[GTALUG] another bargain netbook

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

| From: James Knott via talk <talk at gtalug.org>

| On 01/01/2019 12:48 AM, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:
| > + I like the keyboard.  US, not the Bilingual Canadian layout.
| 
| It's bilingual because English and French speakers hate it equally!  ;-)

It's complicated.  I will now demonstrate this.

STOP READING HERE IF YOU ARE NOT INTERESTED IN MINUTIAE.

We'd all think it was fine if we grew up with it.  But most of us have
not.

To the extent that one hunts and pecks it would probably be OK.

Those who think that being able to type other languages is important, 
should support this keyboard.  I guess that "Knott" indicates scots 
ancestors
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Gaelic_orthography>

But my fingers learned to touchtype more than 50 years ago and are set
in their ways.

It's actually annoying to try to figure out the standard these
keyboards are supposed to conform to.

The bilingual keyboard is apparently an instantiation of an ISO
standard where the US keyboard is an ANSI standard.
<https://deskthority.net/wiki/ANSI_vs_ISO>
By default, I'd like to conform to ISO vs ANSI since I'm not a US
Citizen (even so, I once was a member of an ANSI committee).

The actual standard for the keyboard is probably CAN/CSA Z243.200-92.
That is dated 1992 and reaffirmed in 2016.  It costs money (roughly
$100!) to get a copy.

	"All CSA PDF's now have Digital Rights Management (DRM) features:
	- Unlimited PDF access on any internet browser connected devices
	(desktop, laptop, tablet, mobile phone). One License can be shared
	among many users. Use will be restricted to one concurrent session at
	a time.
	-Ability to download an offline browser accessed PDF on up to 3
	devices.
	-Ability to print one complete copy on paper or as a standalone PDF.
	-All PDF's will be watermarked with your license information.

	For more informaiton call 1-(888)-361-0003"

I hate DRM.

The most useful discussion I've found is from the Quebec government.
<https://www.tresor.gouv.qc.ca/ressources-informationnelles/architecture-dentreprise-gouvernementale/standards-et-normes/standard-sur-le-clavier-quebecois-sgqri-001/>

Fun fact: the Quebec page gives alternative names for the keyboard, and 
one is "clavier LaBonté".  LaBonté is a guy I've actually talked to (years 
ago).  He's one of the committee members who managed to get iso8859-1 
depricated (in favour of iso8859-15) because of a fight amongst 
francophones over OE (dipthong or ligature?).  Of course the intro of the 
Euro symbol helped a lot.

This does not match the engravings on any keyboard I have:
<http://www.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/images/ti/clavier.gif>
It seems telling that this is from Quebec's Office de la langue
francaise.

LaBonté wrote
<https://www.tresor.gouv.qc.ca/fileadmin/PDF/ressources_informationnelles/standard_clavier_quebecois/ISO_9995-7.pdf>

Among its dubious claims is that in Canada, English writers use '.' or
',' as the "decimal sign" in "general usage" but French writers always
use ','.  I'd suggest the reverse.

He also suggests replacing / and * for division and multiplication.
Good luck with that.