Re: [OT] buying keyboards

[Shaun ONeil <shaun@dog-berry.com>]

[ Replying on-list as I see nothing sensitive in the message, and it
does explain my plight a little better .. ]

On Thu, 2004-03-25 at 09:19 +0100, Michal R. Hoffmann wrote:

> Shaun ONeil wrote:
> []
> > The rest:  I'm a british national living in the US .. I've been typing
> > on a UK keymap for 12-13 years, so find the differences in a US keymap
> > just enough to drive me nuts.  I'm also planning on moving home within
> > 12 months, so 'just getting used to it' doesn't seem too beneficial.
> > 
> []
> 
> hello,
> 
> I'm afraid I cannot help you with the problem, but the curiosity, which 
> has killed a cat is eating me alive. What is the difference between US and 
> UK keyboard, as both of nations use the same set of letters? I know 
> German, Russian, and others have keyboards with their special letters, but 
> US / UK?
> 
> BTW, have you tried e-bay?
> Greetings,
> -- 
> ***  Michal R. Hoffmann        |    <mailto:misiek@knm.org.pl>      ***
> ***             -= member of: KNM, ZUKiH, HCKU =-                   ***

It's minor differences, but enough to catch me off-guard when I least
expect it.

Above the number keys, I have " (quote, shift-2), £ (GBP, shift-3) .. a
US keymap has @ and # respectively.  Tilde (~) is shift-hash (#), placed
to the left of Enter (return / CR, whatever you're used to) .. rather
than being to the left of One. My backslash (\) and pipe (|) are on a
key to the left of Z, on a US keyboard it's above the Enter key.  My
Enter key is two rows high, making it easy to hit on the run, but that
placement of the \| key brings an american one to one row ..

That's possibly the single most unreadable paragraph I've writen for a
long time, so grab a coffee, slow down, and read it again :o)

So yes, identical character sets .. the main QWERTY is all identical, so
it could be worse.  However, having tidle, quote and pipe in strange
places really slows me down in a shell.

I shall take a look at eBay right after I send this .. nervously
however, it's not something I've tried before. Desperate times call for
desperate measures, I guess ..

Thanks,
  Shaun