From owner-freebsd-chat Fri Aug 18 19:50:10 2000 Delivered-To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Received: from mailgw02.execpc.com (mailgw02.execpc.com [169.207.3.78]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4E7C437B424 for ; Fri, 18 Aug 2000 19:50:07 -0700 (PDT) Received: from woodstock.monkey.net (d153.as28.nwbl0.wi.voyager.net [169.207.71.219]) by mailgw02.execpc.com (8.9.1) id VAA22907; Fri, 18 Aug 2000 21:49:28 -0500 Received: from pobox.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by woodstock.monkey.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id A27E81E2; Fri, 18 Aug 2000 21:49:59 -0500 (CDT) X-Mailer: exmh version 2.1.1 10/16/1999 To: Jason Evans Cc: j mckitrick , chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: emacs on a laptop In-reply-to: Your message of "Fri, 18 Aug 2000 17:32:37 PDT." <20000818173237.J14875@blitz.canonware.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2000 21:49:59 -0500 From: Jon Hamilton Message-Id: <20000819024959.A27E81E2@woodstock.monkey.net> Sender: owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org In message <20000818173237.J14875@blitz.canonware.com>, Jason Evans wrote: } On Sat, Aug 19, 2000 at 01:11:47AM +0100, j mckitrick wrote: } > On Fri, Aug 18, 2000 at 03:33:14PM -0700, Jason Evans wrote: } > | > } > | > here is my new plan: } > | > dvorak layout } > | > change caps lock to ctrl } > | } > | Plan to not be able to type well for at least a month. Plan to not gain } > | full typing speed for at least several months. } > } > is it worth it? } } In my opinion, it wasn't quite worth it, though it's definitely not worth } switching back at this point (I've been using dvorak for almost two years } now). There are rewards to switching, but they probably don't justify the } huge effort involved. } } It took about a year before I could clearly type at least as well in all } cases (coding, copying, composing email, etc.). I could not have done the } transition at all if it hadn't been for a lull at the end of one job (I } started the switch when I gave two weeks notice =) ). There is a period of } time when it is very difficult to type at all, even on a qwerty keyboard. } I can no longer type with any speed on qwerty. This was the killer for me, when I switched for a couple of months. I got to about the same speed using dvorak in that time (~75WPM) as I typed under QWERTY before the switch, but when I had to go help someone on their workstation using QWERTY it was just excruciating. } On the up side, I feel less hand fatigue from typing, and my error rate is } much lower than it ever was on qwerty. My error rate is lower mainly } because a number of hard-wired problems I had on qwerty didn't transfer to } dvorak (for example mixing up left/right hand letters (e/i, q/p)). } Unfortunately, I didn't do a timed typing test before switching, but I'm } pretty sure I can type faster now (on the order of 10-15% faster). Interesting. I never noticed any perceptible difference in hand fatigue, but it rarely bothers me using a QWERTY layout, either. -- Jon Hamilton hamilton@pobox.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message