I said I always buy a "real" keyboard (and monitor, and trackball) to plug into a laptop. I have thought hard about spending real money on them, too, or at least on the keyboard considering how much time I spend on mine. But so far I've gone the other way. About once a year I spill a Coke on my keyboard; I just drop it in the bathtub, pick out a backup and get back to work. No lost time (or rather very little) and no tearing of hair.
(I say I "drop it in the bathtub" because I have repeatedly read that keyboards recover just fine when soaked and then allowed to dry out. So far I have never yet gotten a keyboard back this way, though; I always end up having to throw it away. Hints on a better way gratefully accepted.) Because of this, so far I buy El Cheapo brand. I can't get El Cheapo for $10 any longer, but I think the last time I bought a few of them they were less than $30. But, oh boy, do I miss tactile feedback! IBM's software is famously hard to use, but their hardware is reliably exceptional. Heck, I liked the old Selectrics, too. --- Bob Bridges, robhbrid...@gmail.com, cell 336 382-7313 /* There are trivial truths and great truths. The opposite of a trivial truth is plainly false. The opposite of a great truth is also true. -attributed by Niels Bohr to his father */ -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU> On Behalf Of Mike Schwab Sent: Tuesday, July 4, 2023 16:54 https://www.twindata.com/keyboards/twindatakeyboards.htm 5250 / 3270 keyboards w PS/2 or USB connector. IBM 3270 APL converted to USB. https://www.pckeyboard.com/page/product/1394625 On Tue, Jul 4, 2023 at 3:39 PM rpinion865 <0000042a019916dd-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> wrote: > > Don't remember the manufacturer, I want the actual 3270 keyboard with the USB > connect. > > -------- Original Message -------- > On Jul 4, 2023, 3:53 PM, billogden wrote: > > > Interesting discussion on screen sizes, keyboards, etc. Many of us > > have various different opinions. My opinions have changed since the > > early days when some of us (the "older" ones) used 2260s instead of > > 3270s. I am using a 21" screen at the moment, with three "windows" > > open on it. I would not want a larger screen and perhaps would > > prefer a slightly smaller one. I prefer a size that does not require > > me to constantly move my head to focus on different parts of the > > screen. For 3270 emulation I prefer 133 character width (and most of > > us probably agree on that) and at least 50 lines high (and this > > could vary somewhat). I find 17" laptop screens OK, but not great. > > More important for me (because I work mostly with text) is having > > good character resolution. Perhaps because I as not as young as I > > was a few years ago, I find long periods with crudely-formed > > characters to be more exhausting. Given a choice, I would say this > > is more important than the actual screen size. I am not fond of > > laptop keyboards --- IMO they range from barely OK to poor. At the > > moment I am using an old PC AT keyboard (with the "round" adapter > > plug going to a converter to connect it to a USB port). It has the > > numeric keypad (which I do not use) and has good "movement" of the > > keys that provides a positive feedback for an old guy like me. (The > > "real" 3270 terminals had great keyboards!) I can deal with the red > > "mouse control" on IBM-designed laptop keyboards when needed, but I > > prefer a "real" mouse (with the center "dial" function, if > > possible). I use the same glasses for reading books and for dealing > > with terminals -- I am lucky that they are fairly "weak" glasses. > > The discussion about z/OSMF? One of these months I will need to > > spend some time with it. These days I mostly use a relatively slow > > machine for z/OS and the performance is not attractive for z/OSMF. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
