OT: Reasoning out a keyboard

skearney_at_accessbee.com
Date: 03/06/05 

Date: 6 Mar 2005 10:17:42 -0800

I hope this isn't too far off topic.

Aset keyboard
Only about 26% of average text is typed from the home keys of a qwerty
keyboard. Swapping, transposing, ETNI for DFJK would increase this to
about 55.5%, more than doubleing typing efficiency for these eight
keys.
To narrow it down further, this would increase in the amount of average
text typed from the four keys under the middle and index fingers by a
factor of five, from 7.5% to 37%. While not as efficient as the Dvorak
keyboard, it is much easier to learn. The transposed keys remain under
the same fingers and feel very natural. While typing, the
transposition can be thought out without benefit of a keyboard map.
For those who might worry that they will not be able to go back to
qwerty, the experience of many Dvorak users is that a typist can be
bikeyboardal. Looking down at your fingers brings qwerty right back.
The letters E, T, N and I are fairly easy to get used to but you may
find yourself trying to type D, F, J and K from their old locations.

I have found a keyboard remapping program that is free, downloads
quickly and is very easy to use. I am typing this email on a keyboard
remapped to the 'etni' transposition layout. The program is called
'Keytweak 2.11' and can be googled up by that name. It is available
from several sites, including PC magazine and recommended by several
keyboard manufacturers, including TypeMatrix. The creator of the
program is Travis Krumsick.

1) After you have loaded the program click start.
2) Click the "KeyTweak" icon and a graphic of a keyboard will appear.
3) Click the "Full Teach Mode" at the bottom of the screen.
4) A box will appear. Click "Begin Teach Mode".
5) Press the key you want to reassign, then the key you want it
reassigned to, in this case D to E.
6) Click "Remap Key#1 to Key#2"
7) The box will disappear and the scancodes of the keys will appear in
the "Pending Changes" window at the bottom right.
8) Follow the same procedure (from 3) for E to D, and the remaining
six remaps.
9) Click "Apply" and you will be asked if you want to turn off the
computer to apply the changes.
     At the top there is also a clickable "Restore Defaults" to give
you back your qwerty layout.
     I was able to remap in under three minutes and restore qwerty in
thirty seconds, not includeing the restart.

If you would like to determine if etni on the home row is comfortable
for you, you might try typing the words below in the pretend mode,
without lifting a finger.

a little lean saint, settle in a nest, an alien eats an ant in atlanta,
silent ease
a kffld ldaj sakjf, sdffld kj a jdsf, aj alkdj dafs aj ajf kj aflajfa,
skldjf dasd

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