The patent
Christopher Latham Sholes and friends patent a type-writing machine in Milwaukee. The keys are in alphabetical order and the arms jam constantly.
hardwarethe first compute network you run by typing
Every key you press is a unit of compute. 104 cores, two hands, no datacenter.
CA
press any key · it paysplay the rig · 8 blocks →
scroll ↓
uptime of the qwerty layout since it first shipped. zero patches.
last update to the layout: none
104cores on a full board
0keys you computed this session
0your hashrate, keys per minute
0/8blocks you typed
run the rig
The network hands you a word. Type it clean, left to right, and the block closes. Eight blocks and the rig is yours. Use your own keyboard or tap the one below, the chain cannot tell the difference.
0/8blocks
100%accuracy
0typos
0keys / min
job 1 of 8 · type the word
job queue
every key is a core
A full board has 104 keys, and on qWERTY each one is a core. You already own the hardware. It has been sitting under your hands since school, mostly doing emails and one very long password.
your fingers are the power supply
There are no fans, no cooling ponds and no warehouse in Texas. The network runs on two hands and whatever you had for breakfast. Peak load is one person replying to a group chat with feeling.
every word is a block
Type a word and the row lights up left to right. That is a block. Finish it clean and it joins the chain. Fat-finger it and the whole board hears about it, then you start the word again like an adult.
the layout is the consensus
The story goes that qwerty was arranged in the 1870s so typewriter arms would stop jamming. People have agreed on almost nothing since, except this. Better layouts were proposed, patented and politely ignored.
rig 0x51…TYidle
104 cores
the caps lock is off
Caps lock is the only alarm this network has. While the light is off, everyone is typing at a normal volume and the rig runs cool. Nobody remembers turning it on, which is exactly how it always gets turned on.
Press it and watch what happens to the site. Every headline starts shouting, the light comes on, and the network waits patiently for you to notice what you did.
The network is calm.
The light is off and every headline is speaking in lowercase, the way the board intended.
stateoff
times you shouted0
the road to qwerty
drag or scroll sidewaysQ W E R T Y
After years of shuffling letters around, the layout lands on six familiar keys in the top row and the design is sold to E. Remington and Sons.
layoutIt ships
The Sholes and Glidden typewriter goes on sale. It types in capitals only, so the first qwerty users were all shouting.
mainnetShift
The Remington No. 2 adds a shift key and lowercase letters. One key now does two jobs, the first efficiency upgrade in the network.
upgradeThe rival
August Dvorak patents a layout designed to be faster. It is studied, praised and installed on almost nobody's desk.
failed forkSelectric
IBM replaces the jamming arms with a spinning type ball. The reason for the layout is gone. The layout stays exactly where it is.
hardwareThe PC
The IBM Personal Computer ships with a heavy clicking keyboard and qwerty moves from offices onto every desk at home.
adoptionGlass
The iPhone removes the keys entirely and draws qwerty on a screen. There is nothing left to jam and the layout survives anyway.
adoptionqWERTY compute
Somebody finally asks what all that typing was for and plugs the oldest interface on earth into a chain.
launchthe rig log
Everything the board does lands here: every key you press on this page, every block you close, every typo you hoped nobody saw. When you stop typing, the rig keeps itself busy and writes that down too.
the numbers on the board
SUPPLY1,000,000,000
One billion $QWERTY, typed out by hand in a single sitting. The wrists have recovered and there will not be a second sitting.
TAX0 / 0
The keyboard has never charged you for pressing a key and it is not about to start. Buy and sell at the same price your fingers pay, which is nothing.
LIQUIDITYlocked
It sits behind the one key nobody has pressed on purpose since 1995. We are fairly sure it is Scroll Lock and we are not going to test it.
OWNERSHIPhome row
Nobody owns the layout. It belongs to whoever has their fingers on A S D F and J K L at this exact moment, which is most of the internet.
put your hands on the home row
Ticker, six letters, top left of the keyboard. You have typed it by accident a thousand times while testing if a keyboard works. This time it counts.
named for the first six keys of the top row, left to right. they were here before you and they will be here after.