From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Aug 1 20:52:33 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4C5B816A4CE for ; Sun, 1 Aug 2004 20:52:33 +0000 (GMT) Received: from mirrorball.thelosingend.net (m069c.studby.ntnu.no [129.241.130.69]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 49DFC43D5E for ; Sun, 1 Aug 2004 20:52:32 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from svein-freebsd-questions@theloosingend.net) Received: (qmail 64510 invoked by uid 1001); 1 Aug 2004 20:52:30 -0000 Received: from localhost (sendmail-bs@127.0.0.1) by localhost with SMTP; 1 Aug 2004 20:52:30 -0000 Date: Sun, 1 Aug 2004 22:52:30 +0200 (CEST) From: Svein Halvor Halvorsen X-X-Sender: sveinhal@mirrorball.thelosingend.net To: Bill Moran In-Reply-To: <20040801113928.0af56321.wmoran@potentialtech.com> Message-ID: <20040801224658.P51819@mirrorball.thelosingend.net> References: <20040801111805.3398.qmail@web41013.mail.yahoo.com> <20040801151345.GB30653@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk> <20040801113928.0af56321.wmoran@potentialtech.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: [OT] QWERTY key layout (was Re: BigApache for Windows - Why doesn't BSD have an installerpackage like this ???) X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list Reply-To: questions@freebsd.org List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 01 Aug 2004 20:52:33 -0000 [Bill Moran, 2004-08-01] > I don't remember where, but I read somewhere that the qwerty layout > was not designed for raw speed (as some people think) but was designed > for speed on _mechanical_ typewriters. i.e. part of it's design is > to maximize the possibility that you'll alternate left-hand/right-hand, > thus minimizing the possibility that the hammers that fly up and strike > the paper won't jam. (probably most of you have never used a truely > _manual_ typewriter, and thus don't understand the mechanics ... This is probably not true (that most of us have never used one of those, that is.) It's not -that- long, since these were in common use, probably just 20 years. And even though I'm not alot older than that myself, most people my age have seen and played with one of those as a kid. Everyone had one in the attic, if not your parents, at least your grand parent. I can, by the way, confirm what you've read. The qwerty layout -is- indeed designed to make typing slow, in order to minimize the posibility of a jam