This is the second time I've read this:

> mapping CAPS-LOCK to be CONTROL.

Why? At least in my laptop CAPS-LOCK is easier me to press than CONTROL if I want CAPS, maybe there is another reason for it?

That's exactly the point.

What's the purpose of caps lock? If you're SHOUTING you should be HOLDING DOWN THE SHIFT KEY AS HARD AS YOU CAN SO THAT YOUR FEELING IS GENUINE!

If you keep stretching your pinky to the left Control key (which is used a lot in Emacs), you can actually damage your hand especially with heavy Emacs love. Mapping the Caps Lock to Control is useful because it removes the stretching and, besides, Caps Lock is used infrequently enough to not warrant its being on the home row.

(It also makes Ctrl shortcuts in other applications easier.)

That makes sense if you're using Emacs on a laptop.

However, when you're at your desk, the most awesome Emacs upgrade is to buy a Kinesis Ergo "Contoured" keyboard (http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/). It moves all of the control/alt/Apple/Meta keys from all of the random locations to your thumbs and so once you get used to it, it's way, way better than anything else.

The only downside is that it only comes in one size so if you have large hands / long fingers it might be too cramped.

For the skeptics, once you get used to it, it's actually quite easy to go back and forth between the laptop keyboard and the Kinesis. I.e., very little mental dissonance.

There has been some discussion on the importance of a good chair. I find the keyboard a very important component, perhaps as much as good office furniture.

I use to half joke that my disdain for Microsoft is not as extensive as it may appear from one reading what I post (I got a -8 mod a couple days back for saying no real programmer would accept programming under Windows). In fact, I love several Microsoft products and, for me, the three best products they do today are the natural keyboards, the mice and SQL Server. In that order.

I loved the Z-80 softcard too. Would place it above SQL Server if it were still in production.

MSFT does not get enough credit for its peripherals. The keyboards aren't pretty, but they are some of the most comfortable I've ever worked on.

It's because they decided to focus on their more profitable software business, where they are marginally competent, while their core competency, the one they are unanimously praised for, is hardware gizmos.

That puts control on the home row. You'll be pressing / holding down control quite often in Emacs. (Frequently typed characters should be on the home row for efficiency. That's why Qwerty has semicolon on the home row.)

"Frequently typed characters should be on the home row for efficiency."

Only if you miniscule hands and recordbreakingly narrow shoulders.

Not a fan of touch-typing, eh?