Original Usenet thread from rec.arts.ascii, started 4 Oct 1994.
Talk: Dvorak layout
rec.arts.ascii
· 11 messages · 4 Oct 1994 - 8 Oct 1994
Victor Ortega <vo2...@andrew.cmu.edu> wrote: >Bob Allison (bob...@wwa.com) wrote: >> I use a Dvorak layout for actual typing because it is faster and >> requires less effort to type than QWERTY. OWERTY was scienfically designed >> to make typing difficult in the age of manual typewriters when typist >> were too fast for them and jammed them a lot. > >Because of my lack of knowledge on the subject, I decided to look this >up in my encyclopedia. Here's what I found under "typewriter": > > Despite the revolutionary advances in typewriter capabilities, > one essential element has remained unchanged since the first > Remington. The keyboard arrangement, nicknamed QWERTY for the > top line of letters, was designed to make it easier for salesmen > to sell the machines. All the letters in the word "typewriter" > are in the top line, so there was no need to hunt and peck. A > much more efficient arrangement was devised in 1936 by August > Dvorak, cousin of the composer. With the Dvorak keyboard, the > right hand does equal work with the left, the strongest fingers > do the most work, and 70 percent of the typing takes place on the > "home row," where the fingers naturally rest. In 1872, Christopher Lathan Sholes and two associates invented a machine he called a 'Type-Writer'. It worked, but in those times, they could not make a machine fast enough to keep from jamming. So since Sholes couldn't make the machine faster, after much experimentation, he created a keyboard layout that was inconvenient to use. Unfortunately the world has had to use this junk ever since. Whether he put the keys to spell Type-Writer on one row, I don't know. Here is how my dvorak keyboard is: row ~ ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) { } #1 ` 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 [ ] delete row " < > P Y F G C R L ? + | #2 tab ' , . p y f g c r l / = \ row A O E U I D H T N S _ #3 caplock a o e u i d h t n s - return row : Q J K X B M W V Z #4 shift ; q j k x b m w v z shift spacebar -- _--_ ____ . || || ||_ _ /:\ || || || | (/_ /;:.\ ||__. _ //;:. \ ~ || /'\\< \,,._-_ /'\\ /'\\,._-_ /'\\ \\ \\ \\ ///;:.. \ || || /-|| || || / || || || || || || || __--"////;:... \"--__ || || (( || || ||/ || || || || || || || --__ "--_____--" __-- ,-___- \\,/ \/\\ \\, \\,/ \\,/ \\, \\,/ \\//\// """--_______--"""
An interesting thing about the QWERTY layout is that consecutive letters are placed pretty close together. If you look at the position of each letter starting a, b, c, and so on, they're all pretty close together, in fact many pairs are right next to each other (specifically, cde,fgh,ijkl,mn,op.) Apparently not much thought was put into that layout at all, but since it was supposed to be bad, that doesn't make much difference.
Bram Cohen <bco...@cs.buffalo.edu> wrote: > >An interesting thing about the QWERTY layout is that consecutive letters are >placed pretty close together. If you look at the position of each letter >starting a, b, c, and so on, they're all pretty close together, in fact many >pairs are right next to each other (specifically, cde,fgh,ijkl,mn,op.) >Apparently not much thought was put into that layout at all, but since it >was supposed to be bad, that doesn't make much difference. A couple of other things. One is the physical layout of the actual keys themselves. How ergonomic is that? Another is what Apple did with the split keyboard they make. -- ======= ====== ======= ======= ====== ====== ======= ======= === === === /// /// /// /// /// /// /// /// /// /// /// /// /// /// /// ------- --- ------- ------- ------ --- ------- --- --- --- --- --- /// /// /// /// ////// /// /// ////// /// /// /// /// /// ======= ====== === === === === ====== ====== === === ======= ===========
Somebody asked for the address of the keyboard maker in Washington
state, and I did manage to find it in the black hole of information
around here.
Keytime
4516 NE 54 St
Seattle, WA 98105
206-524-2238
I hope that helps. I don't know if they are still there, but that's
the address I had from a few years ago.
--
.ooo. .oo. .ooo oooo. ooooo .oo. oooo. .oooo. oo oo oo
(88***:88*** d88*88 88**8b 88***.88*** 88**8b :88**88: 88 88 88
'88b 88F d88 88 88 .8P 88oo 88F 88 .8P:88 88:88 88 88
Y88 ?88 :8888888 8888" 88** ?88 8888" :88 88:88 88 88
888 *8b..88L 88 88'8b 88... *8b.. 88'8b '8b..d8' 88bd88bd8F
:88888F "*8F 88 88 88 '8F 8888F "*8F 88 '8F ^*88*^ 88F"88F"
Once upon a time, Bob Allison wrote:
: Somebody asked for the address of the keyboard maker in Washington
: state, and I did manage to find it in the black hole of information
: around here.
: Keytime
: 4516 NE 54 St
: Seattle, WA 98105
: 206-524-2238
: I hope that helps. I don't know if they are still there, but that's
: the address I had from a few years ago.
Hi, Scarecrow, and all other interested parties!!
I called Keytime. They don't make keyboards anymore, but they have
Microsoft drivers for dvorak available, as well as charts, testing software,
and workbooks. Really helpful -- and not that expensive, too. Happy
typing!
stimps
--
)\._.,--....,'``.
sti...@marimba.wimsey.bc.ca /, _.. \ _\ (`._ ,.
*-* `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'
the cat offers itself.
stimpy <sti...@marimba.wimsey.bc.ca> wrote: > >Once upon a time, Bob Allison wrote: > >: Somebody asked for the address of the keyboard maker in Washington >: state, and I did manage to find it in the black hole of information >: around here. > >: Keytime >: 4516 NE 54 St >: Seattle, WA 98105 >: 206-524-2238 > >: I hope that helps. I don't know if they are still there, but that's >: the address I had from a few years ago. > >Hi, Scarecrow, and all other interested parties!! > >I called Keytime. They don't make keyboards anymore, but they have >Microsoft drivers for dvorak available, as well as charts, testing software, >and workbooks. Really helpful -- and not that expensive, too. Happy >typing! For those who are interested, you can find software drivers for Dvorak layout in the usual places (FTP-Gopher sites, BBS, shareware disks, etc.). Most of the ones I've seen were free. On the Mac, these are called keyboard layouts (only a few K) and you just chuck them in the System file. For example, there's the free "ANSI Dvorak". -- ::::::::::::::::::::db ::::dOOOOb ::::::OO ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ::::::::::::::::*Ob O OP dOOOOOOOb :::::OP.::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :::::::::::::::::OO OOO ::*OOOOOOP.:::::::::::::::::::dOOOb :::O O ::::::::::: :::::::::::::::dOOO ::OO ::*OOOOO ::::::::::::::O :dOOOOOOOOOb :O :::::::::::: :::::::::dOOOOOOO O OOOOOO :OOOO :::::::::dOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOb ::::::: ::::::::dOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OO ::OP.:O :::::dOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP.::::::: ::::::::'V'"*OOOOOOP.:::OO :::::::::::::O OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP"OP.::::::::: ::::::::::::::7OOOOOO dOOOb :::::::::::OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP.:O :::::::::: :::::::##### ::#### OO#### ::##### ::##### O#### O##### OOO#### ::## :## :## : :::::## :::::## OOOO## P## :## :## :## ::d## OOOO## O## O## P## :## :## :## :: :::::#### ::## O:*O###### :##### ::#### O## OOOO##### OO## P## :## :## :## ::: :::::::## :## ::::## O## :## ## ::## OOO## OOOO## ## :O## :## :## :## :## :::: ::##### :::#### :## :## O## :## :##### O#### P## :## ::#### :::######## :::::: :::::::::::::::::::::::OOOOOOOb ::::::"*OOOOO ::::::::::O O :::::::::::::::::: ::::::::::::::::::::::::OOOOOOO ::::::::OOOOO O ::::::::::::::O :::::::::::::: ::::::::::::::::::::::::XOOOOP.:::::::::OOOOO O :::::::::::dOOOOb :::::::::::: ::::::::::::::::::::::::OOOP.::::::::::::OOP.:::::::::::::OOOOOOOO ::::::::::: ::::::::::::::::::::::::OP.:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::".:::::*.::::::::::: ::::::::::::::::::::::::P.:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
In article <36uu7f$fq...@gagme.wwa.com> bob...@wwa.com (Bob Allison) writes: > >Bram Cohen <bco...@cs.buffalo.edu> wrote: >> >>An interesting thing about the QWERTY layout is that consecutive letters are >>placed pretty close together. If you look at the position of each letter >>starting a, b, c, and so on, they're all pretty close together, in fact many >>pairs are right next to each other (specifically, cde,fgh,ijkl,mn,op.) >>Apparently not much thought was put into that layout at all, but since it >>was supposed to be bad, that doesn't make much difference. > > > A couple of other things. One is the physical layout of the actual >keys themselves. How ergonomic is that? Another is what Apple did with >the split keyboard they make. > I don't know if there is any truth to this or not, but here's what I've heard. The QWERTY keyboard was laid out to spread out the keys that were most commonly used in succession. The reason for this was on the old typewriters, the impact arms would get caught in each other if you typed close keys too fast. (I'm sure everyone did that as a kid, pounding on all the keys.) It may not be true, but it sounds good. -Brett
If I remember correctly, an appendix in my Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing manual had an excellent section on the history and development from of the typewriter and the layouts involved. Unfortunately, I won't be able to check until Christmas. Can anyone confirm what I think I remember. -- Travis, The Wellington of Duke
If I remember correctly, an appendix in my Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing manual had an excellent section on the history and development from of the typewriter and the layouts involved. Unfortunately, I won't be able to check until Christmas. Can anyone confirm what I think I remember. -- Travis, The Wellington of Duke
Once upon a time, Travis Wellington Pouarz wrote:
: If I remember correctly, an appendix in my Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing
: manual had an excellent section on the history and development from of
: the typewriter and the layouts involved. Unfortunately, I won't be
: able to check until Christmas. Can anyone confirm what I think I
: remember.
Speaking of Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing... I discovered after calling the
company that the new version supports dvorak keyboard layouts, even though
it's not mentioned on the box anywhere. I've decided to just go with the
Keytime charts and workbook, which will cost me a bit less than getting the
tutor.
stimps
--
)\._.,--....,'``.
sti...@marimba.wimsey.bc.ca /, _.. \ _\ (`._ ,.
*-* `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'
the cat offers itself.
In article <371h08$93...@gagme.wwa.com>, bob...@wwa.com (Bob Allison) wrote: > For those who are interested, you can find software drivers for Dvorak >layout in the usual places (FTP-Gopher sites, BBS, shareware disks, etc.). >Most of the ones I've seen were free. Check out the ftp site ftp://ftp.gu.uwa.edu.au/pub/alt-keyboards/ It also has a corresponding alt-keyboards mailing list (which has been very very quiet recently) that you can subscribe to by mailing lis...@gu.uwa.edu.au and including the line subscribe alt-keyboards Ima Bozo in the body of the message. You can put your real name in. Craig -- Craig Richmond, Computer Officer, ECEL Computing Services +61 9 380 1405 The University of Western Australia or 380 3860 Email for FAX Number cra...@ecel.uwa.edu.au Dvorak Keyboards RULE! "Messes are only acceptable if users make them. Applications aren't allowed this freedom" I.M.VI 2-4
About this thread.
These messages were posted publicly to the newsgroup
rec.arts.ascii
in 1994 and are mirrored here unchanged as part of the Historic Archives – only email addresses are masked.
The artwork and text belong to their original authors: if you copy a piece, keep the artist's initials or signature intact and credit them where you can.
Are you one of the authors? Contact us to get your posts attributed, connected to your artist profile, or removed.