amstrad made great 8 bit computers that were just a little too late to the party. bbc, c64 and zx spectrum dominated at that point. when amstrad bought sinclair and began making spectrums the keyboards got a lot better.
they also had their https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amstrad_PCW line which were z80 based 8bit business computers. a last gasp of cpm that sold for a fraction of the cost of ibm compatibles. they turned up all the time when i was starting out in the 80s.
Not bad. That arrow key arrangement tho. TBH Any of these could have won out, but the ubiquity of the IBM PC Model M layout simply became the layout by which all others are judged. And through that, familiarity breeds contempt.
Muscle memory and familiarity cover up most of the oddities of the Apple II and Atari keyboards. I never thought about or noticed the return key being off the home row until noted in the article. The weird placement of @ on the P key is also weird once you think about it. I am sure there is lore behind that decision
I never noticed the weirdness of the enter key either before. There were many more offenders than this article had time to cover.
I'm finally used to the @ being on the "2" key on US keyboards. It's not there on British ones I grew up with, perhaps justifying it being on the "P".
One of the best things about the 128 Spectrum was that you could just type in all the keywords like PRINT instead of spending 5 minutes trying to find the right key combination, as on the previous models. The 128 taught me to type.
i love the zx spectrum but the keyboard was an acquired taste at best. only thing preventing me from buying a zx spectrum laptop is that the keyboard is too spectrum like. :-)
they also had their https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amstrad_PCW line which were z80 based 8bit business computers. a last gasp of cpm that sold for a fraction of the cost of ibm compatibles. they turned up all the time when i was starting out in the 80s.
I'm finally used to the @ being on the "2" key on US keyboards. It's not there on British ones I grew up with, perhaps justifying it being on the "P".
One of the best things about the 128 Spectrum was that you could just type in all the keywords like PRINT instead of spending 5 minutes trying to find the right key combination, as on the previous models. The 128 taught me to type.
https://retroradionics.com/OMNI-128HQ-LAPTOP-p75106221