dvorak
 

Does anyone here use the Dvorak keyboard layout?

What's your experiences?

And, does anyone use the Norwegian layout in particular? ( Don't let this question scare you from replying if you are an American Dvorak user.)

Well, I dabbled in it in the past, so after reading your post, I decided to try it again. I'm posting this from dvorak now!

--Shade

OK, nice to see I'm not the only one wierd enough to do such things. What's your experiences?

Dont know. Will let you know when all my hair is gone!

--Shade

That came and went so long ago... I don't see the point of that keyboard.

KC

There are three reasons for wich I am considering switching to the dvorak layout:

1. To stand out from the crowd. ( Isn't that a factor when people choose linux to, it was for me.)
2. Improved writing speed.
3. Better comfort. Somtimes when I have written a lot, it feels like my fingers are falling off.

I know point 1 is really true, but I wouldn't like to spend a couple of weeks learning a new layout without seing atleast one of point 2 and 3.

Is this keyboerd layout really that unpopular. It seems the only one who have even tried it suffer severe hair lossage when attempting to write with it. And it doesn't seem like he use it on a regular basis.

I am not knocking you for using it... I just personally don't see the point of it. I do a lot of things that may seem pointless but just because I like to do it. Hey... I taught myself Morse Code! I guess that could be usefull if I am stuck in a submarine someday...

KC

Apepost,

I tried it about a year ago but had so much writing I had to do that it was really frustrating going down to like 20 wpm from about 100. So I scrapped the idea for then. I am giving it another go, and just rearranged the caps on this keyboard to aide my transition.

--Shade

I have made several attempts on that too. But the only thing I've found to use it on is cheating on exams by blinking your eyes discrete. (5wpm or something.) But no one else in my class would care to learn Morse anyway...

Did it seem like I took it like that? Then I should stop writing halfway asleep.


Hmm. So you do rearrange your caps. I were thinking on not to. Just to force myself to learn the positions rather than always looking on the keyboard.

I don't touch type so I probably wouldn't gain anything using dvorak since home rows etc don't mean anything to me. In BCT at school though I could still pull 80wpm using 3 fingers on each hand :)

A friend of mine who had really bad carpal tunnel problems switched to dvorak and now swears by it. Said it really helped reduce the strain on his hands/wrists. I think I remember the speed was about the same. Personally I don't have the patience, but it sounds like it works as advertised.

i did not know that keyboards are that ...
now i am actually staring at my keyboard hard for no reasons but well worth[at least for me]

hopes you guys don't mind : i like that message below ...
Dvorak

i think i might missed some["hardware" one or is it?] of that when i was digging rubbish-dumps for old computers , next time i will be looking out for ....

nay ... with or without Dvorak . keyboards are still hard for me :p

but still . interesting topic ...

the point of a dvorak layout
 

Hi all

It seems as though many are struggling to understand why you would use a dvorak layout after all it is the layout that is different not the keyboard. A quick google would give you the answer to that but how I see it is simply down to efficiency. The dvorak layout groups the most commonly used keys together so your fingers travel less.

For me this has more relevance as I only have my left hand and the layout makes quite a difference. Microsoft makes it very easy to change the layout to dvorak, dvorak left or dvorak right. Left and right are layouts for people who use only left or only right hands. Linux makes it very difficult (see http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...19#post1681019) except for the two handed layout which seems to be included in most current main distros.

Time spent learning a new layout is countered by the gains once the skill is learned like linux, right.

Cheers

wingo

The dvorak keyboard layout has the most commonly used keys as the home keys, you can type a lot more (english) words without moving your fingers from the home keys than with the qwerty layout. The qwerty keyboard have the most commonly used keys as far away as possible to prevent the arms in the old typewriters from getting stuck together, as it slowed the typist down, nowadays that isn't an issue but the old qwerty layout stuck as that is what everyone is used to.

Hehehe, we did it by tapping a pen against the desk :p

I use it, one of my friends uses it, and one of the former network admins at my school uses it.

I found it much easier learn and become good with. it is more comfortable, at least for me.
most words are some variation of a finger rolling motion, much less vertical movement.
the average person can't use it, especially if the keyboard isn't properly marked, which can be a pain, but most people can find the keymap switching applet.
it isn't always easy to make available to yourself at a school, library or work.

I say use it if it suits you, but make sure you can still type on a standard US keyboard in case you have to.

i use dvorak exclusively, one thing youll notice (as stated already) is its rather easy to learn, once you mark your keyboard or move your keys to the new layout. All the vowels are under one hand, just below the most popular punctuation marks. The most popular constants are in easy reach of the other hand, and all in all, it feels natural when typing english words. All it takes to learn is a properly setup keyboard (so you can see the letters when you are first starting out), and some time.

To the (old) post of apepost above. I know a 4th reason.

A friend of mine was using a dvorak layout in the office. He never needed to lock his computer, because if you sat at his desk and tried to type anything (email, web browser, etc.) you would never get it right... (quertz keys with dvorak layout).

As all linux users know, sticking out of the crowd increases your security. Well at least in the IT world... [hence, joins the first reason why to use dvorak ;-)]

how about typing programs in dvorak? That's how I learned to type(not using 3 fingers on each hand:)). Thoughts?

you dont need typing programs. Just open a text editor, and type up a essay, try only looking at the keys when needed. Since the keyboard is the same, the fingures go to the same spots, only the what the keys mean changes.

I learned the layout just by using a terminal to install Linux and a distro.

that would do it. I don't know, I'm doing fine w/ qwerty for now. Is there any way to change back and forth at will?

I tried to switch to dvorak layout about a year ago, but decided against it when trying to use the cli...

in qwerty the command "ls" is nice and easy, just hit both wring fingers... in dvorak, 'ls' requires you to use the right pinky twice in a row, which is rather uncomfortable to type. I also had trouble with curly braces, i forgot where they are in dvorak but i found that they were difficult to reach.

When typing in English i could definitely see the advantage, but when programming or at the cli, it isn't quite as comfortable, since all cli commands are basically words without vowels :P and that's what dvorak is optimised for.

I guess you could get used to it though, just like the word "pop" in qwerty is kind of a strain...

other than that, dvorak is much healthier, as stated above.

Does anyone know how to switch to the left handed dvorak version? I am looking into llearning dvorak, and want to learn with one hand so I can use my other freely with my mouse.

I have used the dvorak keyboard for a while now. I love it. Caution... Over time you will get very screwy when you try to use the qwerty layout.

Did you ever find out how to do this? My right arm is in some pain and I want to use my left hand only. But I cannot see how to do this in linux (use left-handed dvorak, i mean).

did you try

loadkeys dvorak-l

??

I ripped off all my keys, put them they way dvorak is set up, changed in my settings that I'm using a dvorak keyboard... im to use qwerty... i put all my keys back.

If I learned dvorak right away, I might've liked it.

I've switched to dvorak after having used qwerty for much longer, I've gotten almost as fast with it in a short time and a bit faster not too long after, since my typing speed never was all that great to begin with. First I put stickers with the new letters over the keys, then after a while I too ripped it appart and reassembled it. My typing technique is probably all wrong, but since I switched to dvorak I don't seem to be having any hand problems anymore. For good measure, I've also switched to a trackball recently.

I would have prefered to instead have switched to some sort of massively redesigned keyboard, like a maltron or a kinesis contoured ergonomic, but they're expensive and hard to find.