Sun type-4 keyboard offends

[montanaro at sprite.crd.ge.com]

Having used the type-4 keyboard briefly, I agree it has its problems. Most
annoying for me were:

	1. The backquote key (`) is positioned where the left half of the
	RETURN key is on the Sun-2/3 keyboards.

	2. BACKSPACE is where DELETE used to be.

The Sun-2/3 keyboard is not without its faults, however. I think the right
keypad should be replaced by a VT100/200 keypad, complete with numerics,
arithmetic operators, commas, and periods. Data entry on a Sun-2/3
keyboard is difficult, at best. I also think the inverted "T" arrow key
arrangement of the VT200 is the best. I doubt anyone but die-hard VT100 or
vi users like the straight "< > ^ v" arrow arragement. Above all,
overloading the arrow keys on the numeric keypad keys is a loser,
especially when you can't decide what the arrow keys should generate. This
confuses more novice Emacs users than just about anything else. I don't
know how often I've answered, "Why does '217z' get inserted every time I
press the left arrow key?" or, "Why don't the arrow keys work?"

Skip Montanaro (montanaro at sprite.crd.ge.com)