> [...], and people who want to do one of those want the key that
> generates it to be the larger than normal one on the right side near
> the back (on the "number" row usually, sometimes the qwerty row).

> The nice thing about unix is that all this is configurable,

...and one of _my_ pet peeves is that it isn't quite all configurable.
I don't want that "larger key" to be a single key; my fingers expect
two different keys (\| and `~) there.  Which is part of why my main
screen-and-keyboard usually aren't on an Intel box....

If I ever am rich enough to be able to afford to indulge in
experimental hardware one-offs, one thing I intend to do is design a
keyboard such that you assemble the layout yourself, from keys of
different sizes and shims to get them exactly where you want them...and
then make the labeling on the keycaps completely soft, so the glyphs
there can be changed to match the layout you want.

If done right, this could have other advantages, like, press AltGraph
and all your keys change to show you what you get if you type them.  Or
if you want to teach yourself Dvorak layout, you can have the labels
change to match that.  Or you want to teach yourself to stop looking at
the keyboard, make all the keycaps go blank.

But it would be expensive.  Even if there were enough of a market to
make them in quantity, I wouldn't expect such a keyboard to cost less
than several hundred dollars.

And of couse, the more complicated the keybaord is, the more failure
modes it has.  "Iseemtohavecrashedmyspacebar,canyouresetitforme?"  But
it'd be a fun toy to play with.

Ah, pipe dreams.

> On a real vt220 though you'd probably be using the erase key for that
> purpose, not backspace.  As I recall, it is a different thing (with a
> left arrow on it).

It's been a while since I saw a VT220, but I think it has the canonical
delete-backward-character key labeled with a logo that looks something
like the result of

150 150 moveto 200 100 lineto 300 100 lineto 300 200 lineto 200 200
lineto closepath 225 125 moveto 275 175 lineto 225 175 moveto 275 125
lineto stroke

which isn't really "a left arrow".  I think there _is_ a left-arrow
key, but it is in the space between the main keyboard and the numeric
keypad...and sends neither 0x08 nor 0x7f, but rather some escape or
control sequece.

Or have I got the VT220 confused with some later terminal?  VT320 maybe?

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