Keyboards
I’m a keyboard junky. I have dozens. I sometimes switch between keyboards multiple times during a single day. Yes, it’s a problem.
Here are my four favorites. Clearly, I like the tactile feedback of clicky keyboards:
- IBM Model M – the most obnoxious for my neighbors, but with the best feel ever. Unusable if you have a headache. One of two keyboards on my list with a Wikipedia page.
- DAS Keyboard Professional – came second because I think the keyclick is a bit high-pitched, and my spacebar squeaks. I don’t need the key labels, but I’m not geek enough, I guess, to go blank.
- NMB RT8255C – good click, solid. This keyboard is so obscure I couldn’t even find something to link to. I came across this keyboard at a business center in the Albany airport, and it took me several years to find one (I bought two, actually). My one complaint is the weird placement of the backslash key, in the top row, left of backspace.
- Kinesis Advantage – something completely different, for when the clicking gets to be too much, or my wrists start to hurt. I’ve got the cool Qwerty/Dvorak one, just for the key labels. I’ve been typing Dvorak for 20 years, and this is my first and only Dvorak-labeled keyboard.
And the runners up:
- Microsoft Wireless Entertainment Desktop 7000 – love the action, hate the F-keys.
- Dell AT101 – the “Black Alps” switches are quieter than the “buckling spring” switches in the Model M, and I find the keys a bit “loose” – they rattle.
Finally, the ones you can’t pay me to use:
- Logitech MX3200 – totally flat, uninspired. Not sure why I bought it.
- The new Apple Keyboard – I don’t even know where to start.
Just thought I’d share.
404 on the Model M link (you have a double-paste of the URL).
Fixed. Thanks.
Being a keyboard junkie can be a tough life. My classic favorite has always been the Northgate Omnikey http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northgate_Computers#Keyboards. Big spring action rebound similar to the IBM Model M. And same Click-Clack sound. (How Birdman and Wabi could stand it I don’t know.) They also kept the control key to the left of the A, “where God intended it to be,” as Jerry Pournelle was fond of saying. When Northgate sold their keyboard business to Avant I took no chances and bought three at something like $150 each.
The Northgate/Avant keyboards have the big old 5-pin connector cable, which you can run through a converter cable — but that still makes an about-to-fall-out-at-any time connection. What finally made me retire the Omnikey was my shoulder. The keyboard has huge girth; the long swing between home row and the mouse resulted in the development of tendinitis.
The solution came the form of the Happy Hacker keyboard. With a width less than 30 cm the mouse can nestle in close. There are two families of Happy Hacker keyboards and it is an important difference. The Lite models use a membrane switch. These are nice, and I have two, but Professional series are ones made for keyboard lovers. The finger feel of the Pro 2 is smooth and gorgeous. They ship from Japan, cost $250, and have very subtle embossed lettering. http://www.geekstuff4u.com/happy-hacking-keyboard-pro-2.html. For those that can fly blind (not me), they sell a model with blank black keytops. Operating a naked keyboard must be bragging point among the Tokyo hip.
One complaint: the absence of an inverted T arrow keypad is a sorely missed feature. I’m still trying to train my right hand’s minor fingers to master the Rt-Fn – [ ; ‘ / substitute arrangement.