On Jul 2, 6:08 am, Tracy R Reed <t...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> RexBallard<rex.ball...@xxxxxxxxx> writes:
> > Fortunately I use a Dvorak keyboard and I can type about 80 words per
> > minute. I'm lots of fun on chats. :-D
>
> HeyRex!
>
> I've been pondering going to dvorak for many years.
Go for it! It's pretty easy to learn the keyboard typing.
There is even a Dvorak typing tutor for KDE on openSUSE 10.2
> But how can you use
> emacs or vi when the keys get shifted around?
Like so many other things, you just get used to it. It helps if you
have full mapping for things like cursor keys. the HJKL you can learn
fairly quickly, even though it's not as intuitive in the new
arrangement. Emacs keys are even simpler, because you are already
using p (for previous) n (for next), and so on.
It helps if you practice a bit on something that isn't critical, and
save often when you first start working on "real" documents, but I
think it took me about 2 hours to relearn the vi keys, about an hour
to relearn the emacs keys.
> Even if I did successfully
> learn it I just can't see using vi or emacs as the key patterns would be
> crazy when hjkl get moved around.
I normally don't use the hjkl keys as cursor keys, except when using
ksh in "vi" mode, but it becomes second nature after about an hour.
Remember, it takes 14 correct repetitions to create a new habit.
Strange as it seems, I sometimes have to think more carefully when I'm
typing on someone else's keyboard, because I'm so used to the dvorak
layouts for the function keys.
> If anything I would consider going to
> a totally different input technology altogether. I would really like to
> go to something like:
>
> http://www.datahand.com/
The argument is very old. Even as early as 1977, people proposed
ditching the keyboard and using voice recognition - but VR still can't
put a mike to a speakerphone and get an accurate transcript of all of
the members of the call.
VR is good for simple commands, or maybe even a phone list, but as the
primary input device, it really doesn't work.
Probably the best "good attempt" was that notation used in the Palm
Pilot. Some people can scribble on a pilot faster than they can write
on paper. I used to be pretty good at taking notes on a pilot myself.
We have computers that can "read your mind", Steven Hawkings uses one,
as do many other quadrapeligics, and people with cerebral Palsey. It
doesn't really read your mind, but it can see where your eye is
focused and "type" the word or character desired. Learning to use it
makes learning dvorak seem trivial. A similar device is used by the
military for sighting and selecting targets. The computer sees where
they are looking, and once the signal is given, the missles focus on
that target as accurately as the eyes did.
Smalltalk attempted to claim that you could do anything you needed to
do with a mouse, if you lost the keyboard. It was true, but "typing"
using a mouse isn't the exactly a model of efficiency.
There are several "chording" technology where a combination of keys
are pressed to get the desired letter. The good thing about this is
that it requires fewer key strokes, but it's still pretty hard to
learn, and stenographer's notes are still a bit cryptic.
I'm actually surprised that more people haven't learned the Dvorak
keyboard. Now that it's just a simple configuration option on Windows
or Linux, you would think that people would want to avoid RSI and
fatigue. Of course, most qwerty teachers still tell students that the
layout was designed to be MORE efficient, even though that was only
true up until about 1910, when they started using springs to make the
keys snap back faster.
> Because it doesn't even have a concept of key positions. But these are
> very pricey and the fact that only one company makes it and it isn't a
> standard scares me. I would be very upset if I invested so much time in
> mastering the thing and then the company went under.
And this has happened several times. IF you dig up some archived
copies of Byte Magazine, you can find ads for a "key pad" - it was a
one handed device that combined rocking and finger presses to create
up to 96 different keystrokes. No recollection as to how fast it was.
> At the moment I use a Happy Hacker keyboard and I am pretty satisfied
> with it. I love the small size and the control key being where it
> belongs. Just wondering if there isn't an even less stressful way to go
> about entering text.
any light travel keyboard, such as a laptop or "mini" keyboard,
combined with a dvorak layout selection, will eventually reduce the
stress significantly. Take a week to get used to it, and then stick
with it for about a month, and before long you won't want to go back
to qwerty.
> --
> Tracy R Reed Read my blog athttp://ultraviolet.org
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