Re: Norm's keyboard problem...

[jr_fox@xxxxxxxxxx]

Ed Cray wrote:

> I too upgraded from Windows 3.11 to 95 then 98, all the while using
> Xywrite 3.57 -- with a DOS icon and a DOS/XYwrite icon on the opening screen.
>
> I have no conflicts, readily alt-tabbing back and forth from Xywrite to
> Windows or to a Windows program which might be running in the
> background. I can also left click on the menu bar at the bottom of the
> screen to go back to Xywrite from Windows.
>
> The tech who set all this up in a matter of minutes -- less time than it
> will take me to write this letter -- suggested in an e-mail to Norman
> Bauman that the problem may be that the keyboard is dirty. He suggested
> swapping keyboards and see if that fixed the problem.
>

Even if the keyboard is not dirty, there _are_ differences between keyboards. I
have, in effect, 3 generations of NorthGate Omnikey keyboards. The one with a
zillion miles on it, which I will probably have to scrap (this has all been
covered here in earlier threads), is an original 102, circa 1988, with a PROM
chip that was replaced with an updated one, 2 or 3 years in. That in itself made
some changes, but at this point I don't recall what problem it solved.

The one I'm typing on now is the spare 102, purchased around 1992 (?). It has
the small hinged door, concealing a bank of dip-switches. There are some
relatively minor layout changes. Although it has no "Windows" keys, it
reportedly goes a step closer to "Windows compatibility." There must be some
small scan code differences: whereas some Ctrl-Shift combinations worked only
from the right side keys on the Original 102, they work interchangeably on this
one.

I have recently purchased the Avant Stellar, closely based on the Omnikey 102,
and will hook it up when I have the time to look through the manual, reposition
some keys and reprogram others, and so forth. It has the Windows key (are there
more than one ?), and is said to be "fully Windows compatible." There are issues
I have run into before -- in Word (esp. versions after 6.0), in Netscape, and in
other Win programs -- where the INS/DEL toggle does not operate.  My prediction
is that these issues will be gone with the Avant, due to whatever is involved in
having all the scan codes become "fully Windows compatible." And I'm wondering
if I will notice any changes in Xy, with a heavily macro-tized kbd.

Jordan