Directions to Keyboard Heck

Have you ever wondered where Keyboard Heck is to be found?

I think I just took the short-cut.  So to speak.

I use the two-handed Dvorak keyboard layout because I like it:

I also use a MacBook Pro because I like it.

This week-end, I upgraded my OS X to version 10.5.6, because Apple told me it was a good idea.

Well, now text editing in the Eclipse workbench has gone all to pieces.

What has happened is that the following Mac-standard keystrokes still work as expected:

• Command-Q to quit
• Command-, for preferences
• Command-W to close window (which closes the internal editor in Eclipse)
• Command-S to save

but most others require combining the Command key with the letter key where it would appear on a Qwerty keyboard:

• Command-; to undo (Dv ; is where Qw Z is)
• Command-R for an outline (Dv R == Qw O)
• Command-Shift-U to format (Dv U == Qw F)
• Command-J to copy (Dv J == Qw C)
• Command-K to paste (Dv K == Qw V)

The most frustrating point is that to cut (Command-X) I actually would have to hit Command-Q because the Dvorak Q is where the Qwerty X is, but Command-Q "works" in the Dvorak layout and closes my workbench!  I have to do Command-J to copy, then delete, then Command-K somewhere else to paste.

I mustn't be as smart as Pavlov's dog, because I still find myself closing my workbench occasionally despite that it isn't the natural keystroke on this keyboard!

My next step was, when last I posted this message, to try this out on the Cocoa port of SWT.  Well, it turns out that the Cocoa port does not have this problem.  Keys all work like the rest of my Cocoa apps.  The new problem is that Eclipse doesn't run, yet, with the Cocoa SWT.  It crashed the first time I tried to save a Java editor and now it crashes before I can begin working with any editor, on every launch.  That's no better than hitting Command-Q to cut  ;-)