321–330 of 335 posts
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I brought my Model M to work. The only problem with the Model M are open offices; thankfully my Chinese office mates are very tolerant to noise (and of noise in general, like cell phones ringing all the time). The year on mine is 1993, which is when I graduated from high school.
Mine is 1988. I've bought 3 of them in a computer cemetery. You'll take it from my cold dead hands.
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I had the same problem and solved it by switching the mouse to my left hand. It was awkward at first but then I got used to it. I move my left hand about three inches to get the mouse. With my right hand (using the old MS split keyboard) it was nearly a foot!
But then how do you cut and paste? Ctrl-Z, X, C, V are going to be hard to reach if you're mousing with your left hand.
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navigating code I do this with the keyboard (vim)
Same in Emacs. I always watch with fascination (and some frustration) when my friends and coworkers use IDEs—Visual Studio and Xcode, mainly. Some navigational tasks are much faster with pointing or gesturing, but many basic tasks require the same context switch between mouse and keyboard, which I can’t tolerate.
Using a mouse, or trackball, or trackpad, is just input. On my laptop, I don't even lift off of home row to 'mouse' -- I just move my thumb.
At my work desktop, I've got one of those apple wireless keyboards and trackpads and it's actually quite ergonomic, except for the staggered keys.
If I were to switch out, I'd probably get a Kinesis Advantage (I once had a QD Ergo Pro) or a TEK or a TypeMatrix thanks to suggestions in this thread. All three have straight-line keys.
The old ergo I had wore out because I think it was a pre-cherry design.
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ALPS hasn't made their keyswitches for a long time, but Matias [1] has put a slight variant back into production. (ALPS switches are probably best known from the Apple Extended and other Apple keyboards of that era.) [1] http://matias.ca/
Interesting! I thought Matias was using ALPS switches, rather than producing their own "ALPS-like" switches -- although that makes sense. I own a Matias Tactile Pro and liked it initially, but over the course of a few weeks I realized it made my fingertips sore in a way that I didn't remember old Apple keyboards doing (or my TRS-80 Model 4 keyboard, way back when, which turned out to use ALPS keyswitches). My favorit…
There were various changes to the ALPS line over the years, presumably to reduce costs, and many (including me) believe quality suffered. The Apple keyboards used the earliest, so-called ‘complicated long’ version, while Matias keyboards before the latest used the final ‘simplified’ version. (All these had various tactile and clicky variations.)
The switches in the big Apple keyboards had rubber bumpers to reduce the impact of bottoming out, which might have been the reason they were easier on your fingers. (On the other hand, buckling springs trigger low and land hard, so maybe not.) The latest Matias Quiet keyboard re-introduces the rubber bumpers. (I haven't tried them.)
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Same in Emacs. I always watch with fascination (and some frustration) when my friends and coworkers use IDEs—Visual Studio and Xcode, mainly. Some navigational tasks are much faster with pointing or gesturing, but many basic tasks require the same context switch between mouse and keyboard, which I can’t tolerate.
That's not a context switch. Changing to email is a context switch. Using a mouse, or trackball, or trackpad, is just input. On my laptop, I don't even lift off of home row to 'mouse' -- I just move my thumb. At my work desktop, I've got one of those apple wireless keyboards and trackpads and it's actually quite ergonomic, except for the staggered keys. If I were to switch out, I'd probably get a Kinesis Advantage (I…
What slows me down isn’t necessarily the same as what does you. I find it difficult to start engaging with a pointing device after using a keyboard, though as I said, it is quite fast for many tasks once you’re already in that mode.
Furthermore, it’s possible that I am simply out of practice using pointing devices, because I don’t generally—when drawing or modelling I use a tablet. Absolute space is very different from relative space.
I got a das keyboard at home and at work. Its awesome, and I'd recommend a mechanical to anyone who works on a keyboard for a living. I would never buy anything like this from Atwood, though. His 'expertise' in software, personal attacks on other developers and tedious self-promotion don't really convince me that he's got the know-how to get into hardware production, but rather that he's found a way to make money off…
I briefly owned a das keyboard: loved the touch response of it, but the wacky USB hubs they had built into it caused me no end of trouble on some more niche operating systems due to some non-standard implementation choices. Also, I hated the high-gloss easily marred plastic on it. I returned it shortly after purchase and said "never again".
I'm still waiting to buy a mechanical keyboard with a TrackPoint. Until then, the ThinkPad external USB keyboard [1] is perfect. Its big delete key is great, too. [1] http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/itemdetails/55Y9003/460/60AC6A0...
http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPo...
$59 and truly functional
Anyone have any thoughts on the difference between this 87 key keyboard and the leopold tenkeyless? I've been using an ancient wired 87 key apple keyboard that I love but I'm intrigued. http://elitekeyboards.com/products.php?sub=leopold,tenkeyles...
Things missing from the Leopold: 1. Backlighting 2. Better Aesthetics 3. Cherry MX Clear switches That's pretty much it. I personally don't think it's worth the 50 dollar premium when I'm just fine with MX Browns.
I'm with an 87 keys with brown switches at the office and at home I use a Das Keyboard with blue switches.
For me it's either brown or blue, clear switches are too much in between. If you're going non-clicky pick brown or even red, if it's clicky, then it's blue all the way.
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I had the same problem and solved it by switching the mouse to my left hand. It was awkward at first but then I got used to it. I move my left hand about three inches to get the mouse. With my right hand (using the old MS split keyboard) it was nearly a foot!
But then how do you cut and paste? Ctrl-Z, X, C, V are going to be hard to reach if you're mousing with your left hand.
I bought a Filco Majestouch and couldn't use it a work as it totally hurted my wrists. I really had to adapt to not hit the keys too hard. Also the cherry mx blue caused difficulties for navigating inside code because the course of the key is longer and I often hit the keys repetedly when browsing code.
A bit of disappointment.