preference for alternate DEC keyboard

[Brian Reid]

Many of you are familiar with the DEC standard keyboard, the LK201. I've
never liked it very much, but I use it because I have no other choice.

The people in DEC who design keyboards are in a pretty receptive mood right
now, and there is a chance that if there is a clear consensus for what a DEC
Ultrix/Xwindows keyboard ought to look like, that it could get built and be
made available to people who don't like the current keyboard. Mind you that
this isn't a promise--I'm not a DEC product planner or anything, just an
in-house user--but I think I could get the keyboard designers to listen to me
if I had enough consensus from the net about what people like or want.

Here are three possibilities. If you think that one of them might please you,
could you please send me some mail saying which one, and what is good about
it? If you have specific comments, I wouldn't mind hearing those, too. Minor
suggested changes are OK, too.

The funny stuff in the top left of the keyboard charts has to do with
European characters. Ignore it unless you're a European character.

		Brian Reid
		DEC Western Research
		Reid at decwrl.dec.com
		decwrl!reid



Proposal A:    (16.3"x7.5")

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|              o   o                                                                   |
|             [O]  A                                                                   |
|                                                                                      |
|  ---------------------  ---------------------  -----------------  -----------------  |
|  |F1 |F2 |F3 |F4 |F5 |  |F6 |F7 |F8 |F9 |F10|  |F11|F12|F13|F14|  | ^ | | |<- | ->|  |
|  |   |   |   |   |   |  |   |   |   |   |   |  |   |   |   |   |  | | | V |   |   |  |
|  ---------------------  ---------------------  -----------------  -----------------  |
|                                                                                      |
|                                                                                      |
|     -----------------------------------------------------------   -----------------  |
|     |ESC|!  |@  |# #|$  |%  |^  |&  |*  |(  |)  |_  |+  | <X] |   |PF1|PF2|PF3|PF4|  |
|     |   |1  |2  |3  |4  |5  |6  |7  |8  |9  |0  |-  |=  |     |   |   |   |   |   |  |
|     ------------------------------------------------------------  -----------------  |
|     | Tab |Q  |W  |E  |R  |T  |Y  |U  |I  |O  |P  |{  |}  | Ret|  |7  |8  |9  |-  |  |
|     |     |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |[  |]  |    |  |   |   |   |   |  |
|  ----------------------------------------------------------|   |  -----------------  |
|  |Lo-|Ctrl |A  |S  |D  |F  |G  |H  |J  |K  |L  |:  |"  ||  |   |  |5  |6  |7  |,  |  |
|  | ck|     |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |;  |'  |\  |   |  |   |   |   |   |  |
|  ---------------------------------------------------------------  -----------------  |
|  | Shift |~  |Z  |X  |C  |V  |B  |N  |M  |<  |>  |?  | Shift |    |1  |2  |3  |En-|  |
|  |       |`  |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |,  |.  |/  |       |    |   |   |   |ter|  |
|  -------------------------------------------------------------    ------------|   |  |
|       |Com- |Alt  | |     <space bar>       | |Alt  |Com- |       |0      |.  |   |  |
|       | pose|     | |                       | |     | pose|       |       |   |   |  |
|       ------------- ------------------------- -------------       -----------------  |
|                                                                                      |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+




Proposal  B:    (15.7"x7.5")

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|              o   o                                                               |
|             [O]  A                                                               |
|                                                                                  |
|  ---------------------  ---------------------  -----------------  -------------  |
|  |F1 |F2 |F3 |F4 |F5 |  |F6 |F7 |F8 |F9 |F10|  |F11|F12|F13|F14|  |He-|  Do   |  |
|  |   |   |   |   |   |  |   |   |   |   |   |  |   |   |   |   |  | lp|       |  |
|  ---------------------  ---------------------  -----------------  -------------  |
|                                                                                  |
|                                                                                  |
|     -----------------------------------------------------------   -------------  |
|     |ESC|!  |@  |# #|$  |%  |^  |&  |*  |(  |)  |_  |+  | <X] |   |Fin|Ins|Rem|  |
|     |   |1  |2  |3  |4  |5  |6  |7  |8  |9  |0  |-  |=  |     |   |   |   |   |  |
|     ------------------------------------------------------------  -------------  |
|     | Tab |Q  |W  |E  |R  |T  |Y  |U  |I  |O  |P  |{  |}  | Ret|  |Sel|Pre|Nex|  |
|     |     |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |[  |]  |    |  |   |   |   |  |
|  ----------------------------------------------------------|   |  -------------  |
|  |Lo-|Ctrl |A  |S  |D  |F  |G  |H  |J  |K  |L  |:  |"  ||  |   |      | ^ |      |
|  | ck|     |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |;  |'  |\  |   |      | | |      |
|  ---------------------------------------------------------------  -------------  |
|  | Shift |~  |Z  |X  |C  |V  |B  |N  |M  |<  |>  |?  | Shift |    |<- | | | ->|  |
|  |       |`  |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |,  |.  |/  |       |    |   | V |   |  |
|  -------------------------------------------------------------    -------------  |
|       |Com- |Alt  | |     <space bar>       | |Alt  |Com- |                      |
|       | pose|     | |                       | |     | pose|                      |
|       ------------- ------------------------- -------------                      |
|                                                                                  |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+



Proposal  C:    (13"x7.5")

+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
|              o   o                                                |
|             [O]  A                                                |
|                                                                   |
|  ---------------------  ---------------------  -----------------  |
|  |F1 |F2 |F3 |F4 |F5 |  |F6 |F7 |F8 |F9 |F10|  | ^ | | |<- | ->|  |
|  |   |   |   |   |   |  |   |   |   |   |   |  | | | V |   |   |  |
|  ---------------------  ---------------------  -----------------  |
|                                                                   |
|                                                                   |
|     -----------------------------------------------------------   |
|     |ESC|!  |@  |# #|$  |%  |^  |&  |*  |(  |)  |_  |+  | <X] |   |
|     |   |1  |2  |3  |4  |5  |6  |7  |8  |9  |0  |-  |=  |     |   |
|     ------------------------------------------------------------  |
|     | Tab |Q  |W  |E  |R  |T  |Y  |U  |I  |O  |P  |{  |}  | Ret|  |
|     |     |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |[  |]  |    |  |
|  ----------------------------------------------------------|   |  |
|  |Lo-|Ctrl |A  |S  |D  |F  |G  |H  |J  |K  |L  |:  |"  ||  |   |  |
|  | ck|     |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |;  |'  |\  |   |  |
|  ---------------------------------------------------------------  |
|  | Shift |~  |Z  |X  |C  |V  |B  |N  |M  |<  |>  |?  | Shift |    |
|  |       |`  |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |,  |.  |/  |       |    |
|  -------------------------------------------------------------    |
|       |Com- |Alt  | |     <space bar>       | |Alt  |Com- |       |
|       | pose|     | |                       | |     | pose|       |
|       ------------- ------------------------- -------------       |
|                                                                   |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+