Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/02/26
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]That's a good question, BD, and I wish there were an answer. It is an awful affliction. As part of my work I trained editors to use Atex pagination machines, some adapted easily, some had difficulty, some were unable to adapt. I believe RSI has affllicted mankind since the dawn of tools. I might turn your question around and ask why I don't have chronic RSI (not to be a wise-guy). I don't know. I've used keyboards since before college, electronic keyboards since the mid-seventies. May graphic designer daughter quickly had trouble related to her use of the mouse, I've heard of other trades where RSI or something like it has crippled bakers, carpenters, who knows what else. To slightly shift gears, what I liked about the old thick keyboards was the typewriter-like over-center spring action: the typist pressed down until there was a silent "click" that physically transmitted the message that the key had been struck. Their editing/writing program was superb, too. bh - ----- Original Message ----- From: "bdcolen" <bdcolen@earthlink.net> To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us> Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2003 9:46 AM Subject: RE: [Leica] Kaypro and Atex and Xy, Oh My! > Those old, thick, Atex keyboards were a real pleasure to work on...but > wait, then why do I have chronic RSI? :-) > > -----Original Message----- > From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us > [mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us] On Behalf Of Bill > Harting > Sent: Tuesday, February 25, 2003 11:09 PM > To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us > Subject: Re: [Leica] Kaypro and Atex and Xy, Oh My! > > > Hi Peter, > > I always thought the Atex keyboards, especially the old style editing > keyboards, were terrific -- they had a typewriter-like touch that seemed > natural to me, but apparently were not so to some others. The larger > picture of what became of the lawsuits was that the proprietary hardware > began to disappear -- where I worked PCs replaced all but editors' > terminals, which was partly a result of newspaper economics, partly a > result of style, and importantly, partly a result of the commoditization > of computers. Word and its brothers may be "powerful" but they are > awkward editing programs, but this meant little to info services > departments that had to support their quaint architecture. > > bh > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Peter Klein" <pklein@2alpha.net> > To: <leica-users-digest@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us> > Sent: Tuesday, February 25, 2003 12:08 PM > Subject: [Leica] Kaypro and Atex and Xy, Oh My! > > > > Ah, those were the days! When I started working in computers in the > > early 80s, PCs were not very affordable, and neither was software. > > For my personal use, I picked up a used Kaypro bundled with, among > > many other things, WordStar, and was in hog heaven. The Kaypro was a > > beautiful, industrial-strength machine. > > > > I rapidly got into search and replace arcana and began augmenting > > WordStar with ProKey macros. Even today, I still use a text editor > > (TSE) that has the basic WordStar Ctrl-key commands, and I programmed > > some of the two-key commands in--they're just in my fingers. > > > > I later went to work for Quicksoft, which made PC-Write. The > > text-hacking skills I'd aquired on they Kaypro with WordStar became > > very useful when translated into PC-Write. Brit Hume (now of CNN, > > then of ABC) and Jim Mitchell of WHAS-TV in Louisville used to call me > > > frequently for tips on massaging all manner of alien files into > > usability. > > > > I then graduated to XyWrite III Plus, which was essentially Atex for > > the PC. I liked it so much that I was still using it for my own > > writing three years ago. XyWrite was probably the best program for a > > text hound ever written. It had a powerful programming and macro > > language called XPL that was as arcane as Marc James Small's recent > > treatises on auto electronics, and I say that with the deepest respect > > > to both. What you could *do* with XPL! I wrote programs to turn > > XyWrite files into Ventura Publisher files and back again, and created > > > a sort of DosKey command recaller-editor for the XyWrite command line. > > > > I was saddened to read that in the early 1990s(?)there were a number > > of carpal-tunnel related lawsuits against Atex. There were > > accusations that the keyboard was very bad, ergonomically, and it had > > lead to many injuries. Does anyone know what the outcome of those > > suits were? > > > > XyWrite is dead, as far as I know, having been bought and ruined by > > IBM, and then sold to The Technology Group, where Ver. 4 was somewhat > > repaired. Too bad. There are still a substantial number of writers and > > > journalists who use it, and its academic brother NotaBene. But > > knowing XyWrite won't get you a job any more :-( Reaction to it today > > is sorta like Kyle's story of rockgrrrl model and the film camera. > > Sic transit gloria mundi. > > > > --Peter > > > > Bill Harting wrote: > > > As you were leaving in 1990, I was just beginning to paginate with > > > Atex, after 12 or 13 years of editing with it. Creaky it was, but it > > > > was a fine editing and production system. > > > > > > B.D. wrote: > > > It seemed so, well, 'modern' at the time...that being 1980...It > > > seemed pretty damn creaky by the time I left in 1990, but then I > > > wasn't involved in pagination or any of the fancy stuff, and for > > > writing and line-editing, it worked just fine - when it > > > worked....(Of course if I never again here the words "the system's > > > down," it will be too soon. > > :-) > > > > > > -- > > To unsubscribe, see > > http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html > > > > -- > To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html > > -- > To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html > - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html