On Monday 31 August 2015 07:04:22 Joel Rees wrote: > On Mon, Aug 31, 2015 at 4:09 PM, <rlhar...@oplink.net> wrote: > > On Sun, August 30, 2015 8:49 pm, Martin Read wrote: > >> Cherry still *are* (or at some point resumed) making mechanical > >> keyswitches with a rated life in the tens of millions, and the > >> Internet is full of mail-order vendors selling keyboards (from > >> several different manufacturers) built with those Cherry > >> keyswitches. > > > > How much do those things cost? Now that a keyboard can be had for > > $10 or $15, is it better to pay $150 or even $250 for a quality > > keyboard, or replace a $15 keyboard every year or even every six > > months? > > > > And in our present Window$-dominated, rodent-oriented, game-addicted > > and generally-lliterate society, is there anyone who types more than > > a few dozen keystrokes a day for the purpose of intelligent > > conversation -- other than subscribers to a mail list such as this, > > and the authors of pulp fiction? (And no, I do not consider > > messages transmitted by "texting" or "twitter" to be intelligent > > conversation.) > > Petter points out the comfort benefits. For some, however, it's not > just comfort.
Correct. There is another aspect of what I call a usable keyboard. My retirement hobbies include cnc'ing the usual machine shop stuff, like mills and lathes. Thats a "dirty" environment, where a cut chip of metal can fly several feet, depending on method of keeping the cutting tools workspace reasonably clear of these chips, which will adversely effect the smooth surface of the cut if allowed to just lay there and be recut by the passage of the tools next cutting edge. So keyboards need to be both protected from this debris, but also built to ignore it as much as possible. The net result is a tendency to, when keyboard shopping, to stay well away from keyboards whose keycaps are molded with tapered sides surrounded by a close fitting plastic molding. I have an ACER keyboard with vertical sided keys and no surrounding mask, keycaps are directly on the stem of the key that if buried in this "swarf" might not go down and register a keypress because there is something under the keycap. That would be the much preferable failure mode, whereas the taper sided keycap, with the usual overlay mask, allows this materiel to follow the key down, then wedge it down. Thats a very bad dog and can cost dearly in broken tooling or machinery. Unforch, while the ACER is good in that regard, it has about a half a dozen multimedia related keys right at the top edge, and there is no way to pick it up and take it to the machine as its impossible to pick it up without pressing these kays, plus its a corded ps2 board with too short a cord. So at the present time, I have the wireless Logitech K360 on all 4 machines. Vertical sided keycaps that don't easily jam, and a clear area on the back edge, well centered that can be used to pick it up and take it to the machine using its long range wireless. The layout is not ideal by any stretch, but its the most usable keyboard for me. And its relatively cheap. And about 6" narrower than most of the "comfort" keyboards, leaving room to keep a rodent handy to its right on a 20" wide shelf. Speaking of rodents, who, in posession of a brain cell, thinks the finger keys need to register a house fly landing on them? I don't own one that I haven't had to take apart and add additional springs under the buttons so I have to consciously press the button. Having to consciously hold the fingers away from the buttons so an accidental click isn't registered is extremely tiring, and half a ball point pen spring in the right place makes them a pleasure to use. Most mice have a handy place molded in to put the spring into, so why the heck don't they put it in and raise the price a buck? Boggles my mind. Cheers, Gene Heskett -- "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order." -Ed Howdershelt (Author) Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene>
