Using the so-called "EDT" numeric keypad's 18 keys on DEC's keyboards as the application navigation and control center, is a brilliant User Interface invention. It also works well with standard PC keyboard's 17 keys. But the numeric keypad's use is not exclusive to the EDT family of editors; many interactive applications have mapped their functions to the keypad, and OpenVMS users can redefine keys at the DCL (shell) level as well.

Once mastered, the user feels at home interacting with all OpenVMS applications that support the key (re)defining feature. It's like using a single musical instrument, but playing different, but similar, tunes. Personally, I have found the use of keyboards, once you customize them, orders of magnitude more productive than the GUI mouse clicking that is the norm today.

The "EDT keys" seem to have their origins in the K52/KED editors on RT-11 and RSX-11, around 1980, when I first encountered them. EDT, EVE, LSEDIT, and the rest, must have evolved from the first two - the function mapping is identical.

Numeric keypads were primarily meant to be used as calculators, but also toggled to a navigation mode (Home, End, arrows) with a single key, such as NumLock. However, adding programmability (user-defined commands and text strings), was probably something that wasn't originally planned.

(Given the large number of operating systems already in existence in that era, it's possible that DEC's platforms were not the only ones that had programmable numeric keypads. I'm not a tech historian, I'm just somewhat familiar with DEC's keyboards and simply loved what I could do with them.)

Ignoring the functionality of various editors and wars around that topic, we should appreciate how useful the keypad is in Mail, NOTES, WPS+, DCL, TDE, VTX..., where it works consistently, without surprises, with an easy learning curve. It is easy to switch and learn new mappings. Why? Because, when the UI is done well, the PF2 key in all apps shows you what the keys do, including additional command descriptions, if necessary.

There is almost never a need to go to DCL and use HELP or consult the docs. The keypad is a complete, well-documented appliance that works accross many different applications consistently.

I've used the DEFINE /KEY OpenVMS feature at the DCL level and across all applications where it was possible to extend their functionality and enhance the UI experience. Here is a short DEFINE /KEY reminder.

For example, my EDTINI.EDT is about 220 lines long, and it hasn't changed in years. I do not need to add anything new there. Likewise, my MAIL and NOTES keys have been customized exstensively, and will never be updated.

However, I define keys and strings in DCL all the time, and this is still how I naviagate and issue MOUNTs, SHOWs, SETs, DIRs, SEARCH, and issue those long and frustrating SET DEFAULTs to SYS$MANAGER, SYS$LOGIN, SYS$UPDATE, execute complex command files and menus.

Once you (re)define keys in your editors and applications, that stays forever, but at the DCL level, key definitions come and go, as you change projects, jobs, responsibilities.

Click on this photo of my DCL keyboard mappings from a few decades ago. It's quite different now, and I change it as needed. A new picture is generated almost automatically. You can see that I have 30 function keys defined in Normal, GOLD (PF2), and GREEN (PF3) modes, yes, 90 commands and procedures under my fingertips. If I need a reminder, I just hit PF2 ("This pic"), and this image, that fits in 80 columns, is displayed. The bottom lines show MCS character codes and the tricky Delta and Absolute time formats that I sometimes need. My F6-F14 keys are also programmed in DCL, but are not shown, due to lack of space.

Around 1986, I was using OpenVMS in my daily job, and used an acrylic box photo frame (you may have one of those around in some drawer) and inserted six keypad diagrams of the apps I used at the time. The cube was always in front of me, on top of my AlphaStation monitor, along with other quick reference snippets and Post-its. Docs, the web, who needs that to be productive?

I wrote some DCL code that created new diagrams and sent them to an LN03 printer, ready to be cut out and "uploaded to acrylic". So, in addtion to hitting PF2, I could also just glance at the currently used app's corresponding diagram on one of the cube's faces.

I stumbled across my cube just recently and decided to write about it and maybe inspire somebody for similar hacks. Click on the images to enlarge them. You may even recognize some of the layouts...

To this day, I can't think of any enviroment that gave me so much pleasure, freedom, flexibility and productivity, than (my tweaked) DCL interface and OpenVMS.

As a Windows user, I have been somewhat successful in preserving my style of interacting with an OS, thanks to AutoHotkey, which can automate almost anything on Windows, redefine all keys to execute scripts, or send strings of text to input dialogs and commands. For example, I have mapped several Notepad++ editor commands to the EDT keypad layout. To delete a line in Notepad++, you need to use the awkward Ctrl+L, so I mapped it to the KP Minus key, which is indelible in my muscle memory. Likewise, for KP Plus to delete a word.