[gui-talk] Still hassling with my laptop keyboard

[Lloyd Rasmussen]

Hi, Joel.  

I own a 7-year-old laptop which has no screen, a LapTalk.  My typing is not
as accurate on it as it is on a desktop computer, partly because of the
layout.  When this PC was being sold by Beyond Sight, they glued LocDots
onto the F4, F8, F12 and Enter keys.  It might also be good to put LocDots
onto the F and J keys.  Depending on your tactile sensitivity, you might
want another one on the 5 of the numeric pad or some other strategic
location.  You don't want to apply too many dots, or they lose their
usefulness.

After all this, if I want to type rapidly and accurately, I use my desktop
computer with its more-or-less standard keyboard.  The laptop is still
useful for reading mail, browsing the web, taking meeting minutes and
answering some messages quickly but a little sloppily.  (I edit the minutes
later on a real keyboard).

My LapTalk is near the end of its useful life, so I may be buying something
to replace it in the next few months.  If I do, I'll be certain to look at
prospective purchases in a store, with the most attention being paid to the
keyboard..

Good luck with the learning process.

Lloyd Rasmussen, Kensington, Maryland
Home:  http://lras.home.sprynet.com
Work:  http://www.loc.gov/nls
www.facebook.com/lloyd.rasmussen 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Joel Deutsch
> Sent: Tuesday, December 29, 2009 3:14 PM
> To: GUI-Talk
> Subject: [gui-talk] Still hassling with my laptop keyboard
> 
> Hi listers,
> 
> Okay, please come clean. I know some of us are totally blind and some are
> partial. I'm partial, myself, but I have no central vision thus can't read
> at all with my eyes. Only with Jaws, recorded literature, and so forth. So
> in dealing with this new machine of mine, which I'd hoped would be a handy
> tool, I'm at a loss.
> 
> I thought I'd be able to get the hang of the keyboard with some effort.
> it's
> an Acer with a number key pad so I don't have to learn the Jaws laptop key
> commands.
> 
> but still there's no space between the keys and the sections of keys as
> I'm
> accustomed to on a normal keyboard, and no matter how patiently I sit and
> turn on Jaws Keyboard Help to explore and get the lay of the land, so to
> speak, I just am finding it nearly impossible to operate the machine.
> 
> Please bear in mind that I'm a pretty damn good touch typist, plus a Jaws
> user from way back with the current release. Ordinary stuff like that is
> not
> impeding me. But try as I might, my fingers just can't figure out where
> keys
> are, except in small, lucky instances and a few keys I happen to have
> taught
> myself by now. I don't think this is gonna work.
> 
> I know I can get a USB keyboard to plug into this laptop, then set the
> computer within earshot and sit back with only the keyboard on my lap. But
> this ain't what I'd daydreamed about. I guess I didn't anticipate
> realistically how tough this would be to do blind.
> 
> Please just tell the truth, guys. I think a number of you are using
> laptops,
> at least as your secondary computers. How many of you actually use your
> laptops (mine's an Acer PC, for what that matters) normally, and how many
> use an auxiliary keyboard? Am I in a very low-skill class, sort of, if I
> can't figure out how to type on something like this the way sighted people
> do with their own laptops?
> 
> Ug. Bummed out. thanks for any helpful feedback.
> and Happy New Year.
> 
> Joel
>