Sign of the times: New Keyboard

[RawAlex]

Well, my circa 2000 microsoft natural keyboard elite finally died, with ros of keys no longer working and random problems here and there. So I went out and got the latest and greatest natural keyboard from redmond...

The sign of the times?

The delete key is now the largest single key on the keyboard after the space bar and the shift keys.

Making a keyboard tough enough for spam, I guess.

Alex

[Cleo]

Nice to see that Microsoft finally caught up with Apple and made their delete key the same size as what Apple has been doing since the eighties. Now if they would only name it delete instead of backspace they would come fully into the 21st century.

[RawAlex]

Cleo, the backspace key is above the enter... but above the up arrow key there is now a HUGE delete (as opposed to the single size key on most keyboards). There is a difference between backspace and delete.

Alex

[MadMax]

Cool, I just might have to upgrade. I loves me my MS natural keyboard.

[Cleo]

A Mac's keyboard also has the little delete key. Other then using it when I have a terminal window open I can't think of any other time that I use the little delete key.

[cd34]

it used to be that delete would delete characters to the right of the cursor, and backspace would delete characters to the left.

However, it is an old typewriter convention.

[Torn Rose]

That’s a macs keyboard?

Didn’t recognize it with out the coffee pouring out of it

[Cleo]

I still can't believe that my laptop survived the coffee pouring into it and back out of it morning. A couple of the keys did get sticky for a few days and I still haven't got all the coffee stains off of the aluminum. I can only imagine what the inside of it must look like.

[Head Boy]

So they have got rid of the insert and scroll lock keys.

They'll try to stop us using DOS next.

[RawAlex]

Headboy, actually the insert and scroll lock keys are alt functions of the two grey keys above pause/break and print screen (there is a popular key!). it is just weird to see such a large delete key... I am truly enjoying it

Alex

[Cleo]

Apple got rid of those keys when Steve Jobs took over Apple again. I always wondered what they were for.

[Head Boy]

Originally Posted by RawAlex

Headboy, actually the insert and scroll lock keys are alt functions of the two grey keys above pause/break and print screen (there is a popular key!). it is just weird to see such a large delete key... I am truly enjoying it

Alex

Sorry, didn't spot that. I had to get the magnifier out to read it.

I see they've got some IE keys as well on it.

[cd34]

this is an unretouched photo from my old Toshiba Laptop. My new laptop actually has some smooth spots on the current shift key as does the spacebar. It won't be long before this one looks the same.

No, I didn't purposely scrape it off.

[stuveltje]

have my 100s new keyboard, even at the office i worked before they threaten to lett me pay for the keyboards hell i cant help those stupid buttons jumped out if i touch them , i have now my....keybord at home, and its about 4 months old the buttons have burn holes in it from my smoking, i dont smoke for about almost 3 months now but the keyboard is getting an pain in the ass need an new one....oke who is gonna tell my hubby................

[dareutwo]

Between RawAlex's delete and Cd34's special key - reviews would be a breeze

[Rui]

My new Logitech keyboard also has the same key-style, takes awhile to get used to it tho :/

[ecchi]

Cleo, am I misreading this ? Are you saying that on the Mac the backspace key is misnamed "delete" and that it has no insert or scroll key ?

[Cleo]

You are correct.

I have no idea what the scroll key or insert key did. On the old Mac keyboards they were there but never did anything.

I remember the first time I used a PC keyboard and couldn't figure out why the Delete key was name Backspace since it didn't backspace but deleted.

Macs do have a Command key that does all kinds of things and a Control key that is pretty much a right mouse button key.

[ecchi]

Wow, score one for PC. Which is kind of annoying because I am no fan of the PC. But although I rarely use the scroll key, but I cannot see how any computer can be considered a serious machine for any text based function (word processor, web design, etc.) without an insert key. And naming two different keys the same thing is just plain silly.

I guess this proves what I have been saying for years, the only real computer for serious users is the Amiga.

[Cleo]

What do the insert and scroll lock keys actually do?

[cd34]

Insert can be used with Shift to paste the current buffer. It also changes from Insert to Overtype mode in some word processors/text editing.

Scroll Lock used to stop scrolling in dos windows, but, I think it is a legacy key there now. My keyboard actually labels it as Pause, and with Control it becomes a Break key. I know a few games my nephew plays uses Scroll Lock as a Pause Game key.

[Cleo]

Originally Posted by cd34

Insert can be used with Shift to paste the current buffer. It also changes from Insert to Overtype mode in some word processors/text editing.

That sounds like Command V to me.

[dareutwo]

Cleo - it's mainly a Word function thing.
Editing word files or whatever, if you need to change a sentence, you don't have to select the sentence and delete then type, simply type over it.
I hardly ever use it, but my other work office people use it all the time.

[ecchi]

The thing I cannot understand about this is that I would expect the Mac to be mostly popular with people who do not need those keys. But the Mac is considered the tool of choice in the publishing industry, yet that is one group that would use the "insert" key a lot.

[Cleo]

Publishing is mostly done in QuarkXPress, not word, and it never did anything in QuarkXpress. There was also PageMaker and FrameMaker and I don't remember it having a use in them either. Same goes for their replacement InDesign.

I'm still not completely clear on what this Insert does.
"Editing word files or whatever, if you need to change a sentence, you don't have to select the sentence and delete then type, simply type over it"

If I want to complete replace a sentence then I triple click in it and start typing. Whatever I type replaces what was there. No Insert key needed.