Converting Your Computer to Dvorak

Dvorak has been built in to Microsoft Windows since version 3.0.

In Windows XP, the route is: Start → Control Panel → Regional and Language Options → Languages → "Details" button → add (under Installed services) "English (United States) - United States Dvorak". Windows may then ask for the Windows install disk to grab the layout. Click "OK" until you're out, and you're done!

(In Windows 98, go to Start, then Settings, then Control Panel. Double-click on "Keyboard". Choose "Language" tab. Click "Properties". For "Keyboard Layout", choose "United States-Dvorak", which is right under the U.S. default, "United States 101".)

On the Mac Pre-OS X: In the Control Panels folder, open the Keyboard control panel. Among the choices available are Dvorak and Dvorak-Qwerty. Select one -- "Dvorak" gives you a Dvorak layout. "Dvorak-Qwerty" makes the main keyboard Dvorak, but the "Command" key layout remains Qwerty, which is helpful for programs that rely more on the placement of the key than the letter it represents. (You can switch instantly between QWERTY and Dvorak if you enable the hot key. Go to the Keyboard control panel and click the Options... button. Click on the "Use Command+Option+Space to rotate to the next keyboard layout..." check mark. Hit OK. Note: in order for this to work you must have at least two keyboard layouts enabled. When you switch layouts, an icon will appear in the upper right hand corner of the screen showing which layout you have selected, such as an American flag for QWERTY, dv for Dvorak, and dq for Dvorak/Qwerty command.)

MacOS X: Open the System Preferences application. Select the "International" preferences from the "Personal" section. Select the "Keyboard Menu" tab. Two of the choices for keyboard layouts are Dvorak and Dvorak-Qwerty.

Lindows/Linspire 4.5: Select L → Settings → Control Panel, click Peripherals, then Keyboard. Put a check in the Enable Keyboard Layouts box, and select Dvorak from the list. ("L" is where the start menu would be in Windows.)

Mandrake 10 using KDE: Select Start → System → Configuration → KDE → Accessibility → Keyboard Layout. Put a check in the Enable Keyboard Layouts box, and select Dvorak from the list.

You can also buy keyboards that are hard-wired for Dvorak. Use Google to search for the latest available options.

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