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To: "David Alderman" <dave@persprog.com>
cc: asami@freebsd.org (Satoshi Asami), freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org
Subject: Re: Will FreeBSD Run on This? 
In-reply-to: Your message of "Tue, 10 Dec 1996 11:10:16 +0500."
             <4C95BD4267A@dasa.ppi.com> 
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 1996 11:00:53 -0700
From: Eric Varsanyi <ewv@boom.bsdi.com>
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>> Well, I'm not going to get into a lengthy discussion about why I don't
>> like the Natural, but just let me point out that the reason why I
>> can't use it is not because I can't get used to "unnatural" keyboards.
>> I usually use the Kinesis Ergonomic (sells around $199 in Bay Area
>> Fry's these days), which is a much more warped design than the
>> Natural, and it only took me about 2 days to get used to it.
>> 
>> Satoshi
>> 
>
>I really don't want to discuss the ergo-political issues on this 
>keyboard but I was wondering if you have had any problem with the 
>keyboard other than ergonomics.  Did you have any hardware/scancode 
>problems?

I've been using the M$ keyboard with X for 2 years or so. Its great
except for the arrow keys and keypad being completely out of standard
reach (there is no way to get to them without contorting the wrist).
Since I use vi this doesn't really matter too much. The 'Windows'
and 'File' keys generate scan codes that I map to window manager
functions in fvwm. Xinside didn't recognize and report the scan codes
originally but they fixed that somewhere along the line.

I glued an ALPS 3 button glidepoint pad right below the spacebar
so my thumbs do mousing/clicking without bending my wrists out of
position.

The keys feel a little mushy (?), sometimes you have to hit <Enter>
pretty hard to get it to register. I tried another similar keyboard
(have seen it under various brand names) with the mousepad built
in (under the arrow keys) and the M$ layout - it had a much nicer
key feel (there is a tactile click when pressing down) but the
mouse pad was in the worst imaginable position (you had to bend
your wrists far or move your whole upper body to get to it). If
you don't care about the mouse I would go for this other keyboard
based on key feel.

-Eric