h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I have a serious case of fat fingeritis. It was bad enough with my old keyboard with the raised keys. With this new, lower version it has become horrific.

The lower key position also makes it even more likely for me to miss the 'a' key. My little finger is unusually short and combined with stiffness in my hands, I often think I've hit the 'a' when I haven't.

Is anyone here old enough to remember the old manual typewriters folks of my ggeneration used for school papers, etc.? Now those were keyboards. Each key raised enough so you didn't have to reach for them and far enough apart that you didn't always hit two at once.

Not that I want to go back to manual typewriters. Or to being a teenager again. I remember how excited I was with my first electric typewriter. It was a Smith Carona and was blue to match my bedroom. I i mgine that folks with long thin fingers are quite pleased with the new keyboards. I should stop whinging and do a better job of proofreading.

Did I mention that I really hate proofreading?

http://machinesoflovinggrace.com/ptf/UnderwoodGallery.html

Unit #5 is the device that I learned to type on ... Makes this notebook seem pretty insubstantial now that I think on it

Those things weighed a ton. No worry about them 'walking' across the desk top like the portables.

I learned to type on IBM Selectrics. My first typewriter of my own is a Panasonic with a very rudimentary "word processor" built in. It has a little 20 character LCD screen on it. I never really used that function although I think I might have a very early version of my resume saved on it.

Currently, on all channels like History, Spike, A&E and Discovery channel you can't swing a dead Selectric without finding a show featuring antiques. American Pickers, Pawn Stars, Auction Hunters, etc. And from those I've learned that those beautiful old manual Underwoods are worth next to nothing. I guess that's good news if you want one.

I chose to learn typewriting when I was about 14 (I think) among several subjects to choose from at school. Once I got my speed up, I often had trouble with the type arms getting caught in each other, because you had to let one arm start going back before pressing a new key, but I kept forgetting. The keys were so far apart I'd sometimes slip down between them with a finger.

When I was in Brighton (England) to study business English, I had half day practise in one of the seaside hotels. They had what I think was the very first model of an electric typewriter, because it still had type arms, but the keyboard was more like the modern ones, and you didn't have to push them hard. It also had a correction ribbon, but in a separate cartridge, and you had to remove the black one in order to insert it. This must have been in... *ponders* ...1983.

That was when I first learnt about a phenomenon that is, oddly enough, extremely common; those who cook for a living are generally terrible at spelling the dishes they create (I typed out the lunch menu every day).

This became very obvious when I worked as a secretary, and all the head chefs from the Swedish hotel chain I worked for back then had a conference, where one of the activities was brain-storming for new dishes.

I received loads of hand written paper sheets and was asked to type them out. When the writing was untidy, there was no chance I could guess what it was supposed to say. I had to ask our restaurant manager to sit beside me and help decipher. There were a lot of expressions I didn't know, so I learnt a lot of new culinary words in the process.

My cousin learned to type on a computer. This was in the days of Bulletin Board Systems and IRC chat. Her method was the two finger system. She took a typing class in school and was getting horrible grades. She improved dramatically when she moved to the back of the class where the teacher couldn't see her. She typed at around 85wpm. It was amazing to watch.

Sometimes I feel bad because my posts on here have so many typos, but at least it lets all my friends know that it's really me and no one has hijacked my account.

But seriously, the new keyboard is harder for me to use. If the old one wasn't already on it's way to a charity shop, I'd hook it back up.

I hear you.

I learned to type on my mom's 1950s Sears machine, by using a book from the public library. (They wouldn't let me in the secretary class.)

When I went to college, my dad bought me a 1947 Underwood 'portable'. That thing weighed about 40 lbs, I think. I used it for weight-lifting when I wasn't typing on it. You could set the action to heavy, so I did. That way, you didn't pound it to pieces when you typed.

When I went from manual straight to electronic - does anybody remember electronic computers with a 20-character memory? - I hated the action. Lingering on a key was deadly, you gotttttttttttttttt...

I love keyboards. When I started using computers, I got a little kids' typing tutorial and worked through that. I hate those curved ones, though - they drive me nuts.

First computer that I used, it was a TeleType machine with 5-level baudot tape reperf. One had to slam the keys to manipulate all the appropriate selenoids. When we changed to solid-state keyboards, danged things kept flying apart from all the key-stroke force the operators were applying. Kept me employed though, re-assembling them ...

I can always tell when someone learnt to type on a manual typewrite. They bash the heck out of the keyboard

*remembers when fullstops and commas left holes in the paper. And l was used for the #1 and O for 0*

lil x

My Dad gets through a computer keyboard every six months, because he started out in journalism on a manual typewriter Built To Endure - you practically had to hit each key with a hammer to get the arm to even twitch. He is miffed I won't let him use my laptop when he visits.

Even I miss the 'a' sometimes when typing. My left hand is noticeably less 'able' than my right, despite having learnt to type when I was in my teens and now being quite nippy and accurate (generally. By and large. When not distracted by the radio. You guys don't get to see all the 'delete delete delete retype delete delete retype' going on. Also, I almost invariably type 'teh' and 'adn' for 'the' and 'and'. DELETE DELETE).

I am thinking of getting a new laptop and am eyeing the EVEN SMALLER keyboards with alarm and disfavour. Also, the keyboard facility on iPhones and iPads is rubbish. Utter, utter rubbish. Hate hate hate. Grrr.

I hate touchpads.

Does anybody else have the problem I have? After about a year of using a keyboard, I've rubbed the lettering off certain keys. Very soon, the 'e' will be a blank.

Somebody said it was acidic fingers.

Many of the keys on my notebook are erased and seriously divoted. My life works and trades seem to make my nails very hard. (Sometimes adequate to use as screwdrivers) The plastic is seriously gouged ...

PS: Anyone with an economical source of replacement Acer notepad key-caps, please phone North America, 613 - 555 - HELP

Are you a smoker by any chance, Dmitri?

My w*rk keyboard seems to hold up better than my home one when it comes to keep the lettering but then I think that might be because my home keyboard is supposed to be watertight, so I'm not as careful about not spilling on that one.

I find the keyboards on my macs very nice to type on. The keys are only slightly raised, but nicely spaced out. Very smooth typing.