Keyboard Lessons

For those who have just got an Amiga after using a PC or have never used
a computer before, then this article should get you familiar with the
Amigas way of handling the keyboard.

First of all, we'll go over the letter keys. As with every computer, you
get letter keys in the fashion:

   QWERTYUIOP
   ASDFGHJKL
   ZXCVBNM

They are printed on the keys using capitals, but if you press them then
they will not come out as capitals. If you press Q on the keyboard, then
a small 'q' will be printed on the screen. Fairly obvious. Then, if you
press SHIFT:

   +-------------+
   | /\          |
   | ||          |
   +-------------+

 
and a letter key together, you will get a captial. Also, if you want to
type a lot in capitals like A WHOLE SENTENCE USING CAPITAL LETTERS then
you can use Caps lock. (Standing for Capital Lock). So every letter
you type will appear capital.

The number keys can be pressed down and they will produce that number
on the screen. If you press '1' then '1' will appear on screen. But
it you use SHIFT then you will get the symbol which appears on the 
top of the key. So:

   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   0
   !   "   £   $   %   ^   &   *   (   )

or if you are using the American Keyboard setting:

   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   0
   !   @   #   $   %   ^   &   *   (   )

Other keys you can use are:

   NORMAL      WITH SHIFT
   [           {
   ]           }
   ;           :
   #           @
   ,           <
   .           >
   /           ?
   -           _
   =           +
   \           |
   

The number keys and the keys in the list above do not work with caps lock.
Finally, only on the Amiga can you use Alt with some keys to get 
other results. Here is the full list:

   NORMAL      WITH ALT    WITH ALT AND CAPS LOCK
   Q           å           Å
   W           °           °
   E           ©           ©
   R           ®           ®
   T           þ           Þ
   Y           ¤           ¥
   U           µ           µ
   I           ¡           ¦
   O           ø           Ø
   P           ¶           ¶
   A           æ           Æ
   S           ß           §
   D           ð           Ð
   L           £           £
   Z           ±           ¬
   X           ×           ÷
   C           ç           Ç
   V           ª           ª
   B           º           º
   N           ­           ¯
   M           ¸           ¿
   1           ¹
   2           ²
   3           ³
   4           ¢
   5           ¼
   6           ½
   7           ¾
   8           ·
   9           «
   0           »

DEAD KEYS

You probably haven't heard of 'Dead Keys' unless you've thoroughly read
the Workbench Manual. Anyway, Dead keys are keys which you can press
and then the next key you press will appear differently. The dead
keys are activated using the ALT key and give the following output:

   KEY COMBINATION      OUTPUT ON NEXT KEYPRESS
   ALT+F                á é í ó ú
   ALT+G                à è ì ò ù
   ALT+H                â ê î ô û
   ALT+J                ã     õ
   ALT+K                ä ë ï ö ü

For instance, if you press ALT and K and then A, you will get ä on
the screen. If you press ALT and K and then Shift and A then you
will get Ä instead of ä.

I hope you found this article useful.