OT: periphs.keyboard

[skearney]

As a keyboard evangelist I only post this once to a news group. Just
thought someone might like to try transposing dfjk with etni, Keytweak
makes it easy.

Aset keyboard
It has been said that the most common letters were taken off the home
row of the first typewriter keyboard to slow down the typist and
prevent jamming.
On a Dvorak keyboard almost sixty percent of average text is typed from
the home keys. Transposing the letters 'etni' with 'dfjk' would put
more than 55% of text on the home keys, up from only 26% on the qwerty
layout. Thats more than twice the text typed without lifting a finger.

The change is quite pleasant and easy to learn. I hope you will pass
this on.

To put e, t, n and i back where they belong, there is a keyboard
remapping program that is free, downloads quickly and is very easy to
use. I am typing this post on a keyboard remapped to the 'etni'
transposition layout. The program is called 'Keytweak 2.11' and can be
googled up by that name. It is available from several sites, including
PC magazine and recommended by several keyboard manufacturers,
including TypeMatrix. The creator of the program is Travis Krumsick.

1) After you have loaded the program click start.
2) Click the "KeyTweak" icon and a graphic of a keyboard will appear.
3) Click the "Full Teach Mode" at the bottom of the screen.
4) A box will appear. Click "Begin Teach Mode".
5) Press the key you want to reassign, then the key you want it
reassigned to, in this case D to E.
6) Click "Remap Key#1 to Key#2"
7) The box will disappear and the scancodes of the keys will appear in
the "Pending Changes" window at the bottom right.
8) Follow the same procedure (from 3) for E to D, and the remaining
six remaps.
9) Click "Apply" and you will be asked if you want to turn off the
computer to apply the changes.
At the top there is also a clickable "Restore Defaults" to give
you back your qwerty layout.
I was able to remap in under three minutes and restore qwerty in
thirty seconds, not including the restart.

You can try out the sample lines of text below to discover that your
fingers already know where etni should go.

nineteen lean little saints settle in a nest
jkjdfddj ldaj lkffld askjfs sdffld kj jdsf

an alien eats an ant antenna in atlanta
aj alkdj dafs aj ajf ajfdjja kj aflajfa

elite sense entails a siesta in a satin seat
dlkfd sdjsd djfakls a skdsfa kj a safkj sdaf

a stain is seen at a linen sale
a sfakj ks sddj af a lkjdj sald

a latent latin talent tast tests in seattle
a lafdjf lafkj faldjf fasf fdsfs kj sdaffld

insane santa sails in sea salt
kjsajd sajfa sakls kj sda salf

Many thanks,

 

[J. Clarke]

As a keyboard evangelist

Just what we need, another stupid religion.

 

[First of One]

As long as the WASD keys are still in their old places, I don't really care
about the rest.

 

[NightSky 421]

Just what we need, another stupid religion.

LOL, there's been enough of that in the newsgroups lately already!

 

[skearney]

Just what we need, another stupid religion.

Well I still think it is a lot easier to go from qwerty to qwdrfy
than to Dvorak or etaoinshrdlu. It really isn't so much a religion as
a personal experience.
I see that it has been a little over a week, and seventy of your
posts since last we corresponded. Good to see you get around, hope you
don't mind too much my doing the same. I probably come across as a
cross between a one trick pony and a broken record. My message must be
lacking, so far as I know I am still the only person in the whole world
using the etni layout. Dare I ask...any suggestions besides 'get
lost'?

 

[J. Clarke]

Well I still think it is a lot easier to go from qwerty to qwdrfy
than to Dvorak or etaoinshrdlu. It really isn't so much a religion as
a personal experience.
I see that it has been a little over a week, and seventy of your
posts since last we corresponded. Good to see you get around, hope you
don't mind too much my doing the same. I probably come across as a
cross between a one trick pony and a broken record. My message must be
lacking, so far as I know I am still the only person in the whole world
using the etni layout. Dare I ask...any suggestions besides 'get
lost'?

The simple fact is that you clearly have the body politic confused with
someone who gives a damn about keyboard layouts.

There's a saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"--before anybody is going
to get excited about your "fix" you're going to have to make a convincing
case that the current layout is "broke" in some substantial way.

If this is the focus of your life, you might want to consider getting out
more.

 

[NightSky 421]

Well I still think it is a lot easier to go from qwerty to qwdrfy
than to Dvorak or etaoinshrdlu. It really isn't so much a religion as
a personal experience.
I see that it has been a little over a week, and seventy of your
posts since last we corresponded. Good to see you get around, hope you
don't mind too much my doing the same. I probably come across as a
cross between a one trick pony and a broken record. My message must be
lacking, so far as I know I am still the only person in the whole world
using the etni layout. Dare I ask...any suggestions besides 'get
lost'?

Take heart, I saw your comment about being a "keyboard evangelist" as
humourous mainly because your timing for mentioning such a thing was
impeccible given the off-topic posts about religion we've seen in various
newsgroups recently. I don't think John's comment to you was as much of a
personal attack on you as it was a comment on some of the other off-topic
posts we've seen.

 

[skearney]

Take heart, I saw your comment about being a "keyboard evangelist" as
humourous mainly because your timing for mentioning such a thing was
impeccible given the off-topic posts about religion we've seen in various
newsgroups recently. I don't think John's comment to you was as much of a
personal attack on you as it was a comment on some of the other off-topic
posts we've seen.

Mr. Clarke and I met in the palm pilot ng. I try to limit my
postings to ngs where the subject of the Dvorak keyboard has come up
previously. As time went on I was reaching back several years for a
reference. I had pretty much used up my supply when a couple of new
posts appeared. I have averaged about two posts a day since I found
Keytweak, though they are usually in spasms of more than that.
In the brewing ng I was advised that I would have to become a fisher
of typists, so I thought the evangelist reference was a proper
description. It seems that virtually every new ng I've gone to has a
couple of postings from he who's name should not be spoken. One poster
wrote that he had picked up a virus from one of the links.
John is always in good form, although I always thought a ml of water
was a gram to a close enough tolerance for government work. Thanks for
the 'take heart' encouragement. Atleast I try to answer posts, and try
to be apologetic when I irritate someone. But for the most part, when
not ignored, I have received thoughtful replies.
One thing that has really astonished me is just how many Dvorak
users there are in google.groups, I've encountered well over a dozen.
For the most part they emphasize comfort and advise not to expect
faster typing. Impressive also is that most can still type well on a
qwerty layout.
You have a neat moniker, Nightsky, how did you come to choose it?

Any chance you might want to try out a few lines without lifting a
finger?

inane allen steals last teal tile

atlas, a silent tall titan, settles in east nile

In any case thanks for your post.

 

[NightSky 421]

You have a neat moniker, Nightsky, how did you come to choose it?

Heh, this is the first time anyone has asked me this...the NightSky part is
a reference to my mild interest in astronomy. The 421 part was inspired
from the original Star Wars movie (from 1977) where there was a stormtrooper
with the name TK421. I thought it would be an interesting mix for a user
name.

Any chance you might want to try out a few lines without lifting a
finger?

I think I'll stick to the QWERTY layout. I have no need to be a faster
typer than I already am (I'm about 25wpm), but I can certainly appreciate
from all I've read that the DVORAK layout would be beneficial to those who
require fast typing skills for a living.

Thanks for the reply back. I was not aware that you and John were already
known to each other in the groups!

 

[skearney]

The simple fact is that you clearly have the body politic confused with
someone who gives a damn about keyboard layouts.

Might call it the body google, and I have discovered that there are
a lot of Dvorak users in it. Most swear by its comfort and claim far
less fatigue as its outstanding benifit. Just wanted to get the word
out that there is an esier way to get the same advantage.

There's a saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"--before anybody is going
to get excited about your "fix" you're going to have to make a convincing
case that the current layout is "broke" in some substantial way.

That seems to be the majority response. References to studies that
Dvorak is only marginally better, testimonials that qwerty works just
fine and in any case it is too ubiquitous and practical to consider
changeing.

If this is the focus of your life, you might want to consider getting out
more.

It obviously has been a big deal to me for the last couple of
months, I can't seem to shut down. Dvorak has a small but very loyal
following. I thought that etni, being such a small modification of
qwerty and so much simpler to learn, might generate the same kind of
sentiment.

The most important lessons are the ones we least want to learn.

Thanks for your insights, they are right on target. You must get
some pleasure out of being right or you wouldn't have posted.

Fhajis tor your kjskghfs, fhey ard rkghf oj fargdf. You musf gdf
somd pldasurd ouf ot bdkjg rkghf or you woulej'f havd posfde.

(Just to show that I can still use qwerty, and should you ever want
to search for this post, most of the transposed words will call it up)

 

[skearney]

Heh, this is the first time anyone has asked me this...the NightSky part is
a reference to my mild interest in astronomy. The 421 part was inspired
from the original Star Wars movie (from 1977) where there was a stormtrooper
with the name TK421. I thought it would be an interesting mix for a user


I think I'll stick to the QWERTY layout. I have no need to be a faster
typer than I already am (I'm about 25wpm), but I can certainly appreciate
from all I've read that the DVORAK layout would be beneficial to those who
require fast typing skills for a living.

Thanks for the reply back. I was not aware that you and John were already
known to each other in the groups!

I think Mr. Clarke's sentiments can be summerized as: nobody gives a
damn and there isn't much advantage in learning any other layout.
There are even Dvorak users who agree with his sentiments, which leads
me to wonder why they continue to use the layout.
The etni transposition is sort of a short circuit version of qwerty.
When you feel the urge to lift a finger to reach for etni, you instead
press. The layout takes advantage of the skill already learned.
I was hopeing that someone would try it out for a few days and find
that it really is easy and kind of fun to master. It feels like you
are typing faster, and that time spent on it will result in a greater
gain in speed and accuracy than the same time spent on qwerty. The
fingers seem to sweep more than jab. So far no one has spent more than
a few minutes in pretend mode, just enough to get confused.
Dvorak users are a lost cause, they are already using the best that
is available. Dvorak wannabes, who want the benefit without the
effort, have got to be out there somewhere. The keys will wait.