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Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard

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Re: Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard

#161

Post by Symbiote »

whitehouse3 wrote: post #82
notus wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most engineers with jobs aren't making compromises on the price when their goal is comfort and usability.

You're right. I bought a $250 Leopold FC660C to combat repetitive strain injury, because my doctor said to minimize the distance between the home row and my mouse pad. But most less-expensive 60% ("ten key-less") boards either lack arrow keys or have obnoxious, loud switches. These weren't feasible because I use arrow keys all the time for Visual Studio and I work in open-office hell. The Leopold has quiet Topre swit…

Both my Microsoft and Logitech ergonomic keyboards are wearing out, so I spent some time last week looking for a replacement. Logitech seem no longer to make one, and Microsoft's has laptop keys, which I find very uncomfortable.

This site [1] has a quick gallery, and this[2] Github page a lot more (including many niche or kit ones). The Kinesis Freestyle looked like a good option, but I decided to try one of the nerdy ones, so I've ordered a VE.A clone from AliExpress.

I found both of these pages through the /r/MechanicalKeyboards wiki [3]. That community has a lot of posts and comments of people showing off gamer/geek/nerd stuff, but also seems to give reasonable advice to "normal" people wanting advice.

[1] http://xahlee.info/kbd/ergonomic_keyboards_index.html

[2] https://github.com/diimdeep/awesome-split-keyboards/blob/mas...

[3] https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/wiki/buying_gui...

Re: Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard

#162

Post by jacobolus »

simonsarris wrote: post #39
pteraspidomorph wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what I was thinking. Any decent mechanical keyboard has all of these features and more, and the sound the keys make depends on the switches, of which there are many different types. Some switches are designed to be loud (like the MX Blues) but you don't have to use them. I usually find that people who disparage mechanical keyboards do not actually know a lot about mechanical keyboards...

Which decent mechanical keyboard has the feature of being $14.50?

You can find something a whole lot nicer than the Amazon keyboard for $10 or $15 on ebay.

Re: Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard

#163

Post by mixmastamyk »

whitehouse3 wrote: post #82
notus wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most engineers with jobs aren't making compromises on the price when their goal is comfort and usability.

You're right. I bought a $250 Leopold FC660C to combat repetitive strain injury, because my doctor said to minimize the distance between the home row and my mouse pad. But most less-expensive 60% ("ten key-less") boards either lack arrow keys or have obnoxious, loud switches. These weren't feasible because I use arrow keys all the time for Visual Studio and I work in open-office hell. The Leopold has quiet Topre swit…

I really like the wasd "ten-keyless" keyboards:

http://www.wasdkeyboards.com/index.php/products/mechanical-k...

Red switches are quiet.

Re: Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard

#164

Post by caseymarquis »

whitehouse3 wrote: post #82
notus wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most engineers with jobs aren't making compromises on the price when their goal is comfort and usability.

You're right. I bought a $250 Leopold FC660C to combat repetitive strain injury, because my doctor said to minimize the distance between the home row and my mouse pad. But most less-expensive 60% ("ten key-less") boards either lack arrow keys or have obnoxious, loud switches. These weren't feasible because I use arrow keys all the time for Visual Studio and I work in open-office hell. The Leopold has quiet Topre swit…

Have you looked into the VSVim extension? It's a bit of extra effort to learn vim, but you'll never have to reach for the arrow keys again.

You'll also need to map your escape key to Caps Lock. You can use AutoHotkey for this with this script:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/c6t9sj3fygtre6h/AutoHotKey.ahk

Vim basically allows you to trade mental effort for hand movement. Over time, the mental effort goes away, but the saved movement lasts forever.

Re: Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard

#165

Post by war1025 »

test1235 wrote: post #133
war1025 wrote: post #123

My favorite keyboard is a silicone roll-up keyboard. I first got one probably fifteen years ago as a result of my brother getting in a fight with me and pulling the cord out of the keyboard we had. The Radio Shack in town only had this odd blue silicone roll up keyboard, so we bought it. Turns out it's basically silent to type on, which was very nice at the time because my dad would always wake up from the keyboard n…

I vaguely recall using one once, ages ago, but don't the keys take quite a bit of force to press? Maybe it was just a cheap one I was on ...

I guess I don't really notice it being much different from say a laptop keyboard, but I suppose maybe it does take a bit more force to push the keys down. Not a metric that I ever really considered being important or not in a keyboard, I guess.

Re: Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard

#166

Post by cr0sh »

rhinoceraptor wrote: post #127
bluedino wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might collect Ferraris, which might all be objectively Robust Wire / USB Cable better than a Honda Civic, but you aren't going to drive one every day.

You wouldn't drive a Ferrari every day because they're not comfortable or practical, and because they have short service intervals and very expensive consumable parts. And a high performance car is almost necessarily not a reliable car since it's operating near the limit, especially once it has tens of thousands of miles on it. OTOH a mechanical keyboard is much more comfortable than rubber domes for many people. And…

I have a Model M with the flow-thru option; keyboard is probably 30 years old or so.

My mobo still has a PS/2 port, but I bought an adapter for USB when that time comes. Other than needing a really deep cleaning (something I really need to do) - it works flawlessly.

And it doesn't have any of the "Windows Key" junk that happened in the 90s to distract from my *nix aesthetic. Only downside is that it is beige, while the rest of my system is black.

When/if it ever breaks - I have another one waiting in the wings, plus a Unicomp USB classic also available (I've been thinking about swapping it out to keep the aesthetic - and replacing the 'doze keys on it with Tux keycap covers or something like that).

Somewhere, in my junk stash, I also have an old SGI keyboard that I need to look into making an adapter or something for...

Re: Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard

#167

Post by alpaca128 »

Spearchucker wrote: post #128
maxaf wrote: post #83

I’ve used many different keyboards. I can’t say I’m a keyboard connoisseur, but I’ve probably used every possible combination of “keys” arranged on a “board”. My takeaway from all this is that the switches matter a lot less than how keys are arranged. You see, human hands will become injured over a prolonged period of contortion into the shape needed to operate standard keyboards. For this reason I prefer ErgoDox. ht…

Best keyboard I've ever used. And after all the horror stories about how long it takes to relearn I was back to normal speed after about a month.

Well, it is quite a bad experience in the first days. It's both learning a very new layout as well as getting used to the ortho alignment of the keys, where in the beginning I automatically used the wrong finger for a lot of keys. That said I'm glad I made the leap, because no standard keyboard can match that level of comfort.

It's not that normal keyboards are bad, but it's a bit like going from cheap generic shoes to custom-tailored ones. I don't type much faster or accurately on it, but it feels much better, every single day.

Re: Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard

#168

Post by modzu »

this is an ad. notice the referal link at the bottom.

if a keyboard actually matters to you, please look for unbiased information.

a couple of suggestions that aren't just meant to net me a few bucks:

- tenkeyless reduce wrist strain (a full size keyboard forces your hands further apart than is natural). if you need a numpad you can always add one.

- consider a backlit if you work at night.

- mechanical keyboards tend to last forever and they are easy to clean because all the keys come off.

- non mechanical are quieter

happy coding!

Re: Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard

#169

Post by cr0sh »

paxys wrote: post #138

I urge everyone to get an ergonomic keyboard. Your hands will thank you as you get older.

How much older is older?

I'm 46 years old, been programming a computer since I was 10 (TRS-80 Color Computer 2 - with the "melted" keyboard - not exactly ergo), and I currently use a classic Model M (not a Unicomp - a real one made by Lexmark, that inexplicably has the flow-thru option on it for some reason - bit of a unicorn from what I gather).

I've used keyboards in my career of all types, including ones on a VT-100, VT-220, and WYSE-320, 370, and 380...

I have never had any RSI issues. Not saying it can't happen, but one would think something would've happened by now...

Re: Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard

#170

Post by adventured »

lcall wrote: post #147

For what it may be worth to anyone, as someone who prefers an "ergonomic" split keyboard with a softer touch (so my hands and wrists don't get stiff; I also use a brace on the right hand just when typing), I have used several keyboards, and strongly disliking the Microsoft one (my hands hurt worse: some keys I use heavily like Alt and/or Space felt stiff), I tried a probably inexpensive one I really liked (but left t…

It's always interesting how different what is comfortable can be from one person to the next.

I can't type performantly on non-ergonomic non-split non-tilted keyboards any longer, after ~20 years of typing on split ergo keyboards. The way that straight keyboards orient my wrists causes discomfort within an hour or two of use.

In my case the Microsoft battleship keyboard, the 4000, is the only thing I find comfortable. I can type on it all day with zero stress on my wrists or hands. Anything else and I suffer noticeable hand & wrist stress after a full day of work. The base of my hand / wrist area also likes the subtle padding on the 4000, it's just enough to provide some additional comfort without being annoying.

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