant. The question is if the majority of computer users want to have it removed. I think the answer is no: Typewriters had CAPS LOCK for over a hundred years, why should it be removed from computers?

Re:CAPS LOCK EXISTED BEFORE COMPUTERS

[Cmdr TECO]

Actually, they had shift lock. Caps lock would be a mechanical nightmare. Shift lock is MORE $#*%&! USEFUL anyway. (And no, I don't want to know what that means in Perl.)

JCL

[philbowman]

Not only COBOL on the mainframes - JCL still fails if you write most of it in lower case, only now it has some capabilities (HFS, for example) which can be case-sensitive, you can't always just use use CAPS ON. Caps Lock is therefore the way to go.

Caps Lock still needed

[Anonymous Coward]

Unfortunatly, there are some companies using antiquated software(I work for one). It's something to do with purchasing thousands of licenses for newer software that really doesn't do much more than we do now for databasing. Anyhow,The software we have actually requires all caps or the information crossing between applications will create errors.

Re:OMG! (too much trouble)

[Ieshan]

I'm pretty sure the #1 Tech Support answer for Everything is "Reboot", which is now called all sorts of high-tech things like "Power Cycle".

I hate being told to "Power Cycle". It must be someplace in the Comcast tech-support handbook. But it gives me a good chuckle.

Re:for actually using a computer (writing document

[dragonman97]

I had one programming student (in Java) who did this, and it absolutely infuriated me - how could anyone be that stupid? I really doubt that she had a disability that kept her from holding down the shift key whilst pressing the letter to be capitalized. Then again, that girl was a real piece of work. So in addition to getting a lot of grief from her, I'd have deal with her slow typing when we get to things like: StringBuffer myBuffer=new StringBuffer(); /* ARGH!!! */

readability

[Gonoff]

I have sometimes had emails in block caps from people who did that because they thought it was "tecchie" to do so. I think they had seen it in films. Most people only need one polite request and they stop doing it.

My mother was a teacher, of what they used to call "remedials", and she tells me that it is actually harder for people with reading problems to read block caps. Even for those of us with college educations and above, it requires more brain activity.

Anyone uses F1-F12, Print Screen, Scroll Lock?

[Anonymous Coward]

These are really useless and taking up space.

Medical claims

[arashiakari]

Medicare rules require all digital claim information to be submitted in ALL CAPS for processing. Lowercase alpha characters get claim reimbursement requests rejected.

Ask the Japanese if they should get rid of hiragana since they have katakana, or get rid of kanji since they can simply spell phonetically. Uppercase characters are still important to data processing and the proper use of the English language.

Re:Caps Lock? Who cares about Caps Lock?

[Burning1]

Because some of us use it on a regular basis.

My Belkin KVM switch uses syslog to change systems. Linux uses it to pause fast moving console output. BSD uses it to view the console history.

CAPS for video games

[bulbach]

I still use capslock when I play video games. I know a lot of newer 3dfps just default to run always being on, but a lot of times I find I need to be able to map a command to a key that can be toggled, and capslock is really the only key set up to toggle in hardware.

hee

[teknokracy]

Gee, by removing the Capslock key i'd hate to eliminate all those internet users WHO INSIST ON TYPING EVERYTHING IN ALL CAPS. Then again, i havent used that key for a while. Why not replace it with a dedicated ctrl-alt-del button :P

Blind typing course

[pklinken]

I've had a blind typing course where they taught us to use caps-lock for everytime you need to type 3 or more characters in caps.

Since in a dutch address the name of the town is spelled in caps, we frequently need it, too.

Re:Caps Lock? Get rid of the Windows key

[Anonymous Coward]

there's a key we can do without...

Windows keys?

[Anonymous Coward]

BTW, we can also get rid of those ridiculous Windows keys -- They have no use under Linux, and could be as well replaced by some Linux keys!

A New generation key for You

[Anonymous Coward]

i say that it is officially renamed as the 'any' key...

-severtski

Still Used!

[Malicious]

Photoshop and Illustrator both make great use of the Capslock key. When engaged, the program will default to 'prescise' cursors (crosshair), in place of your standard cursor (Aarow, or brush)

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

WTF!!!

[soloport]

YOU SUCK POND WATER!

(ok, maybe that's yet-another good reason)

Re:Caps Lock? Who cares about Caps Lock?

[Anonymous Coward]

Isn't that what the function keys are supposed to be for?

What about Num Lock

[Anonymous Coward]

Sure caps lock is annoying and has nearly no use, but what is hold up with getting rid of Num Lock? As a Mac user, I die a little every time I have to hit the Num Lock on a PC keyboard to use the keypad. I know it can be changed in the bios, but that doesn't help with public computers.

Really - if it weren't for Apple's innovation, would PC hardware ever evolve for the better (faster, bigger not always better).

Patent (OT)

[Anonymous Coward]

Quick someone get a patent on this... before M$ does. It already seems to be on all the keyboards with the WIN-Key.

Used to be the way to terminate a BASIC program

[Xhad]

"CTRL-Break" was rather useful when programming in BASIC if you were like me as a kid and regularly made infinite loops by mistake. =)

If it is removed....

[Anonymous Coward]

how will AOL users use email?

Re:for actually using a computer (writing document

[LincolnQ]

Every OS nowadays has a Sticky Keys feature which essentially turns Shift into Caps Lock.

i see...

[flacco]

...that the "most inane topic" competition has started on /. ...

Re:for actually using a computer (writing document

[Xhad]

Which begs the question, "How the hell was she typing parentheses and asterisks if she didn't use the SHIFT key?"

Re:for actually using a computer (writing document

[Anonymous Coward]

You see that button, right below the Caps Lock key? The one that says "Shift" on it? If you hold down that "Shift" key, all the letters you type will be capitals. So why do you use Caps Lock?

Re:Caps Lock? Who cares about Caps Lock?

[Moridineas]

Some operating systems actually are able to make use of scroll lock! For instance, in FreeBSD you can press scroll lock, and then can scroll up and down (and pgup pgdn) at the console--going back all the way to when it started to boot.

I miss that when I use linux..makes the console feel much less efficient

good question

[cookiepus]

It made me think that I've never used Caps Lock for its intended purpose. When I type anything in ALL CAPS I just hold the shift key when I type. Maybe it's not optimal, but how much do I type in ALL CAPS? A lot less than other people.

I actually wonder whether the people sending out corporate e-mail actually have their caps lock permanetly on. Never thought about it before. Maybe not having a caps lock key would actually reduce the number of people who appear to be SHOUTING even when they don't mean to be. On the other hand, I wonder how many people legitimately use caps lock. I'd guess not many programmers do, although back in the day when I had to edit Fortran code, I just used shift to maintain upper case, didn't have the inteligence to use caps lock. Are there any people out there who do need to enter a lot of upper-case text?

By the way, the only use I've had for caps lock ever since I could remember, is to switch to Vigilante missions in Vice City :)

And I cannot remember ever using scroll lock.

Caps Lock ought to be another Enter key

[Niko.]

Not being a screenwriter or lawyer, I rarely need all caps for an extended period. (and I agree with a previous poster that Scroll Lock is the truly useless one...)

But to have an Enter key on the left side as well as the right would be more efficient: it would allow better control when using both keyboard and other input devices such as mice, tablets or scanners. It also would reduce repetitive-stress potential.

Of course, it's likely that the most widely-appreciated benefit would be easier one-handed typing. =D

Architecture

[shizke]

i work in architecture, specifically drafting plans. every single portion of text is capitalized. if not for caps lock, then this would prove quite difficult to do.

Re:Architecture

[SRain315]

To expand a little, most current drafting standards (all of 'em that I know, including the National CAD Standards through 3.0) require ALL CAPS FOR EVERYTHING. It has to do with legibility on plotted drawings.

Of course the software (AutoCAD, MicroStation) doesn't have any helpful text tools to facilitate this. Come to that, they don't have _any_ text tools to speak of. (Anyone at AutoDesk listening?)

I can't imagine living in the ALL CAPS world without that handy little LED to brighten my day.

Perhaps you'd like another Windows Key

[MillionthMonkey]

The caps lock key *is* useful, but it is more trouble than it is worth. Do you know what the #1 tech support answer for everything is?

I see no reason why something that is useful to me in my everyday work should be removed just because some idiots call tech support before checking CAPS LOCK when typing passwords.

You realize, of course, that if CAPS LOCK goes, they'll replace it with ANOTHER WINDOWS KEY. My boss at work has a keyboard designed by a demon- there are FOUR WINDOWS KEYS on it. There are the two in the "standard" places, and two more under Insert and Page Down. It's a damn minefield of Windows keys, each one waiting to steal input focus from the current application. Every time I use his keyboard I hit one by mistake. (He hates it too, but hasn't bothered to get a new one since his typing skills have adapted to the hostile keyboard environment.)

Productivity in the US may increase by 10% if we got rid of the stupid thing. If you *need* to type in all caps, pick a menu-option in your word processor or other application.

I doubt your productivity estimate, and I use CAPS LOCK in many different applications. I see no reason why I should have to go around figuring out how to set up macros and key bindings in every application I use just so an AOL call center in Bangalore can lower its call volume.

I might add that I used CAPS LOCK six times so far just while typing this post, and if I didn't have one my finger would be aching by now.

Re:Perhaps you'd like another Windows Key

[Pike65]

Lightweight . . .

Re:Perhaps you'd like another Windows Key

[Eideewt]

Yeah, but how much would you have used it if you weren't typing CAPS LOCK (I just used shift for that and didn't even break a sweat) all the time? Do you do that often enough to need the key?

Re:Perhaps you'd like another Windows Key

[Anonymous Coward]

You've got several paragraphs in italics. Does your keyboard also have an ITALICS LOCK key, or are your fingers aching?

Re:Perhaps you'd like another Windows Key

[maxwell demon]

Well, it's all part of a big plan. The number of Windows keys will grow, until they are the majority of the keys on the keyboard. The goal is to make people avoid using keyboards, which then would allow to get rid of this problematic part of computing (after all, supporting that many different keyboard layouts is a pain, and could be avoided if people just learned to use the mouse instead).

Re:Perhaps you'd like another Windows Key

[lucas teh geek]

I might add that I used CAPS LOCK six times so far just while typing this post, and if I didn't have one my finger would be aching by now.

pussy

Re:Perhaps you'd like another Windows Key

[drinkypoo]

If your finger would be aching because holding down shift is too hard, may I suggest an alternate input method, like beating your head against the keyboard?

Anyone that frail should be using speech recognition, an eyeblink system, or something else that doesn't involve too much strain to their poor little hands.

Alternately, maybe you could eliminate some of the worthless caps that you probably wouldn't have typed if you didn't have a caps lock key?

Re:Perhaps you'd like another Windows Key

[MillionthMonkey]

You're applying the wrong standard.

When removing a feature from a product, the question isn't whether users will survive. You have to ask whether they'll be pissed off enough to seek an alternative.

I exaggerated the pain only to illustrate how ticked off I would be, and that I would not purchase a keyboard with no CAPS LOCK key.

Let's change it a little bit...

[grasshoppah]

I personally would like a 'caps lock' type key that instead of essentially holding down the shift key for you, it would hold down any key you want. For example, on my powerbook I use the fn-downarrow combination to do page down while browsing the web all the time. If i could press the funtion key, and then the caps lock key to get it to keep fn pressed for me, that would be fantastic.

Once again....

[Anonymous Coward]

Slashdotters don't think. There is a HUGE use for the caps lock key in many business sectors, primarily secretarial-related things. There are many senior/retirement newsletters and such that are printed in caps, in block format, for easy reading due to the age of the reader base. There are many forms & legal documents that have a need for typing some things in uppercase, not to mention that TONS of newspapers, magazines, etc., use uppercase characters for all letters. (just smaller size after the first capitalized letter, which is a font typically not a capslock issue, but the point remains) I'm consistently amazed how many topics I see on a regular basis that are not thought through, and then all the /. trolls just respond based on the issue, without thinking :)

Re:Caps Lock? Who cares about Caps Lock?

[chunkwhite86]

They still haven't even bothered to get rid of the Scroll Lock button yet... What makes you think Caps Lock is going away any time soon?

My KVM switch uses Scroll Lock. It's a two-headed switch. Pressing the Scroll Lock key twice switches between them.

Apple Keyboards = Ick.

[automatikzen]

The Volume/CD keys are occassionally useful (though since I normally wear headphones w/ inline volume control, they'd be redundant for me), but god, Apple keyboards are annoying.

They're pretty, I guess, but they're a pain in the ass to work on after being used to my IBM, kind of like working on a laptop.

And that USB hub? It breaks. All the damn time. I've TAed/worked/adminned in a number of (primarily Apple) computer labs, and invariably I'd have to play mix and match because of malfunctioning keyboards (which is a pain in the ass when everything is bolted down.) I seem to recall a case in which there was an electrical problem with the USB ports on a couple G4s, and they burned out about a keyboard a week as well...

>Even so, apple's relocated it to the monitor (another thing PC makers should have done years ago), which in my mind is the 'proper' place for the system's power button.

Please, Christ no. There are already too many people who need to constantly be reminded that you have to plug the square box with the glass into the rectangular box with the cupholder for everything to work; putting the system power button on the monitor just exacerbates a serious misunderstanding of computer hardware that will cause trouble later.

Having the power button on the keyboard was pretty cool, though, I'll give you that. That's definately something I'd like to have for convenience if nothing else.

Actually, I'd bet there'd be *some* market for fabbing custom keyboards, at least in the enthusiast market... this one's starting to wear out after five years.

Re:Apple Keyboards = Ick.

[Anonymous Coward]

>Even so, apple's relocated it to the monitor (another thing PC makers should have done years ago), which in my mind is the 'proper' place for the system's power button.

How do you turn off the monitor while leaving the computer on? Are there two power buttons on the monitor then?

Having the power button on the keyboard was pretty cool, though, I'll give you that. That's definately something I'd like to have for convenience if nothing else.

Windows can do that too, in theory. I had a cheapo keyboard a few years ago that had "sleep", "wake up", and "power" buttons. I ended up ripping them off because I'd hit them accidentally and they all functioned as "crash now" buttons. But then I may have been using Win95 at the time.

Re:Apple Keyboards = Ick.

[damiam]

Having the power button on the keyboard was pretty cool, though, I'll give you that. That's definately something I'd like to have for convenience if nothing else.

FWIW, many modern PC BIOSs will let you map a key on the keyboard (or series of keys) to the power button. You could use Caps Lock. :-)

Re:Apple Keyboards = Ick.

[Anonymous Coward]

FWIW, many modern PC BIOSs will let you map a key on the keyboard (or series of keys) to the power button. You could use Caps Lock. :-)

What about every time u accidentally hit caps lock?
"Damn, just shut down my machine again"

Re:Apple Keyboards = Ick.

[automatikzen]

Not mine, apparantly-- but thanks for the heads up. Interesting SF project, by the way. ;)

Re:Apple Keyboards = Ick.

[moosesocks]

FWIW, many modern PC BIOSs will let you map a key on the keyboard (or series of keys) to the power button. You could use Caps Lock. :-)

Say.... do you think we can create a virus which enables this but only infects AOL users, IRC Kiddies, and /. Trolls?*

Actually, I wouldn't even go as far as calling it a virus. Hell, it will probably REDUCE the number of viruses out there :)

*There will also be a version which infects SCO's legal department. They will most likely claim it to be their own creation.

Re:Apple Keyboards = Ick.

[Anonymous Coward]

Thank you Ted, that was the joke.

Re:Apple Keyboards = Ick.

[Anonymous Coward]

Get one of these with buckling springs. I'm typing this on my '84 model; still works great.

Re:Apple Keyboards = Ick.

[archivis]

My keyboard has the goddamn "sleep", "wake up", and "power" buttons. I hated them in windows - way too easy to hit them in the dark.

Eventually disabled them, and of course in linux it's not a problem :)

What capslock?

[Anonymous Coward]

Looking at my keyboard, I don't see any CapsLock key anywhere on it. It ain't missed either. This is a "Linux Cool Keyboards" keyboard BTW.

Caps Lock useful to disabled

[bhsoul1]

What about people who are missing fingers or perhaps don't have hands/the use of hands and are typing through a straw? (Any slashdotters out there in that situation?) Sure there are custom designed keyboards, and specialized software for that sort of thing, but when it comes down to it the only multi key combination that is difficult to work around not being able to do is shift+alpha unless you have caps lock of course. Caps lock makes it so that someone who can only type with a straw can have rudimentary use of any computer. (Except for Macs with the apple key + ctrl + shift + mouse click functions.)

Use it for debugging

[no_mayl]

At work we often use it to see how much of the system is hung.

Pressing capslock and getting the LED on the keboard to change involves a lot of system components:
Hit key -> kbd generates packet for SuperIO
- SuperIO sends info to SouthBridge over LowPinCount bus (or whatever else the chipset wants)
- SouthBridge generates interrupt to CPU over SB/CPU link (AMD+ALI use HyperTransport)
(depending on Interrupt controller configuration, CPU might need to reply to SB to get the interrupt vector)
- CPU jumps to code that handles keyboard interrupt
(this involves CPU seeing interrupt signal and reading memory for code)
- interrupt-handler/keyboard-driver reads keyboard IO port (single/multiple ports)
- CPU request IO from SB
- SB requests data from SuperIO
- data from superIO goes back same path
- int-handler/driver sees CapsLock, toggles states by writing to keyboard IO port
- CPU->SB->SuperIO->Keyboard and LED toggles

I work in the CPU business, and when a customer design hangs it is good to know that all of the above is still ok.
--

Download .reg file here

[gad_zuki!]

Theres on here.

I disabled mine long ago and haven't looked back.

Without caps lock, it would be difficult

[Tokerat]

...T0 B3 TEH L33T!

/votes it off the island

No, seriously, caps lock is a nice thing to have. I, for one, think Num Lock is the obsolete button. All keyboards have actual arrow keys now, and also Home, PgDn, PgUp, and all that. There is no need to have a dual-function keypad. SysReq is another one I don't think we need on new keyboards. Sure maybe if you need a keyboard of an aging mainframe where they key makes sense or something, but on a new, everyday PC, it's useless.

I'd say the same thing about the Scroll Lock key, but I've used a terminal before and something like cat /var/log/http/access_log sucks without it. :-)

It does screw up n00bs on keyboarding..

[Performaman]

...because they use Caps Lock instead of shift.

One thing Sun did right

[bender647]

The Sun workstations have always had the Ctrl key where PC's put Caps lock. Having both in my cube drives me nuts. I tried remapping the keys on the PC, but half the time I still hit the wrong key.

what about security?

[RaymondRuptime]

If you take away the Caps Lock, won't crackers break in and steal all of my Caps?

I need [Caps Lock] for trackers

[Anonymous Coward]

In Fast Tracker 2 and in ReNoise trackers, the Caps Lock key is used for adding "note off" commands in your tracks, so it's an essential key you see. Must have it.

WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH YOU PEOPLE?

[MillionthMonkey]

And do you give your constants names so long that you really need to use your caps lock key instead of just using shift?

Of course I do. Don't you?

Either your code is full of single-letter names, or you don't do much programming. Holding down Shift while typing hurts my fingers if I do it too much. If I didn't have CAPS LOCK I'd be on workers' comp by now.

Re:WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH YOU PEOPLE?

[Kupek]

I do plenty of programming, and I never have to use the caps lock key. I reserve all caps words for #defines, which I don't use much.

Re:WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH YOU PEOPLE?

[psetzer]

I camelCaps everything. ALL_CAPS_WITH_UNDERSCORES just looks really damn tacky to me. If you need to type in all capital letters, make some Emacs escape sequence. I mean, who doesn't think that ctrl-Z, ctrl-R, Q isn't the most intuitive thing in the world? If it isn't for you, do the Slashdot thing and make some Perl script that capitializes everything in a string you pass to it.

Hell yes!

[ksheff]

It's where Control should be!

The only real use for CapsLock outside of Cobol programming is for 'screaming' on usenet/internet message boards.

Another use of the CAPS LOCK key

[solid_liq]

Hey, I've thought about using the CAPS LOCK key for something else before, but for some reason, seeing this question posted just gave me a great idea this time. I don't know if it's possible without adding additional code yet, but I'm going to see if I can make the pressing the CAPS LOCK key insert the two characters that I have to hit often and are the most inconveniently placed:

( and )

I think if I could configure the X Server to enter this sequence:

(, `space`, `space`, ), `cursor-left`, `cursor-left`

Then it would make my life much easier. I REALLY hate having to reach for those keys all the time. The spaces are there because I always put a space before the first parameter and after the last.

If I can't do this, then I guess mapping it to _ would be the next best thing. I use that one a lot as well, and it would definitely make things more convenient.

Does anyone know how to do this already? (XFree86 4.3.0)

CAPS LOCK IS NOT DEAD GOD DAMN IT!!!

[Pan T. Hose]

I occasionally use it for shouting on people who wrongly insist on considering it dead. But funny jokes aside, I use it for writing very complex SQL queries, like SELECT x FROM t WHERE x > 0 etc. where it is much easier to use shift for relatively uncommon lowercase characters than for relatively common uppercase ones. Furthermore, even more importantly, when I invert the shift state in my keyboard driver I lock caps lock to neutralize this effect on alphabetical characters, so when I am writing in Perl I don't have to hit shift to write ~!@#$%^&*()_+|{}:" et al which are much more common than decimal numbers et cetera. Caps lock is absolutely crucial here, because I don't want to write in uppercase letters, except for SQL. It would be impossible without caps lock. Caps lock might be an old techonogy but it is still a very convenient one, just like num lock and especially scroll lock.

Capslock is used all the time in the corp world.

[Viewsonic]

Especially in financial businesses (Banks etc) .. Printing out checks and certain forms will always be done in CAPS so as to not confuse the other parties. I find it a bit silly because one person hasn't used it, it must mean that no one else does. Sure, home users might not find much use out of it, but in the business world it is used everyday. And the business world makes up the majority of PC sales in the world.

Yes, it is still useful

[douthat]

I write alot of SQL code, including PL/SQL and PL/pgSQL. By convention, much of these languages use caps lock quite often and I would hate to have to hold down the shift key all day. I imagine people who write assembly for a living also feel the same way

THE MOST RETARDED POST EVAR

[Anonymous Coward]

Slashdot is becoming more and more devoid of intellectual content.

Re:Caps Lock? Who cares about Caps Lock?

[swilver]

Scroll Lock prevents my mouse from going off the screen when using Synergy :)

Huh?

[davmoo]

No offense intended, but this is just plain silly.

I rarely type words that have the letter "x" and almost never type words that have the letter "z". Does that mean no one else uses them and they should be removed from the keyboard? While we're at it, lets get rid of that damned "~" too.

Just because you don't use capslock doesn't mean no one else does, and just because programmers don't need it doesn't mean it should be removed for everyone. If you don't need it, do like others have an map it to another function.

Can't stand Apple Japan caps lock

[xylix]

I use the caps lock key in some games (run-walk), but otherwise rarely use it. Mostly it is just a key I hit by accident when aiming for the shift key or tab key. But I can live with that. What I can not live with is the set up on Apple keyboards in Japan.

On Japanese Apple computers the key in-between the tab and shift keys is (not the caps lock as everyone would expect but) the COMMAND key (Apple key), while the caps lock key is relocated down to the bottom - to the right of the shift bar (I think it is where the CTRL key usuallys is).

My ex-wife has / had an iBook and I couldn't stand the arrangement of the keys. Why of why would apple move a key (COMMAND) that is used SO often. Just in case you are wondering ... other manufacturers DO NOT do this. Every other keyboard I have used or seen in Japan has the the caps lock, CTRL and Command keys in the normal places (for Windows).

I recently bought a new 15" Powerbook. But there was no way i was going to pay a heap of cash for a computer with the COMMAND key way over on the mid-left. Of course with Apple's restrictive policies it is impossible to order a computer from a seller in the US or other country. The ONLY way to get an Apple computer in Japan WITHOUT this stupid setup is to order through the Apple online store and select "US keyboard".

I spent three weeks 'trying' to buy this computer. I wanted to get a 6 month loan to pay for it, but my loan application was sent back saying I needed a guarantor. (By the way, I work at a prestigious high schools in Western Japan, which they had checked out since I got the educational discount.) There had been no mention of needing a guarantor before. I complained a bit and then decided to put down a friend - another foreigner who has lived here for 9 years, good job, good salary, lots of savings, married to a Japanese, owns a house. I was told "sorry they won't approve him if he is not Japanese". ARRGGG! I love this country other than this kind of (rare) in-your-face double standard.

I finally gave up and said I would pay with my credit card. But I don't have a Japanese one (again difficult to get a credit card if you are a foreigner). They said they couldn't accept my Canadian card (with a $6000 limit). I finally told them that Sony or Dell would be more than happy to take my money and hung up. The next day the same woman from Apple phoned me (!!) and told me that the problem was with Visa, not them. I needed to get Visa to approve the transaction. Turns out visa thought it looked suspicious and refused the purchase.

I finally got everything worked out and am now writing this on my Powerbook. I wonder if anyone else has gone to such trouble to buy a computer whether because of the stupid caps lock key, or for some other reason?

Re:Caps Lock? Who cares about Caps Lock?

[Anonymous Coward]

In Linux, hold down shift while using the arrow/pgup/pgdown keys.

IRC.

[starphish]

How else am I suposed to chat on the IRC!?

Re:Caps Lock? Who cares about Caps Lock?

[Anonymous Coward]

hold shift and page up/page down.

P

Fn keys

[Fuzzums]

You could just aswell use F1 -> F12 for that.

Those languages aren't dead

[Kref1]

You insensitive clod!
Some people (myself included) still used languages like BASIC

I use it all the time

[SageMadHatter]

For typing: ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US

P.S. Dumb slashdot lameness filter won't let me post without having a higher ratio of non-cap letters vs cap letters.

Re:I use it all the time

[Anonymous Coward]

What's wrong with just holding the Shift key down?

Re:I use it all the time

[Paleomacus]

THIS IS A STUPID ARTICLE? SURELY THERE MUST BE SOMETHING EXCITING ENOUGH GOING ON IN THE WORLD THAT WE DON'T NEED TO PUT THIS CRAP ON THE FRONT PAGE OF THE SITE?

I think that's definately a good reason to get rid of caps lock.

Seriously, I have more trouble reading sql statements that are all caps'd than those written proper or all lower case.

Re:I use it all the time

[Atzanteol]

I've never understood the 'need' people have to capitalize SQL. It's not case sensitive. If one has a decent syntax highlighting editor, then the capital's don't help at all! I think having so many cap's in my code is fugly too. I've been doing SQL for 5 years or so, and I've gotten into many arguments with DBA's over this...

Re:I use it all the time

[AngryUndead]

I read the other day that some versions of SQL (probably earlier versions) that are case sensative on Unix-ish systems. Can anyone confirm?

Re:I use it all the time

[Frobnicator]

I've never understood the 'need' people have to capitalize SQL. It's not case sensitive. If one has a decent syntax highlighting editor, then the capital's don't help at all!

It's a style thing. It's also the common style used almost everywhere.

You say it doesn't help if you have a syntax highlighting editor; you can't count on having a syntax highlighted editor all the time.

While I think there are benefits to it, many interns that I've worked with seem paralyzed if they don't have syntax highlighting. A few are paralized if they don't have auto-complete. If the code REQUIRES syntax highlighting to be understandable, clearly you need to adopt a different style.

If you don't have SQL syntax highlighting, the more complex the SQL statement is the more it benefits from the all-cap keywords. That in itself is enough to justify (for me) it's use. Since I compose my SQL statements in my C++ interface code, I don't have SQL syntax highlighting; the C++ editor highlights them all as strings. Using caps really helps readability, especially when the SQL statements are complex and require several lines to compose.

Re:I use it all the time

[jonadab]

> SELECT * FROM tblWhatever a INNER JOIN tblYaddaYadda b ON a.ID = b.ID WHERE ...

Umm, that's what the SHIFT key is for. If your SHIFT KEY is in a SENSIBLE
location you can TYPE IN ALL CAPS as desired without even having a CAPSLOCK
key on your keyboard. (My layout, for example, has no CAPSLOCK.)

Oh, and dude, lose the ntnHungarian. One-character sigils are one thing, but
three-letter two-syllable prefixes like tbl are *entirely* too much.

Re:I use it all the time

[tommy]

I find the following easier to read:

select *
from tblWhatever a
join tblYaddaYadda b
on a.ID = b.ID
where b.foo = 1

It's even better with syntax highlighting. But even without formatting, I prefer syntax highlighting over SYNTAX CAPPING ;-).

Re:I use it all the time

[tommy]

whoops... accidentally posted using the wrong format.

here's what I meant (there should not be an extra space before "where", but fucking <ecode> sucks cock... gimme my <pre> back!)

select *
from tblWhatever a
join tblYaddaYadda b
on a.ID = b.ID
where b.foo = 1

Re:I use it all the time

[Anonymous Coward]

it's use

"its".
No apostrophe.

Re:I use it all the time

[servognome]

In your example I would use shift key because there is alot of switching between upper and lower case.
Because I so rarely use caps lock, it becomes a distraction to use. Its just so much more natural to hold shift and type "s-e-l-e-c-t" than pausing, looking down, and hitting caps lock. Yeah I know caps lock is right above shift, but I have trained myself to not accidently hit it, so I just can't naturally hit caps lock while typing .
I only caps lock when I know at the beginning of a large chunk of text that I will be using all caps.
I think this article does beg the question "When should we trade tradition for efficiency?"

Re:I use it all the time

[jonadab]

> you can't count on having a syntax highlighted editor all the time

Dude, if I've got a system that's such a fresh new install it hasn't even got
a working Emacs yet, there's no WAY I'm going to be messing with SQL on it!
That's like worrying about what CD is in the CD-ROM drive when you haven't
even bolted down the motherboard to the tray yet.

With that said, I don't see the need for syntax highlighting *or* capitals for
SQL. Maybe the SQL I work with just isn't as complicated as you guys, but I
tend to just, you know, type it. Or else I use something like Class::DBI.

Re:I use it all the time

[mysticwhiskey]

I agree, it's just plain hard to read SQL in all caps, although I don't have a problem with the names of database entities all in caps... maybe because they're (usually) made up of only a word or three. The guy who sits behind me has found a use for the caps-lock key though, he's got it set up so it beeps whenever he hits the caps-lock, supposedly to remind him he's accidentally hit it. All day - beep, beep friggin' beep!

Re:I use it all the time

[phaze3000]

Syntax highlighting is all very well when you're writing the code in the first place, but if you're trying to debug what's going wrong with an app (for example by tailing a log of SQL commands executed) then capitalisation makes things much, much easier to quickly read and understand.

Re:I use it all the time

[casret]

For at least Oracle, you want to normalize your case (usually to lowercase) because the sql cache is case sensitive, and it's harder to remember which words to upcase rather than just uniformly saying just downcase everything.

Re:I use it all the time

[Tet]

I have a woman and money.

Are you sure? Those two are usually mutually exclusive...

Re:I use it all the time

[fishbot]

"Oh, and dude, lose the ntnHungarian. One-character sigils are one thing, but
three-letter two-syllable prefixes like tbl are *entirely* too much."

Well said. I've got coding standards Nazis at work who insist on these stupid things.

The funniest one, though, is the unk prefix, i.e. unkReturnValue, where the coder is too lame to be able to figure out what type the variable is.

And yes, it's in use.

Re:I use it all the time

[Zork the Almighty]

Not in Nevada.

Re:I use it all the time

[RatRagout]

Table names and field names can be case sensitive in SQL. Also proper capitalization makes reading the non-capped table and field names a lot easier.

Re:I use it all the time

[Ewan]

Postgres is a case sensitive in some ways, it's a bitch. You end up having to put 's around all sorts of things just to be sure it works.

Ewan

Re:I use it all the time

[RogerWilco]

Not everybody is using SQL in a SQL aware editor, either because it's
embedded in PHP, C(++), Java, Matlab, etc.
In these languages there is syntax highlighting, but the SQL is "only" a string or character array.

Re:I use it all the time

[sawak]

Are you sure? Those two are usually mutually exclusive...

Naah, if you are really rich it can take up to a week for her to spend it all...

So the original statement can be true for several days :-)

Re:I use it all the time

[ShieldW0lf]

You've trained yourself not to be able to use the key, so that's a good reason to remove it from the keyboard?

Who modded this insightful?

Re:I use it all the time

[Herschel Cohen]

Why not just use the all caps for reserved words in the SQL. Then use leading capital for tables/views and lower case for nearly everything else?

The combination improves one's grasp of the intent of the code. That's the way we wrote our Transact-SQL stored procedures.

Re:I use it all the time

[Herschel Cohen]

Why is this so much easier to read

select *
from tblWhatever a
join tblYaddaYadda b
on a.ID = b.ID
where b.foo = 1

than: SELECT *
FROM tblWhatever W
JOIN tblYaddaYadda Y
ON W.ID = B.ID
WHERE Y.foo = 1
??

There are other potential problems in your SQL that unrelated to whether the reserved words are all caps or not. For instance: SELECT * can get some unexpected results. [First what table are you selecting from - not that important really, since you were just trying to show readibility.] However, even though the table of interest may have an altered structure you might not be seeing columns of interest if the stored procedure that contains this code was not refreshed after the structure change. You are using stored procedures I assume.

Another simple hint: use aliases that are more easily connected to the table name. Many of us use many more than two tables in our Joins.

For many reasons stay away from selecting everything, if you have no need for most columns. An easy way to bring your system down or locking others out if used in combination with temporary table on an older version of a backend server.

Just because you no longer have an interest in using all caps key, does not imply others do not. There are other more important problems.

Re:I use it all the time

[Anonymous Coward]

Because it is harder to type while holding the shift key down, unless you are a one-finger typist.

Re:I use it all the time

[jhantin]

If you don't have SQL syntax highlighting, the more complex the SQL statement is the more it benefits from the all-cap keywords.

I've found SQL to be just as readable if you make keywords all-lower, proper-case table names, and either proper- or camel-case field names. That worked for a statement that amounted to a 17-way join if you include all the exists subclauses. (It wouldn't have been 17 ways if it wasn't for severe, nay, terminal featuritis ... whoever specified some of the features needed to be hit over the head with a clue-by-four!)

Re:I use it all the time

[notsoclever]

All of the SQL I write is embedded into other languages, mostly PHP and C++. It'd probably be pretty annoying to have SQL keywords hilighted in all of my strings.

Re:I use it all the time

[hobo2k]

While I think there are benefits to it, many interns that I've worked with seem paralyzed if they don't have syntax highlighting

Don't be too hard on our naked-text challenged friends. Some people think that MS Word style developement enviornments and non-human readable source code is the path to enlightenment.

Re:I use it all the time

[Frobnicator]

The AC said: "its". No apostrophe.

C'mon, it's my own post, and I caught at least three typos in it. If your going to correct my spelling, please at least take the time to find ALL of them; Finding only some of them makes you look dumb. One word has two different spellings, only a few words away from each other.

frob

Re:I use it all the time

[raile]

There is no 'need' to use indentation when writing code in most modern programming languages (C, Java, etc.), but it sure helps the readability of the code. Same rule applies to judicious and consistent use of CAPS in something like SQL. Not everyone likes to use or has access to a syntax highlighting editor; CAPS (and indentation) are guaranteed to be portable to any editor.

Re:I use it all the time

[Anonymous Coward]

Dude, if I've got a system that's such a fresh new install it hasn't even got
a working Emacs yet, there's no WAY I'm going to be messing with SQL on it!

Obviously never written code on a client's system where the software install is locked down and you need to debug it on their system ASAP.

Try living real life situations before making sweeping generalizations.

Re:I use it all the time

[big ben bullet]

>Since I compose my SQL statements in my C++ interface code...

Bad idea. You shouldn't put any SQL statements inside any other programming language.

You could store all the SQL statements in an XML file and have some sort of QueryFactory class that reads and executes them (also better for SQL parameters wich btw are never to be concatenated as strings in a WHERE clause...)

Also, ever heard of stored procedures?

Re:I use it all the time

[Anonymous Coward]

Or just one handed by habit...

Re:I use it all the time

[arkane1234]

That's how you differentiate the code from the selected info.

Anyone with a beginners SQL book can tell you that.

Re:I use it all the time

[arkane1234]

Oh man, that reminds me of my last job where this one guy kept insisting our senior DBAs should stop using capitals and he kept arguing with them! ahah.. it was hilarious. Should have heard the jokes in the breakroom during the brief time he was there! I think he had like 3-4 years of experience then...

Oh wait...

Re:I use it all the time

[arkane1234]

I see you don't do much SQL coding in multiple environments.

Once you find yourself in the middle of an 19-page SQL app with no syntax highlighting you'll be eating those words. Syntax highlighting is great if your doing everything on your own machine, but try walking that same code through 4-5 different environments, and perhaps even embedding it into code segments.
Not everything's as clear as "select * from foo where foo.bar = 'stuff'".

Re:I use it all the time

[tommy]

I use SQL on a daily basis. I also use modern tools.

Re:I use it all the time

[tommy]

You didn't even read all of my post, did you? First, the example I used was taken from the comment I replied to. I don't think that person was trying to show off his skillz by selecting * and using bad alias names, but I especially don't think you should be jumping me over it.

Now that that's done, see my follow-up post where the formatting of my example query showed up properly.

I used to have this same argument regarding HTML. XHTML won that one for me.

Re:I use it all the time

[arkane1234]

You obviously forgot how to read then.
My post addressed your "modern tool" theory.

Re:I use it all the time

[tommy]

Trudge along then. No problem.

Goodbye.

Hey everyone!

[capz loc]

Why is everyone discussing whether I'm dead? I'm right here!

Function keys

[Fuzzums]

The only F-keys i use in windows are F1, F2 and F5.
Under Linux this is a whole different story. But mainly because i'm lazy and use mc ;)

(Oh, WordPerfect!! : Shift F7, 6)

But are there orher interesting uses for the F-keys or should they go aswell?

It should be a toggle utton on the toolbar

[Anonymous Coward]

I have always thought Caps Lock should be a toggle button on the toolbar just like Bold, Italic, and Underline. The only reason it isn't is because old typewriters had Caps Lock. One of the most annoying things when writing a paper or an email is to look at the screen and notice the last couple sentences are in ALL CAPS, and your only option is to re-type the whole section. You should be able to just highlight a section of text and change it from CAPS to lower case to CAPS again just like you can with Bold, Italic, Underline, Strikethrough, etc. Damn 1800's keyboard layout!

Caps Lock is dead on any computer I have

[Anonymous Coward]

admin access on, anyway.

XkbOptions "ctrl:nocaps"

Caps lock is not important enough to take up the prime real estate it does - It is much more sensible to put ctrl where caps lock key is. Emacs has an undeserved reputation for hand-injury because it was written under the assumption ctrl is where it is supposed to be - next to A (on an english/american keyboard). PeeCees put caps lock there instead, and then people complain about hand strain from emacs... sigh...

I disable caps lock.....

[wirzcat]

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3827.html

Capslock is great for the model M addict!

[hklingon]

There's just something magical about the Model M. It doesn't have a windows/meta key... but that is what capslock is for! Just remap it to be the windows key and TA DA. Capslock-R for Run! and so on..

I much prefer this to the windows key between control and alt anyway.. its too easy to hit in games and too much of a pain to disable every time you run a game. Capslock is just the right spot for it. :)

All I know is we still use all caps for most

[Polarism]

"old school" type documents like chits (such as a leave chit) and most official documents.

Basically all databases i've ever worked with use all caps as well.

CAD users

[RadioactivePorpoise]

use caps lock all the time. Whenever I sit down to log onto a machine and I get my password wrong, I know I'm fixing a CAD machine.

That brought back a horrible memory!

[Anonymous Coward]

When I first tried writing a C program (after using Pascal and BASIC) I didn't know it was case-sensitive and I used caps for all the keywords. It took a ridiculously long time for me to figure out why I was getting so many errors when I tried to compile it.

Adobe Photoshop and Ilustrator

[sarahbau]

I use caps lock all the time in Photoshop and Illustrator. It toggles between brush size or standard, and precise for the cursor. Precise cursors are more usable than standard (cross hair, vs. bucket or eyedropper for example), and also for the path tool in Illustrator (instead of a pen). Yes, you can set the preference, but there are times when you want to show the tool, or brush size, and caps lock is an easy way to toggle between them.

Re:for actually using a computer (writing document

[stienman]

" What if he types with only one finger?"

Sticky keys. In windows XP hold down the right shift key for 10 seconds, and click settings on the window that opens. Check "StickyKeys" and you can press modifiers seperately, so CTRL-S becomes CTRL then S. Affects CTRL, ALT, Shift, and the windows keys.

-Adam

mm-hmm

[John Pfeiffer]

I'd have to agree, even if I'm talking in caps for short periods, I do it by holding down the L-Shift with my left pinky... Yelling at people with the caps lock is too easy ;P

Re:for actually using a computer (writing document

[Anonymous Coward]

Windows has a feature called Sticky Keys that will hold down modifier keys (shift, control, alt) while you press another key. It's used for people who have only one finger-type thing--often people using a mouthstick. I'm sure GNOME and probably KDE have this by now; OS X does.

Older systems...

[NeoSkandranon]

At the bookstore where I'm employed we utilize Ibid inventory/Point of Sale software, which is case sensitive. Capslock is basically always on, because our updates come to us with all information in caps and searches done in mixed case will fail

It's dead to the _civilized_ world...

[Tuxedo Jack]

But obviously not to AOL.

Re:Caps Lock? Who cares about Caps Lock?

[SamSim]

I'm kind of embarrassed to actually ask this, but... what does Scroll Lock do, anyway?

How about...

[pr0c]

I'd much rather press CTRL + Shift to activate caps locks, makes it much more impossible to do on accident. Don't know what to do with the existing key.

Remove it

[Thagg]

I always remove the caps lock key from my keyboards, and have convinced a few of the other animators here of the wisdom of this -- there is just no use for Caps Lock in the work that we do.

I don't know who said it first, but the correct location for the Caps Lock key is in the other hemisphere from the one you happen to be in.

Thad

Dear Slashdot

[Pan T. Hose]

Dear Slashdot,

Very recently, to my unimaginable surprise, I have noticed that I haven't used the tilde key for any purpose other than hitting it by accident. I know that once upon a time people were using the tilde key. They were using it like there was no tomorrow. I don't use it now, though, which makes me very sad. Does the tilde key serve any purpose any more? Does it still serve any purpose whatsoever? If not, will it ever serve a purpose? Will it ever make any sense? If not, should it be removed, moved, or replaced? If so, will we be able to see it in museum? What if later I find some use for this key, but it will have been gone long ago? What then? What will be the future of this little key? What, I ask?

Thank you very much, Slashdot, for your answer!

Sincerely,
Concerned reader.

P.S. I love reading Slashdot and especially the Ask Slashdot section, when people always ask so interesting questions! THANK YOU VERY MUCH! (Oh, God damn it! I used caps lock!)

Re:Dear Slashdot

[Anonymous Coward]

How the heck do you hit ~ by accident? You've either got a very funky keyboard, or some really funky hands!

Re:Dear Slashdot

[Anonymous Coward]

The last time I used the tilde key must have been yesterday, I don't know about you but, cd ~ is alot easier than typing /home/whatever. And none can forget the use of the all important backtick(`) that shares space with the tilde.

Re:Dear Slashdot

[Anonymous Coward]

In any sane shell, 'cd' without any arguments is equivalent to 'cd ~'.

Re:Dear Slashdot

[EvanED]

And URLs? I often use ~ multiple times daily...

Re:Dear Slashdot

[Squirrley]

hey, the tilde key is really usefull in gaming... that's how you get at the console usually, and you can do lots of fun things there... changing server options, kicking tk'ing smacktards, putting in cheats...

Re:Dear Slashdot

[mlk]

But you could remap that to the Caps lock key.

Re:Dear Slashdot

[demogorgonx]

~ is used as the one's complement in C. Reference: K&R2, p. 49. P.S. *I* don't use the one's complement much, but then I don't do a lot of low-level programming.

Re:Dear Slashdot

[alex_ware]

How do yo hit tilde by accident its the shift of # and in some websites the user pages are denoted by htttp://blah.com/~user or is it that the english keyboard is different to the american?

Re:Dear Slashdot

[jrumney]

The US keyboard has # above the 3, where the pound sign should be. That is why they often mistakenly call # 'pound' instead of octothorpe (official designation) or hash (common colloquial term) or sharp (Microsoftism).

Re:Dear Slashdot

[roman_mir]

ok, and if you have a program that reads a configuration file that has a path in it and this path needs the current user's home directory?
example:
tempdir=~/tmp

Re:Dear Slashdot

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, I don't know. I find it ~very~ useful. /uses it to double quite nicely for italics in plaintext

Caps Lock has to stay! Otherwise...

[Joakim Nordberg]

we wouldnt get these so easy to read EULA's

Re:for actually using a computer (writing document

[Ayrehtek]

in a pinch caps lock might work as a "ANY" key

But then you have the problem of Caps Lock being on after tapping it. This can be especially problematic if you're setting up an O/S at the time, and you have to set your root/Administrator password shorterly thereafter...

Re:Caps Lock? Who cares about Caps Lock?

[typobox43]

Some apps *coughWordcough* tend to use every function key on the keyboard and then some.

WHAT?

[noidentity]

WHAT IS CAPS LOCK? THANKS.

Re:Caps Lock? Who cares about Caps Lock?

[damiam]

Various things. On the Linux console, it freezes the screen to allow you to read fast-moving scrolling text. In Excel (and probably other spreadsheets) it makes the arrow keys control the viewport instead of the cursor (if I didn't explain that well, try it yourself and see). It's also used by some KVM systems to toggle between multiple systems.

Mainframe

[0bilix]

Many if not most of the data-entry type people that I support enter everything into their mainframe session in capitals. I'm not sure whether this is just some legacy passed down over the decades or if there is really a reason for it, but I know that it is as annoying as all hell every time I have to do anything on their PCs and spend the first 10 seconds TYPING EVERYTHING IN CAPITALS UNTIL I BOTHER TO LOOK AT THE SCREEN AND REALISe what is going on...

Not replaced, but...

[Anonymous Coward]

There's a nifty utility for IBM Thinkpads, which also works with other computers that lets you set a delay for CAPS LOCK, as well as F1 Tab, and ESC.

If you want to keep these keys, but don't want them acticvating by accident, check it out.

I use it for CAPS LOCK and F1.

BTW...

[Anonymous Coward]

You have to run 2 installers to get it working.

The downloadable one just puts the actuall installer in c:\drivers\something\something for the Thinkpad Setup to run it, but you can start that yourself.

Would this effect a keyboard's lights?

[Tezkah]

I mean, do most keyboards recieve a signal from the computer that says "CAPSLOCK=ON", or does it simply do it in hardware, and then starts sending out all capitol letters?

Caps Lock vs. Speed

[Meneudo]

For many, myself included, using CAPS LOCK is a waste of time, when you can use shift instead. Holding down shift makes you feel powerful, and no, it doesn't affect your typing style if you learn how to do it correctly (such as typing A and other letters that use the pinkey)

Also, in word processing, you might as well use the "ALL CAPS" option. If you decide you don't like the CAPS, you can just deselct the option, instead of retyping it.

CAPS LOCK is a waste of my time and yours, and to answer the question, its dead... for me at least.

CPINFTITSLCIA!

[craXORjack]

Caps Lock is neccessary for typing in those super long computer industry acronyms!

CAD

[Anonymous Coward]

People in CAD very often keep caps lock on simply because all-caps text is common/standard on blueprints, floorplans, and assembly drawings.

caps lock = shutgun and FOV 125

[Mysund]

My caps lock is shutgun and field of view 125 in Quake3. Would be dead without it. Even dead with it...

Airlines

[Micknapp]

I believe that lot of communication internally within some, if not all, airlines use all caps.

Telegrams

[Pentalon]

_caps_lock_is_not_dead_stop_it_is_still_used_for_t elegrams_stop_telegrams_are_dead_stop_

Does the caps lock key serve any purpose

[0utRun]

> ...Does the caps lock key serve any purpose..

As long as C|Net keeps their 'write your own review' boards open, there will

Re:for actually using a computer (writing document

[MrScience]

No, just when he's starting to write. You see, you hold down on the shift key while you're writing everything but symbols and capital letters.

Re:OMG! (too much trouble)

[Anonymous Coward]

Who is this tech support that you speak so fondly of? And how does one perform such actions as re-boot and p.o.w.e.r. cycle. Where and how often do I apply the boot, and/or how fast should I paddle? If ever a tech support walks up to me and tells me to re-boot, then what is the proper response? Should I be offended, or tell him to go p.o.w.e.r. cycle?

surely e. e. cummings didn't need one.

[Anonymous Coward]

yeah.

Re:Caps Lock? Who cares about Caps Lock?

[Brandybuck]

Capslock isn't useless. It may be useless for *you*, but as dozens of other posts have shown, it's pretty damned useful for lots of other people.

what about scroll lock?

[sammcj2000]

what about removing scroll lock? hardly anyone knows what its actually there for anyway, and thoes that do dont seem to use it? oh and another thing, insted of removing a key, why not 'change' the key, to something cool, sure you can do it with a program / tweak but have the actual key relabled. like a picture of tux on it, that opened the console, or a key just for undoing (heh)

Should the caps lock key be replaced?

[rattler14]

By what?!? An F16 key? One of those cute "internet explorer" buttons that appears on those oh so awesome multimedia computers sold by compaq? Or how about the "hide porn from boss button", which would minimize all browsers and windows media player windows at the same time. Actually, that last one might be useful.

But seriously, caps lock is useful. Maybe not to you, but to a lot of people. For instance, my mother (lay off the mom jokes, cause i just got off yours) uses a shitty database that requires all data be entered in caps lock. Without a caps lock key, she'd be forced to throw a big ole paperweight on the shift key.

And hey, the ~ key isn't exactly that useful in windows. But just because 90+ percent of all computers don't use it, doesn't mean the linux/unix users would welcome the removal of such a useful key. I mean, unix users would flip the F&*$ out.

Summary: why remove a key for the sake or just removing a key? If it bothers you that much, rip the little piece of crap off, and put some play dough in it's place.

Cut Copy Paste

[GarthSweet]

One of my biggest gripes is that Microsoft got three useless Windows keys added, when the three most useful keys to add would have been dedicated Cut, Copy and Paste keys!!

That aside I never use Caps Lock, it's a curse and in fact a modern typing menace. Scroll lock is useless too but always seems to stay under the radar. At least it doesn't piss me off like Caps Lock does when I am trying to type a password with an 'a' in it and nail caps lock by mistake. That Caps Lock key is a sneaky smarmy bastard compared to Scroll Lock.

I use it all the time

[ShieldW0lf]

There are all sorts of programming situations where having a caps lock key helps keep things readable. For example...

SELECT *
FROM tblWhatever a
INNER JOIN tblYaddaYadda b
ON a.ID = b.ID
WHERE b.foo = 1

Not to mention data entry work... lots of places that do data entry use all caps.

Oh, and did I mention that THIS IS A STUPID ARTICLE? SURELY THERE MUST BE SOMETHING EXCITING ENOUGH GOING ON IN THE WORLD THAT WE DON'T NEED TO PUT THIS CRAP ON THE FRONT PAGE OF THE SITE?

Twiddle Thumbs

[Mr Pippin]

Have good stories and issues gotten that hard to find?

Cat attack!

[Improv]

During a cat stampede in my apartment, my tab key was tragically flung across the room, and attempts at surgical reattachment were unsuccessful. With a bit of tweaking of my .xmodmaprc, my caps lock is now a tabs key :)

Re:Cat attack!

[NuShrike]

Get a new keyboard man!

SQL

[Anonymous Coward]

I have remapped the CAPS LOCK key to Ctrl, and I miss it somewhat when Im writing SQL statements.

Re:Caps Lock? Who cares about Caps Lock?

[shiftless]

Scroll lock is used in FreeBSD to view the scrollback buffer.

Counter-strike

[ninSinjar]

I have my caps=lock key bound to buy secondary ammo in counter-strike. I could care less otherwise.

anyone remember typewriters?

[justforaday]

The concept of the CAPSLOCK key is so dead, that it predates personal computers. Yes, I'm talking about typewriters. Many many many old school typewriters had a key [quite often located above the left shift key] that was a shift-lock. It would physically hold the shift key down so that you could type in all caps. It was very useful for filling out forms, typing headings, etc. (you know, the same sorts of things you use it for these days). It only was really a pain when you'd forget to unlock it when you wanted to type a number.

Re:anyone remember typewriters?

[Anonymous Coward]

I was also thinking of typewriters.

I learned to type on an old manual (non-electric) typewriter, and used the caps-lock very often. On those old beasts, the caps-lock was even located in the same general position relative to the left-hand shift key as it is on computer keyboards.

The point being that caps-lock has a strong historical precedent. If caps-lock were useless, then the original designers of computers, who certainly had extensive experience with typewriters, would not have included it on computer keyboards.

accounting software

[narkotix]

a fair few large clients of mine have key fields in their accounting software using capitals in it. Dont know why but they just use capitals which is why whenever im fixing a machine i tend to find the damn caps key on always!

Re:accounting software

[tehcyder]

The accounting software our company uses gets confused by sorts with mixed case, e.g. it will list AA, AB...AZ then Aa, Ab. This can make selection of a block of names awkward at best.

So, even though it looks ugly, it's easier just to stick to all capitals.

hm

[Raagshinnah]

Personally, i'd love to see it replaced by a "_ lock", which would change the spacebar space to a _

ASSEMBLY PROGRAMMING

[niktesla]

Caps lock is useful for assembly programming, because it just looks better:
MOV AX, BX
ADD CX, DX
XOR DX, 0x64

mov ax, bx
add cx, dx
xor dx, 0x64

Maybe I just like shouting at the CPU :)
I also like doing my HTML tags in caps.

Re:ASSEMBLY PROGRAMMING

[Anonymous Coward]

Call me heretic, but I've coded asm in lowercase for the past 12 years and still find it more readable that way.

Re:ASSEMBLY PROGRAMMING

[samhalliday]

I also like doing my HTML tags in caps.

but thats against the XHTML standards! it doesn't matter what you prefer on screen.. if it has technical merit to do it lowercase, then please for the love of all that is sacred, please do it lowercase!

Re:ASSEMBLY PROGRAMMING

[Finuvir]

I also like doing my HTML tags in caps.

but thats against the XHTML standards!

The XHTML standard says that XHTML elements and attributes must be in lowercase; it says nothing about how you should code your HTML. Unless he's claiming (via doctype) to be serving valid XHTML as oposed to any other HTML flavour he can use whatever case he wants.

Re:ASSEMBLY PROGRAMMING

[samhalliday]

The XHTML standard says that XHTML elements and attributes must be in lowercase; it says nothing about how you should code your HTML

but since XHTML is the superset of HTML, then does it not have technical merit to aim for as much XHTML compliance as possible? especially if doing something as trivial as lowercase tags helps that greatly.

Re:ASSEMBLY PROGRAMMING

[Finuvir]

XHTML is not a superset of HTML, it is an XML language designed to be understood by HTML user-agents. Unless your pages identify themselves as XHTML there's no reason to try to comply with the XHTML spec. It might be useful to get into the habit of using lowercase if you plan on moving from HTML (4, say) to XHTML in the future, or if you think people familiar with XHTML will be reading your source code but there are no technical reasons not to use UPPERCASE for HTML elements and attributes.

Replace with del key

[wheels4u]

Replacing Caps Lock with delete would make sense in Windows to make it easier to reboot just using the left hand. You can grab your favourite linux distribution with the right hand.

Caps lock in Military

[WhatsAProGingrass]

In the US Air Force, we use CAPS LOCK all the time. It sucks. It's a pain in the ass because they want so much stuff in capitals, like its better that way. I'm a fan of readability. And if everything is in caps anyways, then everything stands out, so why use it. Also, working for the government, you'll notice a lot of busted up keyboards with no caps light that works. So when putting in passwords can be a bitch sometimes.

Re:Caps lock in Military

[Anonymous Coward]

I was in the Air Force 2 years ago but I don't recall any mission critical task that required a caps lock key. What exactly do you use it for?

Re:Caps lock in Military

[Anonymous Coward]

Official messages, most likely.

Re:for actually using a computer (writing document

[dragonman97]

A very good question, I'd have to say (don't forget quotes, exclamation points, or curly braces, for that matter). I suppose she must have resorted to using the shift key then. Which begs the question, "Why for the love of [something], didn't she use the shift key 'normally?'" I don't know, nor do I care. She's gone!!!! (I'm sorry, after having her singing parts of "Eminem" songs in lab, I got pretty pissed off with her.)

We still use it all the time...

[ChuckieMac]

My company uses and resells a backoffice application called SouthWare. It's used by hundreds of companies throughout the United States on both *nix and Windows. The Acucobol source code (which our company has licensed for modifications) is written in all caps, and the software itself requires all caps for operation.

It's roots date back to 1984 when COBOL source code was always written in caps, and to change it would require rewriting almost 2,000 object files.

So the need for a caps lock is still very much alive...

IRC

[Jorkapp]

Is Caps Lock dead?

Buddy, you have yet to go on IRC, don't you. Join some random chat channel on EFNet, 5/8 lines are A/S/L - notice the 100% caps on that. Hardly dead.

The only reason is

[Sycraft-fu]

Because experience shows that it will solve most problems. Once and awhile my network goes out at home. Well about half the time it's the ISP having problems, but the other half of the time it's something with my bridge or switch. I don't even bother troubleshooting it. Just cut the power to both, power them back up, and see if it works. If not, call the ISP and log a trouble ticket.

Same thing at work. Many people, for some reason or another, insist on sticking with Eudora rather than moving to Thunderbird. Whatever, nothing we can do about it. If someone calls us with a Eudroa problem our first suggest is always to reboot the computer. Why? Well about 90% of the time, that fixes it. It isn't worth our time to go up and mess with it, a reboot clears the problem up.

Having now worked tech support for some time, I understand why that is the first thing they (we) want you to do. It really does solve a lot of problems. If that DOESN'T work, then it is time to start troubleshooting, but often, it's all that is needed.

I have never _once_ pressed the CapsLock key.

[agraham]

Many moons ago I looked into the Windows registry hack to turn the CapsLock into a Ctrl key. As I was reading this story I was thinking "hmm, I should actually do it this time"
Long story short: I had acutally done it way back when, but then forgotten, since I have literally never pressed the Caps Lock key in all the time I have owned this computer.

Wow, slow news day...

[Valkyre]

Forgive those of us who still write HTML with notepad, and use caps as a way to differentiate tags from content (it's so much easier to read at a glance).

Re:Wow, slow news day...

[Anonymous Coward]

a) Get a better editor
b) Upgrade to XHTML
c) Read the specs. XML is caps sensative, and the XHTML tags are lower case.

Re:Wow, slow news day...

[Valkyre]

But then it wouldn't work on my copy of netscape 1.1 =(

cAPSlOCK sHOULD rELEASE lIKE tYPRWRITERS

[utoddl]

In 1985, I wrote the article eDUCATING THE cAPSlOCK kEY" for PC Magazine. In it, I said

If you've ever forgotten that your CapsLock key is on, then you have probably created phrases like "dEAR sIRS." The only time I encounter the DOS use-the-shift-key-and-get-lower-case-letters feature is when I want an upper-case letter and I've forgotten that the CapsLock is on. So I have to delete, retype, and then recover my train of thought. This is one of those rare cases in which the computer really should have known what I meant.

The article included a TSR for DOS that would make a shifted letter (1) turn off CapsLock and (2) give you a capital letter. Typewriters worked this way for years, and with that TSR, so did computers running DOS.

Alas, when Windows came out, the TSR no longer worked, and I've been cUSSING aBOUT IT eVER sINCE.

31337 5934K R0X0RZ

[rock_climbing_guy]

W3LL, 1 FOR 1 7H1NKZ 7H47 T3H C4P5 L0CK 15 JU5T 4W350M3 444 MY 1337 31337 5934K!!! OMG

Pauses Bubble Trouble

[Jeremi]

And all those other fun Ambrosia games for the Mac. That's reason enough for me!

What???

[Anonymous Coward]

Well another brilliant slashdot article from another obvious linux user. It's useless to even attempt to explain the consequences of such ideas. Wake up, man!

Capslock is used for non-English input

[scotty1024]

The capslock key is used by some non-English input methods to switch back and forth between English entry and the other language. I found out about this when I kept noticing that my fiancee left the caps lock key on for me when I would use her laptop. In Traditional Chinese entry mode the caps lock being on puts you back into English entry mode. So I very much doubt, since the Chinese make um what 99.99% of all keyboards, that they will be removing the capslock key. :-)

Honestly..

[Raven42rac]

This honestly does not bother me that much. If the placement of keys on the keyboard gets you hot and bothered, seek help.

Re:Caps Lock? Who cares about Caps Lock?

[Anonymous Coward]

Linux clears the scrollback buffer whenever you switch VTs, FreeBSD doesn't. Can linux be configured not to do this?

How to defeat 13-year-old AOLers

[Schattenfreude]

My little brother used to sneak on my computer all the time before he got a decent laptop, and I'd always be annoyed to find the caps lock key on from whatever flaming/shouting/n00bing he was doing there. So one day I remapped caps lock to switch to a Cyrillic keyboard--it helps a lot with my Russian homework, and I never did find it enabled again after my brother had been using my computer.

Re:How to defeat 13-year-old AOLers

[MonkeyCookie]

I'm curious. How do you remap the caps lock to switch to a different keyboard? That would be incredibly useful when I'm typing in another language.

Caps Lock is merely mislabeled

[drbart]

It's really Ctrl, at least on every computer I touch.

BTW I feel sorry for the Emacs-mavens who don't turn their Caps Locks into Ctrl. I'm sure the failure to do so is a major contributor to the high incidence of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in Emacs users.

Funky hands?

[Pan T. Hose]

How the heck do you hit ~ by accident? You've either got a very funky keyboard, or some really funky hands!

I can assure you that my hands are hardly funky, for my tilde is right next to number one, exactly between escape and tabulator.

Re:Funky hands?

[Anonymous Coward]

I can assure you that my hands are hardly funky, for my tilde is right next to number one, exactly between escape and tabulator.

On a standard US keyboard that will produce a backtick (`) rather than a tilde.

Legal mumbo jumbo

[ryanh50]

If you have ever read a warranty disclaimer but certain paragraphs are always typed in all caps.

Scroll lock?

[eamonman]

We have enough tributes like the Scroll lock key. No need for more ;)

Alternate bitmask

[Anonymous Coward]

It seems to me that changing one bit in ascii codes makes upper/lower case transition posible. Perphaps the capslock should be change to a different bit, so that it can act as a cipher.

Useful in Games

[tyleroar]

I use for auto-run in Doom games. I'm sure it's the same for other games too.

Caps lock still has applications

[AndyChrist]

There are still many, many legacy applications for the caps lock key out there. They are all boring and work-related. Just because it's useless for IRC and Halflife, doesn't mean it should be done away with.

No, but Reagan is.

[Sean Clifford]

No, but Reagan is.

I use the hell out of caps lock; it's my "prone" key in FPS shooters. Others use it for radio, etc. Aside from games though, I don't use it overmuch.

he-LOOOW It's for RUNNING

[eamonman]

Not that I couldn't map it without it (like to the Scroll Lock Key or something), but it is nice to run from my enemies, while not wasting a finger to hold down shift.

I think you were pressing the wrong key dude

[nfabl]

The help key was actually located between backspace and delete, typically where you'd find insert on a PC keyboard (ie the bit between the main keyboard and the numeric one). Except on amigas they didn't have home, end and page up/down. So delete is on the same row as help.

Perhaps you should have RTFK.

Re:I think you were pressing the wrong key dude

[FrostedWheat]

It's been a while since I used one, but I was right in that it was either the top left or top right :)

(I had an A600, the help key is the last key on the top row)

Well

[Pan T. Hose]

The last time I used the tilde key must have been yesterday, I don't know about you but, cd ~ is alot easier than typing /home/whatever. And none can forget the use of the all important backtick(`) that shares space with the tilde.

And URLs? I often use ~ multiple times daily...

Well, yes, you are technically correct. Being a Perl programmer I use tilde (and any other punctuation mark, for that matter) more often than any single letter or digit. Nevertheless, between my frequent uses of the tilde key, I also try to use my (apparently poor) sense of humour and satira for which I sincerely apologize.

^N in Vim...

[Anonymous Coward]

^N in Vim insert mode prevents you from having to fully type the name of any previously typed word. I'm sure Emacs has an equivalent.

And as another point I think a lot of people have missed. I don't think what's argued is whether the placement of the key is useful, but whether Caps Lock is just another key name that's no longer used, along the lines of SysRq, Scroll Lock and Break (on newer machines used by newer generations, anyway! Oh, wait, I suppose the newer generations are the ones MAKING THE MOST OUT OF IT GETTING POINTS THROUGH!)

CAPS LOCK IS VERY USEFUL!

[Anonymous Coward]

1. When posting at /.
   
2. When sending letters from one's AOL account - keeps things in character.
   

CapsLock ok, Fn key EVIL!

[Anonymous Coward]

IBM needs to pull their heads outa their butts and put that Fn key someplace else on the thinkpad keyboards (see Dell laptops)! Fn is right where the ctrl key should be for godssakes! That and the escape key is in the wrong place, it's a whole row higher with all the Function keys moved over in it's place. That and there's no friggin Windows key.

WHAT WAS IBM THINKING?!?

Disclaimers of Warranty and Fitness

[IBitOBear]

Actually, there are several legal documents (by type) that have sections that *must*, by law, be typed in all caps.

Ever look at those EULAs? That whole section that disclaims warranty and fitness for any purpose express, or implied. Those sections are always upper case because they must "stand out" in the agreement.

There are also significant parts of almost any legal document that "must" be typed in all-caps.

So lots of legal secretaries and the like would be much put out by the disapearance of the caps-lock key.

Plus, think about how hard it would make it for normal net-trolls to function on the internet if they had to learn to touch-type their troll-text with the off-hand for each keystroke pressing the shift key, sometimes for paragraphs at a time...

How could the religious extremeists and revisionist racists _function_ on the net without their caps-locks?

Re:Disclaimers of Warranty and Fitness

[Anonymous Coward]

But the fact that those parts must appear all in upper case is a matter of STYLE not CONTENT, it's just that the style in question is legally mandated, just as the typeface used on your license plates / car number plates is mandated.

On the web for example a single line of CSS can arrange for all paragraphs with the "disclaimer" or "legal" classes to be uppercase, no matter what case they were written in, and no matter what the user's defaults are. Indeed CSS was designed with this requirement in mind.

Re:Disclaimers of Warranty and Fitness

[tjic]

Actually, there are several legal documents (by type) that have sections that *must*, by law, be typed in all caps.

That's what

M-x upcase-region

is for.

Re:Disclaimers of Warranty and Fitness

[IBitOBear]

Every word in the section isn't upper case, only *almost* every word...

Besides, who was talking about ON THE WEB. I was talking about ON THE COMPUTER where things are often prepared for things other than "the net", like, er.. um... actual courts of law... 8-)

So unless you are proposing that every legal document be washed by only printing it through a browser, your solution is less than sufficent to the problem set.

Switching layout

[Mr_Icon]

Capslock is great to use for keyboard layout switching. E.g. if you have to constantly write in two different languages, there's nothing better, especially because you can just glance at your keyboard and see if you are in the primary on secondary layout.

Unless, of course, you're multi-lingual, then you have to come up with different solutions.

Japanese input in OS X

[amake]

I don't know if Windows has something similar to this, but I find Caps Lock very useful in Mac OS X for switching between Japanese and English inputs. I can be typing in English, hit Caps Lock, and instantly type in Japanese. To switch back, I just release Caps Lock. The specific behavior is customizable in the Kotoeri (the Japanese input method) preferences.

Caps Lock acts similarly in the Chinese (Simp. and Trad.) input methods, but the behavior is not configurable as of 10.3.4.

easy solution...

[bobsalt]

make the CAPS lock key the "any key"

Its not cap locks you hould ask the question about

[MSDos-486]

its scroll lock, what did it/does it do.

Caps Lock has another very important purpose

[commodoresloat]

YELLING!!!

Re:Caps Lock has another very important purpose

[pebs]

YELLING!!!

Call me crazy, but I HOLD DOWN SHIFT for YELLING!!!

Re:Caps Lock has another very important purpose

[Dashing Leech]

YOU'RE CRAZY!

Re:Caps Lock has another very important purpose

[Jace of Fuse!]

And you are yelling.

Re:Caps Lock has another very important purpose

[Dashing Leech]

Sorry, I accidently had the Caps Lock on.

My Cherry keyboard...

[Fweeky]

My Cherry keyboard has a stiffer caps lock key than other keys, so it's harder to hit without being quite deliberate. The right hand side of it's also sloped so it's harder to hit it when missing 'A'. To be honest, while the sloping bit is cool, making it stiffer just means it's even more useless than usual; I don't want a key that's *that* hard to hit :/

LWindows is harder to hit by mistake, too; if you're going to spack in that direction aiming for Ctrl, you're more likely to hit the "KeyMan" key, which just acts as a metakey for the squillions of extra buttons.

And yes, that crazy '@' can be mapped back to RWindows.

Re:Amiga

[bojster]

D'oh... Amiga has a cute little CapsLock with a nice green diode in it, and there is a CTRL key right (well, left ;-) next to it. Both of these keys are fit where on PC keyboards there's only one, big CapsLock. The Help key is located above the cursor keys, along with the Delete key. And Amiga has the best keyboard layout ever invented.

Teamspeak/Ventrilo

[bleeper4]

I find that Caps Lock is a good unused key for talking in Ventrilo, TeamSpeak, or other voice chatting programs. The gamers out there know what I'm talking about.

Pause/Break is useful.

[imtheguru]

The Pause/Break key is still used by many applications (even windows).

In 'Age of Mythology', Pause/Break, Pauses the game. Logical huh?

And in windows, WinKey + Pause/Break, brings up the System Properties window. Super fast way to access the Device Manager, check your profile size (before taking a backup) and set Environment Variables.

It is basically up to the application developer to use all the keys on the keyboard. Personally, i would like to see a applications use the Pause key to pause the program operation (think games, monitoring software, timers, etc). It would get rid of the extraenous keys on the top of my keyboard.

beware fallacies!

[duffel]

Of course caps lock is necessary. It's necessary for whenever you want to type in all-caps without holding shift the whole time. I can think of dozens of examples of this. Hell, where I work, the blank fields on our contracts must be typed in all caps. I wrote a screenplay once, and you need caps all over the place. When I'm coding, I write some macro names in all-caps.

No, the caps lock shouldn't be removed or replaced. It's handy to have a key that allows you to toggle lower to upper caps so you don't have to hold shift.

Pointless Ask Slashdot question

To the parent: Overly Critical Guy, the following is not meant as a overly harsh criticism on you, everyone makes these mistakes. That is the problem with logical fallacies, they're tempting to make even when you're aware of them. However, moderators in specific need to watch out for stuff like this, so here goes:

To the slashdot readers:

I think you need to be more critical and think a little more.

The parent's entire comment is based on a logical fallacy, yet you have somehow managed to moderate him as "+5, Insightful."

In the first sentence, he states his conclusion. In the second sentence, he offers a definition and passes it off as a justification for his conclusion.
Now, just because something does what it's defined to do doesn't it justify its existence. A slightly more extreme example would be "Of course recreational drugs are necessary. You need them to get high.".

I think this is called a petitio principii fallacy, or a non-sequitur at the very least. (But I may be wrong on the name here)

The entire second paragraph just reiterates.

I would suggest reading up on logical fallacies for everyone that has not yet done so. The Wikipedia article is a probably a good place to start, but google can provide many more sites.

happy hacking

[e**(i pi)-1]

"happy hacking keyboards" do not have
the annoying kapslock.I have quite a few of them.
Work also well for the mac.

Legal Requirements

[cfulmer]

In a bunch of jurisdictions, certain terms in contracts need to be in all-caps. The idea is that courts don't want you burying things like "I disclaim all warranties" in the depths of a contract, and so require those parts to be in all-caps.

So, when you read a standard form contract, and there's a section there in all-caps, that's probably something that somebody thought needed to be brought to your attention.

Obligatory + bonus irony!

[TheSpoom]

const int ANSWERTOEVERYTHINGINUNIVERSE = 42; Hehe... Reason: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.

Remap capslock to ctrl

[belmolis]

Abolishing capslock has long been near the top of my list of things to do when I become king. In those rare situations in which I want a long string of capital letters, I just type normally and do ESC-u in emacs to change to upper case. For many years now I have remapped capslock to ctrl in X windows by putting the following in my .xmodmaprc:

remove Lock = Caps_Lock
remove Control = Control_L
keysym Caps_Lock = Control_L
add Lock = Caps_Lock
add Control = Control_L

This gives me an extra ctrl key, which is really handy.

Hell key

[Anonymous Coward]

My Apple keyboard had one...for a day. Then I got mad and tore it off. I'm a lot happier now.

It should be a "hell" key instead.

Yes, it does serve a purpose - for some people...

[rjch]

Whilst I rarely use the CAPSLOCK key at home, I use it regularly at work. A number of databases I work with at work have some information (such as exhange codes) in capitals and since I'm a sticker for proper capitalisation, whenever I'm entering these things enmass, I'll have the CAPSLOCK key on.

Just because a significant number of people who read /. operate in environments where proper capitalisation is essential (frequently in lower case) doesn't mean the key is useless for the rest of us.

Although I occasionally find the CAPSLOCK key to be a pest, there is no justification for removing its use for anyone else who DOES find it useful. (and no, I'm not referring to people who yell in email)

What about Doom?

[wxjones]

How the hell am I going to run in Doom? Are you guys trying to get me killed?

Also for some languages it comes in useful

[DJStealth]

In the Hebrew language, there are optional vowels that usually aren't written for general use (just for people new to the language, kids, and for spelling names and stuff thats transliterated).

These vowels can only be typed by turning on CAPS lock, then pressing the number keys while holding the shift button down.

Is capslock dead?

[Anonymous Coward]

NOPE, I DON'T THINK IT IS...

Re:Its not cap locks you hould ask the question ab

[Tirs]

Man, in Linux it's the one-finger Ctrl-S! I use it often to momentarily hold long real-time log scrolls in /dev/tty12. Much more convenient in "hey, wait a second, what's this" situations: you just hit it with any finger you have handy - no neeed to locate two keys, one of them buried in the middle.

As an ex-tech support...

[cgenman]

I know I'm going to get flamed for this, but every now and then while working as tech support I'd have to tell people to reboot their computer rapidly using the reset button. Sure, turning the thing off and unplugging it for a while would also generally work, but by that time the people wanted the solution that most closely resembled KICKING THE F*%KER IN THE TEETH!!!!

It is useless to me

[beforewisdom]

The last time I paid any attention to the caps lock key was to remap it to be my ctrl key to make using gnu emacs easier.

I got over emacs.

The key just sort of sits there.

Steve

Software History Lesson

[CaptainCarrot]

We didn't used to write code in all-caps because we loved the caps-lock key. We used to write code in all-caps because we were using keypunch or Teletypes that had no lower case.

Kids these days....

Sill use it myself...

[Captain Splendid]

Otherwise I would not be able to walk quietly and open doors silently in Enemy Territory.

Re:Capslock is used all the time in the corp world

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, but what about print screen, scrool lock, and pause? These are the buttons that we should kill, not CAPS LOCK.

Crouching

[Kesh]

I like using it for my crouch key in FPS games. Of course, it depends on the game: some see it like holding the crouch key down, meaning your character stays crouched. Others see it as if you were repeatedly hitting the crouch key and letting go, making you 'bounce' in place.

Re:for actually using a computer (writing document

[trmj]

he should be shot.

CAPS LOCK IS NOT DEAD

[melted]

YOU INSENSITIVE CLOD!

SysRq

[Webmoth]

Well, they haven't gotten rid of the SysRq key, and that one's NEVER been useful, so until that goes, expect to see the Caps Lock stick around.

Press [Esc]+[>]+Keypad [Enter] to continue.

Living Dead

[cratermoon]

When were were writing with typewriters, we didn't have font size changes, we would put a heading in all upper case. I remember even learning to oh-so-carefully go back over a typed word to bold it. Now we have so much support in our word processors -- even in HTML for emphasizing text. You can bold it, italicize, you can even define all-caps styles so you get the caps whether you type with shift on or off. So now, the caps lock key just gets in the way, to get accidently pushed when we are typing, usually at the worst time. How many of you have had to remind someone (or yourself) to make sure capslock is off when typing your password? (I'm not going to get into the case-sensitive vs. case-insensitive debate at the moment). So, rip it out. Or at least move it someplace on the keyboard away from the common keys. About that little LED above the numeric keypad the comes on when capslock is down. That's horrible design. Some keyboards, like the one on my iBook, have an LED in the capslock key itself, which is better, if you insist of having the key. I can see having the whole key be translucent and lit up when it's on.

Perhaps this is just my own biases. Ask yourself, though: when is the last time you turned on caps lock intentionally? Even when you type one of the many TLIs that are the bane of our industry, you probably just hold down the shift key -- even the "wrong" key: if you are QWERTY touch-typist, holding down the left shift with your left pinky while typing "T" is the wrong key.

So yes, it's time to say goodbye to the capslock key. Make the tab key bigger, perhaps.

It's All Politics

[FrankDrebin]

International keyboards may eliminate it, but US keyboards will always have Caps Lock. Being a capitalist state and all.

Re:Caps Lock? Who cares about Caps Lock?

[Jeff DeMaagd]

I say that caps lock and CTRL could be swapped.

I've seen some games and other software actally use scroll lock. The only reason I really know this is that sometimes I wonder why I can't scroll, and I find I've accidentally hit SCRLCK when I hit home.

Macro names

[aarondsouza]

It's a fairly common convention to have macro names in C/C++ be all caps. This is where I seem to use the CapsLock key the most anyway.

Q3 Plasma

[Anonymous Coward]

I used to use caps-lock for the Plasm Gun in Q3. although i'm sure its space could be made better use of now.

Eject Disc Key with more than one optical drive...

[beerits]

If you have two optical drives one will open with the Eject Key and the second will open with Option + Eject.

Re:PL3453 N0!!!11

[Eideewt]

Hmm.... Now that I think about it, Caps Lock is useful after all. I can easily identify posts I want to skip, without having to read a word of them.

caps

[coyotedata]

BANG BANG

Location is the problem

[Elf-friend]

As I'm sure some of you remember, the CAPS key used to be where the left CTRL key is now located on most keyboards. The solution is to remap, or to get a keyboard with CTRL and CAPS in their proper places. Unicomp makes some good, if pricey, examples.

I still use CAPS from time to time, aspecially in text files or e-mail for headings. It's only the folk who only use word-processors and HTML e-mail (a pet peeve of mine) that have no need for it. Do I use it a lot? No, but I don't use the caret (^) or bracket ({ and }) keys much either. Should we remove them too? Somehow I think the mathematicians would be rather upset at that prospect.

There is room on a 101-key (or 104-key) keyboard for some rarely used keys, the trick is to keep them out of the way. Blame the board manufacturers for swapping the key placements, not for keeping CAPS_LOCK.

Definitely useful for PHP

[lucaschan.com]

Great for things like...

$_SERVER["HTTP_REFERER"] etc.

Long live caps lock I say.

Re:for actually using a computer (writing document

[Eideewt]

I believe you may be confused about the /. population. First of all, you must use the characters /. whenever referring to the site, and use of the CAPS LOCK key for single letters is encouraged. In fact, you should deactivate and activate the key between each letter.

Of course it has a purpose.

[Anonymous Coward]

I only have one finger, you insentive clod!

Caps Lock still has a purpose

[andrew_mike]

In my short stint at working for the local hospital, I was exposed to the computer system that the doctors used for ordering lab tests. It was basically a bunch of dumb terminals (or, rather, Windows boxen running nothing but a telnet program) connected to an antiquated mainframe using Digital UNIX. The specific program used, called MISYS, required all of your commands to be typed in all caps. Thus, the Caps Lock key was essential in using the system. Any keyboard whose Caps Lock key was broken was quickly removed and replaced with something less aggravating to work with.

Just because it's unpopular doesn't mean it should be gotten rid of.

Re:for actually using a computer (writing document

[Eideewt]

It's like putting something heavy on the gas pedal, then turning the car off and on to control speed. I guess that would requre a hack to keep power going to the radio at all times. Wouldn't it?

Keyboard update suggestions

[Rui del-Negro]

I think keyboards definitely need an update. More important than removing keys, though, is adding keys for some common tasks.

There are several keys that I think should be standard on all keyboards, not just to avoid having to use combinations, but mainly to avoid having a different combination in each program (ex., some programs use Ctrl+Z for undo, others use Alt+Backspace, etc.). Here's my list:

• Select - Hold down this key to select items or text. Shift+Select selects from the last selected element to the current one, Control+Select adds the current element to the selection. Alt+Select would invert the selection. It would be placed where Caps Lock currently is. Caps Lock would be moved to the space above the numeric pad, where the Caps Lock LED usually is (make the LED part of the key). The other two "lock" keys would also be moved here.
  
  
• Cut, Copy and Paste - Self-explanatory. Above Insert / Home / End.
  
  
• Undo and Redo - Also self-explanatory.. Above Cut, Copy and Paste
  
  
• Back and Forward - Above the left and right arrow keys. Useful for browsers, media players and wizards, can also work as "turn" keys for games, leaving the side arrows for strafe.
  
  
• Help - Where F1 currently is. All function keys would move right by 2 keys, leaving Help between Esc and F1, with a space on each side. Alternatively, put it next to Undo.
  
  
• Sleep - In the "System" section, near an edge of the keyboard (ex., top right), along with Print Screen and Pause / Break. Combined with Shift, Control and Alternate, this key could also be used for Standby / Hibernate / Shutdown.
  

Most of these keys could simply emulate the most common shotcuts (ex., Help = F1, Cut = Ctrl+X, etc.), so they would automatically be compatible with most existing programs.

I doubt this will happen anytime soon, though, since Microsoft is pretty much the only company with the power to dictate a "standard", and the fact that the only new keys to appear in several years are the "winkeys" shows that their idea of a "useful" key is one that has their logo on it, even if it's only used about once a month (or, in my case, not even that).

Also, one thing I'd like to see is a mouse where, instead of a scroll wheel (or two wheels), there was a mini-trackball, that could be used to scroll both vertically and horizontally. I'm surprised no-one has come up with this yet (at least I've never seen one).

RMN
~~~

Re:Keyboard update suggestions

[This Is Ridiculous]

Also, one thing I'd like to see is a mouse where, instead of a scroll wheel (or two wheels), there was a mini-trackball, that could be used to scroll both vertically and horizontally. I'm surprised no-one has come up with this yet (at least I've never seen one).

Some models of Microsoft mice allow you to rock the scroll wheel left or right to scroll in the appropriate direction. Weird, but useful.

Re:Keyboard update suggestions

[KozmoStevnNaut]

Also, one thing I'd like to see is a mouse where, instead of a scroll wheel (or two wheels), there was a mini-trackball, that could be used to scroll both vertically and horizontally. I'm surprised no-one has come up with this yet (at least I've never seen one).

Anubis/Typhoon used to make an "8D Optical Scroll Mouse", which had a small trackball instead of a scrollwheel. It was, however, discontinued because it sucked.

Re:Keyboard update suggestions

[mygrane]

I was poking about on Thinkgeek just yesterday and saw a mouse that you might like here

Re:Keyboard update suggestions

[Salvo]

And we should also have a Small Caps Key. If there was a way to markup Plain Text to use Richer text features like Small Caps, Bold and Italic.

Small Caps is much more readable than ALL CAPS and bold, and stands out just as much, if not more.

Remove the Caps Lock key from keyboards, and introduce a Small Caps key combination for Word Processors.

Re:Keyboard update suggestions

[abrinton]

While you're at it, why not make the switch to Dvorak? I did, and now that I've remapped my CAPS LOCK and ctrl I've never been happier! Or more ergonomic!!

And make your school offer Dvorak! Why are we teaching kids on old, badly designed key layouts???

Re:Keyboard update suggestions

[anothy]

you want an old Sun keyboard. they had two columns of five (six?) keys on the left hand side. i don't remember all of them, but they included at least cut, copy, paste, select, and help.

so, somebody has thought of this. the issue was that less and less apps could be bothered supporting them over time, in the face of the fact that not everyone had one of these keyboards and everyone had key-combination shortcuts. there's also a good reason why they were alternately called the Sun Battleship Keyboard or Sun Aircraft Carrier Keyboard - they were friggin' huge.

Re:Keyboard update suggestions

[gnu-generation-one]

"There are several keys that I think should be standard on all keyboards"

Home Takes you to ntlhome.com website

Shopping Takes you to microsoft shopping network website

Internet Launches Internet Explorer

Chat Takes you to AOL chat

Laugh until you find 20 such keyboards rack-mounted in a computing cluster on a restricted network... exactly what use is a volume-control, Mr Anderson, if your computers don't have soundcards?

Re:Keyboard update suggestions

[rem1313]

IBM ThinkPads have back and forward keys (located left and right to the Arrow-Up key)

Re:Keyboard update suggestions

[TobiX]

[the Windows key is] only used about once a month (or, in my case, not even that)

What!?

I might not be using Windows anymore, but I clearly remember at the time when it was my primary OS I would constantly hit the Windows key! Heck, Win+E must have been the single most useful key shortcut on that whole toy OS!

Re:Keyboard update suggestions

[serial_crusher]

My Microsoft keyboard has the sleep button. I hate it. I always hit it by accident, so I disabled it.

Re:Keyboard update suggestions

[jamie812]

Here's a question for /., why is there a Caps Lock key at all? I understand why we need the Caps Lock function, but not the key.

The Caps Lock function should be replaced by 'double clicking' the Shift key. Old manual typewriters do something similar, where pressing down the shift key 'locks' it into place. In my perfect world, a 'double click' on either Shift key would lock it into Caps Lock mode, where a single click would remove it back into regular Shift functionality.

Any thoughts on this?

Re:Keyboard update suggestions

[Rui del-Negro]

If you hit it by accident, then it's probably in the wrong place. In any case, IMO, a function like "sleep" should be on a timer (i.e., you press the button and, if you don't press anything else for 5 seconds, then the computer goes into sleep mode). Same goes for shutdown / hibernate / etc.

RMN
~~~

Re:Keyboard update suggestions

[Rui del-Negro]

How many functions do you know that use "double-pressing" of keyboard keys? I'm not saying it's not a good idea, in some cases (I've often thought it would be practical myself), but it's just not common, and would probably confuse some people.

In the specific case of caps lock, I don't think it would be a good idea. Too easy to turn on by mistake. I would prefer something like Ctrl+Shift, but of course, that would mean you couldn't use Ctrl+Shift as a modifier for other keys. All things considered, I think it's a good thing that caps lock (the function) and shift (the key) are completely separate.

Most mechanical typewriters did have a caps lock key (or rather, a shift lock key), which was basically a smaller key that "jammed" the shift key. If the shift key jammed itself simply by pressing it, it would be too easy to turn it on by mistake.

Besides, now that Microsoft has patented double-clicking, maybe it's a good thing it's not used. ;)

RMN
~~~

Re:Caps Lock? Who cares about Caps Lock?

[oldosadmin]

Nothing important. That's the point of the grandparent.

Caps Lock? What Caps Lock?

[andfarm]

I've remapped CapsLock to Mode_Switch (in X) and set up some alternates. Now typing "aeiounc" with CapsLock held down (it doesn't stick) gives me "áéíóúñç", for example.

Scroll Lock? There is an even more useless key.

[cgenman]

If you want to talk useless keys, how about "pause/break?" Even in videogames it's useless, as everyone knows that you press Esc to pause. And Break? Why is it I instinctually reach for Ctrl-C when something goes wrong? At least Scroll Lock arguably does something. It makes a light go on the keyboard. A light! Think of the number of things you could control from the keyboard with a simple rewiring job!

But Pause/Break? They key so useless they had to map two useless functions to it?

Stupid Gnome 2.6 disables xmodmap

[Anonymous Coward]

Thank you stupid Gnome 2.6 for disabling my xmodmaps so the EVIL CAPSLOCK came back from the dead! I missed it so much!

Re:Caps Lock? Who cares about Caps Lock?

[Eideewt]

Do you need special brackets to contain a nanosig? Wait.... How do I know that's not really a megasig, viewed from a grat distance?

Useless keys?

[Ctrl-Z]

Certainly, there are less useful keys out there than Caps Lock and they haven't been removed or replaced. Who uses Scroll Lock?

Please learn how to make links.

[Anonymous Coward]

Please learn how to make links.

<a href="http://www.cs.ucr.edu/~beyert/articles/esccl ock.htm">key switch</a>

(without the spaces put there by Slashdot) yields: key switch

fps games

[Spatula Sam]

I use capslock all the time for running in FPS games. It's pretty useful in all sorts of games for things that you have to toggle on and off, like the wings-stay-on/wings-fall-off switch in flight simulators, I'd imagine.

Peachtree

[swankypimp]

We use this program at work for inventory control, and every item code is in all caps. Whenever I'm doing invoices I turn capslock on, then turn it off for all the other stuff I do, like e-mail, web authoring, etc. (I do sales / web design for an online computer retailer.) It's actually quite annoying, since my Capslock always seems to be on when I don't want it (like typing an e-mail that begins dEAR mR. jOHNSON, or having my password rejected). What's worse is that we have ergonomic computer desk trays, so the keyboard's capslock on/off indicator light is underneath the lip of the desk where I can't see it.

backspace for lefthand

[Danny Rathjens]

For poor typists like myself, an extra backspace is always useful:

dkr@ur:~% cat .Xmodmap
remove Lock = Caps_Lock
keycode 66 = BackSpace

dkr@ur:~% grep modm .xinitrc
xmodmap $HOME/.Xmodmap

dkr@ur:~% cat .consolekeys
keycode 58 = Delete

dkr@ur:~% grep -C1 consol .tcshrc
if ( $TERM == "linux" ) then
loadkeys ~/.consolekeys
endif

Note that the keycode for the caps lock key is different in X than console.

wrong use of caps

[Anonymous Coward]

If the person who originally submitted this is going to capitalise COBOL and BASIC, then FORTRAN must also be capitalised (it is also an acronym).

And no, I did not spell 'capitalise' incorrectly (for those Americans who don't realise the rest of the English-speaking world spells some words differently).

Please learn how to make links.

[Anonymous Coward]

Please learn how to make links.

<a href="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.a spx?FamilyID=9d467a69-57ff-4ae7-96ee-b18c4790cffd& DisplayLang=en">download this</a>

(without the spaces and "; " put there by Slashdot) yields: download this

Also:

Let's you remap

"Lets".
No apostrophe.

Re:for actually using a computer (writing document

[flynns]

...ironically, the CAPS LOCK key generally DOESN'T work as an ANY key. Neither do shift, alt, control, num lock, scroll lock...yeah, and all them.

If you're in a DOS variant or an *NIX, the Windows key don't do squat for an ANY key either...

YES!

[r_j_prahad]

BWAH HA HA HA HA!

Databases

[beavmetal]

Many data entry clerks are required to put all entries in caps. Envelopes addressed in all caps are shown to have less read errors by the postal services OCR readers that handle the processing of the mail.

Just posting to kill a bad mod

[Anonymous Coward]

Please ignore

_ vs <i>

[some guy I know]

it's a matter of how you _format_ your text, not how you _enter_ it.

So why don't you _format_ your text to change all of your _words_ to <i>words</i>?
I know that you know how to use <i>, because you used it when you quoted the GP's text.

Underscores surrounding a word are used to indicate italics (and asterisks are used to indicate bold) on systems like USENET, which doesn't support <i> and <b>.
This forum, however, does, so you should be using <i>, rather than _.
Reading _ in a setting where <i> is available is annoying.

Just remove unneeded keys

[Vadim Makarov]

Never use some keys? Keep pressing them accidentally? Just remove them.

I have removed key caps from Caps Lock and NumLock on my keyboard a long time ago. On most keyboards, the caps will likely come off if you pull them hard enough. Then, cut a piece of eraser and fit it into the hole such that it sticks out a bit and doesn't press the switch, and voila! (The key caps can be reinserted back if you ever need them later.)

Before that, Caps Lock was constantly getting into my way instead of the Tab key, and NumLock was switching off from time to time too.

Now, what I REALLY want is the Insert key to be ignored when it is not pressed in combination with other keys (I like to use Ctrl+Ins and Shift+Ins a lot, but NEVER switch into replace mode... it gets into my way all the time). Any ideas (for Windows NT 4.0)?

Used all the time

[Anonymous Coward]

My office uses the CAPS lock key all the time. In fact, it's on for just about 75% of the machines for the majority of the day. It's used for typing IDs that are routinely all CAPS, for filling out information that need to be all CAPS, and numerous other reasons.

CAPS LOCK.

[becauseiamgod]

.. is like cruise control for cool!

The MS-Windows meta-key

[some guy I know]

I've never heard of Windows-M.
Is there any place where all of this stuff is documented?

Re:The MS-Windows meta-key

[Anonymous Coward]

dont know, but from randomly mashing my keyboard while holding the windows key (yeah im running XP but i run a sendmail server on slack also :) )
it seems that
W+F = Search
W+L = logout
W+M = minimize all (as noted above)
W+R = Run
W+T = brings up a utility manager (what the hell is that, im a PC tech and ive never seen that shit)
W+D = near as I can tell this toggles the active window minimized/maximized but only if a window thats open.i
W+D = brings up add to favorites window but only works once?

Home sweet home

[Darioush]

iF BY TIDLE YOU MEAN `~`,
THEN you must know THAT THIS CHARACTER REPRESENTS
HOME DIRECTORY IN ALL MODERN (==*nix) SYSTEMS.
(oops, CAPS on)
Which means that ~darioush ends up as my home, and ~abbas is his home and ~ is my home. See.

Caps Lock iz th4 suxx0rz!!!!!!!111

[rice_burners_suck]

Caps Lock is the suxx0rz. All it's good for is getting in the way, and getting pushed by mistake. Heck, the once in a half hour that I need a capital letter, there's the shift key.

I don't know which key would fit there if the Caps Lock were moved, though. It's kind of a weird place to put anything, especially since muscle memory knows that it's the key you never push. If it were suddenly changed to, say, Control, or whatever, that would actually make it useful, which would be strange, to say the least.

Windows-M and Windows-D

[some guy I know]

I've just been playing with Windows-M and Windows-D, and there is a difference: Windows-M minimizes only those windows that have a minimize button, but Windows-D minimizes all windows.
Also, Windows-M is one-way, whereas Windows-D acts like a toggle.
Also, Windows-D can undo Windows-M.
(All of this tested under MS-Windows 95 OSRB.)

Re:Windows-M and Windows-D

[EvanED]

Another tidbit: Win+Shift+M will undo the action.

I wasn't aware of the other differences since I can't test what they do at the moment. Thanks for the detailed info!

Re:No!

[Eideewt]

You realize that if caps lock is gone, you'll have to hold down shift to write that letter, don't you?

Caps lock is where control ought to be

[ecloud]

So I mapped it to be a second control key. I have been able to do this on both Windows and Linux (on the console, and in X too). I was always getting confused after using a Sun machine at work. (Also confuse the esc with the `/~ key after that.) Now I find that I actually use both control keys, depending on which one feels less awkward.

Re:Caps lock is where control ought to be

[duckyd]

Indeed! I do this too, as I am used to sun keyboards and having control where caps lock is. I take it a step further and remap capslock to control on sun keyboards as well, so I always have 2 control keys in the same places.

telecom

[chrismg2003]

we use it extensively in our ericson telecom switches when we interface via winfiol

MAKE PEOPLE RICH WITH MAILS IN ALL CAPS

[kwench]

JUST RECENTLY I RECEIVED A MAIL FROM A BUSINESS MAN FROM AFRICA OFFERING ME USD 50,000,000 (IN WORDS? FIFTY-FIVE MILLION US DOLLARS).

OF COURSE? IT WAS QUITE HARD FOR ME TO READ HIS LETTER? AFTER ALL? AS A NATIVE FRENCH SPEAKER (HE IS COMING FROM COTE D'IVORE) HE IS NOT USED TO THIS STRANGE ENGLISH GRAMMAR. AND THEN HE IS AVOIDING ALL THESE STUPID EXTRA SYMBOLS LIKE , . AND :? HE SIMPLE WRITES AN QUESTION TAG INSTEAD?

BUT WHAT WOULD YOU DO? I PERSONALLY THINK THAT IT'S OK HAVING TO READ THESE COMPLICATED EYES HURTING EMAILS? AFTER ALL? IT'S ABOUT FIFTY-FIVE MILLION US DOLLARS.

FROM KWENCH? MAY GOD BLESS YOU
---

this Text here in sometimes Caps and sometimes none caps is used to break slashdots lameness filter. Just ignore it. Heck, haven't I written lots of comments and even submitted a story on proper pattern recognition? if people'd just listen to me... then this filter wouldn't be so easy to break it. this Text here in sometimes Caps and sometimes none caps is used to break slashdots lameness filter. Just ignore it. Heck, haven't I written lots of comments and even submitted a story on proper pattern recognition? if people'd just listen to me... then this filter wouldn't be so easy to break it. this Text here in sometimes Caps and sometimes none caps is used to break slashdots lameness filter. Just ignore it. Heck, haven't I written lots of comments and even submitted a story on proper pattern recognition? if people'd just listen to me... then this filter wouldn't be so easy to break it. this Text here in sometimes Caps and sometimes none caps is used to break slashdots lameness filter. Just ignore it. Heck, haven't I written lots of comments and even submitted a story on proper pattern recognition? if people'd just listen to me... then this filter wouldn't be so easy to break it. this Text here in sometimes Caps and sometimes none caps is used to break slashdots lameness filter. Just ignore it. Heck, haven't I written lots of comments and even submitted a story on proper pattern recognition? if people'd just listen to me... then this filter wouldn't be so easy to break it. this Text here in sometimes Caps and sometimes none caps is used to break slashdots lameness filter. Just ignore it. Heck, haven't I written lots of comments and even submitted a story on proper pattern recognition? if people'd just listen to me... then this filter wouldn't be so easy to break it. this Text here in sometimes Caps and sometimes none caps is used to break slashdots lameness filter. Just ignore it. Heck, haven't I written lots of comments and even submitted a story on proper pattern recognition? if people'd just listen to me... then this filter wouldn't be so easy to break it. this Text here in sometimes Caps and sometimes none caps is used to break slashdots lameness filter. Just ignore it. Heck, haven't I written lots of comments and even submitted a story on proper pattern recognition? if people'd just listen to me... then this filter wouldn't be so easy to break it. this Text here in sometimes Caps and sometimes none caps is used to break slashdots lameness filter. Just ignore it. Heck, haven't I written lots of comments and even submitted a story on proper pattern recognition? if people'd just listen to me... then this filter wouldn't be so easy to break it.

Ah...

[Cyno01]

So thats what the Scroll Lock key is for.

I use it in design.

[Anonymous Coward]

As a graphic designer, I use all caps for titles, logos, etc. on a daily basis.

C'mon, is it really newsworthy that someone noticed they haven't used the all-caps key in a while?

It's IBM's fault!

[aim2future]

Earlier Caps Lock/Cntrl had the correct placement also on "PC", my first "laptop" I got 1988 had it at the right place. It was IBM with their PS2 layout who destroyed the keyboard, and made it necessary to swap the cntrl-keys. Those who designed these keyboard obviously didn't use emacs. The Amiga also had the Cntrl key in the right place.

Re:Scroll Lock? There is an even more useless key.

[Anonymous Coward]

i use the pause/break key all the time... and i doubt i'm only person who ever uses a command prompt on windows...

Ctrl-Alt-Del

[serutan]

I was going to suggest that the next Microsoft keyboard should have a single-key Ctrl-Alt-Del in place of caps lock, but you beat me to the punch. Great minds think alike.

Oh come on...

[Cyno01]

The tilde makes a great little plaintext

~bullet point

much nicer looking that plain old -

variable names

[LupusUF]

I guess it is kind of goofy, but I do variables in all caps. It makes them easy to spot, and it also makes it easy if you need to alter variable names a bit, make the searches case sensitive so you don't replace something else on accident.

Happy Hacker

[UnifiedTechs]

Keyboards still have a Cap Locks Key? I bought a keyboard without one years ago. Never gonna go back.

http://shop.store.yahoo.com/pfuca-store/

Caps Lock is indispensable in Adobe After Effects

[melorama]

I'm a motion graphics designer, and use the Caps Lock key dozens of times, every hour, as it is the mechanism which disables unecessary screen-updating and re-renders when working in a composition.

The only time I hate Caps Lock is when entering passwords in the dark.

Dont ask me why I'd ever need to do that, you dont wanna know :P

For Old People

[nartz]

If Capslock vanished from the keyboard, I know a good many people (all of them old) that would go insane. Instead of using the shift, to capitalize they press capslock, type the single letter, than take off caps. Its a slow process, but you know old people, set in their ways, never want to change.

Mom, why didn't you just press shift to capitalize that letter?
Why, thats what Caps Lock is for!

sure, get rid of it

[Anonymous Coward]

and while we're at it, do away with capital letters too! i hear korean has only one case for letters, they seem to do ok. less mistakes to be made, helps kids in school because they can't get marked down for poor grammar, and enforces politeness on-line because it keeps people from shouting.

Constants and SQL

[Bob9113]

I see lots of answers regarding caps use in non-programming fields, but didn't notice any mentioning the use in programming. I do my constants in most languages using all caps underscore delimited, and SQL fields (and sometimes tables) the same way. Case is a nice visual cue in code for representing metadata about the symbol.

Re:Constants and SQL

[rfc1394]

Personally, when I code SQL I like to do it in the form of SELECT * FROM Tablename WHERE NOT Deleted AND Issuedate #01/01/2004#

My thoughts, a compromise

[BumpyCarrot]

It seems that the general feeling of the thread is both "Only AOLers need such a key" but also at the same time "Professionals need it for correct typing etc." So keep the key, but use it for something else, as other people have suggested. I could quite easily do away with insert and scroll lock as well as caps. I generally find my most used keys are Ctrl, Alt, Shift and Tab, since I use my mouse minimally even though I use gui apps.

Re:for actually using a computer (writing document

[Anonymous Coward]

If he's a HE, what's the problem? Think outside the box!

AC

Removed it

[Lesrahpem]

On most of my keyboards I remove the key.

I use Caps lock all the time!

[hackel]

I use Caps lock while I'm actually typing. Like if there's an acronym I just HIT IT and type whatever I need...I don't even think about it. It's just another key. I wouldn't want to be without it!!

Obligatory [Joke] Flame

[nick_davison]

The last time I used the tilde key must have been yesterday, I don't know about you but, cd ~ is alot easier than typing /home/whatever.

Shut up you ~o!

Re:Obligatory [Joke] Flame

[ICA]

Why not save one more character and just type "cd"?

One very important use...

[Scratch-O-Matic]

Occasionally, while I'm typing, the letters will start to come out as all caps, and I realize that I've accidently hit the caps lock. When this happens, I hit the caps lock key to make the letters go back to normal. If I didn't have a caps lock key, I wouldn't be able to make the switch back to normal typing.

simple hardware

[cosyne]

I use capslock on at least a weekly basis to talk to simple microprocessor systems that use uppercase for commands and lowercase for variables. Granted, a clever terminal program which knew the language could probably figure out what I mean and capitalize commands for me, but I don't have one of those.

Less frequently, I use it for #IF statements and some constants and crap that we generally do in all caps. Generally, though, I wouldn't mind mapping Ctrl to that key, and then using a sequence like Ctrl-Shift to turn on caps lock if I wanted it. (Some typewriters and computers let you take off caps lock by hitting shift- there should be a similar way to put it on)

IMPORTANT IN LOCALES!!!!!

[kyknos.org]

capslock is very important in some locales, for example czech - for example keys with numbers in the top row on english keyboard are used for accented letters, you have to use SHIFT with them to write numbers. However the only way (ok there is another cumbersome way using three keystrokes) to write accented capitald is to hold CAPSLOCK instead SHIFT. In other words, in Czech keyboard SHIFT and CAPSLOCK has different meaning.

Re:IMPORTANT IN LOCALES!!!!!

[mbillaud]

We use it for the french keyboard too. For example the letter À (capital A - grave) is obtained through the sequence CAPSLOCK à followed by CAPSLOCK to unlock the caps. Same for other letters with accents. So it is useful. Étonnant, non ?

Kids seem to find it easier

[pfafrich]

Several years ago I remaped Caps Lock to Shift on my Win98 box. Great for me as it stops my sentances coming out in CAPS by mistake. However, it does seem to confuse kids and computer newbies; for some reason they find it conceptually easier to hit the caps lock key and then type a capital letter rather than hitting shift and the letter they want at same time. It does allow 1 finger typing and says what it does Caps Lock -> capitals, for a newbie what does "shift" mean, shift my chair?

Just remove it

[Gerv]

Every keyboard I use, I just lever the Caps Lock key (and the three Windows keys) off. Voila - no more accidental-key-press problems.

Modes are generally bad things; you need a really good reason to have them (see any decent usability book for the reasons.) Keyboards should _not_ be modal. Caps Lock makes them so.

Gerv

Oooh, still broken.

[Feztaa]

I tried setting it to "ctrl:nocaps" just to test it, and the caps key did nothing during the GDM login screen, but now that I've booted back into X, caps is acting as caps again. No ideas, anybody know what's going on?

Re:Oooh, still broken.

[Feztaa]

Bleh, I just ended up using the xmodmap way, it worked.

~/.xmodmap:

remove Lock = Caps_Lock
remove Control = Control_L
keysym Control_L = Caps_Lock
keysym Caps_Lock = Control_L
add Lock = Caps_Lock
add Control = Control_L

It feels really weird hitting control and seeing caps lock turn on ;)

Terry Pratchett's Death

[Anonymous Coward]

Terry Pratchett's Death writes all the time in all-capitals.

If we removed it, PTerry would have hire a dwarf to keep pressed the Shift key while he is typing.

Re:Terry Pratchett's Death

[Man Eating Duck]

Isn't demons more common for that kind of tasks in the Ringworld? :)

100% agreed

[Tolar]

caps lock is just a PITA (i only use it with xmodmap to get german umlauts on my US keyboard layout)

Hey!

[samael]

Some of still program in COBOL, you insensitive clot!

caps lock obsolete?

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, you say you've figured out Caps Lock is evil, or at least obsolete?

Well, you're something like 15 years behind the curve, maybe a little less. I had a program on my Amiga to disable Caps Lock. And later, when they released AmigaDOS 2.0, it was so obvious that the operating system itself came with a little utility called NoCapsLock. (It was one of the "commodities" that came with the "commodities exchange" system.)

Honestly, I still can't figure out why the thing exists all these many years later, after the computer keyboard has gone through a few significant changes. Personally, I think it would be OK for the thing to exist just as long as it was in a nice remote corner of the keyboard so you can NEVER hit it by mistake. Then it wouldn't even be evil like it is now.

Sun USB Keyboard have Control in the right place

[OrangeTide]

You could just always buy a Sun USB keyboard and plug it into your PC/Mac/Linux/FreeBSD box. Not only is Ctrl in the right place for those who use emacs, Esc is in the right place for those who use Vi (above the tab, left of 1 key). Also it has AltGr and Compose keys which are handy if you ever need to type words like resumé without going to charmap or keycaps.

Keyboard Layout and you can order it for $40-$65, depending on who you want to buy it through. low price to high price

Note that you can get the logo-less version for $5 less at sun.com (p/n #320-1275). You'd think it would be the other way around, I guess having logos on your gear is considered "value" to some.

Nigerian spammers

[Alain Williams]

Anyone any idea why they always send these things out in CAPITALS ?

I doubt that it is stupidity (that accolade belongs to those who reply), but I suspect that there may be some kind on Nigerian cultural thing.

Re:variable names nad #defines

[RatRagout]

It's rather common, and also considered good pratice, to do final variables in all caps. Also all caps are frequently used for #-defines in C and C++

Capslock = Asshat lock

[VonGuard]

When I write like this, I don't say anything terribly offensive.

BUT WITH CAPS LOCK ON YOU ARE ALL COMPLETE SPAZMOID LOSER DORKS WITH GLASSES.

Now, did that change come from my keyboard, or from you all

TURNING INTO BUTT MUNCHES!

Re:Capslock = Asshat lock

[kingsy]

HERE HERE! How this got to the front page of /. is beyond me. Was it to prevoke a reaction, or is slashdot loosing its edge. People do use computers for purposes other then geekcrud, having plenty of practical use for CAPS lock. over and out.

Ergonomically significant

[Anonymous Coward]

Ergonomic indeed; I think RSI was pretty much unheard-of when CTRL was just above L-SHIFT; I developed RSI a while after this change (which was also around the arrival of the mouse, to do to the right hand what stretching to reach CTRL was doing to the left).

(I recommend footswitches as being even better for modifiers, though.)

It already exists

[David Byers]

I've been using Sun workstations with all of those keys except backwards and forwards (it has a couple of others instead) for over a decade now.

As for the mouse, IBM has the "TrackPoint Mouse" prototype, which has a trackpoint device instead of a wheel.

Re:It already exists

[Yaztromo]

As for the mouse, IBM has the "TrackPoint Mouse" prototype, which has a trackpoint device instead of a wheel.

It wasn't jusst a prototype -- IBM acctually sold these mice for a few years.. I've had one on my primary desktop for quite some time -- it's by far my favorite mouse.

Unfortunately, it apparently didn't seel all that great. IBM did a redesign on it that used a big plastic button instead of the trackpoint. I can't say I liked it a whole lot -- I've stuck with my ~5yo original TrackPoint Mouse. It's vastly more flexible than scroll mice IMO.

Yaz.

Article is a troll?

[EJB]

If the article isn't a troll, then I don't understand.
Your average keyboard nowadays is loaded with a gazillion of useless keys.
To start, there is F1 to F12, which are only used by, say, 20% of users.

How many times in the past 5 years have you used Scroll Lock? Couldn't 'print screen' and 'break' be on one key? (Oh wait, sys req is actually used by linux kernel debuggers, I forgot)

But that's just a start. What about the "Internet keyboards" of this age. Where I live, most (or all) shops don't sell non-Internet keyboards, so you're stuck with these keys:
E-mail, Shopping, Search, My Home, Media, Volume (+/-), Mute, Play, Stop, Previous, Next, Favorites, Community, My Sites, Finance, Sleep, Back, Go.

Oh, I almost forgot the Windows key and the 'right-mouse-button' key, which are completely unnecessary for Windows, and a complete waste for other OS-es.

So you're complaining about Caps Lock, a key that has been on every keyboard for ages, and that most people use, although infrequently, and more so for documents than for source code nowadays, while nowadays there are over 20 completely useless keys that are forced on you by keyboard producers like Logitech and Microsoft??

Get serious.

- Erwin

Cntrl-(alt)-break still works in VB and VS.NET

[Otis_INF]

When running in debug mode (VB 5/6) and you want to pause the debug run, you can hit CNTRL-BREAK and the debugger breaks, offering you to have a peek why it isn't leaving that long loop for example :)

In VS.NET it's Cntrl-Alt-Break :) (you can also click the 'pause' button)

Interesting.

[jcuervo]

I had this conversation once: I tended to pry the capslock key right the hell off my keyboards. The fellow I was having this conversation with then pointed out that capslock could be remapped to do other interesting things.

Long story short: change what you don't like.

Swap caps lock and control for NT

[janaagaard]

Equivalent hack is available for NT too. It's done via registry, but I can't be bothered to google for it right now.

Well, I bothered. :)

This is not a regitry hack but a little program that attaches itself to the keyboard class driver.
http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/source/ctrl2cap. shtml.

I'm impressed

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm quite impressed that most people talked about the virtues of re-mapping the key to something else; I was over a third of the way down the posts before there was mention of morons, and even then they hadn't taken the time to take the piss out of AOL users for turning their caps lock *on* before never using it again :P

UniVerse

[azyuroth]

My dad works at a bank, they have a server running a program called UniVerse, made by Ultradata or something... It uses entirely capitals. That's a valid reason to have 'capslock' there... Although it'd work better in a slightly less 'convenient' position. Of course, another solution would be for the program to be case insensitive...

My Simple Solution

[mtg101]

One day at work after getting particularly annoyed with Caps Lock, Insert and Num Lock; I simply got a screwdriver out and popped the individual keys off my keyboard. Now it's physically impossible for me to accidentally hit any of these keys.

Or the Pause-Break key?

[Bazman]

Computers dont need Break keys anymore. What they really need is a 'Fix' key.

Not at all..

[SillyNickName4me]

CAPS Lock isn't dead, its stuck.. in the 'off' position for most people, and in the 'on' position for Nigerian spammers and script kiddies who think it equals screaming..

Internationalization

[Kirth]

Yes, dear slashdot-readers, contrary to your assumptions there are some parts of the world in which other languages than english are written.

I for one have a keyboard featuring keys labelled ö/é, ä/à and ü/è for writing german and french. And of course, the only way to get Ö/É, Ä/À or Ü/È is capslock.

Even better, with my capslock turned on I get a load of special characters like this:

@ØÆßÐK""

Cool eh?
--

Re:Internationalization

[Bisqwit]

I think you're talking about the shift key, not capslock.

the windows key and the right-click key

[hammock_dweller]

Speaking of useless keys, does anyone use the right-click key? (It's usually situated next to the Windows key.) I've used it maybe once or twice in a fit of keyboard shortcutting.

Re:_ vs

[ACorvus]

Hmm, I always use _this_ to indicate underlines, and /this/ for italics.

I agree with the *bold* thing though. However, what to use in lieu of the blink tag? Maybe !this!?

I love it

[Uniball]

I'm using it as a keyboard switcher, Not a bad idea ?

More dangerous

[pommiekiwifruit]

is the "Windows" key, or as 3D Studio R4 (and other programs) called it, the "hard crash" key. Lots of artists physically ripped the key out of the keyboard, since it caused them to lose so much work if they accidentally pressed it. I guess that why a lot of people got the message from Bill Gates that windows == crash.

needed on some keyboard layouts

[Anonymous Coward]

Caps Lock is still needed for some keyobard layouts. E.g., on the swiss german keyboard, to type a capital a-umlaut (Ä), you have to use Caps Lock, as shift-ä will produce the french a-grave (à).

So Caps-lock was sort of

[empaler]

a way to cut costs in early IT-businesses?

Or was it the dwarves' union who demanded better working conditions, and therefore had the key placed there (ultimately shooting themselves in their tiny little feet)?

Re:Caps Lock? Who cares about Caps Lock?

[Anonymous Coward]

There is no "scrollback buffer". It's merely what's in video memory at the time.

I thought BSD users always read the manual??/?

Mac Versus PC

[mhollis]

First, a disclaimer: I am a Mac owner and use a PC at work. My bias is towards getting my work done not towards a particular platform. I think Apple makes things easier, which is why I purchased a Mac.

On Windows keyboards, the [Caps Lock] key changes the period and comma keys to "less than" and "greater than" respectively. While I suppose this can be handy for HTML coding, it's not just a little annoying. In other words, it acts just like the IBM Selectric(TM) keyboard did. Apple's keyboards don't do this. They also do not shift the number key row, nor do they shift the function keys.

I find this kind of re-translation of [Caps Lock] may be more handy.

Re:Mac Versus PC

[marondeau]

What kind of layout do you use ?
I have never seen a keyboard do that.

First BSD now this??

[rutgher]

Damn what's the world comming to, first BSD dying and all, and now capslock? It's a sad world indeed.

Caps Lock is not dead on my keayboard ...

[maxwell demon]

... because I selected a "no dead keys" keyboard layout!

I use it almost daily

[quantumpunk]

I am in the USAF and there are several types of reports that are written in all caps. I have no idea why but without the capslock life would suck for me..

Off the wall

[{tele}machus_*1]

This askslashdot is off the wall. Not everyone uses their computer for coding. At work, I use my computer for typing letters, memos, etc., and my secretary does even more typing than I do. The capslock is useful, even if it isn't the most used key on the keyboard.

I actually learned how to type in a typing class in eighth grade, and I learned how to use the capslock key properly. You use the capslock key when you want to type out even just one word in all caps, so you don't have to hold down a shift key for the whole word (which would be slower because you probably have to switch which shift key you pressed part of the way through the word). Of course, in the days of computer word processing programs, people just highlight and change case, but it's actually faster if you know how to use your keyboard.

Diacritics

[shachart]

When on, together with shift and some other keys (the 0 to = row, notably), Caps Lock is used to add diacritics to text in some languages (Hebrew, Arabic, etc.)

so shortsighted

[GISGEOLOGYGEEK]

Yay! another slashdot article that posts a question from one very narrow point of view, thinking it applies to the whole world!

No one is forcing timothy to have a caps lock key. He can remap it if he really wants and leave us alone.

But instead apparently he'd rather get rid of it, and have the rest of us hold down the shift key with oh i dont know, a rock, tape, whatever whenever we need to write text in caps.

News alert! new linux distro! kernal xxxx.xxxx! get it now! it elimiates the caps key for timothy so it must be the ultimate windows replacement distro!

What about using X.25?

[msim]

Christ!!

I'm genuinely suprised that fecking around within X.25 networks hasn;t been mentioned yet!

I hafta use these bastards at work on occasion, and i can tell you that having the capslock key is a godsend when you have to arse about with a device (in our case megapac's) and it doesn't understand a command if it isn't in uppercase.

Re:for actually using a computer (writing document

[Anonymous Coward]

He can use StickyKeys; In XP press one of the shift keys five times, and Windows will ask if you want it turned on.

Re:Caps Lock? Who cares about Caps Lock?

[gnu-generation-one]

"They still haven't even bothered to get rid of the Scroll Lock button yet."

Maybe because anyone who writes console programs still uses it?

You must live in an awfully tiny world...

[Anonymous Coward]

I realize it looks big when it glows brightly about a foot in front of your nose, but there's more to the real world than a couple of square feet of CRT or LCD display.

For example, there are actually other people in it who use computers for things that you might never dream of, like document production. I would go so far as to say, for example, that there are more secretaries who use computers than there are programmers. Vastly more. And I'll bet FAR more of them use the caps lock key than, say, the "less than" or "greater than" keys, the "^" key or the "~" key.

In fact, I bet secretaries would choose to eliminate the "shift-period" and "shift-comma" keys from the keyboard and simply have the shifted functions of these keys be the same as their non-shifted functions!

INSIGHTFUL SECTION.

[Hellraisr]

COBOL IS STILL USED BY MANY..

Turning off screen savers

[Anonymous Coward]

I "double-click" on CAPS LOCK several times a day to turn off the screen saver. That way I am sure I don't write or acknowledge anything by accident.

Not dead because

[EachLennyAPenny]

Caps Lock isn't dead. It's still necessary for the FreeBSD operating system and the C programming language. Oh wait....

CapsLock LeftWindows on IBM Thinkpad's

[superswede]

For my IBM Thinkpad A31 and WinXP I swap CapsLock with LeftWindows (Start menu) and RightCtrl with Application ("right-click" popup menu) => less mouse activities.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
# IBM Thinkpad A31 keyboard remapping for Windows.
#
# This register key will remap the keyboard such that
# 1) when you press CapsLock you will get LeftWindows ("Start menu").
# 2) when you press RightCtrl you will get Application ("pull down").
#
# Remapping:
# 1) CapsLock [003A] -> LeftWindows [E05B/E01F]
# 2) RightCtrl [E01D] -> Application [E05D/E02F]
#
# Comments:
# The "scan 1 make"/"scan 2 make" codes are within brackets. Use one!
#
# Usage: Double click on this *.reg file. Restart Windows.
#
# Reference:
# [1] http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hwdev/tech/input/w2k scan-map.mspx
# [2] http://www.barcodeman.com/altek/mule/scandoc.php

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Con trol\Keyboard Layout]
"Scancode Map"=hex:00,00,00,00, 00,00,00,00, 03,00,00,00, 5B,E0,3A,00, 5D,E0,1D,E0, 00,00,00,00

Re: Play nice with others

[Oligonicella]

Now, now, children. The tech community is a *very* tiny portion of reality. You simply aren't allowed to add/remove typing keys that *YOU* do or do not like.

The rest of the world is why the keyboard was developed in the first place.

You're not princes/princesses, get used to it.

video games?

[conJunk]

anyone still use the 1st person shooters where you have to hold a key to run?

map the "run" key to caps lock, and you're in business!

CAD? Annotations? Titles?

[karlandtanya]

I use it for the same things for which I've always used.

dwg standards here have all text in caps.

Documents have capitalized titles.

Users of PLC5 programs out here like their comments in caps.

What I found useless (from day 1), was Shift-Lock on a VT100.

I'm sure Mel, (the real programmer) or his bretheren found it useful. But I never did.

Double-tapping the shift key

[Matthew Aaron]

A great way to replace the capslock key would be to tap shift key twice to enact full capitalization.

Re:Capslock is used all the time in the corp world

[anphilip]

Not only for cheques, but a good majority of engineering drawings are done in all caps for historical reasons (i.e. read best professional practice).

Re:_ vs

[JaxWeb]

OpenOffice.org automatically converts words surrounded by *stars* into bold text, and words surrounded by _underscores_ into underlined text.

Microsoft Word, if I recall correctly, bolds *stars*, but turns _underscores_ into italics.

The italics and underlines difference doesn't really matter though I don't think - They both show emphasis.

Fortran, Lisp, Etc...

[Sam Nitzberg]

Actually Fortran (perhaps depending on version) was case sensitive.

In the WATFIV version, a capital letter C in the seventh column denoted a punch card.

I always thought of (and I think I drew once), a cartoon showing a customized keyboard for the LISP language. Only two massive keys - a left parenthesis, and a right parenthesis.

I don't recall, but the people who made the "Happy Hacking" keyboard may also have a version without CAPS keys- it's aimed at certain programmers (presumably the C and Unix crowd).

- Sam

morrowind

[wisdom_brewing]

caps lock on: always run... dont know what id do without it

Do not underestimate the power of "Power Cycle".

[The Monster]

I'm pretty sure the #1 Tech Support answer for Everything is "Reboot", which is now called all sorts of high-tech things like "Power Cycle".

I work Tech Support, you insensitive clod!

There is a very important difference between "Reboot' and "Power Cycle", which is implicit in the "Re-" prefix. In fact, there is a hierarchy of reboots, starting with the Soft Reboot, passing through the Hard Reboot, which is hitting the Reset button on the computer, if it even has one, and you can explain to the person on the other end of the phone line, that you can't see, where to find it, on who knows which model:

No, not on your monitor, on the 'tower'...

You mean my 'hard drive' 'server' 'modem'?

Uhhh...yeah.

But a Hard Boot is still a Warm Boot, and the electronics of the computer haven't truly been reinitialized like after a Cold Boot.

But there are two kinds of Cold Boots: pressing the 'power switch' on the front panel of the PC doesn't really turn the entire system off, but keeps just enough power to a few components to be able to 'wake' on various events, such as modem or NIC activity, or a timer set in the BIOS. In keeping with classic Geek Culture, I have designated a front-panel 'power off' as 'Mostly Off'. I usually direct the user to then reach the top rear of the PC, and locate the rocker switch next to the power cable. Failing that, I suggest disconnecting the power cable itself for 5 seconds or so.

I have asked users if they had rebooted their PC before talking to me, and often get a dismissive "Of course I rebooted!", but rarely have they done either kind of cold boot. I've lost count of how many times a warm or even Mostly Off boot (often suggested by a Level 1 tech who doesn't understand the 'high tech' distinction any better than users do) did not resolve the problem, but a true 'Power Cycle' (on...off...on is the cycle) did.

Put Ctrl there

[frambris]

In the good ol' days that's where the Ctrl-key was placed. Then as far as I can remember the PC entered the scene and changed the world. The Amiga did sport a Caps Lock (as may of you know) but it was placed between the A-key and the Ctrl-key. Bottom line: the Amiga had (sorry, has) a great keyboard layout.

Video Games and CAPS LOCK

[Karrde712]

Something interesting to consider: a large number of video games use shift as a temporary run or walk command (depending on the current default speed). CAPS LOCK is used in most of these games as a means to toggle the default back and forth over time. For example, many games have default to "always run", but it may be useful when passing across a very narrow passage over a pit of something nasty or lethal to toggle your movement speed to walking.

And please, let's not have any trolls about never using the "walk" for games. There are plenty of games where running all the time will alert enemies where walking can allow you to slip by or surprise them.

You Insensitive Clod!

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course it serves a purpose! I lost both my arms in a p0rn related accident at the age of 9 and since then have had to type with the use of mechanical aids. I cannot hit two keys at once. CapsLock is the ONLY way I can type a capital letter.

Macintosh control key

[alangmead]

Jobs did even worse than that. The original Macintosh, the Mac 512 and the Mac Plus (all the beige cuisenart looking models) had no control key at all.

It's not dead...

[Handover Slashdot]

"Does the caps lock key serve any purpose any more..."

JUST ASK MY ASIAN BOSS. I DOUBT HE COULD FUNCTION WITHOUT IT!

Everytime I finish a system he installed software on all the user names and passwords are all caps! He refuses to acknowledge my warning that people will think you're either illiterate or under the age of twelve if you use all caps.

Octothorpe and Sharp

[Pan T. Hose]

The US keyboard has # above the 3, where the pound sign should be. That is why they often mistakenly call # 'pound' instead of octothorpe (official designation) or hash (common colloquial term) or sharp (Microsoftism).

Actually, this is hardly microsoftism, though Microsoft makes total fools out of themselves writing "C#" and saying "C sharp." The sharp sign is used in music (as in Waltz No. 7 in C sharp minor, Op. 64 No. 2 by Frederic Chopin) where C sharp (or Cis) means a tone between C and D (the same as D flat, or Des) and is a totally different glyph than octothorpe. Octothorpe is '#' or 0x23 in ASCII and Unicode and it has two horizontal and two diagonal lines, while the sharp sign is 0x1d129 in Unicode and has two vertical and two diagonal lines. There is no sharp sign in ASCII. See the U1D100 Unicode chart, page 3, section Accidentals with music flat sign, music natural sign and music sharp sign. Summary: Microsoft hasn't invented "sharp." They are still fools nonetheless.

No used in Drafting

[Anonymous Coward]

I work for an engineering consulting company and the majority of our environmental, engineering, and architectural plans are all annotated in all caps. Caps lock is used quite a bit around our parts.

Cheers,

Soul

If they were to remove CAPSLOCK

[dethlejd]

What would happen to all the help desk people that would be out of jobs?

"I can't login, it says 'incorrect password'"

"Is the CAPSLOCK engaged?"

"Ummm... I don't *think* so CLICK type.type.type... Oh, it let me in"

"You're welcome"

pay me 20$/hr

[themusicgod1]

I'll write you a draconian license agreement. I would not agree to it, but I could write it.

Yes

[Pan T. Hose]

~ is used as the one's complement in C. Reference: K&R2, p. 49. P.S. *I* don't use the one's complement much, but then I don't do a lot of low-level programming.

Yes. It is also used in Unix shells as a shorthand for $HOME environment variable. In Perl unary ~ performs bitwise negation, binary =~ binds a scalar expression to a pattern match, binary !~ binds a scalar expression to a pattern match with return value negated in the logical sense, and in Perl 6 where already non-ASCII Unicode characters not present on standard keyboard are being used after using all of the characters on US keyboard, unary ~ imposes a string context on its argument, binary ~ is a string concatenation operator with ~= assignment operator, ~&, ~| and ~^ are charwise (string) AND, OR and XOR operators with ~&=, ~|= and ~^= assignment versions, there is also smartmatch ~~ operator and its negated version !~... Yes, I know it! Still, the concerned reader might not be a hacker and thus have little use for the tilde key. (Hint: Score:5, Funny)

A flat head screwdriver....

[wpiman]

pops this key off. I found that I hit it far more in error than in use- so off it went. If I ever wanted to turn it on- I use a pen to hit it. Problem solved.

What were you thinking?

[Anonymous Coward]

I guess the slashdot admins got lazy or fell asleep or something because this is one of the stupidest posts I've seen here. I mean...WHAT THE FARK WERE YOU THINKING?!

Caps lock is useful

[TwistedSpring]

I happen to like my caps lock key. I still yearn sometimes that shift-lock would come back.

Not only is it a handy key for typing in UPPER CASE LETTERS (duh), which some languages require or advise, but it's also useful in games and things, I like it there around WASD.

You may as well say "Bin the scroll lock key for windows OSes as it's never used! get rid of insert since that's just annoying! Pause/break annoys me too! get rid of that one!"

I like my capslock key. What I don't like is these god damn new keys that I have on this keyboard, where PrintScreen, Scroll Lock, Pause/Break, Insert, Home, PgUp, Delete, End and pgdown are moved down a block so they could fit these damn "suspend", "wake up" and "power" keys in the place of the original printscreen, scroll lock and pause keys. This is SO annoying when I hit printscreen and my machine suspends, or if i hit ctrl+break and it fucking shuts down. Don't screw with my keyboard layout, bastards.

CAPS IN CODE

[X-Nc]

I still prefer to do my COBOL coding in all caps, even though lower/mixed case has been supported for a while. It just doesn't look the same.

Styles?

[benwaggoner]

Dude, if you're writing a screenplay, you need to be using style sheets that specify the correct capitalization automatically, as well as everything else. Don't tell me you wrote a ~120 page document entirely with manual formatting, where the formatting changed every ~6 lines.

Re:Styles?

[Overly Critical Guy]

"Dude," when I first introduce a character, location, or even a sound effect, I capitalize it. There are lots of other reasons for capitalizing things in a screenplay. Obviously my software capitalizes dialogue headers and sluglines and other miscellaneous formatting marks, but most any random script has a lot of manual capitalization, and mine are no different.

Anyone remember

[Julian Morrison]

...the latching shift-lock that some early-80s home computers had? If you pressed it, it literally latched down until you pressed it again, and it behaved exactly like a held shift key. Now that would be infinitely more useful, both for the ability to physically feel it latch down (and thus avoid accidental pressing) and for the fact it affects more than just cap letters, it affects anything shifted.

Trans-genger it into the "Ctrl"-key

[pjkundert]

that it's always wanted to be, anyway, since this whole silly PC keyboard thing happened...

and put "xmodmap ~/.caps-to-ctrl" somewhere in your X customisation sequence: .caps-to-ctrl:

!
! Swap Caps_Lock and Control_L
!
remove Lock = Caps_Lock
remove Control = Control_L
keysym Control_L = Caps_Lock
keysym Caps_Lock = Control_L
add Lock = Caps_Lock
add Control = Control_L

I use KDE, so it is in .kde/Autostart/caps-to-ctrl:

[Desktop Entry]
Comment[en_US]=
Encoding=UTF-8
Exec=xmod map /home/yourlogin/.caps-to-ctrl
Icon=
MimeType=
N ame[en_US]=Link to Application
Path=
ServiceTypes=
SwallowExec=
S wallowTitle=
Terminal=false
TerminalOptions=
Ty pe=Application
X-KDE-SubstituteUID=false
X-KDE-U sername=

Using Caps Lock *instead* of Shift!

[MooseGuy529]

I have a cousin who comes over to my house for holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc...), and he used to run a web page. I was showing him some stuff, and he went to go update the page. I noticed he was typing pretty slowly, especially around capitals, and then I looked down at the keyboard...

He was using Caps Lock twice for each capital letter!

Like instead of [SHIFT]H[/SHIFT]ello, world! he would do [CAPS LOCK/]H[CAPS LOCK/]ello, world!...

It was truly painful to watch. So, I told him, you shouldn't use the Caps Lock key like that, because that's what Shift is for! At the time, he got annoyed at me and said something like, I've already learned it this way, it's quicker for me...

Lo and behold, the next time he runs into me, he says thanks, I can type much faster now... it's now become a sort of joke between the two of us...

I can't figure out where he would learn that from, though... any ideas?

I know

[Rui del-Negro]

Yes, I know. My old, old Atari ST has some of them too. I meant on PCs / Macs (and supported by Windows / Linux / OS X). Without OS support, no software will use them and no keyboard manufacturers will include them.

RMN
~~~

C++ Destructor

[saddino]

But the tilde is how you specify a destructor in C++, e.g.:

class CSlashDot {
public:
CSlashDot() : mModPoints(0), mTrollFilter(NULL) {}

virtual ~CSlashDot() {
if(mTrollFilter)
free(mTrollFilter);
}

protected:
long mModPoints;
char* mTrollFilter;
};

I use it every day, please don't remove it! ;-)

Aha!

[Rui del-Negro]

I knew someone must be doing them. Unfortunately the mouse looks too small for my paws, and doesn't seem to have buttons 4 and 5, which no self-respecting gamer can live without. ;)

RMN
~~~

disable caplock (windoze program)

[cypherz]

If you're using windoze, this program http://www.brainsystems.com/capsunlock/ is free and seems to work nicely. Puts itself into system tray etc.

Ebay

[funkmeister]

My adds on ebay seem more exciting when I type them in upper case. BUY NOW!

British and Canadian postal codes

[ToSeek]

Typing in British and Canadian postal codes is about the only time I can think of that I use the caps lock key. British codes look like:

LN6 2QJ

while Canadian ones look like:

N2M 5E5

The caps lock key has the avantage over the shift key in that it doesn't affect numbers. If I use the shift key, I tend to end up with something like:

N@M%E%

unless I'm very careful.

Scroll Lock and industrial design

[The Hobo]

The question of removing keybaord keys has come up before somewhere else, and people asked why Scroll Lock is still there, and one response was that it would be more expensive to take it out and change the keyboard layout than it would be to leave it there. As far as CAPS LOCK is concerned, I imagine a similar argument applies, as well as the valid arguments for keeping it that have already been posted

Passing Time

[AcidPhish]

I still use the CAPS lock key as long as its associated with a LED of any colour.

Between periods of burst programming, when I blankly stare at the glowing CRT, I tend to pass time by repeatedly pressing the CAPS lock key and getting absorbed by the pulsating LED.

By the way, all CAPS in this message were intentionally made by pressing the 'Caps Lock' key.

2 uses for caps

[PastaLover]

ever tried to type ENABLE_DEBUG=1 without caps?

So yeah, there is still a use for the caps key. Writing those long names for shell vars.

BTW, plenty of languages (such as java) have keywords in all caps. Constants for instance are all caps. So no, caps is not dead.

For some people, caps has its use.

[Anonymous Coward]

Here is an excerpt of a recent e-mail I got from an old calc. teacher.

WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE EXAM? PLEASE LET ME KNOW. I VALUE YOUR INPUT.
IN THE INTEREST OF CLOSURE, I WOULD LIKE EACH OF YOU TO RETURN YOUR BOOKS (SOME OF YOU HAVE (4) OTHERS (3) BY THE END OF NEXT WEEK.
I WILL HAVE TO SUBMIT THE NAMES OF THOSE STUDENTS WHO HAVE NOT RETURNED THEIR BOOKS TO THE GENERAL OFFICE. THIS THEN BECOMES ANOTHER PAIN FOR YOU TO DEAL WITH AS YOU LOOK FORWARD TO GRADUATION. PLEASE COOPERATE.
THANKS FOR A GREAT YEAR.

btw, the title was "TEXTBOOK RETURN."
well, caps lock has its use; he didn't shout a lot in the class, so being on-line with different persona was the only opportunity for him to shout like mad.

no

[Anonymous Coward]

nope.

My customers still use it..

[questforme]

As a PC Tech/Sysadmin in my town I have encountered at least a couple of place's of business that use specialized software that requires the caps lock key be activated so, no, it's not dead. I personally find it annonying when I'm working on their computers I constantly have to shut it off if I go outside said software.

Dumbest question ever

[DAtkins]

I use my Caps Lock key everyday. That's like a n00b going around and trying to get rid of the F keys because they don't know what they are used for. Was the news really this slow today?

By your logic...

[Anonymous Coward]

By your logic, I assume you've also trained yourself not to accidentally hit the 'E' key, and need to pause before hit it too?

Capslock? What's that?

[jeff_brh]

Um, what's a capslock?

Remapping is the best.

[AlexanderYoshi]

I remapped Caps Lock to the left Control Key and vice versa.

So now everytime I try to group my Peons together in Warcraft 3, I don't hurt my fingers!

-Alex

Image of my capslock

[Albert Sandberg]

http://www.thec.org/files/my_capslock.jpg

I did this years ago (as you can see from the dust in the keyboard) and I still haven't missed it.

And I played games too, but I don't use that key there either. Also, the windows key(s) are gone away.

It's amazing how much progress you can do with a screwdriver and some force :-)

Re:for actually using a computer (writing document

[colinramsay]

Then obviously he should be using his tongue to type with while his uni-digit holds down shift.

Re:for actually using a computer (writing document

[Technonotice_Dom]

The memories! A guy who would do the tills at my last job was dreadful for this... I'd watch him while he tried typing in a customer's name and address and it was painful.

He's not the fastest of typers (two fingered hunt and peck) and whenever he reached a capital letter he did that. In addition, I'd taught him how to use Alt+underlined letter to shortcut through the EPOS system.

Only thing was that the EPOS system was written by a couple guys in VB (yes, had I known before the PHB bought it one day it wouldn't have happened!) and required five keystrokes to add a single item onto the current purchase (despite it using a barcode scanner).

To close the purchase, it required an "Alt+S", about five tabs and three hits of return. My colleague however could handle the alt+s and tabs (he knew how to use those, and shift+tab) but when it came to using return, he'd find the mouse and click on it...!

I gave in after reminding him for a week ;-)

just rip it out

[rp]

While I can - barely - imagine a time when a caps lock key was convenient in entering long pieces of written text natural language, namely, in cases where all caps was used to make titles, keywords, etc., stand out, it should be universally recognized by now that STRINGS OF ALL-CAPS WORDS ARE HARD TO READ AND SIMPLY ANNOYING, no matter in which context they appear.

For computer keyboards this time frame must have been short: languages such as Cobol, Fortran and Algol were developed at a time when *all* text was in all caps, and when keyboards, line printers and teletype terminals with the capability to distinguish between lower case and upper case letters and line printers became commonplace, in the early 70s, text processing software was already supporting the formatting of text in other ways (italicize, enbolden, etc.)

So, in short, having a caps lock key was never really useful, and it never will be. I have never used since I moved to typing on a computer keyboard, some 22 years ago. The only 100% effective way of dealing with the caps lock key is to rip it out of the keyboard, and this is what I do as a matter of routine.

Pah. Caps Lock is a the control key

[YeeHarr]

xmodmap - <<EOF
!
! Swap Caps_Lock and Control_L
remove Lock = Caps_Lock
remove Control = Control_L
keysym Control_L = Caps_Lock
keysym Caps_Lock = Control_L
add Lock = Caps_Lock
add Control = Control_L
EOF

This is just the way it was in the old days of serial terminals which always had a control key under your left little finger. This is of course the natural thing for emacs.

Re:_ vs

[n3k5]

So why don't you _format_ your text to change all of your _words_ to words?

The underscores are easier and faster to type than the HTML tags. You might find them more annoying to read (I guess most people don't care; if that's wrong I'm willing to change my typing habits), but I find it annoying that the underscores aren't converted to HTML automagically -- the form allows the option 'HTML to text', but not the reverse.

By the way, I did _not_ use the <i> tag and I didn't mean the underscores to indicate italics, but _emphasis_. I see it as a semantic markup and don't feel compelled to make the mental effort of imagining the enclosed text chaning to italics. Maybe that's the difference because of which I find the underscores verys appropriate and not annoying at all.

Its the games!

[ssimontis]

The only use of caps lock I can think of is video games. Sometimes it functions as a run lock key.

Sums up linux really...

[Anonymous Coward]

Some 1337 C weaver decides that he doesn't need it, so nobody does. CAPS LOCK goes the way of the dodo, working sound drivers and software modems.

Shift

[Pan T. Hose]

I can assure you that my hands are hardly funky, for my tilde is right next to number one, exactly between escape and tabulator.

On a standard US keyboard that will produce a backtick (`) rather than a tilde.

On a standard US keyboard pressing "3" will produce the number three (3) rather than the octothorpe... Unless one holds (or otherwise activates the state of) the shift key. The same goes for $%^&* et cetera.

Funny

[Pan T. Hose]

It's funny how "octothorpe" and "sharp" sound a lot like "octopus" and "shark," is it not? I, for one, find it truly hilarious!

static final boolean CAPS_LOCK_IS_DEAD = false;

[jlusk4]

static final boolean CAPS_LOCK_IS_DEAD = false;

What a silly question.

John.

Converting to uppercase

[vasqzr]

Ever heard of tr?

tr a-z A-Z

Re:Converting to uppercase

[Frobnicator]

Ever heard of tr? tr a-z A-Z

Ever heard of Caps Lock? Isn't that just proof of the point of this whole /. story?

caps

[Anonymous Coward]

If you need capslock for cobol or sql or something, you can always map it to right alt or right ctrl. Talk about useless keys...

key

[Doc Ruby]

I toggle the key to deactivate my screen saver, without changing the state of the desktop. It's a nonvolatile "touch" event that doesn't actually change anything. If we do make a change, I'd like to change that key to be labelled "any", making it the appropriate response to the prompt to "press any key to continue...". Then we can get cracking on the right function triggered by pressing the key.

Amiga Help key

[Anonymous Coward]

The explanation I got (not necessarily correct) was that the key code for the Help key was defined quite late (too late, in effect), after the rest of the key codes had made it into the programmer's toolbox. Apparently it was a hassle to use it.

One very nice feature of the Amiga 1000 keyboard was that the Caps Lock key had an LED right in the key, iirc.

I swear I have to do it, sooner or later: Substitute a flashing LED for the regular Caps lock LED. Somebody must have done it!

Enby in Waltham

Re:Amiga Help key

[Sketch]

All Amigas had the built-in caps lock LED, even the A500 and later all-in-one keyboard style machines.

Also, the LED would blink failure codes in the case of keyboard errors. So in a way, it already had a flashing caps lock LED. ;)

Re:Caps Lock? Who cares about Caps Lock?

[mat.h]

They still haven't even bothered to get rid of the Scroll Lock button yet...

Don't! From the xpdf manpage:

p Move to the previous page. Scrolls to the top of
the page, unless scroll lock is turned on.

I actually do use that key! (And have Caps Lock be another Ctrl, and the Windows keys generate Meta.)

Apart from that: How many support calls ("Word is writing everything in uppercase!") does Caps Lock cause per $unit_of_time?

CAPS LOCK considered harmful

[3247]

While the "caps lock" key made sense on typewriters, which have limited typesetting features, it is generally a bad idea to use all-caps characters on a computer. Instead, one should write the text with normal capitalization and then use markup to have it appear as all-caps.

E.g. in HTML, instead of "ALL CAPS" one should write "all caps" (of course, this makes more sense if you use logical markup and put the CSS into the style sheet).

We're not all programmers

[Gigabit Switchman]

Hardware designers use all caps on schematics, generally (except for comments.) SIGNAL_NAME is much easier to read on an 11x17 schematic with tons of "wires" crossing your text than Signal_name is... especially on a B&W hardcopy in the middle of a schematic review.

Intellitype 5.0

[GrendelWraith]

Not only has the ability to disable the Caps lock key under Windows.
It also allows for the disabling of either Windows key and the Application Menu key.

Slow news day, eh Tim

[uberdood]

How is a discussion about caps lock newsworthy? Next we'll be discussing the need of SysRq, Break, and Scroll Lock since most people don't use them in Windows either.

Call me retro...

[Muad'Dave]

...but I still write my assembly language code for the Microchip line of PIC microcontrollers in all uppercase. It's a holdover from Interdata/Perkin Elmer/Concurrent Computer days. Has it really been 17 years since I went to work there?

I'm still writing Basic...

[Anonymous Coward]

... you insensitive clod!

It's VITAL!

[Anonymous Coward]

True, it's rarely used. In my office every computer except mine has Caps Lock ON ALL THE TIME! Geez, this drives me NUTS!!!

I use it for ÉÈÀÇ

[Anonymous Coward]

When I write proper French.

Minh Ha Duong,
CIRED, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales

What will all the L337 kiddies do?

[Anonymous Coward]

W3 N33DZ OUR CAPZ L0K.

CAPZ L0K 0WNZ JU!

Beware the late night office cleaner.

[Scorchio]

Having the power button on the keyboard was pretty cool, though, I'll give you that. That's definately something I'd like to have for convenience if nothing else.

I used to use an Apple Quadra at work, which had the big power button on the keyboard. It was quite nice, but had an unfortunate downside. The cleaning lady occasionally decided to give my keyboard wipe or dust down, pressing the power button and mashing the rest of the keys in the process. I could tell when this had happened, because the machine was turned on when I got in, and various desktop icons had been renamed to dfghvbhynjmiutrf, rytuyiohgfeetr or fdssadfsadfsg.

Caps still valid for coding

[cb8100]

I use capslock all the time when writing C code. I don't know about you, but my fingers tend to trip over each other when I hold down shift to type the name of a #define in caps.

Plus capslock is always useful for "yelling" at slashdot idiots :D

Re: "now made with chicken breast"!

[pbhj]

Ooops, hit enter by mistake ... anyway, I noticed that too, so I thought it meant the whole chicken-y bit was chicken breast. Having sampled the "new McNuggett" I reckon that it's still partially reconstituted / soya protein ; they didn't after all say that it was _only_ made with chicken breast pieces!

Marketeers are evil! :0)>

Yes

[Merk]

Some examples from actual code:

#define OPERATION_IDLE (0)
#define OPERATION_WAITING_TO_RUN (-1)
#define OPERATION_IN_PROGRESS (-2)
#define OPERATION_DONE (-3)
#define OPERATION_TIMED_OUT (-4)

#define STATE_ACTIVE (-10)
#define STATE_CLEANUP (-11)
#define STATE_ERROR (-12)
#define STATE_IDLE (-13)
#define STATE_POWERUP (-14)
#define STATE_RUNNING (-15)
#define STATE_WAITING (-16)
#define STATE_CATCHUP (-17)

Values of the constants aside, that's pretty good constant, well #define naming. They're generic, can be used in many code sections, and explain well what's going on. Now I can normally expand them in Emacs, but when I want to type them in, they're way too long to be typed using the shift key mashed down.

Re:Capslock is used all the time in the corp world

[Just Some Guy]

Printing out checks and certain forms will always be done in CAPS so as to not confuse the other parties.

That has nothing whatsoever to do with data entry. If the spec calls for information on a check to be printed all-caps, and the programmer can't bother to write

print fullname.upper()

instead of

print fullname

then you need to get a new programmer.

CAPS IS GOOOOOOD!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

wRITING IN ALL CAPS IS THE WAY TEH WAY TO GO!!! bE L33+!

However I need more stuff because of this gay feature:

Lameness filter encountered. Post aborted!
Reason: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.

Please (Seriously)

[CodeMonkey4Hire]

Don't forget about people with disabilities, etc. There may be people who need to turn caps-lock on/off when ever they need to type an upper-case letter. Developers/Geeks always* seem to forget that people with disabilities (deaf, color-blind, mechanical difficulties, etc.) [have a right to!] use computers too.

* Sorry for the generization if this is not you. And yes, I fall into this category.

Yes it is necessary, if only....

[Tailhook]

It is very necessary, if only to consume enough usable space on keyboards (especially laptops) to prevent Microsoft from inventing an "XP" key, or perhaps a "Longhorn" key. The fools that designed legacy keyboards did not anticipate a monopoly software company with the market force to "create" a new key for one of their products. Had they, I assume they would have provided Meta, Hyper and a few other alts to constrain such "innovation".

Dear Pan T. Hose

[mdm42]

Nonsense, dear!

The tilde key is very useful for deleting all those tiresome "backup" files that so many programs insist on creating.

True

[Pan T. Hose]

Nonsense, dear! The tilde key is very useful for deleting all those tiresome "backup" files that so many programs insist on creating.

Well... Yes, indeed. [1] [2] [3] [4]

ALL CAPS HTML

[a1291762]

all caps HTML was good until standards like CSS made it bad.

CSS is case sensitive so <P> and <p> are not equivalent.

I think the XHTML spec says not to use uppercase tags.

Re:Yelling

[Anonymous Coward]

Need a karmaless "unfunny" mod.

Just meta-modded your "redundant" mod "unfair".

ctrl:nocaps

[TA]

I learned touch typing on a mechanical typewriter
and was completely fine with the capslock key there.
However, I've been programming for nearly three
decades by now, and I have never ever in all that
time had need of the caps lock key. It's just
unbelivable that computer keyboards still ship
with a key called 'Caps Lock', and that the default
XFree86 setup still includes caps lock.
Everybody, add 'Option "XkbOptions" "ctrl:nocaps"
to your /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 keyboard driver setup.

Re:Do not underestimate the power of "Power Cycle"

[Otto]

I've lost count of how many times a warm or even Mostly Off boot (often suggested by a Level 1 tech who doesn't understand the 'high tech' distinction any better than users do) did not resolve the problem, but a true 'Power Cycle' (on...off...on is the cycle) did.

If a full power cycle of a PC solves a problem that a "mostly off" boot does not, then it's time to get a new PC, as you have severe hardware issues by that point.

Seriously, your distinction between "mostly off" and a full power cycle makes no sense. If there's no power going to the bios chipset, the RAM, and the processor, then that sucker is freakin' off... And if there is power going to any of those three, then you screwed up somehow by not actually turning it off. The power button on the front of the case should be killing their power at the very minimum.. I know of no machine that is capable of waking from NIC or modem activity from an actual shutdown and/or off state. From standby, sure...

Keep It

[SlipJig]

I was taught in typing class way back when that if you have 3 or more capital letters to type in a row, it's worth it to hit Caps Lock. Given the number of TLAs (three-letter acronyms) in the computer world, I would think it would come in handy for a lot of people. It's good to have for gaming too - you can map it to whatever you want.

That said, the keyboard I use (see my sig) has it at the top of the keyboard, in the middle. I don't use it all that much, and I think it's a good enough spot for it.

It's even better as "control"

[Anonymous Coward]

It's in a nice easy-to-reach place (though you never use it) so why not map something useful to it? Control or Alt are much nicer there. If you are used to old Sun keyboards it feels quite natural. You won't get cramps in your pinky finger anymore either.

Help keys

[avij]

Speaking of help keys, there was a computer made by Nokia in the 80s, the MikroMikko2. That computer was used at least in some Finnish pharmacies at the time. It had quite a lot of nonstandard features, such as an Intel 80186 (!) processor and a strange keyboard. The keyboard had a help button located at the top, in the middle of the function keys row. The help button was labelled AIDS, ie. plural of the word "aid". Obviously Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome wasn't as recognized back then as it is now, otherwise the Nokia engineers might have chosen to name the button something else.

Who Needs History With a Good Conspiracy Theory?

[Royster]

The true history is that IBM changed the "standard" keyboard to the 101 key design with the introduction of the IBM AT in '84 or thereabouts. The "inverted T" with the pad of motion keys above it was added. Prior to that, the number pad doubled as the motion keys.

The reason for this was to standardize keyboards across IBM on the Selectric design. The Selectric, a typewriter, had no control key and it had a large caps lock key right where you find it today. 3270 mainframe terminals and 5280 ACSII terminals all begain to use this keyboard design at around this time.

When Compaq and the other cloners introduced their models, they slavishly copied IBM's design. No Jobs/Gates conspiracy. Windows was still vaporware in 1984.

For crying out loud

[Anonymous Coward]

This is a perfect example of why programmers are useless when it comes to how ordinary people use computers.

Re:Do not underestimate the power of "Power Cycle"

[The Monster]

If there's no power going to the bios chipset, the RAM, and the processor, then that sucker is freakin' off...

But since modern computers have the ability to Wake on LAN, Modem, or Alarm, (as well as waking up when you hit the switch on the front panel or even a certain button on some models of keyboard) there is a part of the motherboard that stays awake. And if the problem is a network glitch, it's obvious that the NIC hasn't really been reset if it's got a trickle of current going to it when it's 'off'.

I've had my own PC fail to even detect that I'd hit the front panel button until I hit the switch on the power supply.

Re:Do not underestimate the power of "Power Cycle"

[Otto]

But since modern computers have the ability to Wake on LAN, Modem, or Alarm, (as well as waking up when you hit the switch on the front panel or even a certain button on some models of keyboard) there is a part of the motherboard that stays awake. And if the problem is a network glitch, it's obvious that the NIC hasn't really been reset if it's got a trickle of current going to it when it's 'off'.

Except that I wouldn't call it "off" in those states... I'd call it in "standby". If it can Wake on LAN or what have you, then it's not "off". Pretty much every motherboard has an "off" mode that cannot Wake on LAN or Modem.. Those settings you see in the BIOS are usually for waking up from standby mode. Standby mode is as you say, the NIC is powered up as is the serial connections and the bios chip. The processor is off, but the RAM is getting current to maintain memory and be able to come instantly on, more or less.

Re:OMG! (too much trouble)

[johneee]

Which is why, in Windows XP, a warning message comes on telling you that your CapsLock key is on when you're at the login screen. I thought that was pretty cool meself.

Re:Who Needs History With a Good Conspiracy Theory

[bob65]

Prior to that, the number pad doubled as the motion keys.

And I wish it had stayed that way. Now that mice are so common, we have to either put our keyboards at an awkard angle to make room for the mouse, or use the mouse at an awkward distance. Unless you're left-handed, in which case you are lucky.

Allow me to go low-brow for a second

[Coupier]

caps is my crouch key (to compliment WASD) remove it, even SUGGEST IT and ill PULL OFF YOUR LEGS. im fairly certain the data input types all over the world use it in their POP/SOP modules too.

Re:Do not underestimate the power of "Power Cycle"

[The Monster]

(as well as waking up when you hit the switch on the front panel or even a certain button on some models of keyboard)

Except that I wouldn't call it "off" in those states... I'd call it in "standby". If it can Wake on LAN or what have you, then it's not "off".

Well, that's really my whole point. 'what have you' includes hitting the 'power' button on either the front panel of the computer or one one of the newer-style keyboards. Until the power supply switch is shut off, the computer isn't completely off. The BIOS generally includes a setting for how to respond to a power failure and subsequent restoration:

1. Always power up.
2. Never power up
3. Only power up if it was up before the power failure.

This means that when the unit is plugged in, or the power supply switched on, something in that box has the smarts to check a bit in CMOS to see if it's supposed to power up now, or wait for an appropriate button to be pushed. Even if Wake on LAN or Modem is turned off, something is alive. And that means it isn't really off, but just Mostly Off.

I think it's usefull.

[Atypic]

I think it's neat to use when typing SQL-queries, but besides that, i've sometimes installed computers at retirement homes and such, and one of the elderly people there only has one hand to type with, and strething out his fingers is rather painfull, so instead he just pushes Caps Lock once when he needs a capital letter, and turns if off afterwards. It's a little awkward, but as he says "i've got plenty of time, these legs ain't going nowhere (ironically enough he only has one leg).

Vignette StoryServer Tcl

[mystkdragon]

For those of us still stuck in the world of legacy unsupported applications, Vignette's StoryServer platform utilized a hacked version of Tcl...the commands were all caps

[SEARCH TABLE slash INTO dot SQL "
SELECT myShoe
FROM myFoot
WHERE myShoe IS NOT NULL
"]
Within the language, each open bracket is another run of the interpreter, so you can nest a lot of code within a single bracket. I can't imagine holding shift for 500 lines of code where a large percentage of which can be upper case.

I'm fortunate enough that they support raw tcl (lower case) so I don't have to use their laborious wrapper commands but in some cases it cannot be avoided (SEARCH utilized some internal structures for database connection that is hard to write by hand) or is too hard to rewrite.

Whoop! Whoop! Apostrophe Police

[jolajolajola]

"Nazis" does not have an apostrophe in, you insensitive clod.