Re: New to the list

Welcome Keith in Tucson

from Stu in New Westminster

Like you I switched cold turkey after many (about 28 !) years of
Qwerty.  I also typed at about 50 BD (Before Dvorak) and my speed at
first was about 10 after a day.  I put a picture of the kb in front of
the monitor and used that as a guide - never used a tutor, just did my
regular stuff.  After about 2 months I was up to 60 and today I can do
about 90 wpm.  (the cold turkey switch happened in 1990).  Just keep
at it, don't relapse at all, and before you know it your hands will
start to say to the keyboard, "Where have you been all our lives??"

For a long time I used Fujitsu keyboards that had a two piece key -
the tops came off and were all the same shape, so rearrangement didn't
cause any tippiness.  Now I have a flat no-name keyboard that came
with my Certified Data computer from London Drugs - it also rearranges
nicely.  I am now seriously considering getting a Typematrix because
the straight rows seem to make good sense - actually this keyboard is
even now sitting on a slight angle on the tray so that the rows are
more in line with my fingers.

The das keyboard is just a gimmick as far as I am concerned - if you
touch type it doesn't really make any difference what the keys say on
top.  Actually I find it handier to have the keys properly marked - I
still look for the characters on the shifted keyboard numbers and it
is handy when you just want to hit one key to respond to some dialogue
or another.

As for the das, I believe they took a keyboard that normally sells for
about $20 and blanked the keys and bumped the price.  Somewhere on the
www there is an article that tells you about this.  I don't remember
where it is just now but if you cared you could likely track it down.

Further to using DV - if I have ever had to use some Qwerty for a
short period on someone else's computer, I always hunt and peck so I
won't mess up my DV.

I type a lot and switching to Dvorak is the best thing I ever did for
my hands - it's *so much more comfortable - even if you don't make any
huge speed gains, it is worth it for this alone.

It's good to see more activity on this group picking up again !  As
far as I am concerned, qwerty should be banned.

Dvorak Forever !

Stu

--- In [email protected], "dracorat" <dracorat@...> wrote:
>
> Hello folks,
> 
> I have joined this list because I ran across it in doing some research
> for what is at the moment my most recent step in doing what I feel any
> self respecting computer guru should at least give an earnest effort
> to do --
> 
> I decided to abandon years of typing Qwerty and go Dvorak cold-turkey
> - as of last Friday.
> 
> I am psyched about making the transition - it just plain makes sense
> to me to do. And I remain psyched in light of the fact that right now,
> I type slow again.
> 
> My Qwerty speed was about 50 wpm with approximately 40 errors per
> thousand characters.
> 
> Right now, I am still madly trying to learn Dvorak so I have not
> tested but suffice to say that I am mad slow and make many errors.
> 
> Slow -- but determined.
> 
> I'll keep all of you apprised of my progress.
> 
> Keith, from Tucson
>