space-cadet keyboard

2 definitions found

space-cadet keyboard - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  space-cadet keyboard
  
     A now-legendary device used on MIT Lisp machines, which
     inspired several still-current jargon terms and influenced the
     design of Emacs.  It was equipped with no fewer than *seven*
     shift keys: four keys for bucky bits ("control", "meta",
     "hyper", and "super") and three like regular shift keys,
     called "shift", "top", and "front".  Many keys had three
     symbols on them: a letter and a symbol on the top, and a Greek
     letter on the front.  For example, the "L" key had an "L" and
     a two-way arrow on the top, and the Greek letter lambda on the
     front.  By pressing this key with the right hand while playing
     an appropriate "chord" with the left hand on the shift keys,
     you could get the following results:
  
      L		lowercase l
  
      shift-L	uppercase L
  
      front-L	lowercase lambda
  
      front-shift-L	uppercase lambda
  
      top-L		two-way arrow
  
     (front and shift are ignored) And of course each of these
     might also be typed with any combination of the control, meta,
     hyper, and super keys.  On this keyboard, you could type over
     8000 different characters!  This allowed the user to type very
     complicated mathematical text, and also to have thousands of
     single-character commands at his disposal.  Many hackers were
     actually willing to memorise the command meanings of that many
     characters if it reduced typing time (this attitude obviously
     shaped the interface of Emacs).  Other hackers, however,
     thought that many bucky bits was overkill, and objected that
     such a keyboard can require three or four hands to operate.
  
     See cokebottle, double bucky, meta bit, quadruple bucky
     .
  
     Note: early versions of this entry incorrectly identified the
     space-cadet keyboard with the "Knight keyboard".  Though both
     were designed by Tom Knight, the latter term was properly
     applied only to a keyboard used for ITS on the PDP-10 and
     modelled on the Stanford keyboard (as described under bucky bits
     ).  The true space-cadet keyboard evolved from the Knight
     keyboard.
  
     [Jargon File]
  
     (1994-12-05)
  

space-cadet keyboard - Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003) :

  space-cadet keyboard
   n.
  
     A now-legendary device used on MIT LISP machines, which inspired
     several still-current jargon terms and influenced the design of
     EMACS. It was equipped with no fewer than seven shift keys: four
     keys for bucky bits (`control', `meta', `hyper', and `super') and
     three regular shift keys, called `shift', `top', and `front'. Many
     keys had three symbols on them: a letter and a symbol on the top, and
     a Greek letter on the front. For example, the `L' key had an `L' and
  a
     two-way arrow on the top, and the Greek letter lambda on the front.
  By
     pressing this key with the right hand while playing an appropriate
     `chord' with the left hand on the shift keys, you could get the
     following results:
  
     L          lowercase l
     shift-L    uppercase L
     front-L    l
     front-shift-L L
     top-L      <=> (front and shift are ignored)
  
     And of course each of these might also be typed with any combination
     of the control, meta, hyper, and super keys. On this keyboard, you
     could type over 8000 different characters! This allowed the user to
     type very complicated mathematical text, and also to have thousands
  of
     single-character commands at his disposal. The keyboard of the
     Symbolics Lisp machine was a simplified version, lacking Top and
  Front
     keys, that could only send about 2000 characters.
  
     Many hackers were actually willing to memorize the command meanings
  of
     that many characters if it reduced typing time (this attitude
     obviously shaped the interface of EMACS). Other hackers, however,
     thought having that many bucky bits was overkill, and objected that
     such a keyboard can require three or four hands to operate. See
  bucky bits
     , cokebottle, double bucky, meta bit, quadruple bucky.
  
     Note: early versions of this entry incorrectly identified the
     space-cadet keyboard with the Knight keyboard. Though both were
     designed by Tom Knight, the latter term was properly applied only to
  a
     keyboard used for ITS on the PDP-10 and modeled on the Stanford
     keyboard (as described under bucky bits). The true space-cadet
     keyboard evolved from the first Knight keyboard.