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My Unhealthy Relationship with Keyboards

jackevansevo.github.io

71–80 of 389 posts

Re: My Unhealthy Relationship with Keyboards

#71

I never understood the Mac keyboards. For me a are a sensory deprivation chamber. I am wielding a ROG Falchion Green Cherry MX Gaming Keyboard. Is a backlit keyboard with good feedback and sound. But there is a hollow sound to the keys that is not ideal. My favorite keyboard I cannot use because is not backlit. The CoolerMaster Storm QuickFire Rapid - Tenkeyless. The keys are so smooth to the touch and there is a sli…

> I never understood the Mac keyboards

I actually prefer them to most keyboards. I wish I could make the full size one tenkeyless, not a fan of the cramped smaller one.

Re: My Unhealthy Relationship with Keyboards

#72
post #19

I really don't understand the numpad-less trend of fashionable keyboards. Doing any kind of number entry beyond one or two digits is very annoying without one. They also don't take up that much space really. If your keyboard is a portable one you pack with you on trips, I get it. If it lives on a desk, why not splash out the small amount extra to make number entry much easier.

Depends on what you are doing of course. Cannot speak to the fashion side of it but my original motivator to move to a keypad less was to reduce the distance of the mouse to my typing space. I do not do any type of data entry and rarely type numbers with enough frequency to require it.

I type in a 2FA code a few times a day and that's enough to justify it for me. Really hate typing in numbers without one

Re: My Unhealthy Relationship with Keyboards

#73

I was expecting to see 10s of keyboards as you'd see from most in r/MechanicalKeyboards and was disappointed to only find 5. Not an unhealthy relationship at all!

I've stood staring down that rabbit hole many times, but then I look at my wallet and turn back.

Re: My Unhealthy Relationship with Keyboards

#74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm just surprised that this low level of engagement with keyboards is considered on the "unhealthy" side of the fence. I mean, this is only about 5 keyboards and not even owned at the same time.

Right. My unhealthy relationship with keyboards is that I have 5 of them which I use on a regular basis, but I haven't bothered update to the same version of my custom firmware, so they differ in subtle and maddening ways--but none more maddening than going back to a standard layout. I'm happy for this person that they so utterly lack an awareness of what an unhealthy relationship actually looks like. Although a smal…

I'll send you my address

Re: My Unhealthy Relationship with Keyboards

#75

I really don't understand the numpad-less trend of fashionable keyboards. Doing any kind of number entry beyond one or two digits is very annoying without one. They also don't take up that much space really. If your keyboard is a portable one you pack with you on trips, I get it. If it lives on a desk, why not splash out the small amount extra to make number entry much easier.

I'm a designer and primarily use my mouse + keyboard shortcuts. Keyboards with numpads push my mouse position further out right, which is actually quite awkward on the shoulder (it has to be twisted outwards). With a tenkeyless board, my shoulders and forearms are straight. I would consider a separate numpad so it can be moved around if needed, but that need never really comes up for me.

It sounds bad but if you're using the mouse a lot you should try splitting the board and placing the mouse between the halves. For shoulders it's the best typing and mousing position I can imagine. Although to be honest /didn't/ imagine it, someone whom I admire recommended it and even so it only took on the second attempt. And... it hasn't made me need a numpty yet.

Re: My Unhealthy Relationship with Keyboards

#76

I have a Logitech MX Keys too. Though when I got it I also had some concerns about how charging it would be a odd experience, after 1.5 years or so of usage I just have to charge it in like each 3 months - and still you get to use it while it's charging. I don't use the backlight feature so I guess for other people that time between charging can be shorter. I haven't had the need to disassemble it for cleaning so I u…

A long time ago at work, I was given a Logitech K750. It is powered by solar cells which charge an internal battery. It works so well, I don't understand why there aren't more solar powered keyboards. I ended up buying the same keyboard for home and I really enjoy typing on it. My only complaint is that it's difficult to remove the keycaps for cleaning and some dust somehow got inside and I can see it on the little s…

I owned one of these, and decided to omit it from the list (it came before my first Cherry board).

It was a really good board. But I remember it having quite a lot of flex in the plastic. My letters wore off pretty quickly and frustratingly the solar cells eventually died and the thing stopped charging all together.

Re: My Unhealthy Relationship with Keyboards

#77

I've used the MS Natural keyboards for years. I'd love to move to a mechanical model but the sites selling keyboards are really confusing. What do I have to buy to get a functioning keyboard? A shell? Switches? Other stuff? I really don't know what I'm looking at. Anyone got a good entry point?

Get an off-the-shelf Arisu layout keyboard from a reputable manufacturer. You don't have to worry about the billion options. The Arisu layout keyboards are the closest mechanical keyboards you can get to a MS Natural keyboard layout, IMHO. Keychron has several models of different sizes that give you good options on size vs. function vs. price: V8/V10, Q8/Q10, K15 Pro, etc. They sell on Amazon, their own site and some…

I find it bizarre to say "Arisu layout" and "ergonomic" in the same sentence.

The layout looks cool.

The only two ergonomic things about it are that the letters are slightly split apart, and slightly at an angle. (The thumb gets to press more keys than on a standard keyboard, but not as many as on better keyboards).

The layouts tend to have weird features, stuff like: the digit for 6 is placed on the left-hand side; or that it's got pinky-finger modifiers, but not 3 on each side. Many layouts also drop the function row (indicating users are expected to use layers), but retain a nav cluster. - The layout of the alphabetical keys is also weirdly asymmetric.

Re: My Unhealthy Relationship with Keyboards

#78
The best keyboard I ever had was Velocifire VM02WS. It has mechanical brown switches, and it worked flawlessly for more than 5 years. Then the left control key broke down.

The rest of the keyboards I have used, no matter mechanical or not, failed after 1-2 years of use. Typically, it was the left control key.

Currently I’m using some gamer-targeted keyboard with ridiculous blue LEDs which had “more than 15 million cycles” label on the box. So far so good, but I liked the mechanical ones better.

Re: My Unhealthy Relationship with Keyboards

#79
Nice to see the Noppoo Choc Mini! I had the same keyboard, got me through 5 years of starcraft 2 and another 5 years of brood war remastered. Had to retire it when I stopped playing starcraft and now use a kinesis advantage360 pro when working/programming.

If you haven't used a split keyboard, I highly recommend it! It feels way more natural typing and less stressful on your wrists. I still use a kinesis freestyle 2 on my desktop pc, good enough for most games too. It feels alien at first but you quickly adapt. It's also not hard to go back and forth between the different types of keyboards.

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