Path: ns-mx!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!emory!utkcs2!shuford From: shuford@cs.utk.edu (Richard Shuford) Newsgroups: comp.misc,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware,misc.wanted,comp.terminals,comp.sys.apple2,comp.sys.mac.wanted Subject: Re: Anybody remember the DVORAK keyboard layout? Summary: ANSI standard; layout reduces typing stress; software to convert Keywords: keyboard, speed, typewriter, human factors, ergonomic, Dvorak, Sholes, software, carpal tunnel, Maltron, ANSI, Navy, Kermit, Ralph Nader Message-ID: <1991May29.172841.25136@cs.utk.edu> Date: 29 May 91 17:28:41 GMT Expires: 31 Jul 91 02:04:06 GMT References: <1991May17.065559.10421@uublip.uucp> <1991Apr2.224343.1@hulaw1.harvard.edu> Sender: shuford@cs.utk.edu Followup-To: comp.misc Organization: University of Tennessee, Knoxville--Dept. of Computer Science Lines: 279 Xref: ns-mx comp.misc:5940 comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware:9483 misc.wanted:9557 comp.terminals:1405 comp.sys.apple2:17470 comp.sys.mac.wanted:4087 In <1991May17.065559.10421@uublip.uucp>, egsner!uublip!blip writes: > ...years ago I loaded an alternate key mapping into > Superkey in DOS. In the first two weeks, I noticed my QWERTY > typing speed had not changed significantly, (around 40) yet my DVORAK > typing speed zoomed to 95 wpm. Now I'd like to xmodmap my way to DVORAK. > What is the DVORAK keyboard layout? > > egsner!uublip!blip You have discovered that the arrangement of the keys on your computer's keyboard is an inefficient one. Indeed, Christopher Sholes, the mechanical designer who was first to build a typewriter using the now familiar QWERTYUIOP arrangement, did so *because* it was inefficient, to keep typists from going too fast on the newly assembled mechanism, jamming the keys in the type basket. In the era of 33-MHz personal computers, such a design criterion is at best quaint. During the 1930s, an early human-factors specialist named Dr. August Dvorak observed that the arrangement of keys on typewriters was a barrier to efficient typing. Here is a side-by-side comparison of the traditional layout with a typical version of the Dvorak layout (as implemented on a 101-key PC/AT keyboard): Dvorak Sholes ------ ------ `1234567890\=[ `1234567890-=\ unshifted top row ~!@#$%^&*()|+{ ~!@#$%^&*()_+| shifted top row ',.pyfgcrl/] qwertyuiop[] "<>PYFGCRL?} QWERTYUIOP{} aoeuidhtns- asdfghjkl;' AOEUIDHTNS_ ASDFGHJKL:" ;qjkxbmwvz zxcvbnm,./ unshifted bottom row :QJKXBMWVZ ZXCVBNM<>? shifted bottom row Note that, for a touch typist, the most frequently used letters of the alphabet fall under the home positions of the fingers. (Compare with ETAOINSHRDLU, a widely used English letter-frequency ordering.) In Dvorak's keyboard, the vowels are on the left and consonants on the right, so that many common letter sequences may be typed with strokes by alternate hands. And consonants are arranged such that other common letter sequences may be stroked by a rolling motion of the right hand. Also, for the most part, the stronger fingers are given the most frequent letters (instead of F, J, and K). Altogether, the time/motion data collected by Dr. Dvorak in a study for the U.S. Navy suggests that total hand motion is reduced by a factor of about 3. There is a sad chapter in the Dvorak story, which I shall not here relate in full. During the 1950s, a personal rivalry between Dvorak and another typewriting expert fouled the project and prevented the Navy from adopting Dvorak as its standard keyboard. Up to that point, the business-automation community had become aware of Dvorak's work, and interest in adopting a more rational typing interface had been growing. Smith-Corona actually built and sold Dvorak machines. (I believe the trade name was "SpeedKey" or something like that.) But the Navy's dropping the project killed the momentum--and now typewriter (and \computer/) users of the 1990s are saddled with a 100-year-old kluge in their most important user-input device. I have personally found that long (> 1 hour) periods of typing are much less tiring in the Dvorak layout than on the Sholes keyboard. I am also hoping to avoid the dreaded Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (from which other members of my family have suffered). There are other devotees of Dvorak typing around; even Ralph Nader is rumored to use an old manual Dvorak-layout Smith-Corona portable typewriter. Here's something to try: type MINIMUM PUMPKIN on your QWERTY keyboard. Then look at how that would be done on the Dvorak keyboard. If you want the most authoritative information on how a Dvorak keyboard in the general case has its keys arranged, you should consult the ANSI standard on the subject. I'm not kidding; there really is one. Its number is X3.n22 (but I can't remember the value of "n"), and it is entitled "Alternate Keyboard Arrangement for Information Processing" or something like that. (The ANSI standard for the Sholes keyboard is X3.n23. Those who read this may ruefully recall the debates a few years ago about the B00 key.) The major difference between the ANSI Dvorak layout and what Dr. Dvorak himself used is that ANSI keeps the digits in numerical order. You can purchase a copy from Standards Sales Department American National Standards Institute 1430 Broadway New York, NY 10018 212/354-3300 A few years ago, I had contact with Mrs. Virginia deGanall Russell of the Dvorak International Federation. She lives in Vermont and operates a clearinghouse for Dvorak-keyboard information. Alas, I don't have her exact address anymore. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - In <1991Apr2.224343.1@hulaw1.harvard.edu>, James Peregrino writes: > > Subject: Radically Designed Keyboards > > I have a friend who is...just now learning to type...and is > interested in using any of those funky, strange...keyboards... > shaped like a V or like a hemisphere. > I'm interested in hardware, not software (e.g. Dvorak) solutions. "To boldly type where no one has typed before..." Every few years somebody invents a key-input device that is completely different from prior art. One such device was the Maltron keyboard, from a British inventor, which appeared in the late 1970s. This design had separate keypads for each hand mounted on a V-shaped sloping console. I have also seen a device called the Write-Hander, which was a hemispherical substrate with pushbutton switches for the fingers of the right hand. If I recall correctly, ts output was ASCII, as was its input. You had to searn the ASCII codes for each character, and you pressed down fingers in specified combinations to encode the 0 and 1 bits of the ASCII representation. A few exemplars of such key-input devices are bought by the curious or by research laboratories. Only people with serious physical disabilities or strong nonconformist yearnings adopt these for perpetual use. In today's computer market, a major strike against them is that it would be very difficult to put such a thing on a laptop computer. I recommend that your friend at least obtain some skill on the Sholes arrangement, just because it's on 100,000,000 pieces of equipment. Then, if he intends to type large volumes of material, he would be well advised to learn the Dvorak layout and obtain the technology to use it. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Here follows a listing of a few ways to get a Dvorak layout on your computer's keyboard. If anybody on the net knows of other good ways, please send them to me (shuford@cs.utk.edu) and I'll post a followup message. (I need more things to do as much as I need a hole in my head, but this is kind of a public service, and I might as well do it right. :-) OR you can post them to "comp.misc", where the question was asked. As noted above, many IBM-PC-based keyboard macro programs come with predefined Dvorak-layout macros. I use SmartKey ver. 4 in this way, but others, such as SuperKey and ProKey, are capable of doing the job. A plug-and-play Dvorak-adapter MS-DOS package used to be available from a company called Seasoned Systems, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, but I do not know if this is still offered. The public-domain MS-DOS software collection at WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL and WUARCHIVE.WUSTL.EDU contains MASM source code for a program that sets a PC keyboard to Dvorak. (In the directory PD1: look for the files DVORAK86.ASM and DVORAKXT.ASM.) These are obtained via the legendary process of "anonymous FTP". For Macintosh, again look to WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL and its mirror site at WUARCHIVE.WUSTL.EDU in PD3: for a file named "dvorak.sit". If you are the proud owner of an Apple IIc computer, just press the "Keyboard" pushbutton on the top of the case to instantly change the keyboard to Dvorak typing. I don't have convenient advice for users of Amiga, Atari, or NeXT. As before, if anybody has some, send it to me or post it to "comp.misc". Now for those who enjoy using Joe Doupnik's excellent MS-DOS Kermit program, this missive ends with an initialization "TAKE" file that sets up the keyboard for Dvorak typing within the VT320 terminal emulator. ---------- CUT HERE ---------- CUT HERE ---------- CUT HERE ----------- echo NOW LOADING DVORAK KEYBOARD LAYOUT \13 pause 1 set key scan b x set key scan c j set key scan d e set key scan e . set key scan f u set key scan g i set key scan h d set key scan i c set key scan j h set key scan k t set key scan l n set key scan n b set key scan o r set key scan p l set key scan q ' set key scan r p set key scan s o set key scan t y set key scan u g set key scan v k set key scan w , set key scan x q set key scan y f set key scan z \59 set key scan B X set key scan C J set key scan D E set key scan E > set key scan F U set key scan G I set key scan H D set key scan I C set key scan J H set key scan K T set key scan L N set key scan N B set key scan O R set key scan P L set key scan Q " set key scan R P set key scan S O set key scan T Y set key scan U G set key scan V K set key scan W < set key scan X Q set key scan Y F set key scan Z \58 set key scan : S set key scan \59 s set key scan ' \45 set key scan " _ set key scan , w set key scan < W set key scan . v set key scan > V set key scan / z set key scan \63 Z set key scan - \ set key scan _ | set key scan [ / set key scan { ? set key scan \ [ set key scan \124 \123 ---------- CUT HERE ---------- CUT HERE ---------- CUT HERE ----------- -- .....Richard S. Shuford | "Do not rebuke a mocker or he will hate you; rebuke .....shuford@cs.utk.edu | a wise man and he will love you. Instruct a wise .....BIX: richard | man and he will be wiser still." Proverbs 9:7 NIV