Midterm (Pinkie Fry) Mac OS
Midterm (Pinkie Fry) Mac OS
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Emacs makes frequent use of the Ctrl key. On a conventional keyboard, the Control Key is at the lower left corner of the keyboard, usually not very large and is pressed by the pinky finger. For those who use emacs all day, this will result in Repetitive Strain Injury. [see Celebrity Programers with RSI] This page lists some tips on avoiding this pinky problem.
I've been using computer since 1991, at least 8 hours a day on average every singe day. I was a QWERTY touch-typist with 80 wpm and worked as a secretary for about 2 years, then in ~1994 i switched to Dvorak layout. I started to use emacs everyday since 1998. I am a keyboard and key macro nerd, and have used tens of keyboard macro or keymap type of utilities on the Mac, unixes, and Windows, always looking for the most ergonomic and efficient way to operate the keyboard. [see Keyboards, Layouts, Hotkeys, Macros, RSI] This page summarize my experiences applied to emacs.
The best way to avoid the pinky problem is actually to use a good keyboard. Let us start with some tips on choosing a good keyboard.
Tips for Selecting a Computer Keyboard
- Buy a keyboard such that the Ctrl and Alt keys are large.
- Buy a keyboard where Ctrl and Alt are also available on the right side.
- The Ctrl and Alt key's positions on the left and right sides should have the same distance to your left and right thumbs (while your hands are rested in standard touch-type position). Specifically: the distance from the left Alt to the F key should be the same as the right Alt to the J key.
- Look at the distance from left Alt and F. They should not be far. This lets you easily hit Alt by a thumb curl. Same for Right Alt and J.
- Mechanical keyboard helps. [see Mechanical Keyboard and Repetitive Strain Injury]
GOOD Keyboard
[see Best Keyboards for Emacs]
BAD Keyboard
Avoid Laptop Keyboards
Laptop computer keyboards are the worst beast. It is the quickest wayto get RSI. The keys are packed into a neat little rectangular space andflat. Ctrl and Alt become tiny squares, jammed togetherwith Fn. Many dedicated keys such as Home, PageDown,Arrow keys, are reshaped into squares to fit into the rectangular array— losing their distinct positions that can be easily located by touch.Dedicated keypad for numbers is gone. Time saving Function keys, greatfor macros, become a thin strip and require 2 key presses with a Fnmodifier key, also requires visual-contact to hit correctly.
It is neat, alright, but anything in perfectly geometric shape is a sign that it is the worst with respect to ergonomics and comfort. In the environment of nature, which our body evolved to cope with, there's almost never any straight lines, squares, or perfect circles.
I use a computer for 8 hours a day since 1991. Never had any problems. But, during 2004 and 2005, for 2 years, i was using a laptop always, i noticed RSI symptoms. My hand started to feel weird even when not typing. No pain, but definitely something's not right. (I've already read extensively about RSI)
So i went and bought a external keyboard, and actually bought a split-keyset ergonomic keyboard,the Microsoft Wireless Natural Multimedia keyboard.I always hated split keyboards, in particular because emacs's Ctrl+x on Dvorak is at the B position of QWERTY, and the B key on split keyboard is on the left side, but i always used the right hand to do the x and left hand on Ctrl. Also, the number 6 key is supposed to be pressed by the right hand by traditional touch typing, but the 6 on the Microsoft keyboard is on the left side.
Slot of vegas instant play. Despite this initial difficulty, i adopted the split ergonomic keyboard, even after 15 years of using a traditional PC keyboard. Now, i won't go back to non-split keyboards. Typing on non-split keyboard feels discomfort even just for a few minutes.
How to Press the Control Key
Use Your Palm or Semi-Fist
Do not use your pinky to press the Control key.
For some keyboards, it's not easy to use palm. Instead, you can curl in your fingers into a semi-fist, then sit your fist on the control key, or knock the key with your pinky's knuckle.
Palm Keycap
Use Both Hands
Do not use just one hand to type a Control+key combo.
Use one hand to press Ctrl, use the other hand to press the letter key. This is the same principle for pressing the Shift key in touch-typing.
When the key you want to press is on the left side of the keyboard, use the right side of Ctrl. For example, to press Ctrl+a, hold down the right Ctrl with your right palm edge, and use your left hand to press a. Make this into a habit. Using a single hand to press Ctrl+key combo means your hand is shaped into spider legs, thus putting stress on it when done repeatedly.
This is also why it is important to chose a keyboard with large Ctrl keys positioned on both sides of the keyboard.
Software Ways to Avoid the Pinky Problem
A good keyboard and good typing habit is good. But suppose you are stuck with a laptop keyboard. Here are some suggestions for this situation.
Use a Ergonomic Keyboard Shortcut Layout
For programers, more than 50% of your typing are actually calling commands. [see Emacs's Command Frequency] This means, the layout for command keybinding is actually more important than letter-key layout.
One good solution is to use a ergonomically designed keybinding.
I recommend one of the following:
The above modes are by far the best solution. I suggest you get used to one of them.
Following are lesser solutions.
Swap Control and Alt
Try swapping the Ctrl and Alt keys.
Emacs's shortcuts are developed for Lisp Machine's keyboards of the1980s. They have Control key near the space bar, and the Meta keyfurther away from the space bar.So, Control key is the primary modifier key.However, today'skeyboards have Alt instead of Meta, and the Ctrl key is placed atthe far corner. Emacs did not change its shortcuts. It simply mappedthe Meta to Alt. That is why today, most frequently used keyboardshortcuts have the more difficult to press Ctrl key instead of theAlt. For more detail on this and other aspects of emacs's shortcuts.
[see Why Emacs Keys are Painful]
Swapping the Alt and Ctrl key will make Emacs's keyboard shortcuts easier to use.
The other advantage of swapping Alt and Ctrl, is that on Windows and Linuxes, most direct shortcuts involve the Ctrl key. By swapping, shortcuts are made easier too, because now Ctrl is right under your thumb.
On Laptop, Swap CapsLock and Ctrl
On a Laptop, do Swap CapsLock and Ctrl.
Remap the CapsLock and Ctrl key by swapping them. This is not aoptimal solution, because the Control key is still pressed by thepinky. But on laptop, this may be better than swapping Alt and Ctrl, because the CapsLock key is usually much bigger and in a easy open location.
See also:Emacs: Why You Should Not Swap CapsLock and Control
Use Sticky Keys
On {Windows, Mac, Linux}, you can setup your OS so that Ctrl+key can be pressed by pressing the Ctrl key then release it, then press the key key. Recommended.
- On Windows, go to Control Panel, “Ease of Access Center”, then the Keyboard section.
- On Mac, go to 〖System Preferences ▸ Universal Access ▸ Keyboard tab〗.
- For Linux, it's usually under the system preference settings, Accessibility section or Keyboard section.
Dvorak Keyboard Layout
One ergonomic improvement is the Dvorak keyboard layout.
You might hear people with concerns about using Dvorak with emacs. Actually,no problem at all. I never used emacs with QWERTY. I started using Dvorakin 1994, emacs since 1997.
Dvorak layout does not help with the emacs pinky problem. Double triple diamond free slots. However, itis good for typing health in other ways.
In the beginning, from 1998 to 2006, the only key i remapped for using Dvorak on emacs is to make “C-t” do emacs's “C-x”. [see Emacs: Easy Ctrl+x for Dvorak Layout] But now, i recommend not to use “C-x” at all. You should use key sequences. [see The Roadmap to Completely Replace Emacs Key System, Part 2]
For more info about alternative layout, see:Alternative Keyboard Layouts
Relax Your Hand When Not Actually Typing
When in a active coding/writing session, perhaps more than 50% of the time your hands are actually not typing. You constantly take a pause to read or think. This pause can be 1 second to 10 seconds or more. However, for many people, their hands are still tensed up during these times, ready to type.
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It's a good habit to remove your hands from the keyboard or mouse when you are not pressing keys, even if the duration is just few seconds.
Remind yourself to check your hands when you are not actually in action of typing or using the mouse. See if your hand is completely relaxed.
Hand Exercise Toys
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Here's some fun toys i use that give my hands something to do, to take them away from the same muscle usage for typing or mousing. When i'm reading or thinking, it's a habit to pick these toys up and play with it unconsciously.
Hand Exercise Putty
Hand Grip
Rubber Band
Get a rubber band.Wrap them around all 5 fingers, then try to open the fingers. This is kinda reverse exercise to squeeze balls. With the right size of rubber band, you can easily expand your fingers once every second.
Juggling ball and Squeeze Ball
Get a squeeze ball. There are several types of squeeze ball. Some are spongy and light weight, requires little effort to squeeze, and spring back into shape immediately. Another type feels like clay; You have to squeeze hard with the whole hand for it to deform, and they deform slowly. I like the clay type better.
It is universal advice that you should have AT LEAST 10 minutes of break every 2 hours. The exact schedule varies. I always take breaks.Some people use a alarm clock, but i tend to do it spontaneously. Every 2 hours or so, i'd get up and walk for 10 minutes or do some juggling during break. Been a juggler since age 17.(See many juggling videos at Juggling and Performance Arts.)
Chinese Hand-Exercise Iron Ball
When taking a walk, i usually carry Chinese hand exercise iron balls. It's relaxing to rotate them. For buying advice, see:Chinese hand-exercise iron balls.
Pen Twirling
You might try to pickup Pen Spinning. [see Pen Spinning video] Though, am not sure this is good for you. Learning the tricks can be addictive, and the constant pen dropping can be quite annoying to those around you. (In East Asia, majority of highschool students do some form of pen twirling. When walking into the class, you hear the sound of pen droppings all over.) Pen twirling has become a unconscious habit for me since age 13.
If you have a question, put $5 at patreon and message me on xah discord.
Or support me by Buy Xah Emacs Tutorial
Apple had transformed from a small three man venture in the late 1970s into a huge, multinational corporation in the late 1980s. With these changes came troubles.
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak had both left the company in 1985 – and so had its entrepreneurial spirit. The Macintosh had saved the company in the mid-80s, but Apple had become totally reliant on it and was unwilling to pursue any projects that might compete with it.
Engineers all over the company had become frustrated with the lack of creativity and innovation in the products they were working on. Apple was struggling.
The division that worked on revisions to the Mac OS (then known as the Macintosh System Software) was no different. Led by Gifford Calenda and Sheila Brady, only minor changes were being made to the operating systems, like the ability to work with hard drives larger than 32 MB in size.
The Gang of Five
Five of the most experienced engineers in the division were frustrated by the lack of progress on new features in Mac OS and threatened to leave the company. Dubbed the Gang of Five, the engineers either wanted to be reassigned to a more exciting project or make one themselves. Calenda and Brady were both hesitant to give up such skilled engineers and agreed to their requests.
A division-wide staff meeting was held to determine the scope of the newly organized divisions. The developers were all given stacks of red, pink, and blue index cards and were asked to write their proposals for new operating systems on them. On the red cards, they wrote down features that could only be implemented in the far future, the pink cards were for a major revision of Mac OS not so far in the future, and the blue cards held proposals for System 4.
Features like an object oriented programming environment, better international support, preemptive multitasking, and improved graphics were written on the pink cards, while speech and character recognition were proposed on the red cards. The blue cards included suggestions for virtual memory, multi-user support, and cooperative multitasking.
The most senior engineer in the Gang of Five, Erich Ringewald, was given control over the Pink operating system (named for the cards from the meeting) and set up a research project to determine the feasibility of the proposed features. His task was to bring Pink to market in two years (1989).
Ringewald quickly came to the conclusion that Pink would have to be moved off campus to avoid being micromanaged by Apple’s senior executives (until then, it had been housed in the main building on the Apple campus). Gassée agreed and allowed the engineers to move to a warehouse on Bubb Road that was also being used by the Newton project.
By the end of 1987, Pink had a little over 20 engineers (there were hundreds working on Blue) and was making slow progress on bringing many of the new features to the Mac OS. Ringewald was insistent that Pink would still be a version of the Mac OS, albeit a heavily modified version. This approach meant that it would take much longer to implement some of the features – especially preemptive multitasking – and that ruffled some of the engineers’ feathers.
David Goldsmith issued an ultimatum to Ringewald: Either Pink would become its own operating system or he would resign. Erich did not budge, and Goldsmith resigned, making him the first casualty of Pink.
Only months later, a major change occurred at Pink. A senior Apple executive overrode Ringewald’s decision to keep Pink as a Mac OS after several engineers complained to his superiors. Three engineers were recruited from Apple’s research division to create a microkernel for Pink.
Slow Progress
Development of the new operating system was still much slower than Ringewald had anticipated. As Pink’s 1989 deadline approached, all the team had was a quasi-functional beta version of the operating system with a few new features implemented. Besides that, it was too unstable for anyone to use it as a production system.
Three more engineers of the original Gang of Five resigned from Apple as they saw the slow progress being made on Pink. Despite the internal problems, Pink was an attractive project at Apple, and engineers fought for the chance to be on the project (which many saw as the savior of the Macintosh).
In December 1989, Pink had well over a hundred engineers working on the software and was moved back to the Apple campus. Ringewald left the project in disgust, and it was turned over to an Apple VP, Ed Birss, and renamed the Object Oriented Systems Group. Despite the size of the project, the going was still slow. The new engineers would not become productive for months, because they had to learn how the software worked, so they relied on the more experienced engineers to answer their questions.
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Paranoia & Secrecy
Now that Pink was back on Apple’s campus, it became a target for other divisions. Birss became very defensive of the software, hesitant to let anybody outside the group see the software running, much less the source code, out of fear that another project might cannibalize Pink.
The Jaguar project, a project to produce a RISC workstation, wanted to use Pink, but the team was not allowed to even look at it until its head, Hugh Martin, got John Sculley to order Pink to open up. Because of the secretive policies at Pink, it ended up duplicating efforts made elsewhere at Apple, such as QuickDraw GX, PowerTalk, and the Newton OS (which was also object oriented).
Senior Apple executives were now aware of conditions at Pink. Upon the resignation of Apple’s COO, Jean Louis Gassée told John Sculley to cancel Pink and blame its failure on him. Sculley refused, and Pink eventually became the savior of Apple’s independence.
Apple & IBM: Pink Becomes Taligent
The Star Trek project at Apple had contacted Phil Hester, the head of RISC at IBM, about licensing an Intel-compatible version of the Mac OS. Hester was uninterested (such a project would have competed with OS/2), but he remembered the call. Several months later, IBM had completed the POWER processor (based on earlier designs made in the late seventies) and was looking for customers.
The major workstation producers – HP, Sun and SGI – were all ruled out because they all had their own RISC designs, so Phil Hester suggested Apple at a meeting with senior IBM vice presidents. Jack Keuler, a senior vice president of IBM who was leading the meeting, was intrigued by the idea and contacted Apple about collaborating on hardware. He arranged a high level meeting in Dallas (halfway between IBM in Armonk and Apple in Cupertino).
John Sculley (now the chairman of Apple), Michael Spindler (the new CEO at Apple), and Hugh Martin (who had tried to convince Apple to acquire Sun for use of its SPARC processor) represented Apple. Jack Keuler and Phil Hester represented IBM. The five hammered out an agreement that would allow Apple to use modified POWER chips in its personal computers while IBM would sell workstations that ran Pink.
Apple did not want to become totally reliant on a competitor for its processor supply and insisted that Motorola be allowed to produce processors. Several changes were made to the POWER to make it more similar to Motorola’s 88100, and it was renamed the PowerPC.
Pink was spun out as Taligent, which was led by an IBM employee. The kernel was jettisoned. Taligent would run on top of an operating system and act as an object oriented system (like OpenStep). It was released in 1995, but it sold poorly. It was canceled altogether in 1998.
- 1990-92: The Windows Threat, the Next Generation Mac OS, and ‘Wicked Fast’ Macs (includes Jaguar project)
Bibliography
Some of the sources used in writing this article:
- Apple: The Inside Story of Intrigue, Egomania, and Business Blunders, Jim Carlton
- Infinite Loop, Michael Malone
- The Second Coming of Steve Jobs, Alan Deutschman
- Apple Confidential 2.0, Owen Linzmayer
- Odyssey: Pepsi to Apple . . . a Journey of Adventure, Ideas & the Future, John Sculley
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Midterm (Pinkie Fry) Mac OS