If you look down at your keyboard, chances are you have an inverted-T cursor arrangement.
This is a pretty good arrangement because you can keep all 3 fingers planted on the
keys, thus they can be found and operated by touch alone.
And your middle finger, being the longest, can easily switch between the up and down
position.
Digital Equipment Corporation, one of the earliest adopters, made the decision to go
with this in 1982, with the LK201 keyboard because they determined that left, right,
and down were the most commonly used keystrokes, so they could put the 3 most used keys in
easy reach.
This is the de facto standard today, but it wasn't always the case.
A lot of people probably think that the IBM Modem M keyboard, which came out in 1985 was
the first.
And it's probably fair to say this keyboard helped to popularize the arrangement, but
it certainly wasn't the first.
I tried to trace back to see if I could find the first use of this arrangement, and so
far the oldest thing I have found is actually not a computer, but a terminal called the
ADDS consul 880, which came out in 1970.
So, it's safe to say the concept has been around for a while.
So why would I make a video about cursor keys?
Well, it's something things everybody uses, but almost nobody ever talks about.
And they were completely non-standard for a really long time.
"Cursor keys" are so named because originally their purpose was to move the cursor around
on the screen.
Although they also ended up being used to move menus and stuff around on the screen.
And in the case of some platforms like the IBM PC, they were often used for playing games
instead of a joystick or other keys.
However, these days a lot of people just refer to these as "arrow keys."
Things like typewriters and teletypes had no need for cursor keys because there was
no screen, and hence no cursor.
But most computers that used a screen of some sort, did have cursor keys.
So let's take a look at some of the arrangements from the past, starting with some of the worst.
The worst are the computers that had no cursor keys at all, like the Apple Lisa and the original
Macintosh.
This was a decision by Steve Jobs because he wanted to force both end users and software
developers to use the mouse instead.
However, that didn't last long and before you know it, Apple keyboards started to include
cursor keys, but we'll circle back to this.
The original Apple II from 1977 only had two cursor keys, for left and right.
Also the original Apple II keyboard had no backspace key, so if you wanted to back up,
you did have to use the left cursor key for that.
Later on, Apple did add all 4 cursor keys, as well as a backspace key that doesn't actually
work for some reason, at least not in BASIC.
But the cursor keys were arranged in such a horrible manner, that any games relying
on keyboard controls wound up using other keys on the keyboard.
And the problem with this is that nearly every game had their own key combinations, with
no real standard on how to control movement in a game.
For example to play Ms.PacMan, you use the left/right cursor keys, and then A and Z for
up and down.
On the other hand, Lode Runner used IJKL and didn't use the cursor keys at all.
Interestingly enough, IJKL does mimic the inverted T arrangement, just on different
keys.
Assuming you had all 4 cursor keys, about the only thing that used them were productivity
software like AppleWorks.
So moving on, let's talk about computers that actually have all 4 cursor keys, but are really
hard to use.
Atari had one of the worst cursor key arrangements, starting with the 400 and 800 in 1979.
I'm going to immediately say the 400 is worse simply because it is a membrane keyboard.
But even the 800 is difficult to use, for two reasons.
Not only is the square configuration a bit, um, unintuitive.
But you have to hold down the control key to use them at all.
So you need two hands to use the cursor keys.
This concept was carried over to the 800XL, and all the way over to the XEGS.
The BBC Micro had a similar arrangement, but at least you didn't need a modifier key to
use them.
However, the arrangement is slightly different, because it is essentially upside-down from
the Atari design.
So, had you trained your brain on the Atari, good luck operating the ones on the BBC.
There's at least one other computer with this sort of square arrangement which is the HP9835.
They are at the top of the keyboard, which is a bad place as there is nowhere to rest
your hand, and like the other two, this is a finger-twister of an arrangement.
And top it off, it is also different from either of the other two computers using this
sort of arrangement.
The Sinclair machines are equally bad because they lack dedicated keys, requiring you to
use a modifier key, and the early ones with the membrane keyboard means you definitely
can't use them by touch.
The TI99/4 series of computers is only slightly better because it also lacks dedicated keys,
and the arrangement is still hard to use.
The original TRS-80 from 1977 did in fact have all 4 cursor keys, but they are on opposite
sides of the keyboard like this.
And here you can see this continued in the Model 4.
You really need two hands to operate cursor keys like this, but at least you won't get
your fingers tangled up trying to use them.
This same configuration carried over to the Color Computer series as well.
Both the CoCo1 and Coco2 used this arrangement.
Although the Coco3 moved to this arrangement here, which we'll circle back to.
Another two handed style setup would be the Casio FX 9000p.
The cursor keys are just far enough apart that you'd need two hands to use them.
Although you might be able to classify these in the straight 4 design.
Speaking of, let's talk about some of those.
The big one is Apple.
While they shunned cursor keys in the early days, the Apple IIe and IIc did include all
4 cursor keys, in this straight arrangement.
It's not impossible to use like some of the others.
But you do have to retrain your brain for it, and it's certainly not as intuitive as
the inverted T. I don't think a lot of games really expected you to use them, though.
The IIgs, and likewise later Macs that used the ADB keyboard also used this same arrangement.
But, a lot of other computers used the same layout, such as Digital terminals.
Of course, I say the same layout, but actually if you look closely, you'll see the configuration
is actually different from Apple.
I did find one other computer that shares this design, which is the Kaypro.
But, here's another one, the Centurian.
The question is, which configuration does it match?
Oh, actually, neither.
It also has it's own proprietary configuration.
But, I mean there's only so many ways you can do this, right?
What about the Hewlett Packard?
Well, darn it.. it doesn't match either.
Here's another one, the Televideo.
Which setup does it match?
If you guessed none, then you guessed correctly!
And the last one we'll look at is the TRS-80 portable systems like the Model 100.
And guess what?
It also doesn't match any of the other systems.
And if you think that’s bad, they revised the keyboard layout with the Model 102, and
changed the cursor keys to this arrangement, and I have no idea why, because it still doesn’t
match any of the other arrangements.
It's almost like they were trying to make sure that every system used a different arrangement.
So, there's no way you'd ever be able to move from one system to antoher without visually
looking at the cursor keys, rather than being able to use them by touch alone.
There are also some systems that are close to the in-line 4, but slightly difference
such as the ADM3 terminal, which places the home key in the center.
Also the IBM 5100 series did something similar, only it's the attention key.
Commodore wasn't all that much better with their systems, starting with the PET in 1977.
They only gave you two cursor keys, which by default let you move down or right.
If you want to go the other way, you have to use shift to reverse direction.
This was also a very uncomfortable placement on the keyboard.
But, later computers like the VIC-20 and C64 kept this concept as well.
But at least they were placed at the bottom right of the keyboard next to the shift key.
At least here you can plant 3 fingers on the keys and control the cursor in all 4 directions
by tactile feel.
It's not perfect, and it takes a little time to train your brain to use this setup, but
it worked decently well for editing text, such as your BASIC listings.
But these keys were virtually never used by games.
Commodore games pretty much expected you to use the joystick.
Then the C128 came out, with what was probably expected to be an improvement.
Because now you have, in addition to the old style, also 4 extra keys arranged in the straight
4 like other systems from the era.
The question is, does the arrangement match any of the other straight 4 systems we talked
about earlier?
Actually, yes, it matches the Digital and Kaypro layout.
Whether that is by design or accident I'm not sure.
However, placing them up high on the keyboard means you can't rest your palm anywhere when
trying to use them, and to make matters worse, they didn't work in C64 mode, thus these keys
were seldom used and most people just opted to just use the regular 3-button layout at
the bottom.
One piece of trivia about Commodore cursor keys is that I have a pretty easy time switching
between this design and the modern inverted-T. Part of it is no doubt because I grew up on
Commodore systems.
But there's an interesting coincidence.
Without holding down the shift key, the default movement of the cursor keys is down, and right.
You use the same two fingers here as you would on the inverted-T, and thus at least two of
the 4 movements are exactly the same.
In fact, even moving up, you are still using your middle finger for the up direction.
And even when going left, you are using your pointer finger for that too.
So the actual difference is smaller than you might think.
The Plus/4, at first glance, looks like it might have a decent cursor key arrangement.
This is called a diamond configuration, which some other systems of the era had, which might
be okay except for one big problem.
They are just far too small.
I mean look, my thumb practically covers the entire group.
Thus it is really hard to use these for anything outside of some rudimentary text editing or
selecting something in a menu.
Now let's move on to some cursor key arrangements that were pretty good, but still not as good
as the inverted-T.
Apple actually gave us this configuration on their little convertible keyboard.
It's not impossible to use, and would probably work pretty well if you could train your brain
to use it.
And they also used the same configuration on the Apple III.
Neither of these systems were that popular, so I doubt many people ever really trained
their brain to use these.
The Amiga 1000 also had a strange layout.
It would almost be useable except for the fact that the left and right keys are so close
together, it prevents you from easily using your middle finger to alternate between up
and down.
However, in 1987, with the introduction of the Amiga 500 and 2000, they did change to
the inverted-T style that we all use today.
So the Amiga 1000 is the only Amiga that had cursors like this.
Osborne had a setup very similar to this.
and so it's a little bit of a finger tangler as well.
But one interesting thing Osborne did is that the left cursor key also doubles as the backspace
key, but unlike the Apple II, it's actually located in the place you'd expect the backspace
key to be on the keyboard, which I thought was pretty clever.
They also carried this same design over to the Osborne Executive.
The Color Computer 3, as we mentioned earlier, also uses this arrangement.
And one more computer using this sort of layout was the IBM PCJr.
Both the chiclet version, and the better version that came out later.
Now let's talk about the original IBM PC using the Model-F keyboard.
So, at first glance you might think it has no cursor keys at all.
However, if you look at the number pad, you will notice 4 cursor keys labeled here.
And believe it or not, Num-lock was turned off by default on these machines at time of
boot.
Which means these keys default to being cursor keys, not number keys.
Most games on this platform actually supported the use of cursor keys for movement.
And a lot of games actually ended up using not just these 4 keys, but also 4 more keys
for diagonal movement.
Meaning you could have 8 cursor keys.
Sierra games were known to use this.
Another game I know of is LHX.
So for example, I can turn left or right like this.
Go forward like this.
Or I can go diagonal using the extra keys.
Thus the IBM cursor keys are also among my favorite as they are very usable!
Also most XT clones of the era, such as the Compaq portable, also used this same setup.
Of course after just a few years, IBM switched over to using the inverted T-shape cursor
keys, and started to have num-lock enabled at boot time.
But, even on later models, you always still had the option to turn off Num-Lock and then
use the 8 key arrangement for games that supported it.
There were some other systems that gave us cursor keys really close to the IBM layout,
such as the Regent 1000 terminal from ADDS.
Only this one is really clever because HOME is right in the middle.
Although putting HOME at the top left also makes sense because on most computers, pressing
home will take the cursor to the top left of the screen.
So, I can't fault IBM for that.
And here's another one, the Coleco Adam.
It follows the exact same setup, again with home in the middle.
And I've even seen some old 3rd party keyboards for IBM systems that also used this type of
setup.
And while this is really simialr to the IBM cursor layout on the number pad, I have to
say that it is not my favorite.
You do have to move your middle finger further to go up or down.
And I'm willing to make that sacrifice if it means getting 8 directions.
But I think if you are only going to have 4 directions total, then the inverted-T just
makes so much more sense.
So, what are some other computers that used the Inverted-T, even back in the day?
Well, you have the Amiga computers, except for the original, like I mentioned earlier.
The Commodore 65 had it, which for those that don't know, never quite made it to market,
but several prototypes exist.
And even the Atari ST systems had this design, and they even gave you a place to rest your
palm, which was pretty cool.
Apple eventually offered this in their larger enhanced keyboards.
And even this old AT&T Unix system has it.
In fact, I think most UNIX workstation type machines had this, including the Sun Sparcstations,
and Silicon Graphics too.
So, you've probably learned more about cursor keys than you ever wanted to know.
I just find it fascinating that for like 2 decades, there was essentially no standard,
no agreement among manufacturers, it’s almost like they were trying to make sure they were
completely different from one computer to the next.
And one problem this creates today is that when younger people try to go back and play
with these vintage computers from the 70s or 80s that they didn’t grow up with, it
can be really difficult to use the cursor keys because their brains aren’t really
trained to use keys in that arrangement, and so it can be a little frustrating.
This was also a consideration on the Commander X16.
Even before we settled on using a PS/2 keyboard, I had insisted we use inverted-T cursor keys
instead of the Commodore style cursors, because I wanted anyone to be able to sit down at
the computer and feel at home.
I mean, sure we did keep a few legacy keys like RUN/STOP and restore.
But the cursor keys were always going to be the Inverted-T.
Anyway, that is it for this episode.
As always, thanks for watching!