Re: Why I learned emacs

[Richard Uhtenwoldt <ru@river.org>]

Dave Mielke writes:

I was referring to the rather haphazard way in which its command sequences have
been defined. The fact that I may happen to know the sequence to get some given
functionality does not guarantee that I can deduce a sequence which will yield
similar functionality. (end of my quoting of Dave Mielke.)

Hi, Dave.  As a long-time Emacs user, I also think Emacs keymaps could
stand more orthogonality.

Dave Mielke writes:

I occasionally even have one hand on the keyboard and the other one on the
braille display. When doing this latter bit of dexterity, it's a bit
difficult to hold down the control key (and, perhaps, in addition, the ALT key)
and a letter all simultaneously with one hand. (end of quote.)

I use the so-called sticky-keys feature of the Linux console, which means
that to generate a control-c, I press and release a control key and then
press and release the c key.  I use it because holding keys down 
tends to cause more pain in my wrists than tapping keys.

X also features sticky keys, but I would think that if
you are blind, then you do not use X but rather you use the Linux console
for almost all of your Linux work.

Anyway, upon request I am willing to post instructions on configuring the
Linux console so that the modifier keys become sticky.  Alternatively,
follow the instructions after the second occurence of the word "sticky" in
the Keyboard-and-Console-HOWTO.

Finally, Dave Mielke writes:

I think that my preference would be to have some sort of generic keyboard
support which would present three persistent tones, each at a distinctly
different pitch, for each of the three locks (upercase, numeric, scroll).
(end of quote.)

I have wanted something like this myself, and like I said, I am not blind.
Dave, please confirm that you want this for Linux running in text mode
rather than under X.