• You are not logged in.

    Asetion

    • Started by SpeedMorph
    • 11 Replies:
    • Reputation: 0
    • Registered: 08-Mar-2008
    • Posts: 303

    What does the Asetion keyboard look like? Asetion.com no longer exists. And before you ask, I have no good reason for wanting to see it, I'm just curious to see an early version of Colemak.

    Offline
    • 0
    • Reputation: 2
    • From: Houston, Texas
    • Registered: 03-Jan-2007
    • Posts: 358

    It was the predecessor to Colemak, before my time so I never saw it.   
    ( Apparently name is from ASET   replaced   ASDF   on qwerty second row  )

    https://forum.colemak.com/viewtopic.php?pid=51

    Can't find an image, but like you say no good reason to see it. 

    Here is someone's blog where they say they made only slight modification to Asetion for their own personal use.

    http://caladbolg.net/tools.php

      A S E T R H N I O U '

    Interesting but glad it was changed.

    Offline
    • 0
    • Reputation: 2
    • From: Houston, Texas
    • Registered: 03-Jan-2007
    • Posts: 358

    from an Austrailian forum archive 

    Asetion
    Just out in 2005-08, but there's a few ASET (ASET replaces ASDF) based layouts that have been discussed for a while.

    The main advantages of ASET are:
    very similar to QWERTY, so easier to learn.
    CTRL+X,C,V still work (unlike Dvorak)
    Equal or better to Dvorak for ergonomics/efficiency (according to Dvorak principles)
    Better International adaptation than Dvorak.
    Programmer friendly - punctuation in good loc's, even for International version

    Last edited by keyboard samurai (23-Apr-2008 22:50:55)
    Offline
    • 0
    • Shai
    • Administrator
    • Reputation: 36
    • Registered: 11-Dec-2005
    • Posts: 423

    Here's what the Asetion keyboard layout looked like:

    qwfdg ymklp[]
    asetr huion'
    zxcvb j;,./
    Offline
    • 0
    • Reputation: 23
    • From: Belgium
    • Registered: 26-Feb-2008
    • Posts: 482

    That looks quite different from Colemak (except for the letters that stay in their Qwerty position).  It was said that Colemak is a "new version" of Asetion; was it derived/optimized from it, or did you start again from scratch?  Were the design principles the same (and is Colemak just an other/better optimization by the same rules) or did you use different principles when designing Colemak?

    Offline
    • 0
    • Reputation: 0
    • Registered: 08-Mar-2008
    • Posts: 303
    ghen said:

    That looks quite different from Colemak (except for the letters that stay in their Qwerty position).  It was said that Colemak is a "new version" of Asetion; was it derived/optimized from it, or did you start again from scratch?  Were the design principles the same (and is Colemak just an other/better optimization by the same rules) or did you use different principles when designing Colemak?

    I second that. Also I notice that U is on the home row. That's a strange choice.

    Offline
    • 0
    • Shai
    • Administrator
    • Reputation: 36
    • Registered: 11-Dec-2005
    • Posts: 423

    One of the design principles of Asetion was that no keys changed hands in order to ease learning, which is why U made the home row and D didn't. Asetion also tried to maximize keeping changed keys on the same finger.

    Offline
    • 0
    • Reputation: 214
    • From: Viken, Norway
    • Registered: 13-Dec-2006
    • Posts: 5,362

    Indeed. It's one of the things that puzzled me about the Dvorak layout once I started thinking about it: He put the U on the home position of the index finger - about the best position on the board! I just couldn't see how it deserved that, when for instance the I was given a stretch position. For instance, on the letter frequency sequence ETAOINSHRDLU there's a huge difference between those two and no reason the U should get the better placement. It can't be about digraphs either, since they're on the same finger anyway. So I can only guess that Dvorak had some subtle idea about the IU/UI digraphs, or maybe something weird happened.

    *** Learn Colemak in 2–5 steps with Tarmak! ***
    *** Check out my Big Bag of Keyboard Tricks for Win/Linux/TMK... ***

    Offline
    • 0
    • Reputation: 0
    • Registered: 03-Jul-2009
    • Posts: 189
    DreymaR said:

    Indeed. It's one of the things that puzzled me about the Dvorak layout once I started thinking about it: He put the U on the home position of the index finger - about the best position on the board! I just couldn't see how it deserved that, when for instance the I was given a stretch position.

    Maybe because OU is the most common digraph involving vowels: http://calclab.math.tamu.edu/~rundell/m … nglish.pdf

    OTOH, maybe I is more likely to be alone, and reaching for it can be "prepared".

    Dvorak typist here.  Please take my comments with a grain of salt.

    Offline
    • 0
    • Reputation: 214
    • From: Viken, Norway
    • Registered: 13-Dec-2006
    • Posts: 5,362

    I think I've heard that explanation elsewhere. You may well be right - I certainly don't think it is an oversight.

    But on that page you link to, it also says that 'ion' and 'tio' are the most common trigraphs involving two vowels, and they are less fun in Dvorak than if the 'I' were on the home position! They are probably quite rare still compared to the 'ou' digraph though. (On a side note, ASETION... nuff said, huh?)

    Last edited by DreymaR (04-Aug-2009 14:12:58)

    *** Learn Colemak in 2–5 steps with Tarmak! ***
    *** Check out my Big Bag of Keyboard Tricks for Win/Linux/TMK... ***

    Offline
    • 0
    • Reputation: 0
    • Registered: 03-Jul-2009
    • Posts: 189
    DreymaR said:

    I think I've heard that explanation elsewhere. You may well be right - I certainly don't think it is an oversight...

    You can compare digrams frequencies here:

    http://jnicholl.org/Cryptanalysis/Data/ … encies.php

    Dvorak typist here.  Please take my comments with a grain of salt.

    Offline
    • 0
    • Reputation: -5
    • From: Banned
    • Registered: 02-May-2015
    • Posts: 116
    Shai said:

    One of the design principles of Asetion was that no keys changed hands in order to ease learning, which is why U made the home row and D didn't. Asetion also tried to maximize keeping changed keys on the same finger.

    L not D, letter frequency is ETAOINSRHLdcumfpgwybvkxjqz

    Banned from Colemak

    Offline
    • 0