My Mechanical Keyboard • Hacker News Board

Re: My Mechanical Keyboard

#171

Post by kevbin » Sun, Oct 30, 2016, 9:02 PM UTC

douche wrote: post #64

kevbin wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you work in one of these (misguided) open-plan offices, ask you co-workers if the noise bothers them. Whatever they say, take your mechanical keyboard home and play with it there. There's no good reason to inflict that noise on your co-workers. They'll appreciate it even if they won't call you out on it.

I would do that, if they would not inflict their rambling speaker-phone conference calls on me. The root of the problem is trying to pack people into a room like sardines and expect them to get any work done. But forcing people to use substandard equipment doesn't help anything.

Yes, open-plan dogma is at the root. I'd gladly give up free dog-boarding, massages, and meals for walls and a door.

Retaliation and escalation aren't solutions. Conscientious self-noise-reduction sets the example for others & makes it easier to politely ask the loudies to take their noise pollution out of the common area.

Re: My Mechanical Keyboard

#172

Post by caconym_ » Sun, Oct 30, 2016, 9:45 PM UTC

camillomiller wrote: post #53

keyle wrote: post #14

I have about 5 mechanical keyboards (WASD, Duckys, DAS, ...) and yet if I want to type fast, I use an apple keyboard. The short travel distance of those keys really work for me. I've been waiting for switches that are somewhere in between, mechanical but thin travel. I've looked at some really esoteric and rare keyboards as well but I wouldn't fork $220 for a keyboard... Anyways I totally understand his view though.…

The Magic Keyboard and Retina MacBook Pro Keyboards are the sweet spot for my fingers. I tried the MacBook keyboard and I can't get used to it for the life of me. I NEED a little bit of travel under my fingertips, it's an important feedback that speeds up the typing. The butterfly mechanism is way too similar to typing on a screen.

I have a MacBook (which I love in general) and I've come to prefer its keyboard to the older Mac keyboards with more travel and smaller caps, which just feel mushy to me now. I doubt i'll be getting one of the new Pro models in the near future, but I suspect that the keyboards on those might be a sweet spot for me as far as laptop keyboards go.

The keyboard I use when I'm sitting at a desk is an HHKB with PBT caps and deep, luxurious Topre switches, which has no real mobile equivalent as far as I know.

Re: My Mechanical Keyboard

#173

Post by mojuba » Sun, Oct 30, 2016, 10:01 PM UTC

endemic wrote: post #160

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.

I'm not sure if this is Apple "moving forward" or simply engendering more consumer cynicism. Thin laptops are nice. But so thin that the RAM has to be soldered on the logic board, and you have to pay a premium up-front to get the specs you want? The touch strip looks nice, but it's adding at least $300 to the price of each machine. I don't think we've seen $300 worth of potential value yet, so the feature looks like…

That $300 difference includes a faster processor (2GHz vs. 2.9GHz), faster memory, better graphics card, more USB ports, and the TouchBar + fingerprint scanner. Sounds perfectly reasonable to me.

Re: My Mechanical Keyboard

#174

Post by DigitalJack » Sun, Oct 30, 2016, 10:31 PM UTC

ajsalminen wrote: post #119

DigitalJack wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My all time favorite keyboard is my apple //e. Last time I was home visiting my parents, they mentioned it was in the basement. Went down and typed a few things just for the feel. Still my favorite. Modern mechanicals don't compare in the slightest. That said, I vastly prefer my MacBook Pro keyboard to modern mechanicals. It's last years model. Never tried a MacBook that I recall, so I have no opinion there. But my l…

What is it that you like in particular about the //e keyboard that the current mechanicals are lacking? Looks like it has a fairly stiff linear switch.

I don't know that I can express it. If I had it with me and could perform a live comparison to my mechanical here I could probably say.

Next time I visit my parents (new years maybe) I'll give it a try.

From memory, which may not be accurate, I would say it felt more like playing a piano. The feel had a certain weightiness to it, and there wasn't some peak resistance/click midway through the travel.

The nice thing about my MBPr is that the keyboard doesn't even enter my mind when I'm using it. I just type. I have to make an effort to specifically pay attention to it.

And that is really how I like it. I don't type because I want to feel the keyboard. I type because I want to write something.

I think people are mistaking familiarity (or lack thereof) with the goodness or badness of a keyboard.

Re: My Mechanical Keyboard

#175

Post by tcpekin » Mon, Oct 31, 2016, 12:15 AM UTC

wst_ wrote: post #117

michaelgrafl wrote: post #77

I don't know or care if mechanical keyboards increase my typing speed and/or precision, but they feel great and make me enjoy work more. If I can choose between a rocky desk and a sturdy one, I'll choose the latter, although they both do the job sufficiently well for my needs. A few months ago I got myself a tenkeyless with brown Cherry MX switches, and I am getting a second one now, because I can't be bothered to ty…

If they only were as much available to buy as much people talk about them. I never used it before, I tried, I loved it, I researched a lot, I've finally chosen one ... and only got disappointed by availability. They're nowhere to be in stock. I found it only on Amazon UK and they want almost the same as keyboard price for a shipping. And no, it's not some bizarre custom made thing - it is just a normal Ducky One TKL.…

Massdrop usually has interesting mech kb's as well.

Re: My Mechanical Keyboard

#176

Post by gnicholasgreen » Mon, Oct 31, 2016, 1:24 AM UTC

Steeeve wrote: post #161

hossbeast wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish there was an ergonomic/split version

I've been eyeballing one of these for christmas: https://ergodox-ez.com/collections/keyboard-bundles/products...

I took the dive on an ergodox ez a couple of months ago. It took me nearly a month to get fully comfortable with it, but now typing on a regular keyboard just feels less than ideal. I just ordered a second one for my home computer.

Re: My Mechanical Keyboard

#177

Post by jacobolus » Mon, Oct 31, 2016, 2:34 AM UTC

nitrogen wrote: post #162

jacobolus wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone willing to bold mod a Model M really owes it to him/herself to try a Model F.

On that subject, is the modelfkeyboards project legit? It looks cool but they're like six months behind already.

It’s definitely “legit”, in the sense that the creators/backers are members of online keyboard communities with good reputations. New hardware projects are always incredibly difficult, but I expect them to ship all their keyboards, possibly with some delay.

Re: My Mechanical Keyboard

#178

Post by chmielewski » Mon, Oct 31, 2016, 3:02 AM UTC

keyle wrote: post #43

sulami wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want less travel on your mechanical keyboard, you can use o-rings on the switches. Also dampens the sound when bottoming out. I personally use one per switch, but you can also go for two rings per switch which gives you laptop-like travel.

It killed one of my DAS actually using those. Not sure what happened, the controller just stopped working and I was told "that happens". And I found later (with a new one) that I much preferred it without those, it felt like a manual clutch on an automatic car.

It's like how something breaks after changing the wallpaper? ;) Cherry blacks swear by o rings because of the no-bump typing.

Re: My Mechanical Keyboard

#179

Post by nitrogen » Mon, Oct 31, 2016, 3:22 AM UTC

jacobolus wrote: post #177

nitrogen wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On that subject, is the modelfkeyboards project legit? It looks cool but they're like six months behind already.

It’s definitely “legit”, in the sense that the creators/backers are members of online keyboard communities with good reputations. New hardware projects are always incredibly difficult, but I expect them to ship all their keyboards, possibly with some delay.

Cool. I really want to try one.

Re: My Mechanical Keyboard

#180

Post by hossbeast » Mon, Oct 31, 2016, 5:22 AM UTC

Steeeve wrote: post #161

hossbeast wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish there was an ergonomic/split version

I've been eyeballing one of these for christmas: https://ergodox-ez.com/collections/keyboard-bundles/products...

Wow, thank you for pointing this out, it looks fantastic. Christmas, indeed ...