Date:        Fri, 6 Sep 2002 17:10:29 +0200 (CEST)
    From:        der Mouse <mouse@Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA>
    Message-ID:  <200209061535.LAA15103@Sparkle.Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA>

  | 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,

I have also occasionally dreamed of a keyboard with LCD panels in
each of the keys, though how to make it function reliably is beyond
my electronics skill (so is just about anything in that field...)

For layout alterations though, it sounds as if you really want a touch
panel, rather than a conventional (bits of plastic on spring loaded
switches) mechanism.   That wouldn't be cheap either, but probably
cheaper than a custom assemble it yourself device.

  | 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 [...]

  | which isn't really "a left arrow".

Yes, your postscript shows the thing I meant.   A box with a point on the
end of it, aimed left.   That's "a left arrow"...   It isn't the only kind
of left arrow for sure, and isn't the more common computer form that
has "<---" kind of style (which is why I didn't attempt to draw it the
previous time), but it is an arrow of a form.

And speaking of arrows, just to remain OT, an early system I used used
the _ key as "erase character" - as back in those days, 0x5F hadn't
really settled down as being "_" and was on some systems a (smallish) "<-"
character - so that's what this system (which only later caught up to
glass ttys) picked as their "erase" character.   I don't recall what it
used as the line kill equivalent, but I'm sure it wasn't nice.  Interrupt
was break of course, flow control ^R/^T...

kre