Lois’s answer to “Do you or authors you know modify your keyboards to type stories? I have only written a few short s…” > Likes and Comments
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we actually took typing classes in school before computers were around; it was a life skill! the only one my mother actually insisted upon, so i could "support myself" (she was right, actually, i couldn't have done much of the rest if i hadn't been able to type. reminds me of how they're no longer teaching cursive writing much, either; they must assume they were born with it? or that eventually all we'll need are grunts?
I took typing in High School 35 years ago or so. It was on IBM Selectric typewriters, so having an ink eraser and brush were critical tools. I'd hunt-and-pecked a couple of short stories in Jr. High on an old Underwood I found on the curb on trash night and cleaned up. But the typing really came in handy when they started teaching computer classes -- on old Olivetti printing terminals, over acoustic couplers to a mainframe.
I had to type radio copy on an ancient manual typewriter, and it took years to soften my typing down for a computer keyboard again -- I'd gotten used to smacking the keys of that ancient manual typewriter so the equally-ancient ribbon would make enough of a mark for the newsman to read on the air.
I've used a few divergent keyboards over the years. One was the SafeType, the keyboard cut in the middle and each half standing vertically, keys outward. You HAD to touch-type, as you couldn't see the keys because they faced outward. It was a great keyboard once I got used to it, but you can't game with it, it just doesn't work.
Another was the Comfort Keyboard, which broke the keys into 3 segments, each on an independently-positionable gimbal, so you could put them at whatever angle or relative height you found most comfortable. I wore out two of those keyboards, practically beating them to death until the electronics started failing. The company is no longer responding to emails or calls, so I think they're defunct, though their website is still hanging on, somehow.
Nowadays, I have a Microsoft wireless keyboard and it's smaller portable cousin, the Folding Bluetooth Keyboard. I have a number of cheap bluetooth keyboards and mice, and even some small portable thumboards with built-in touchpads. We have enough small computers around that we NEED multiple controllers. Heck, I have six computers within reach right now. My desktop, a C.H.I.P. ($9 computer) running Linux, a Chromebook (also running Linux as well as ChromeOS), my Nexus 7 tablet, my Nexus 5 phone, and my Pebble smartwatch. That's just in REACH. I have six or seven more over on the workbench, not counting the piles of microcontrollers in their little silver bags on the storage rack.
But then, I'm a total geek girl and can't keep my paws off anything computerish.
I’m British and live in Spain, but I use a modified version of the US International keyboard layout, which gives me easy access to a variety of accented characters and symbols.
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elithea
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Sep 11, 2016 06:13AM
we actually took typing classes in school before computers were around; it was a life skill! the only one my mother actually insisted upon, so i could "support myself" (she was right, actually, i couldn't have done much of the rest if i hadn't been able to type. reminds me of how they're no longer teaching cursive writing much, either; they must assume they were born with it? or that eventually all we'll need are grunts?
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I took typing in High School 35 years ago or so. It was on IBM Selectric typewriters, so having an ink eraser and brush were critical tools. I'd hunt-and-pecked a couple of short stories in Jr. High on an old Underwood I found on the curb on trash night and cleaned up. But the typing really came in handy when they started teaching computer classes -- on old Olivetti printing terminals, over acoustic couplers to a mainframe.I had to type radio copy on an ancient manual typewriter, and it took years to soften my typing down for a computer keyboard again -- I'd gotten used to smacking the keys of that ancient manual typewriter so the equally-ancient ribbon would make enough of a mark for the newsman to read on the air.
I've used a few divergent keyboards over the years. One was the SafeType, the keyboard cut in the middle and each half standing vertically, keys outward. You HAD to touch-type, as you couldn't see the keys because they faced outward. It was a great keyboard once I got used to it, but you can't game with it, it just doesn't work.
Another was the Comfort Keyboard, which broke the keys into 3 segments, each on an independently-positionable gimbal, so you could put them at whatever angle or relative height you found most comfortable. I wore out two of those keyboards, practically beating them to death until the electronics started failing. The company is no longer responding to emails or calls, so I think they're defunct, though their website is still hanging on, somehow.
Nowadays, I have a Microsoft wireless keyboard and it's smaller portable cousin, the Folding Bluetooth Keyboard. I have a number of cheap bluetooth keyboards and mice, and even some small portable thumboards with built-in touchpads. We have enough small computers around that we NEED multiple controllers. Heck, I have six computers within reach right now. My desktop, a C.H.I.P. ($9 computer) running Linux, a Chromebook (also running Linux as well as ChromeOS), my Nexus 7 tablet, my Nexus 5 phone, and my Pebble smartwatch. That's just in REACH. I have six or seven more over on the workbench, not counting the piles of microcontrollers in their little silver bags on the storage rack.
But then, I'm a total geek girl and can't keep my paws off anything computerish.
I’m British and live in Spain, but I use a modified version of the US International keyboard layout, which gives me easy access to a variety of accented characters and symbols.
