Many Unix workstations (and also home computers like the Amiga) keyboards placed the Ctrl key to the left of the letter A, and the ⇪ Caps Lock key in the bottom left.
The problem is that Control on PC keyboards is in a place where it’s really uncomfortable to use on a very frequent basis. Giving Caps Lock, which virtually nobody uses terribly heavily, that prime piece of real estate is just nuts.
For people that type a lot using Level 3 (e.g. using the QWERTZ layout), AltGr on Caps is probably more important. On NixOS, it’s set with two options:
The kernel console REALLY doesn’t like E1 putting the lv5 switch on <M-f>, and instead deletes the f key, so don’t use the second option if your layout does that. (Just try it out and don’t gc until you’ve verified all keys work.)
The position of Caps Lock is because on mechanical typewriters, the shift lock key physically held down Shift using a push-to-toggle mechanism. (Windows’ default German layout still does that! “German extended (E1)” and “German (IBM)”, aka DIN T1, don’t.)
This 1930s US Army typewriter has a Shift Lock, but it’s up where 1 is today, not adjacent to Shift. I don’t think that it’s essential, even with a mechanical coupling, to have them adjacent.
thinks
I mean, I’d think that unless maybe you have one of those electric typewriters with an LCD display, there isn’t a Control key at all, so I totally get giving the slot to Caps Lock on a typewriter then.
Just swap Left Control and Caps Lock.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_layout
The problem is that Control on PC keyboards is in a place where it’s really uncomfortable to use on a very frequent basis. Giving Caps Lock, which virtually nobody uses terribly heavily, that prime piece of real estate is just nuts.
On Debian Linux, that’s:
/etc/default/keyboard:
And:
For people that type a lot using Level 3 (e.g. using the QWERTZ layout), AltGr on Caps is probably more important. On NixOS, it’s set with two options:
The kernel console REALLY doesn’t like E1 putting the lv5 switch on
<M-f>, and instead deletes the f key, so don’t use the second option if your layout does that. (Just try it out and don’t gc until you’ve verified all keys work.)The position of Caps Lock is because on mechanical typewriters, the shift lock key physically held down Shift using a push-to-toggle mechanism. (Windows’ default German layout still does that! “German extended (E1)” and “German (IBM)”, aka DIN T1, don’t.)
Hmm. Left Control is still adjacent to Shift, though.
searches
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_Corona
This 1930s US Army typewriter has a Shift Lock, but it’s up where 1 is today, not adjacent to Shift. I don’t think that it’s essential, even with a mechanical coupling, to have them adjacent.
thinks
I mean, I’d think that unless maybe you have one of those electric typewriters with an LCD display, there isn’t a Control key at all, so I totally get giving the slot to Caps Lock on a typewriter then.