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Date:      Fri, 22 Jan 1999 17:15:20 +0900
From:      Kazutaka YOKOTA <yokota@zodiac.mech.utsunomiya-u.ac.jp>
To:        current@FreeBSD.ORG
Cc:        yokota@zodiac.mech.utsunomiya-u.ac.jp
Subject:   Re: keymaps 
Message-ID:  <199901220815.RAA15900@zodiac.mech.utsunomiya-u.ac.jp>
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Thu, 21 Jan 1999 23:38:19 CST." <Pine.BSF.3.96.990121233632.59338F-100000@daphne.bogus> 
References:  <Pine.BSF.3.96.990121233632.59338F-100000@daphne.bogus> 

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>> my vote:  A version of the standard keymap with CapsLock and LeftCtl functio
>ns 
>> swapped so the control key is under my left finger like God intended!
>
>My vote is both of the above.  I've never found a use for CapsLock, but
>LeftCtl is important enough that I wouldn't mind it duplicated.  Most
>people I know are like this.
>
>(Yes of course there needs to be a way to get at capslock for those who
>really need it)

I understand many of you prefer the Ctrl key sitting next to the 'A'
key, as my own keymap swaps the Caps key and the Left Ctrl key too :-)
But, this is a matter of personal taste and preference which you can
easily obtain by editing a keymap.

Gentlemen, I don't intend to add yet another keymap to
/usr/share/syscons/keymaps.  I am merely trying to define a reasonable
set of common, consistent key binding for existing keymaps.

National keyboards have different layout of regular keys.  But
function keys and special keys are placed identically.  They should
work in the same way, or at least similar way in all keyboards, unless
there is a good reason to do otherwise.  (I am not talking about
non-AT keyboards which are totally different from either AT 84 or
101/102/104 keyboards.)

What I want to avoid is that one key does one thing on one national
keyboard and the same key on another national keyboard does a
different thing.  This is absurd, and hazardous when writing document
or giving advises ("you can cycle through vtys by hitting PrintScreen,
um, well, on most keyboards, well, on your keyboard you may need to
hit a different key, I don't know which...")

In order to define a common set, I start from key assignments based on
existing keymaps, which may not necessarily be your, or my, favorite.
(Why on earth Ctrl-Alt-ESC yields "debug"?  Because someone started it
and documented in the handbook!)  New functions and their assignments
can be controversial and we shall hear various opinions about them.  I
expect that, and we should resolve this on technical merits.  (The
following is an example. In my previous post I removed the
"backscroll" function from the Pause key because the ScrollLock key
already has "backscroll".  My reasoning was wrong. A user reported
that his notebook PC doesn't have the ScrollLock key and we have to
let the Pause key have "backscroll" too.)

I don't intend to enforce preference or taste, or particular usage of,
or a particular way of working with the keyboard.  (I certainly won't
force mine on you) So, keymaps I am trying to define may look too
plain, too boring, too uninteresting, and less appealing to you.  But,
I am not depriving you of liberty to modify your keymap.  Be creative
and write a keymap of your own.  You are free to do that.  But, don't
expect your modification should instantly be the standard in all
keymaps.  It won't necessarily happen...  Well, it might happen, if it
has sound reason other than "because I like it that way" :-)

Kazu

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