<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="no"?> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>double bucky</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="../../jargon.css" type="text/css"/><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.0"/><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The Jargon File"/><link rel="up" href="../D.html" title="D"/><link rel="previous" href="dot-file.html" title="dot file"/><link rel="next" href="doubled-sig.html" title="doubled sig"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">double bucky</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="dot-file.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">D</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="doubled-sig.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="double-bucky"/><dt xmlns="" id="double-bucky"><b>double bucky</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">adj.</span></dt></dt><dd><p> Using both the CTRL and META keys. “<span class="quote">The command to burn all LEDs is double bucky F.</span>”</p></dd><dd><p>This term originated on the Stanford extended-ASCII keyboard, and was later taken up by users of the <a href="../S/space-cadet-keyboard.html"><i class="glossterm">space-cadet keyboard</i></a> at MIT. A typical MIT comment was that the Stanford <a href="../B/bucky-bits.html"><i class="glossterm">bucky bits</i></a> (control and meta shifting keys) were nice, but there weren't enough of them; you could type only 512 different characters on a Stanford keyboard. An obvious way to address this was simply to add more shifting keys, and this was eventually done; but a keyboard with that many shifting keys is hard on touch-typists, who don't like to move their hands away from the home position on the keyboard. It was half-seriously suggested that the extra shifting keys be implemented as pedals; typing on such a keyboard would be very much like playing a full pipe organ. This idea is mentioned in a parody of a very fine song by Jeffrey Moss called <i class="citetitle">Rubber Duckie</i>, which was published in <i class="citetitle">The Sesame Street Songbook</i> (Simon and Schuster 1971, ISBN 0-671-21036-X). These lyrics were written on May 27, 1978, in celebration of the Stanford keyboard:</p><div class="literallayout"><p><br/> Double Bucky<br/> <br/> Double bucky, you're the one!<br/> You make my keyboard lots of fun.<br/> Double bucky, an additional bit or two:<br/> (Vo-vo-de-o!)<br/> Control and meta, side by side,<br/> Augmented ASCII, nine bits wide!<br/> Double bucky! Half a thousand glyphs, plus a few!<br/> Oh,<br/> I sure wish that I<br/> Had a couple of<br/> Bits more!<br/> Perhaps a<br/> Set of pedals to<br/> Make the number of<br/> Bits four:<br/> Double double bucky!<br/> Double bucky, left and right<br/> OR'd together, outta sight!<br/> Double bucky, I'd like a whole word of<br/> Double bucky, I'm happy I heard of<br/> Double bucky, I'd like a whole word of you!<br/> <br/> — The Great Quux (with apologies to Jeffrey Moss)<br/> </p></div><p>[This, by the way, is an excellent example of computer <a href="../F/filk.html"><i class="glossterm">filk</i></a> —ESR] See also <a href="../M/meta-bit.html"><i class="glossterm">meta bit</i></a>, <a href="../C/cokebottle.html"><i class="glossterm">cokebottle</i></a>, and <a href="../Q/quadruple-bucky.html"><i class="glossterm">quadruple bucky</i></a>.</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="dot-file.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../D.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="doubled-sig.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">dot file </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> doubled sig</td></tr></table></div></body></html>