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I’m a huge fan of the “Dvorak” keyboard layout. Although I too started my touch typing lessons with the widely accepted, extremely popular, Qwerty layout. But it’s been few years since I switched over to Dvorak and I’m glad I did that :).

In my experience, Dvorak lets me type a bit faster (actually it’s the accuracy that’s behind it) but most importantly Dvorak stresses the fingers a lot less!. But I have few friends that still use the Qwerty layout, they type a hell lot faster than me and still love using it. So it is difficult to say which is better but according to my experience I think Dvorak is the better choice.

So if you’re too using Dvorak or someone who’s new to touch typing, heard a lot of good things about Dvorak and looking for a typing tutor that’s optimized for the Dvorak layout, then you should try this extremely simple, resources friendly (plus awesome :D) typing tutor called “dvorak7min”.

Now you actually can learn touch typing in Dvorak even using a tool that only supports the Qwerty layout. But when it comes to learning the home key rows or the basic stuff (the stuff that matters), you should always start with something that supports Dvorak (or optimized for it).

Few main features …

*. “dvorak7min” is based on the command-line yet it has a graphical (sort of) on screen keyboard and newbie friendly design.

*. It consists of 29 lessons that are categorized under: home row, index fingers (up/down/stretch), second row, third finger, fourth finger etc.

*. Has both key rows and paragraphs’ based lessons.

*. Shows your errors, speed (in both words per second and minute), number of key presses etc.

Well, that’s pretty much it!. Don’t be fooled by its simplicity because it is really good.

You can install dvorak7min in Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin, 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot, 11.04 Natty Narwhal, 10.10 and 10.04 by using the below command in your Terminal window.

sudo apt-get install dvorak7min

Once the installation completes, use the below command in your Terminal window to launch program.

dvorak7min

When loaded, it’ll show you a list of lessons. Just type the preferred lesson number (as shown below) and press enter to start typing.

That’s it, enjoy!.