3 ms·

The rotary dialer was designed the way it was not from human input point of view but to mechanically generate the different number of pulses for each number, ne

The rotary dialer was designed the way it was not from human input point of view but to mechanically generate the different number of pulses for each number, necessary for dialing. Phones thankfully moved on with the arrival of electronics which allowed a more human friendly interface. But we still use keyboards with the same form factor that was dictated by mechanical typewriter constraints. I'm not talking about QWERTY but the whole device. Think about your unnatural posture when writing both hands on a keyboard. We could do a lot better but for some reason things like split keyboards haven't caught on. Path dependency is one tremendous force.

AlgorithmicTime 4y ago
[dead]
082349872349872 4y ago
> ...not from human input point of view but to mechanically generate the different number of pulses... It was even possible to generate the pulses by hand, by flashing the hangup pogos. Very useful to make outgoing calls from phones which had their dials locked/removed ... if a bit painful when the number one wished to call had an '9' or a '0' in it.
- gr4yb34rd 4y ago
  when i was a kid trying to dial bbs numbers by tapping them out with the hook switch was like its own form of entertainment. there were other variables to contend with on those old at&t phones everyone had, as the pegs you release to off-hook the phone moved faster than the switch under them. this means you had to tap fast enough for the CO to see them as dial pulses, but also slow enough that the peg and switch mechanism doesn't separate and cause inconsistently timed or missed pulses.
rgoulter 4y ago
> We could do a lot better... I think the biggest win would be getting rid of the big spacebar, and replacing it with more keys. (The thumb is much stronger than the pinkies; but we use the pinkies for all sorts of keys, and the thumb only for a few keys). Although I think by the time a keyboard design gets rid of the big spacebar, it then goes on to make other improvements (like symmetry, being split) and so ends up as looking too unusual.
- goosedragons 4y ago
  People STILL complain about ThinkPads having Fn in the corner and Ctrl beside it despite being one of the first laptops (if not the first) to even have a Fn key. Even minor changes get griped about unfortunately.
  - alpsne 4y ago
    ThinkPad nowadays support swapping Fn and Ctrl keys and I can't be happier.

AlgorithmicTime 4y ago

[dead]

082349872349872 4y ago

> ...not from human input point of view but to mechanically generate the different number of pulses... It was even possible to generate the pulses by hand, by flashing the hangup pogos. Very useful to make outgoing calls from phones which had their dials locked/removed ... if a bit painful when the number one wished to call had an '9' or a '0' in it.

gr4yb34rd 4y ago
when i was a kid trying to dial bbs numbers by tapping them out with the hook switch was like its own form of entertainment. there were other variables to contend with on those old at&t phones everyone had, as the pegs you release to off-hook the phone moved faster than the switch under them. this means you had to tap fast enough for the CO to see them as dial pulses, but also slow enough that the peg and switch mechanism doesn't separate and cause inconsistently timed or missed pulses.

rgoulter 4y ago

> We could do a lot better... I think the biggest win would be getting rid of the big spacebar, and replacing it with more keys. (The thumb is much stronger than the pinkies; but we use the pinkies for all sorts of keys, and the thumb only for a few keys). Although I think by the time a keyboard design gets rid of the big spacebar, it then goes on to make other improvements (like symmetry, being split) and so ends up as looking too unusual.

goosedragons 4y ago
People STILL complain about ThinkPads having Fn in the corner and Ctrl beside it despite being one of the first laptops (if not the first) to even have a Fn key. Even minor changes get griped about unfortunately.
- alpsne 4y ago
  ThinkPad nowadays support swapping Fn and Ctrl keys and I can't be happier.