Re: dvorak keyboard
On Tue, Jul 30, 2002 at 09:58:11AM -0400, Nori Heikkinen wrote:
> i'm considering switching to dvorak, half on a whim, half because i
> think it might help my geek-related wrist pain (yes, i'm icing and
> am going to call a doctor soon). two questions:
>
> 1. i can get it working in console mode fine (`loadkeys dvorak` does
> the trick), but can't seem to make it work with X. do i need a
> different command / keymap / &c.?
setxkbmap dvorak
>
> 2. does anyone out there use it? was it hard to switch? can you now
> type both layouts? was it worth it to switch? how long did it
> take to retrain?
>
i switched 5 months ago. it feels much better, and
makes sense, as qwerty was designed to slow down
typing, a concept that was only useful for manual
typewriters.
my reasons for switching started from mere curiosity
but "matured" to "physical comfort." i was concerned
that i could develop problems with my wrists because
i like to stay in the console "power curve." (if i
were overly gui, i probably wouldn't have as much of
a reason to switch.)
i think some people have actually moved the keys around,
creative and probably very useful in learning and
using dvorak. and i think they sell dvorak keyboards
(where the keys are already moved around into dvorak posi-
tion; but that's probably an expensive proposition). i was
more low-brow--memorizing where the new keys are (j is now h;
k is now t...). it took about a month for it to feel okay.
my only regret is that i didn't know about it sooner. i say
the same thing about debian, too. (better late than never.)
i can't see myself going back to qwerty. dvorak is ef-
ficient, healthier, makes my boxen less tamper worthy.
good luck!
b.
> i've done a fair amount of googling on this, and people seem to love
> it. i'd love to hear this list's thoughts on it.
>
> </nori>
>
> --
> .~. nori @ sccs.swarthmore.edu
> /V\ http://www.sccs.swarthmore.edu/~nori/jnl/daily.html
> // \\ @ maenad.net
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