Breaking The Rule

By Ray Lennard

Originally published in EUG #03

I was intrigued by the ELECTRON WORKSHOP (EUG #2) or "How not to press your 'BREAK' key by mistake. Personally, I would end up creating a switch that activates the garage door or brings Coronation Street onto the monitor! Who wants Bet Lynch in the middle of their computer program? Well, some might. Whatever turns you on!

My solution is a lot simpler. Cut two inches off a plastic six-inch ruler and place the two inch bit between the keys (against the face of the 'BREAK' key and the next one). As the ruler is bevelled, the fit will be quite snug. If you need to use the cursor keys, remove the "guard" for a second. If you are one of the "I made my own grand piano at nightschool" mob, you could bevel a piece of 2" x 1" to fit!

When running a games program, I just drop a whole six inch ruler in between the keys - this saves cutting and measuring everything two inches short!! Seriously, it does work - your fingers hit the plastic and not the 'BREAK' key!

P.S. A good dust cover for your Elk is a bar drop towel (NOT soaked in Brown Ale!) and a tea-towel for your monitor.

Ray 'Repton' Lennard

An egg box over the disk drive, a washing-up bowl over the printer, a paper bag over my head...

Will Watts