[wplug] OT -- Dvorak keyboard

Kevin Squire gentgeen at linuxmail.org
Tue Jul 26 16:05:24 EDT 2005


Dear Chris,

Rather timely question.  I have been in the middle of the switch.  I
painted my keyboard, and had to replace the key labels.  So I decided to
use a Dvorak layout.  I to am running Debian Testing.



Right now I have the following setup:
In XF86Config-4 file I placed 
        Section "InputDevice"
             Identifier      "Generic Keyboard"
             Driver          "keyboard"
             Option          "CoreKeyboard"
             Option          "XkbLayout"     "dvorak"
        # qwerty layout
        #    Option          "XkbLayout"     "us"
             Option          "XkbRules"      "xfree86"
        EndSection

that changes all of X over to using the dvorak layout (no matter what
your keyboard accually looks like)

Then I have two .xmodmap files.  One is dvorak layout and one is qwerty.
at 8:00AM I run 'xmodmap .xmodmap-qwerty'  so that I can get all my work
done without slowing down while I learn the new layout.  Then at 5:00, I
run 'xmodmap .xmodmap-dvorak' so that I can begin to learn the dvorak 
layout.  (you may want to 'apt-get install dvorak7min')

All the while, my keyboard looks like a Dvorak layout, but I still do
not have the speed up to an acceptable pace for work.  I would be happy
to email you (or anyone interested) the two xmodmaps and a little
colored keyboard layout that I use to look at while in dvorak.

BTW -- while at the console, in Debian, you can use:
	'loadkeys dvorak' for the dvorak layout
	'loadkeys us' for the qwerty layout

One of the sites I looked at suggesting using aliases to make a quick
change:

	alias asdf='loadkeys dvorak'
	alias aoeu='loadkeys us'
Something like that would switch back and forth just by typeing the four
letters under your left hand.  Could do the same thing with your right
hand for xmodmap aliases I imagine.  


TO BILL -- 
> "Please keep us updated as to how this experiment goes.  I've heard
> mixed reviews about Dvorak keyboards."

Well, so far I am very impressed in how little my fingers have to move
to type.  It feels really nice to not have to move my fingers all over
the place just to type common words. All 5 vowels are on the right hand,
with all but 'I' being the home keys.  (I is where G is).  Then the
next five keys are D, H, T, N, S.  After using Dvorak for just a short
time, I have seen a HUGE decease in the number of time my fingers leave
the home row.  Never thought much about it until I tried it.  Really
amazing!!!

After I get the speed up, or give up, I will be happy to post my
'finding' to the list for everyones enjoyment :-)

Kevin 






On Mon, 25 Jul 2005 11:46:11 -0400
"Teodorski, Chris" <teodorski at ppg.com> wrote:

> 
> Does anyone know of any local retailers that sell (or will order)
Dvorak keyboards?  
> 
> I'm very curious to learn Dvorak (any maybe save my hands).
> 
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Chris
> 
> 
> -------------------------
> 
> Chris Teodorski | PPG Industries | Intel Services | 412.434.2205 |
teodorski at ppg.com
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> wplug mailing list
> wplug at wplug.org
> http://www.wplug.org/mailman/listinfo/wplug


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