[GTALUG] another bargain netbook

[Lennart Sorensen]

On Tue, Jan 01, 2019 at 11:37:09AM -0500, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:
> | 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.

If the laptops shipped with the Canadian Multilingual keyboard, I might
actually not mind.  But they don't.  They ship with Canadian French,
which is a totally different thing and is NOT a version of the ISO
international keyboard.  At least last time I saw a laptop in a store
it was Canadian French, not Multilingual.

I have read a claim that someone at IBM in Toronto that hated Quebec
invented the Canadian French keyboard.  I think I believe the story.

Canadian French has « and » on the key taking up half of the left shift.
A Canadian Multilingual instead has Ù and | on that key.  Usually Canadian
French has a vertical enter key, while the Multilingual usually has the
horizontal enter key (like most US layout keyboards have too).

-- 
Len Sorensen