From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: (qmail 10349 invoked from network); 14 Dec 1998 22:17:51 -0000 Received: from mail.redhat.com (199.183.24.239) by lists.redhat.com with SMTP; 14 Dec 1998 22:17:51 -0000 Received: from ohio.river.org (river.org [209.24.233.15]) by mail.redhat.com (8.8.7/8.8.7) with ESMTP id RAA02578 for ; Mon, 14 Dec 1998 17:09:10 -0500 Received: (from ru@localhost) by ohio.river.org (8.8.8/8.7.3) id OAA16394; Mon, 14 Dec 1998 14:09:05 -0800 (PST) Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1998 14:09:05 -0800 (PST) Message-Id: <199812142209.OAA16394@ohio.river.org> From: Richard Uhtenwoldt To: blinux-list@redhat.com Subject: Re: Why I learned emacs In-Reply-To: References: <199812141550.KAA01739@wlestes.uncg.edu> List-Id: 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.