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The Idiocy of Hacker Keyboards (2010)

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Re: The Idiocy of Hacker Keyboards (2010)

#11

Post by yannyu »

elcapitan wrote: post #9
peatmoss wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but active noise cancelling doesn't really work for punctuated noises like keyboard clacks. I tried a coworker's Bose Quiet Comfort active noise cancelling headphones, and ultimately decided that the passive cancelling of the Sennheiser HD 280s was better for anything that wasn't a more of a constant drone. As side benefit, they were much cheaper and sound much better (to my ear) too.

It worked quite well for me (also Bose Quiet Comfort). I wanted them to eliminate other more regular noises as well, but for the clicks it worked fine, and even language in many cases (which it supposedly wouldn't normally do either).

If you're listening to music or white noise over the headphones, that'll do just as well as active noise cancellation for a lot of normal office noise. I can drown out most things with a good pair of rubber in-ear headphones and a bit of music.

Re: The Idiocy of Hacker Keyboards (2010)

#12

Post by jonathantm »

Chorded keyboards are silly - just like chorded instruments. Can't argue with the obvious superiority of the 2000-keyed guitar rather than just one with 6 strings and 20 frets.

Also, it's not like you'll be using keyboards for half a decade, so yeah... learning something like that would be a total waste of time.

^ typed on my favorite keyboard - the $12* Logitech K120

* Canadian... includes a mouse.

Re: The Idiocy of Hacker Keyboards (2010)

#13

Post by elcapitan »

yannyu wrote: post #11
elcapitan wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It worked quite well for me (also Bose Quiet Comfort). I wanted them to eliminate other more regular noises as well, but for the clicks it worked fine, and even language in many cases (which it supposedly wouldn't normally do either).

If you're listening to music or white noise over the headphones, that'll do just as well as active noise cancellation for a lot of normal office noise. I can drown out most things with a good pair of rubber in-ear headphones and a bit of music.

That's nice for you, but it didn't work for me in my environment. Active noise cancellation improved my office (and travel/commuting) life a lot.

Re: The Idiocy of Hacker Keyboards (2010)

#14

Post by QuantumRoar »

peatmoss wrote: post #7
elcapitan wrote: post #2

I don't really care what other people use in terms of keyboard layout or non-layout, but loud clicking is incredibly distracting. I had to get active noise cancellation headphones to be able to work in one room with a fellow developer who insisted on using such a monster.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but active noise cancelling doesn't really work for punctuated noises like keyboard clacks. I tried a coworker's Bose Quiet Comfort active noise cancelling headphones, and ultimately decided that the passive cancelling of the Sennheiser HD 280s was better for anything that wasn't a more of a constant drone. As side benefit, they were much cheaper and sound much better (to my ear) too.

As far as I know, sound is actually so slow that you don't need to average the noise and make an educated guess as to what to filter. Acoustic noise filtering in headphones should work by detecting the outside noise with a microphone and playing the cancelling wave form as soon as the sound wave reaches the interior of your headphone.

In contrast, you can't do that for the noise of a car on the road because here the whole car vibrates and you couldn't, even if you wanted to emit sounds that cancel whatever rumbles quickly enough. Therefore they employ some spectral analysis of the noise and cancel persistent noise. This, of course, wouldn't cancel the sound of hitting a wall.

Again, I'm not 100% sure about this because it's outside of my field of expertise. Corrections are welcome.

Re: The Idiocy of Hacker Keyboards (2010)

#15

Post by avonwodahs »

yannyu wrote: post #8

Is there any purpose to this article besides complaining about the keyboard preferences of other people? Some people like the way certain things look or feel, and they pay money for it. I agree that having a "hacker keyboard" probably won't make you a better programmer, but then people pay thousands of dollars for top-end laptops when they could probably do just as well with lower-end ones.

Additionally, for an input device you use for 8 hours a day for the rest of your career the price is trivial. Nothing is worse for me than the mushy feel of rubber dome switches.

Re: The Idiocy of Hacker Keyboards (2010)

#17

Post by DanBC »

overcast wrote: post #3

I'm sorry but how does having no key labels, improve speed and accuracy? I haven't looked at my keyboard in probably twenty years, and most of the keys are worn off on the current one now. Will erasing the existing ones somehow speed me up?

removing the labels helps people who are learning to touch type.

Or they could just put a tea-towel over their hands.

Re: The Idiocy of Hacker Keyboards (2010)

#18

Post by babygoat »

overcast wrote: post #3

I'm sorry but how does having no key labels, improve speed and accuracy? I haven't looked at my keyboard in probably twenty years, and most of the keys are worn off on the current one now. Will erasing the existing ones somehow speed me up?

No, it only works for people who have looked at their keyboard in the last twenty years.
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