Cent sign

[annieap]

Why is there no cent sign on keyboards? I realize we can insert one (ctrl + / + c) but have often wondered why there is no such key.

[Jeremy]

It's probably because when they first developed the standards for the keyboard, they were used strickly as an office machine. Most office applications do calculations based on percentages of the dollar. At least that would be my guess but I really don't know for sure.

[kcredden]

I honestly don't know. There is several mysteries on computers that drive me nuts too.
One mystery on the keyboard: what about the 'sysrg' key? What does that do? I've never seen an answer on that.

Now these two could be in the pet peaves thread: Ever booted a machine, with a diskette in it, that isn't bootable? Instead of simply ignoring the disk and going on, it has to stop and say 'take out that unbootable disk!' Or somesuch. This has been going on since at LEAST 1985. Or one thing I really hate. The inverted 'T' cursor control keys. An IBM pain in the butt, that to me, is useless. I grew up on keyboards, that had the arrow keys in the layout that the number keypad has. Take a close look at them. If you think about it, it's more memonomicly layed out than that T is.

But here's a tip on the keyboard. I'll have to find a place that has a full list, but you can make many, many characters off the keyboard, by using the 'alt' and a 3 digit number on the number keypad.

Know you could make these? ½ ¼ ± They are 'alt - 171', 'alt-172', and 'alt-241' in that order. You need to use something like notepad to do them, I tried them here, and mozilla didn't like it. [sticks tongue out at mozille] but it does work.

[annieap]

One mystery on the keyboard: what about the 'sysrg' key? What does that do? I've never seen an answer on that.

It is an sysrq key, not 'g'. Here's what I found about this key:

The SysRq was the “84th key” added when the 83-key PC/XT keyboard became the 84-key AT keyboard.) Unless programmed by a particular application, the SysRq key does nothing in most operating systems, including DOS, Windows, and OS/2. The SysRq key has different "hooks" into the system BIOS (basic input/output system, the interface between the software and the low-level functions of the computer) from the other keys on the keyboard. IBM evidently included this key to facilitate task switching in future operating systems – that is, to allow either switching from one task to another (as on a mainframe computer), or interrupting all tasks and returning control to the keyboard. As it turned out, the developers of Windows didn't use SysReq when implementing task switching. Some new keyboards no longer feature this key, and its days seem numbered.

Hope that helps.

[kcredden]

Anne:

Interesting! I probably could have found that data, but never tried to look it up. You know, it's surpising how many things are left in computers but never used anymore. Guess they're like appendexes :)

Sorry I couldn't join you on livechat, my net connection was being a royal pain all night. :\

It is an sysrq key, not 'g'. Here's what I found about this key:

The SysRq was the “84th key” added when the 83-key PC/XT keyboard became the 84-key AT keyboard.) Unless programmed by a particular application, the SysRq key does nothing in most operating systems, including DOS, Windows, and OS/2