lol Markus
Quote
[off-topic mode]
It's an interesting story; for those who don't know: once upon a time typewriters used an alphabetical-sorted keyboard (ABCDEF....). But as secretaries became more proficient and fast in their typing the machines started to jam. So they designed QWERTY specifically to slow typists down. Coooool! And then the French said "Oh, but we can't have the banal, universal layout! We need to create one of our own! But maybe not make it totally different because that would be awkward... so let's make a few subtle changes!"[/off-topic mode]
lol it is a bit more complicated than that but we will not pollute anymore the subject with it ;) (a complete thread would be needed to arguate about this)
Well, in the old times (TFM and his Fossil-OS have already been invented, like the wheel and fire...) the letters have been brought in that position, because in the used order they DO NOT jam that easiely.
It's right the girls have been typing more quick and quick (because they earned less and less per letter...), so they had to adjust the typewriter layout in a way that provides the best chance for a jam-free day.
And since in different languages the different letters are used in different amounts in contexts, the typwriters layouts have been changed depending on the language.
You're right, AZERTY layout exists because it has been adapted to the French language.Theoricaly , the most used keys must be the most difficult to get.Another boring difference is digits must be "shifted" with a French layout.It is horrible when you do not own a numerical keypad.
Anyway , my first computer was a QWERTY 6128 and that was boring for me to get a PC with an AZERTY keyboard after.I am still able to type on an AZERTY keyboard with a QWERTY layout (usefull at work when network settings problems)
Glossologically speaking, I really don't think the difference between French and the rest of the latin-rooted world are so great as to warrant a different keyboard. I do bet they did it just to be 'different'.
Yes, and I think Belgians did, too. But I'm still not convinced they did it for practical reasons. Mind, the Dvorak layout is very well designed so it's bound to be specific for each language. But xxERTY... give me a break! :D
Almost every country has its own xxerty layout....
I even remember a friend of mine had a qwertzoy....sort of...
I used to tell him his keyboard was from southern Glookistan... (gloukistan du sud...) ;D
I alway felt the azerty is somewhat not well designed, mostly concerning the "accents" management...
ç, à, è, é, ù...have their own key...but when you want to write in foreigner languages...it is not that good.
^, ¨ or ~ can be put on some other keys : ê ë ñ... but we don't have the german SS (oops, godwin point... lol...)...er...the simili double SS (essette ?)
or the nordic "O" + "/"...
A european keyboard should include more keys to modify letters in accordance to all the special characters and would be great...
But English speaker would see this as useless, as they don't use those characters.
Yet a lot of french words exist in english... how can they write "Cliché" with no "é" ???
In Madrid, I really like the Spanish Keyboard, its only fault is having a key especially for the ñ... :-\ but the accent management was great and it is actually quite good even when writing in french.
I used to have the idea of a keyboard with screen-keys... so the key actually display what it is supposed to write...
And I realised some russians are actually producing it...
Was in Prototype phase...should look at it again.
but this would be quite expensive as mini LCD screen inside each keys....well...
Could an amstrad CPC support a keyboard with more keys ? or enabling more symbols per key ?
The 12345.... keys on CPC enable only 2 characters...while it enables 3 on modern PC.
exemple : 3 " #... 4 ' { 5 ( [...an so on.
But French keyboard is not good concerning bold letters... how can a get a bold "à" or "é" ??? I can't really... (shift+key give numbers...)
QuoteI really don't think the difference between French and the rest of the latin-rooted world are so great as to warrant a different keyboard.
It was almost a political issue/matter...
Remember that from a time when Computers were with built in keyboards...This could be important matter, we remember the CPC472...which was a way to prevent building extra keyboards...yet as Spain was one of the main CPC market, they still did the ñ keyboard...
Was Amstrad CPC built with a greek keyboard ? did they build Arab keyboards versions too ?
The greek keyboard must be interesting, shitton of letters actually, as it must feature both Latin and Greek Alphabets... Russians keyboards must be quite complicated too... or even a Polish or Turkish keyboard...
(http://www.tousergo.com/images/products/clavier_pour_enfant.jpg)
Looks like a CPC464...sort of.
(http://www.techrevision.com/contentimages/lcd_keyboard.jpg)
(http://assets.gearlive.com/blogimages/luxeed.jpg)
(http://assets.gearlive.com/blogimages/quantumoledquake.jpg)(http://assets.gearlive.com/blogimages/quantumoledps.jpg)
OLED keyboard... expensive but so kool...
http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/optimus/ (http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/optimus/)
OMFG !!! 1667 €uros ??? wow...
But a shame actually, they did it too good.. a Monochrome version would suffice...and mey be far less expensive...
This one looks like a Millionnaire's toy... and it is certainly one.
Thank god you can test it for free there :
http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/optimus/demo/
impressive.
The Aleste Russian keyboard just looks confusing.
http://aleste520.narod.ru/justt-an-aleste.jpg
At least Japan stuck with QWERTY layouts...
http://mess.redump.net/_detail/sysinfo:x68000-keyboard.gif?id=sysinfo%3Ax68000
There were no 'greek' keyboard I can remember of. They started sticking the Greek letters in the PC era... in any case, there were no Greek ROMs. So if you wanted the greek charset you'd have to modify the existing one - lots and lots of type-ins started with modifying the characters for the game to have greek text in it...