Keyboard standards (was: Explanation of this Python language feature? [x for x in x for x in x] (to flatten a nested list))

[Ben Finney]

Mark H Harris <harrismh777 at gmail.com> writes:

> > On Sat, Mar 29, 2014 at 8:18 AM, Mark H Harris <harrismh777 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> We need a standard input system not controlled by Microsoft...
>
> […] Does your keyboard have the "Windows" emblem|logo on the meta
> key(s) on lower right, lower left?

No, mine has a Tux logo, because it was shipped that way from Think
Penguin <URL:https://www.thinkpenguin.com/> and the key you're referring
to operates as the “Super” key in GNU+Linux. Quite useful.

My desktop keyboard is constructed from the Model M buckling-spring
design <URL:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Model_M_keyboard>. That
means, among other advantages, that the key caps are designed to be
easily replaceable with parts from different manufacturers.

Model M keyboards are now manufactured in Lexington, USA by Unicomp
<URL:http://pckeyboard.com/page/category/UKBD>. They ship
internationally, which is how I got mine.

Unicomp will happily sell you one in various layouts without the Windows
logo. They can even do a key set with the Ctrl and Caps Lock keys
swapped to where they should be, and the Super key printed with a “Tux”
logo <URL:http://pckeyboard.com/page/product/LinTuxSet>.

On the inexpensive end, Think Penguin will also happily ship Tux logo
stickers to go on top of the Super key
<URL:https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/tux-super-key-keyboard-sticker>.

(I have no affiliation with Think Penguin nor Unicomp, except as a happy
repeat customer.)

>    No, I want a standard unicode keyboard (a standard specification
> for a unicode keyboard) that facilitates unicode typing with minimal
> actual keys and standard key maps for alternate sets that may be
> easily selected without a mouse and without moving the hands from the
> home row.

I can't help you with that, exactly.

However, I type unicode characters with an Input Method engine called
IBus <URL:https://code.google.com/p/ibus/>, which is now in Gnome
<URL:https://help.gnome.org/misc/release-notes/3.6/i18n-ibus.html.en> as
a standard part of the interface.

I can select various IBus input methods depending on the purpose or
language for which I'm writing, and they make it predictable and
memorable to get the right characters.

-- 
 \         “I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which, |
  `\      when you looked at it in the right way, did not become still |
_o__)                                more complicated.” —Paul Anderson |
Ben Finney