The lack of need for Caps-Lock (was laptop keyboard replacement)

[Kevin D. Clark]

Derek Martin <gnhlug at sophic.org> writes:

> On Thu, Jul 31, 2003 at 11:46:12AM -0400, Kevin D. Clark wrote:
> > If you want to use your caps lock key, use it.  Myself and other
> > people think that it is a useless key.

[snip]
>  But why hate it?

Remember, I said that I found the key to be useless, not that I hate
it.  I even use the key occasionally, to see if my fingers can send my
brain a mesage in Morse Code.


I rarely use the cursor keys either -- for a long time I accessed
computers over low-speed modems, with lots of line noise.  In emacs
and shells I use things like C-n and M-f, and in vi I use "hjkl" and
other commands.  In not using the cursor keys, I avoided inserting a
lot of garbage into my code.  Call me an old-timer, but this works for
me.

[snip]

> Speaking for myself, I use the ctrl key on PC keyboards often, and
> have no problems with cramping.  Of course, in contrast to Bob's
> comment about being very large, I'm short and have small hands,
> which may account for that.  My pinky has to contort less to make use
> of it in its location on a PC keyboard.

Maybe it's an emacs thing.  All of the emacs users that I know want
the control key next to the 'a' on a QWERTY keyboard.  Even
Windows/Emacs programmers that I know do this.

> I think in the end it's just a matter of what you're used to.  I
> don't think a clear argument can be made that one or the other is
> better.

Agreed.  It's a matter of personal preference.

Regards,

--kevin
-- 
Kevin D. Clark / Cetacean Networks / Portsmouth, N.H. (USA)
cetaceannetworks.com!kclark (GnuPG ID: B280F24E)
alumni.unh.edu!kdc