My Mechanical Keyboard • Hacker News Board

Re: My Mechanical Keyboard

#81

Post by mojuba » Sun, Oct 30, 2016, 11:51 AM UTC

fnj wrote: post #79

mojuba wrote: post #74

It seems to me, the latest wave of disappointed Apple fans who declare their break up is a sign of something interesting. It means you picked up Apple in the 2000s, but you can't keep up anymore. It might just be that Apple is moving forward, you are not. Just as a hypothesis. Time will show.

Jobs' reality distortion field has outlived him!

Call it a distortion field, but Apple hasn't been overtaken by marketing people (yet). Marketing is driven by today's demand almost by definition, while Apple can easily make today's markets a little worried and uncomfortable (headphone jack, touchbar etc.) which to me is a sure sign Apple tries to remain true to itself.

Re: My Mechanical Keyboard

#82

Post by cm3 » Sun, Oct 30, 2016, 11:53 AM UTC

I cannot type comfortably on anything but MX black or browns, so I wasn't able to use an ergonomic keyboard yet. There's one company in Australia that builds to order ergonomic keyboard with mx keys, but the price is in the same range as HHKB, which makes it hard to order blindly from across the world, and custom built on top, which means hard to send back for quality deficiencies.

Are there other ergonomic keyboards with mx switches?

I'm using a tenkeyless mx black at the moment where I had to insert multiple layers of padding to dampen the echo sound of the pcb on each key press.

Re: My Mechanical Keyboard

#83

Post by fnj » Sun, Oct 30, 2016, 11:54 AM UTC

I learned to hunt and peck at a very young age in the 1950s on a mechanical portable typewriter, and have always felt more comfortable with keyboards which have good travel, positive feedback, and loud audible clicking.

To this day I never learned touch typing, and doubt I could. I can't learn foreign languages either. I have a reputation for being the fastest 2-finger hunt and peck typist anyone has ever seen, but I must say a clicky keyboard like the model M makes your apparent speed sound twice as fast as it actually is due to the click on release. A mechanical typewriter doesn't have that.

Re: My Mechanical Keyboard

#84

Post by cm3 » Sun, Oct 30, 2016, 11:56 AM UTC

perryh2 wrote: post #17

rdtsc wrote: post #10

I think people always are easily obsessed and get attached to things they touch. Those things becomes extensions of themselves. I am that way about my smart phone, keyboard and headphones. I could replace the monitor tomorrow without thinking twice about it. Get a new hard drive, new router, even a new a new laptop because I don't touch but use an external keyboard. But, as soon as my IBM Model M keyboard stopped wor…

Check out Unicomp keyboards: http://www.pckeyboard.com/page/category/UKBD

IBM used to make tenkeyless Model M's, wish Unicomp would offer the same since I'm very used to having the mouse closer to my hands. Then I could give a Model M a serious try, having used Cherry MXes for two decades, with the occasional one day excursion on a Sun or HP workstation keyboard.

Re: My Mechanical Keyboard

#85

Post by nilliams » Sun, Oct 30, 2016, 11:57 AM UTC

cm3 wrote: post #82

I cannot type comfortably on anything but MX black or browns, so I wasn't able to use an ergonomic keyboard yet. There's one company in Australia that builds to order ergonomic keyboard with mx keys, but the price is in the same range as HHKB, which makes it hard to order blindly from across the world, and custom built on top, which means hard to send back for quality deficiencies. Are there other ergonomic keyboards…

The ergodox maybe? Not easy to get hold of though, especially if you want it pre-built (edit: and potentially just as expensive as the HHKB): https://www.massdrop.com/buy/ergodox

Re: My Mechanical Keyboard

#86

Post by cm3 » Sun, Oct 30, 2016, 11:59 AM UTC

agret wrote: post #30

Skunkleton wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am typing on one of those right now. I love mine, it is just like the model m, but it has a windows key and USB.

Does it come with a PS2->USB adapter so you can connect it via a PS2 port? Better input handling than USB :)

In cases where there is no PCB with PS/2, do you know if the adapter when connected to PS/2 has the exact same behavior or are is it a lesser/compatibility mode without the full benefits?

Anytime I sit at a machine where the USB chip happens to reset, I wish it would use PS/2. It's just not the same, and I'm not even using n-key-rollover.

Re: My Mechanical Keyboard

#87

Post by cm3 » Sun, Oct 30, 2016, 12:02 PM UTC

nilliams wrote: post #85

cm3 wrote: post #82

I cannot type comfortably on anything but MX black or browns, so I wasn't able to use an ergonomic keyboard yet. There's one company in Australia that builds to order ergonomic keyboard with mx keys, but the price is in the same range as HHKB, which makes it hard to order blindly from across the world, and custom built on top, which means hard to send back for quality deficiencies. Are there other ergonomic keyboards…

The ergodox maybe? Not easy to get hold of though, especially if you want it pre-built (edit: and potentially just as expensive as the HHKB): https://www.massdrop.com/buy/ergodox

If that's the same company, then the price seems to have dropped substantially.

Re: My Mechanical Keyboard

#88

Post by saundby » Sun, Oct 30, 2016, 12:03 PM UTC

cm3 wrote: post #84

perryh2 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Check out Unicomp keyboards: http://www.pckeyboard.com/page/category/UKBD

IBM used to make tenkeyless Model M's, wish Unicomp would offer the same since I'm very used to having the mouse closer to my hands. Then I could give a Model M a serious try, having used Cherry MXes for two decades, with the occasional one day excursion on a Sun or HP workstation keyboard.

I got the Unicomp with the trackstick mouse for quick mouse actions, then I reach over for the real mouse for longer uses of it, but I'm with you on wishing for a tenkeyless. Toshiba and Lenovo sold me on the mouse stick in the 90s, so it still feels natural for some things & my hand doesn't have to travel far, but nothing beats a real mouse.

Re: My Mechanical Keyboard

#89

Post by Lio » Sun, Oct 30, 2016, 12:04 PM UTC

mojuba wrote: post #74

It seems to me, the latest wave of disappointed Apple fans who declare their break up is a sign of something interesting. It means you picked up Apple in the 2000s, but you can't keep up anymore. It might just be that Apple is moving forward, you are not. Just as a hypothesis. Time will show.

Maybe that's true.

In the '00s it felt like Apple was designing hardware just for people, like me, for whom Unix was important.

Now it feels, to me, that Apple has moved to prioritising a new niche.

That new niche is people for whom social media is a top priority, hence the focus on emojis as a headline feature of macOS and now the MacBook Pro.

Maybe I'm just angry because I'm in an aging demographic and Apple is just not chasing after me anymore.

Re: My Mechanical Keyboard

#90

Post by cm3 » Sun, Oct 30, 2016, 12:06 PM UTC

I'm just grateful pc gamers' realization of the benefits of proper key mechanisms has led to more production when it seemed like mechanical keyboards were only marketed in the enterprise. There was a time when flat rubber keyboards were all the hype.