BS: Make your own Mudcat keyboard

Subject: BS: Make your own Mudcat keyboard
From: Davetnova
Date: 12 Nov 04 - 03:23 AM

Yoi cam makw yoir bery oen nudcit kwybeard ans d[ellinh aid by priding all hte keyd if yoir kwybeard ans ewplacinh htem at rendor/

Subject: RE: BS: Make your own Mudcat keyboard
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 12 Nov 04 - 03:40 AM

i adfgree.

Subject: RE: BS: Make your own Mudcat keyboard
From: GUEST,Mingulay
Date: 12 Nov 04 - 06:21 AM

mi wun comd as flta pck ubt on intriksuns adn it sed uplg 5 paly but diddint sya wer tu uplg soo nw i got wyr hagnin form aRcE

hepl

Subject: RE: BS: Make your own Mudcat keyboard
From: Dead Horse
Date: 12 Nov 04 - 06:23 AM

Ánd dónt fórgét tó ádd thé "Ált Gr" búttón.
Véry úséfúll, thát ís.
(Had great fun with it in Chat last night)
iii = three candles.
ííí = same, but with window open.

Subject: RE: BS: Make your own Mudcat keyboard
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 12 Nov 04 - 09:16 AM

When I was working as a Systems Person, one great joke that used to caus great merriment in the office was to swap just the 'm' & 'n' keytops. Most people take ages to get it.

Subject: RE: BS: Make your own Mudcat keyboard
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 12 Nov 04 - 09:58 AM

Speaking of keyboards....

The common "qwerty" keyboard layout was not designed for maximum typing efficiency. If it were, ";" wouldn't be a "home key", would it? It was designed in the days of manual typewriters as a compromise between typing efficiency and the need to minimize tangles and jams among the mechanically operated keys. There are alternate keyboard layouts for electronic keyboards that are much more efficient if you're willing to learn how to type all over again.

Subject: RE: BS: Make your own Mudcat keyboard
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Nov 04 - 10:10 AM

My son (age 12) has decided that learning to type is important enough that he has been practicing with "Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing." Right now he's kind of half-and-half. He typed a paper last night and did some like a touch typist, some hunt-and-peck. A reversed "m" and "n" isn't a problem for a touch typist, because they're not looking at the keyboard anyway.

SRS (a touch typist whose favorite key is "backspace") :-/

Subject: RE: BS: Make your own Mudcat keyboard
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 12 Nov 04 - 10:17 AM

Qwerty keyboards were designed to slow typists down and even out the usage, because in the good old days, the letters on sticks used to get stuck together, making a lovely metal nest which, if you were lucky, would take all lesson to sort out. A really good hard typist could bend the 'e' stick until it brought the 'r' down with it.

I miss the noise they made..... but I don't miss the scraped knuckles getting them unstuck!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Make your own Mudcat keyboard
From: MudGuard
Date: 12 Nov 04 - 10:20 AM

That's very old news that you can have your own special keyboard - John from Hul9 is using one for years ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Make your own Mudcat keyboard
From: Amos
Date: 12 Nov 04 - 11:32 AM

ALl you have to do is to route the circuit from the ADB Bus on the keyboard through a sodden brain and you get a Mudcat keyboard!

A

Subject: RE: BS: Make your own Mudcat keyboard
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 12 Nov 04 - 05:10 PM

Add a touch of MMD...

Subject: RE: BS: Make your own Mudcat keyboard
From: Blissfully Ignorant
Date: 12 Nov 04 - 10:33 PM

Can i have a panic button on mine? I need one, i really really do...
ARGH! See? i need a panic button.

Subject: RE: BS: Make your own Mudcat keyboard
From: Bill D
Date: 12 Nov 04 - 10:53 PM

I got a new PC...fancy new keyboard...BUT the CAPSLOCK key has no indent on its right edge, so the slightest miss on the A GIVES THIS RESULT!..The old, out of date keyboard needed a real bad miss to cause that problem....But I have enabled XP's little 'beep' to warn me, so I don't type 4 lines without noticing.

Subject: RE: BS: Make your own Mudcat keyboard
From: Amos
Date: 12 Nov 04 - 11:16 PM

Bill: I seriously suggest removing the keycap from the Capslock key....just pry it up with pliers.



A

Subject: RE: BS: Make your own Mudcat keyboard
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Nov 04 - 07:42 PM

One deduces from that statement, Bill, that you're not at touch typist. You'd be watching the screen for four lines instead of watching your fingers otherwise.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Make your own Mudcat keyboard
From: Ima Gittin'
Date: 13 Nov 04 - 07:46 PM

Bill's lookin' down like mos'us huntn' peckers........punintended

Subject: RE: BS: Make your own Mudcat keyboard
From: open mike
Date: 14 Nov 04 - 02:55 AM

i saw a cell phone today with a qweerty
i mean qwerty key board arranged among
the numerals for sending test messages.
(instead of clickong on the 2 key 4 times
to get a "g" or something like that..)

Subject: RE: BS: Make your own Mudcat keyboard
From: Mr Red
Date: 14 Nov 04 - 05:55 AM

Amos -


I drilled a little hole in the side of my CAPS lock key and with a bit of bent copper wire screwed to the body of the KB acting like a rotating bolt I can have the caps lock and keep it inoperative until I slide the bolt.

Mind you there is a simple piece of software that has been available for maybe 5 years that adds a delay to the CAPS lock in such a way that it works only when you mean to press it.   It wasn't very popular - yet everyone seems to think it is a good idea.

No I don't know what it is called.

Subject: RE: BS: Make your own Mudcat keyboard
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Nov 04 - 11:55 AM

You can buy a new keyboard for anything from $1 upward. I think my Logitech keyboard was between $30 - $40. I love it. There is a little gap between "A" and "Caps Lock." I am more likely to stray upward when typing the backspace key. I accidentally hit the hot key at the top and bring up a screen called "My Music" (of all things!).

The Logitech board was a good move--I should have done it sooner. My computer came with a fancy keyboard (it's an HP) and with Win ME as the OS. When I switched over to Win 2000 Pro I couldn't get the functionality of the buttons and knobs to come back. But the Logitech installs itself with those bells and whistles. I particularly like the volume contral for my speakers.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Make your own Mudcat keyboard
From: Bill D
Date: 14 Nov 04 - 12:07 PM

SRS...I thought I was SO clever 50 years ago to avoid a typing class in favor of woodworking...and, in truth, I never really needed typing until 8 years ago, as I typed college papers slowly, as I thought, on an old Hermes portable typewriter. Only this WWW thing has made me want to learn touch typing. I have made several spradic attempts to practice using a program, but when I sit down in front of the PC, you can guess where the time & effort goes!

Subject: RE: BS: Make your own Mudcat keyboard
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 14 Nov 04 - 05:57 PM

The old fashioned Honeywell keyboards had magnificent touch. Many newer keyboards, especially the cheaper ones are lousy.

Subject: RE: BS: Make your own Mudcat keyboard
From: GUEST,Danny
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 02:03 AM

One of the main reasons the qwerty keyboard was a selling point... typwriters were new fagled things, the the sales person would type the word typewriter, and able to do it quickly. Why? because every letter in the word typewriter is in the top row.

Subject: RE: BS: Make your own Mudcat keyboard
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 11:17 AM

I adore the feel of typing on the old electric IBM Selectric typewriters. It was the perfect keyboard.

My son is making progress with the software, but then, he's 12, so doesn't have a set of old habits to break.

The schools don't call the classes "typing" any more, they call the "keyboarding." And they don't wait until you're in high school ot teach it. The elementary school kids get a taste if it starting in 3rd or 4th grade.

SRS