Keyboard Sounds

hmmm...
does the sound we make typing on the keyboard differ from letter to letter? Or at least for typewriters is that the case? Because my spacebar makes a different sound from my caps-lock. Maybe even for phone pads.

WOAHH

i'm gonna research this and get an ignobel for it. YAH GOH IGNOBELL GOH GOH!!!!

maybe, highly probable, anyone else?

Get a life, listening to different sounds on your keyboard..loser.

Get a Model M. Manly sound on every key.

>>1
Yes, this is an easy way of stealing passwords.

Go search through 1--4 years of Slashdot archives.

>>4
FUCKING SIGNED

As I typed the above line energically, a machinegun-sound filled the room. It's as if I was sentencing somebody to death with my keyboard.

The different size of the keys probably has something to do with it. When different size keys are struck, they make different sounds.

Also, POSTING FROM A MODEL M.

Omnikey Ultra, bitches!  Love my Model Ms, but this thing has the F, Control, and caps keys in the right place.

Actually, anyone know how to set the SF key macros on these things?  Google doesn't seem to know...

Also,
>>4
>>6
>>7
each win a buckle-spring Internet from 1985 that is superior to most modern internets.

I suffered rsi from using a model m. now i have to use a pressure sensitive keyboard and the dvorak layout. this combination has done wonders for my typing

>>10
More than likely you suffered an RSI from typing too much with bad form. Also, the 'science' behind the dvorak layout is made up.

>>11
the proof is in the distance the fingers travel to type english sentences. you don't have to do any scientific analysis to know that the fingers travel a smaller distance when typing in english. all you need to do is type a few paragraphs.

>>12
I doubt fractions of an inch make that much of a difference. In fact, if you're a good typist your fingers should already be over the next letter by the time you've pressed the previous key, making distance traveled irrelevant or at least negligible.

>>13
Actually it does make a difference. I can type 50wpm with 99% accuracy in Qwerty and 30wpm with 100% accuracy in Dvorak. I believe I'm typing correctly according to good ergonomic principles (according to what was I taught during training). I'm still using my pressure sensitive keyboard so I place minimal strain on my wrists when I type.

I can tell you that typing paragraphs in Qwerty even slowly puts strain on my lower arms. This is the best way I can describe the feeling - a strain. When I type in Dvorak, this problem is instantly reduced. The strain doesn't disappear but it feels more balanced. This is the best way I can describe the feeling - balanced. This makes sense because the vowels are on the home position at the left hand and the commonly used consonants (dhtns) are on home for the right hand. Less used consonants (fgcrl) are above the home for the right hand and the least commonly used are below the home keys. The fingers travel less when typing in english and this is a miracle for people that suffer from typing related rsi.

>>14
Dvorak is poorly laid out, actually.  It's better than qwerty, but things like the positioning of s and a are glaring examples of where it could easily be done better.

Is Dvorak any good for coding or other languages with accents? With a QWERTY using US-International, all the symbols you need to code are easily available, and you can type the accents from many European languages with dead keys instead of key combinations.

>>15
eh? So there is a better layout that will help rsi sufferers such as myself? I'd love to see it. I understand that the letter A could be placed on the index finger but I don't understand letter S.

>>16
I only type in english and japanese so I can't really help you there. For coding in C, in my opinion, the Dvorak layout isn't much of an improvement. The improvement is with typing in english.

You may want to read these pages for more info. http://www.mwbrooks.com/dvorak/layout.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvorak_Simplified_Keyboard
http://www.kaufmann.no/roland/dvorak/http://www.kaufmann.no/roland/dvorak/

>>17
It exists in that it's possible to create it on your own.  They don't SELL keyboards that have it (seriously, Dvorak keyboards hard enough to find- just try making a more-obscure replacement.

As for my two examples, "a" should really be under the third finger, moving the rest of the vowels according to frequency and travel.perhaps moving the fifth above the third, rather than past the second (taking advantage of the speed and length of the third finger).  August Dvorak's design logic was good, but his implementation hasn't aged properly, and many letter frequencies have changed since then.  As for "s," I'd say make the "th" chord the 43 combination of the right hand ("t" is rather common, after all!) and place the "s" at the second finger rather than the fifth.  This creates other moves, some improvements, some rather neutral.  Notably, at this point I'd elect to keep his bottom row the same, though probably rearrange things a little to take better advantage of fast fingers.

If you want to play around with things like key layout, you can do this with xmodmap.  I think there're more robust (read: well documented) solutions, but I'm tired at the moment.

>>18

You type too much, cockhole

>>18
Model M's keys can easily be rearranged.

ONCE AGAIN THE MODEL M PROVES IT SUPERIORITY. THUNDER THUNDER THUNDER.