Re: Northgate Keyboards

[Wendell Cochran atrypa@xxxxxxxx]

Where was Robert Holmgren with his chance mention of Northgate when
I needed this thread?

Flash back to 1990, when I switched from a Morrow with CP/M & WordStar
to a Zeos 386sx with MS-DOS & XyWrite: almost immediately I called
Northgate just to get the function keys at left. Why, till last week
I thought I'd invented the idea.

Fast forward to last fall. . . . The keys at upper left began
sticking, & disassembly showed that repair would be expensive. And I
was told that Northgate had turned up its toes. . . . So I used my
old/new Zeos keyboard while hunting; it worked, but my fingers were
too well trained for both XyW & vi.

About a month ago I found a MaxiSwitch ($50), which has closely the
same layout as the Northgate OminKey Ultra. It hasn't _quite_ the
same solid feel as the Northgate, but it'll do.

(Someone -- Tim? -- found the Northgate keys too clackety.
Surprised, I tried my old keyboard & didn't find clicks or clacks.
Maybe one of us has a freak example. Maybe the production run varies
more than we know.)

Now for Pam the southpaw in the Carolinas: after 20 years as a
magazine editor I looked back at staff history -- & realized that
nearly all my best editors had been left-handed women. . . .

Wendell Cochran
West Seattle