[Coco] CoCo 1/2 arrow keys versus CoCo 3 arrow keys

[RETRO Innovations]

On 1/14/2023 12:13 PM, Jeff Teunissen via Coco wrote:
> I don't think "WASD" was a thing at all until the _late_ 90s, when it
> was popularized in Quake tournament play by a guy called Thresh. I can
> find no reference to it earlier than that.

Not that Wikipedia should be considered authoritative, but Wizardry used 
AWD in 1981, and PLATO (which I used in college) used AWD for some 
games, as it had no mouse.

Dennis (Thresh) definitely popularized it, but I think I read an 
interview where he said he re-used from older games that used that combo.

Still, your point about Dennis and Quake cementing WASD is fair.

However, I think you're reading too much into Allen's WASD comment.  
It's the most popular KB move config, but other left or center options 
have existed for a long time, as you note below about VI.  I read 
Allen's comment that having a cluster of keys on the left of the KB made 
playing games OK for lefties (and now right handers who need the mouse 
for mouselook), but the key feature is that all keys were in a cluster, 
not spread across both ends of the KB.


>
> You may be thinking of other schemes like that used for some Unix
> programs like vi, which used HJKL for navigation on terminals that
> lacked arrow keys. Why HJKL, you may ask? Because most keyboards of
> the time -- and especially the most popular ones, the DEC VTxxx
> terminals -- put all their arrow keys in a straight line.

Which is absolutely horrid, thanks for reminding me.

To once again play the outlier Commodore card, The C128 has that 
horrendous cursor combo, which is absolutely useless.  They asked Bil 
Herd and Dave Haynie why the keyboard set up was like that, and they 
said they copied the DEC KB since they used and liked it.

Top row cursor keys in a line is absolutely the worst of all possible 
worlds, for productivity or games.

Jim

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