By Avi Meshar
75561.633@compuserve.com
I have spent a few hours with the Newton keyboard plugged into my palmtop and have the following report.
The keyboard has five rows of keys. The feel of the keys is slightly on the light side, but I got used to it fairly quickly. The letter keys are all the same size, and from center to center the distance between keys is a hair over 11/16". The space bar is long, and the shift keys are wide and easy to find. The J and F keys have a small bar on the key to facilitate homing for touch typists.
The keyboard is very light and easy to install; just plug it in. You need to include the device driver in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file.
Both keyboards work when enabled, so if you find some key-combination you cannot make work, use the palmtop keyboard. The shift keys are not "sticky" as on the palmtop, which is a minor inconvenience.
The HP palmtop and Newton keyboard make an excellent combination. I am quite impressed.
Customized Newton Keyboard for the HP 100/200LX - Price: $129.00, plus $5.00 S/H for U.S. orders.
Contact: Shier Systems & Software, 920 Hampshire Rd., Westlake, CA 91361 USA; Phone: 888-371-9391 or 805-371-9391; Fax: 805-371-9454; E-mail: info@shier. com; Web: www. shier.com