Leonard Erickson wrote in a message to Joe Nicholson:

 -=> Quoting Joe Nicholson to Bob Breed <=-

 -=> Quoting Bob Breed to Joe Nicholson <=-
 LE>  
 BB> I think the main cause is that you never move you hands off the
 BB> keyboard,  it's just hammer away hour after hour for those doing
 BB> data entry stuff.

 JN> But with a typewriter, you take only the left hand off
 JN> the keyboard for the CR.  The right hand never leaves
 JN> it (isn't supposed to).

 LE> There *were* such things as electric typewriters even 50 years ago.

Yep,  used one on my first clerical temp position oh,  about 40 years ago
now.  The owner of the place was somewhat amazed that I'd managed to get
almost a whole week's worth of stuff done in a day,  and offered me the job
of running that office (I was the only one there).  The guy that I was
working under the day I started didn't look real happy at the time,  but he
didn't seem able to cope with the load.

 LE> I used to own a rather odd IBM typewriter (IBM Executive). It used
 LE> a *proportional* font!! And had a split space bar. One half did an
 LE> "en" space the other did an "em" space (2 &
3 "units" 
 LE> respectively).

It's been a while since I heard of that one!  My ex claimed to be
proficient in the use of one of those.

 LE> The backspace worked in "units", with various characters taking
 LE> from 1 to 5 units. I had a cheat sheet so I could tell how far I
 LE> had to backspace for a particular character.

The few times I encountered one of those I could've used such a cheat
sheet.   Much confusion,  there...

 JN> That's why I asked earlier if typing speed increased with the 
 JN> "soft key" keyboard.  Seem to recall speeds of 50wpm with 
 JN> typewriters and nowadays I see speeds of 80-100 in secretarial 
 JN> "help wanted" ads.

 LE> And they wanted that sort of speed 30 plus years ago. On an 
 LE> electric a good typist *can* do that.

 LE> "Softer" touch keyboards are generally softer than the older 
 LE> electric typewriters. And newer electric typewriters use what
 LE> amounts to the same sort of keyboard as some computer keyboards.

 LE> What *I* prefer (but can't seem to find) is keyboards with actual
 LE> switches & springs. They've got a progressive give. so you don't
 LE> get that sudden stop at the end of the stroke that "jars" your
 LE> fingers. 

 LE> Of course, such are far more expensive than the modern "membrane"
 LE> keyboards.

While we're on the subject,  two of the keyboards I've got here among the
many have what I can describe as some sort of a tactile response.  This one
and the one I have plugged into the primary linux box,  this one being
labeled "Compaq" and the other one not having any name on it, 
but having those stupid windoze keys on it.  (My other point,  below.)  I
remember hearing some guy comment on that feature at a computer show one
time and how he absolutely *had* to have it,  that he found it *so* much
better to use,  and at that time I couldn't really understand it.  Now I
think I'm beginning to get the idea... :-)

The other thing is,  these things wear out.  This keyboard is working okay
at the moment,  but there are times when the spacebar doesn't seem to want
to work,  I guess it's time to take it apart and clean it or something, 
hopefully I won't find those stupid plastic-sheet membranes in there.

Some years back I bought a couple of keyboards new,  I think I paid
something like $12 for both of them.  I'd thought at that time that this
was a pretty good price,  but they didn't last.  One was put into service
at around the time I bought them,  the other sat in the box,  new,  and for
quite some time,  until another machine got built.  For some odd reason
they both started getting *real* flaky and had bunches of keys quit at
around the same time,  and I ended up tossing them and using other stuff
since then.

I too wish I could find better keyboards,  and of the box of them I have
here I'm thinking that perhaps some of them will be better than others, 
rather than the cheap crap that's all over the place.  I remember seeing
ads years back where some keyboards were selling for close to $100,  while
others were way cheaper,  and didn't get it at the time.  These days I
don't think I'd have that much of a problem with understanding it. 


The other thing that bugs me,  particularly with the keyboard that's being
used on the linux box,  is that it's got those stupid "windows"
keys on it.  I know that a great majority of computer users out there are
into that OS,  and are into mousing around rather than using the keyboard, 
but the last time I was in a computer store I asked the guy if there were
*ANY* new keyboards available that didn't have those,  and the answer was
an unhesitant "no".  I don't know if that means that they just
weren't gonna stock any,  or if it means that they didn't know of any
available from their distributor,  or what, but I'm still hoping that I can
find some out there.

In the meantime I *do* have a couple of "IBM" keyboards here, 
and hope they last...


Those ones I tossed,  I snagged the cable and little board out of there
first. I figure that with the interface there's a matrix that'll sense and
report 128 different switch closures,  there oughta be something I can do
with those.  Anybody with ideas on that,  feel free to jump in.  :-) 

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