something all laptops should have as a CMOS setting but never do

[Deviant Ollam]

<sixty second random rant>

here i sit, switching between two laptops for a moment as i help a friend get their system fixed up. i am exceedingly annoyed every few seconds when i go from my little Fujitsu over to their Gateway.

the reason i am annoyed pertains to the fact that Gateway chooses to layout the lower-right of their keyboard as follows...

[ Fn ] [ Ctrl ] [ Win ] [ Alt ] [ ____ Space ____ ]

while they are not alone in doing this, i think they are certainly in the minority. most laptop manufacturers (at least the ones i like) choose the following layout...

[ Ctrl ] [ Fn ] [ Win ] [ Alt ] [ ____ Space ____ ]

am i alone in hating laptop keyboards that don't place the Control key all the way to the far left? on small laptops the fingertip gymnastics are difficult enough half the time during control combinations without having to hunt and peck beneath my palm using my pinky. it's like trying to swing a golf club at a ball that you've teed up between your shoes.

</rant>

maybe i'm making too much of this. maybe it's more of a "how does your toilet paper hang" issue where both ways are essentially correct and people should just live with whatever is in front of them.

still... my dream would be to have a setting somewhere in the CMOS called "Ctrl / Function layout" that would allow the user to toggle which one was on the far left. this would require a little pop-and-replace maneuver on the keyboard itself... but it would be exceedingly cool, i think.

thoughts?

[Voltage Spike]

Re: something all laptops should have as a CMOS setting but never do

am i alone in hating laptop keyboards that don't place the Control key all the way to the far left?

Probably not alone, but I'm not with you on this. I tend to locate the bottom keys relative to the spacebar (yes, I do touchtype) and I like Control consistently located three keys to the left. Note that your poll is flawed in this way; my preference has nothing to do with the frequency of use. It seems to boil down to what you are used to and how your "hands" reference key position (I don't use the corner as a point of reference).

If I had designed the keyboard, I would have placed the Function key alongside Caps Lock. It's not as if Caps Lock is terribly useful as it is, and the Function Key is generally associated with the Fn row of keys. My layout should be more comfortable and allow people to use Functions without seriously deviating their hand positions.

This complaint has nothing on my keyboard that put the Backslash/Bar key alongside the Right Shift key ... heathens.

maybe it's more of a "how does your toilet paper hang" issue where both ways are essentially correct and people should just live with whatever is in front of them.

Damnit, it hangs down the front! What is wrong with you people?!?

Oh, and use spaces instead of tabs in code.

still... my dream would be to have a setting somewhere in the CMOS called "Ctrl / Function layout" that would allow the user to toggle which one was on the far left. this would require a little pop-and-replace maneuver on the keyboard itself... but it would be exceedingly cool, i think.

I would rather be able to swap Caps Lock and Control at the hardware level (although this is less of an issue now that I use Vim, and vi-like keybindings, predominantly).

[DaKahuna]

Re: something all laptops should have as a CMOS setting but never do

I love both my MAC's and it is fn ctrl on both !

[mouseling]

Re: something all laptops should have as a CMOS setting but never do

I have a friend who just loves the Sun Sparc keyboard. Whenever I need to work on it, I'm reduced to 'hunt and peck'.

btw, what I'd like is a "too dumb to be online right now" feature. Maybe a breathalyzer or something that disables the wi-fi or nic to keep people from posting when their judgement is impaired.

-mouse

[mouseling]

Re: something all laptops should have as a CMOS setting but never do

Judgement was impared

Oh, and before you flame me, I'm not referring to this board, I'm thinking specifically about some lame-ass comments I read on You-tube yesterday.

[xor]

Re: something all laptops should have as a CMOS setting but never do

Everyone has to do it a little different. It helps distinguish there product from there competitors. I'm sure there are also legal reasons for doing if different. That's it; it's the lawyers fault, lets blame the gravy sucking lawyers. :)

xor

Except for that hot lawyer from the Hacker Foundation, she's cool.

[DaKahuna]

Re: something all laptops should have as a CMOS setting but never do

Oh, and before you flame me, I'm not referring to this board, I'm thinking specifically about some lame-ass comments I read on You-tube yesterday.

Mouse - I love and respect you deeply but you get what you deserve when you spend time reading any post on You-Tube.

[mouseling]

Re: something all laptops should have as a CMOS setting but never do

I admit, it's a flaw in my character. The trouble is, I'm an obsessive/compulsive reader. I even read manuals and documentation. :P

[Schuyler]

Re: something all laptops should have as a CMOS setting but never do

I admit, it's a flaw in my character. The trouble is, I'm an obsessive/compulsive reader. I even read manuals and documentation. :P

So, if I send you some manuals and documentation sitting here on my desk...would you be willing to give me a quick recap? ;)

[mouseling]

Re: something all laptops should have as a CMOS setting but never do

So, if I send you some manuals and documentation sitting here on my desk...would you be willing to give me a quick recap? ;)

Read it, yes. Remember it 5 min later? Anybody's guess.