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From: leichter@yale-com.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.micro
Subject: Re: Why are micro keyboards braindamaged?
Message-ID: <1620@yale-com.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 15-Jun-83 00:16:51 EDT
Article-I.D.: yale-com.1620
Posted: Wed Jun 15 00:16:51 1983
Date-Received: Thu, 16-Jun-83 13:44:13 EDT
References: houxm.434
Lines: 23

Re:  The new DEC keyboard
It CAN generate all ASCII characters - but you have to know how.  The "oddball"
controls are generated by CTRL and a digit; the only one I know offhand is
ESC = CTRL/3.  (This sounds very odd but is, in fact, an ANSI standard of some
sort, and once you know it is quite logical.)

The lack of a convenient ESCAPE key is a pain; CTRL/3 may or may not be better
than reaching across.

The location of the compose key is driven by its relatively heavy use in many
European languages.  Unfortunately, it's relatively rarely used in English, and
even less often used by programmers.  (In general, the keyboard is optimized
for people who type a lot of natural language - NOT necessarily English - fast,
followed by "unsophisticated" users - a terrible term which should be read as
"non-hackers".

I believe the keyboard - system interface is, or will be, a public spec; the
physical interface is actually RS232 electrically, RJ-11 (modular phone jack)
mechanically.  I would assume that other people will eventually supply key-
boards optimized for other uses.
							-- Jerry
						decvax!yale-comix!leichter
							leichter@yale