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

[Patrick Ulland]

If games were written for the CC3 diamond, it would fly. They were 
written for 2 x2 button controllers, the timing is all off when you load 
down one hand.  That's why CoNect's KeyFix membrane repair remaps 
ALT/CTRL via hidden switch so whatever.

TINAA (This Is Not An Ad?) -\

-ricku


On 1/14/2023 1:36 PM, Allen Huffman via Coco wrote:
> The WASD and modern arrow key layout works because you can rest three fingers on them, using the middle one to be up or down.
>
> The TRS-80 layout with two fingers on up/down and two fingers on left/right was also easy to rest your hands on and play.
>
> The CoCo 3’s diamond shape was … not … for most of us, it seems.
>
> There were games I played the heck out of on the CoCo 2 that used keyboard controls that I simply couldn’t play once I moved to the CoCo 3.  I expect had the 3 used a WASD type arrangement it wouldn’t have been that big of a change.
>
> The answer I was looking for now seems to be that it was really the diamond shape, more than anything, that was the issue. It looks good and logical, but was just a stepping stone towards unification of keyboards.
>
> Recall, as recent as the CoCo 3, quote and many other characters were still on different keys.
>
> But that’s a topic for another thread: which keyboard layout was better? And why did we move them?
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