mechanical keyboards

[masraum]

Originally Posted by jyl

mausram, I’ve thought about getting the mythical Model M ergonomic keyboard. If my carpal tunnel returns, I’ll be really sorry I don’t have one.

I'm all about ergonomic. I've looked at and thought about a lot of designs and how they work with the body and the task at hand (no pun intended), and settled on the "welled" keys as what I think are about the most ergonomic option available. I also like the wide gap between the right and left hand. The style of keyboard that I'm using may not suit everyone. I think lots of folks would avoid it because it's "weird." I'm also sure that some folks might have a problem aclimating to something that different. After all, all bodies are a little different so what suits one person isn't going to suit everyone the as well or maybe at all.

Where I really went off the deep end is when I switched to the Dvorak key layout.

[john70t]

I bought a red dragon with mixed results.

pro: Keys are solid mechanically-clicky and perfect. Not mushy at all. The keys are slightly concave and edgy, and all the same profile, but sideways force results in the same click. They include a couple extra switches with different tactile response. Built like a tank. RGB backlit colors in every key. Every key can be individually lit a different color to make your own usage pattern.

con: No literature at all. Company is Chinese. Default backlighting is waves of rainbow color patterns across the board. Every optional scheme is the same wavy crap. So annoying. And no way to change that without downloading additional software. Not doing that. Nope. AMD and Radeon try to install their own monitoring software. There outta be a law dagnabbit. I did managed to get it to a solid green state. That will work.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Otter74

When I got my first MacBook in 2007 and retired the PC that my dad had built for me*, I kept my two IBM keyboards because i loved their feel. I don’t remember where they are as I haven’t seen them in ages - I hope I didn’t get rid of them - but it would be nice to be able to use them at work.

*Building computers was one of my dad’s hobbies, so we had an Apple I (II?) in ~1981, and growing up in the 80s and early 90s we had 5 PCs in the house - one each for me, my sister and my mom, and two for dad.

The main problem is that way back there was the "keyboard" connector which I think was a din-9 round plug. Then the P/S2 keyboard connector took over. And now everything is USB (mostly A, but I'm sure some modern stuff is USB-C only) so the biggest problem with some of the old keyboards is likely to be how to get them connected to modern PCs.

[stevej37]

My first computer (in the 80's?) was a Radio Shack Color Computer. I think that was their first combined computer/keyboard unit.

In college, I learned on a punch-card terminal that was wired to the main computer (which took up a whole floor of the building) 1972

[jyl]

Originally Posted by masraum

The main problem is that way back there was the "keyboard" connector which I think was a din-9 round plug. Then the P/S2 keyboard connector took over. And now everything is USB (mostly A, but I'm sure some modern stuff is USB-C only) so the biggest problem with some of the old keyboards is likely to be how to get them connected to modern PCs.

You can buy a converter PS2 to USB. About $6 on Amazon. For XT to USB, you buy a “Soarer’s” converter, named after the guy who first made them. Cost about $30. Amazon, eBay, etc. There are converters for weirder protocols too.

[cstreit]

Check out mechanical switch keyboards. Popular with the gaming community.