5-1
T
HE
K
EYBOARD

Chapter 5

The Keyboard
The computer’s keyboard layouts are compatible with a 101/102-key enhanced
keyboard. By pressing some keys in combination, all the 101/102-key keyboard
functions can be executed on the computer.
The number of keys on your keyboard depends on which country/region’s key-
board layout your computer is configured with. Keyboards for numerous languages
are available.
There are five types of keys: typewriter keys, keypad overlay, function keys, soft
keys and cursor control keys.

Typewriter keys

The typewriter keys, produce the upper- and lower-case letters, numbers, punctua-
tion marks, and special symbols that appear on the screen.
There are some differences, however, between using a typewriter and using a
computer keyboard:
Letters and numbers produced in computer text vary in width. Spaces, which
are created by a “space character,” may also vary depending on line justifica-
tion and other factors.
The lowercase l (el) and the number 1 (one) are not interchangeable on
computers as they are on a typewriter.
The uppercase O (oh) and the 0 (zero) are not interchangeable.
The Caps Lock function key locks only the alphabetic characters in upper-
case while the shift lock on a typewriter places all keys in the shifted position.
The Shift keys, the Tab key, and the BkSp (backspace) key perform the
same function as their typewriter counterparts but also have special computer
functions.