My Mechanical Keyboard
joeposnanski.com
joeposnanski.com
But, as soon as my IBM Model M keyboard stopped working last month, it really bothered me (it was my fault for spilling coffee on it). So I got my backup Cherry MX Blue keyboard from Rosewill (also a nice mechanical keyboard for only $60 or so) and then proceeded to take apart my IBM keyboard in the evenings, to see how it works and fix it. I just got a new membrane for it and am doing what's called a "bolt mod" replace plastic rivets in it with bolts.
It is completely irrational spending all this time on it, but it am really attached to that particular keyboard.
Nostalgia and/or emotional attachment aside, I think you can actually rationalize repairing it:
① Knowledge and skills. Repairing stuff increases your understanding of the things you use on a daily basis.
② Emotional reward. Successfully repairing something is simply satisfying.
③ Environmentalism. You manage to keep one more product functioning instead of consigning it to a landfill.
I am willing to bet that the time you sink into this project is mostly your down-time. If you weren't doing this, you might be watching Netflix, or playing a game, or reading a book — it is not lost time.
It may weigh almost as much as me, and look a little grubby, but it seems destined to remain in mint condition forever. If it had a few media keys it'd be perfect.
Keyboards and trackpoints are why I stuck with Thinkpads for years, and despite owning several always hated Macbook keyboards and touchpads. It's also why I was deeply offended when Lenovo replaced the 7 row keyboard with the compromised 6. When I spent a lot of time on iMacs I had a mechanical that was similar to the old extended keyboard (though not as reliable).
So no, as the main interface to a machine, having a good keyboard with adequate travel is hugely important, and not the least bit irrational.
A common misconception. The USB HID Keyboard Boot Protocol, aka the lowest-common-denominator mode, is very limited and is where this belief comes from. 6KRO + modifiers, limited refresh rate, etc.
This mode is only required for compatibility with certain BIOSes and pre-USB operating systems, though some "gaming" keyboards start in this mode and only switch when they've been twiddled by their driver because a subset of those certain BIOSes won't even boot properly with a keyboard that goes beyond the boot protocol connected.
When booted to a remotely modern OS that has a full featured HID Keyboard driver it can support NKRO, up to 1000Hz refresh rates, etc. and as far as I'm aware is able to match or beat PS/2 in all ways.
Anytime I sit at a machine where the USB chip happens to reset, I wish it would use PS/2. It's just not the same, and I'm not even using n-key-rollover.
I can't type on a horrible staggered keyboard anymore. Once you get used to it (about a week for me), it just feels so natural. I can never go back. Staggered keys are perverse, all the contortions necessary just to locate the keys with your fingers.
The only problem is that now I look like a total retard when trying to use anyone else's keyboard, which is a pretty regular occurrence unfortunately as I'm in IT.
I'm pretty sure the surface-mount parts are already done for you on the Infinity Ergodox, switches are just about the easiest things to solder because they're quite large and the pins are far apart.
So yeah, shouldn't be too hard, and you'll have a sense of achievement when it's done! I love using a keyboard that I've assembled myself.
Plus, our profession requires enough creativity to be compared (loosely) to art. An artist's tools need to feel a certain way to evoke the right state of mind for creative work.
Keys where flying over the office. Silence. And then applause.
I don't really understand why professional tools are allowed to be so absolutely horrible.
I'll say one thing about my Unicomp keyboard. I have beat it savagely while enraged at some other screw-up in the computer or OS. I have sent keys flying, but always I could find them and snap them back in easily. It is physically as strong as a brick outhouse. After many years I have succeeded in wearing away some of the corners of the lettering on the E, S, and A keys, but they are still readable, and it is still as tight mechanically as new.
My Ergodox took me countless hours to plan, more to assemble, then even more hours after that tweaking the firmware. It wasn't cheap either, but some of the best money I've ever spent regardless.
The horrible hp membrane keyboards at work, however, I would love to nuke from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
If I enjoy using the keyboard and think it improves my performance, even if I am mistaken, how is that irrational? Happiness is not a measure of efficiency.
Sadly I had to switch to an Ergo 4000 at home and work due to postural issues and while it is a lovely keyboard and works well I miss the clicky-clack (even used https://github.com/skkeeper/linux-clicky for a while) :)
I fully understand what you mean about getting attached to technology though, I feel like that about my franken-desktop and my old(ish) Vostro laptop which I nurse a long, it's dented, battered and scratched but it's mine.
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 type on a rubber dome at home anymore. I might even paint this one and install PBT keys and O-rings, which only shows that I'm enjoying these things enough to develop a full blown fetish.
I also agree that the MacBook keyboards were pretty great before the retina ones were introduced, and they seem to get worse (flatter) with every revision. I now prefer the current Lenovo chiclets over the current Apple ones.
The Apple Trackpad still rocks my socks off, though.
What I could really use is some navigation keys to the left of the keyboard; maybe two columns of keys that are programmable; any innovation actually would be nice.
I recommend the Ergodox wholeheartedly. You can put arrows wherever you want. I have a layer always set up so I hold down a thumb key and the home row becomes arrows. As a touch-typist, I can move the cursor and select text (holding "shift") without moving my hand. I'm using Dvorak layout, but if it was Qwerty, my (right hand) home row goes from this:
Y U I O
H J K L
To:
Esc PgUp Up PgDn
Home Left Down Right End
It is totally natural now for me, I get frustrated being on a keyboard without this functionality.
Odd, I couldn't get that to format correctly, is there anyway to define a code block in hacker news markup?
I blame consumers for the lack of (reasonably-priced/available) innovative options in keyboards.
Everyone who notices my Ergodox thinks I'm the one who's odd, while I think anybody who would use a horrible membrane keyboard for 8 hours a day at work without yearning for something better is the one who is odd.
(Not involved with them, just a customer.)
Or this: https://shop.keyboard.io/
You can get keyboard without a numpad and add a Filco TenKeyPad to the mix.
Navigation keys on the left would be cool. But I'm also really happy with a default tenkeyless. I think that fact that they mostly look the same is good. Like most electric guitars look like Stratocasters or Les Pauls. But then I'm not a big fan of novelty in design in general.
There are people who build their own keyboards using mechanical switches in interesting designs.
Freaks.
All of those you can also customise to make any key do exactly what you want, make the space bar double as a modifier key etc.
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. I can't believe the latest keyboards on the macbooks. I couldn't stand them for 10 mins at the apple store trying to surf. My 2008 Mac book pro keyboard was the best thing on earth. I found it better than my older thinkpad (I know, hot topic).
And I bloody hope that they don't mess up the external keyboard in that fashion, or I will go out and buy 10 and stash them for the future. That's the only down side of the apple keyboard, they last a year at most, after which the switches get mushy.
If you can learn to type on one without bottoming out, you will notice the same speed increases, as well as greater comfort while typing. Be forewarned: bottoming out is a hard habit to break.
It's kind of like the difference between the Nintendo Zapper trigger and the triggers on an Xbox 360 controller.
However this superior typing speed seems to be only a subjective feeling for me, some typing speed programs suggest that the end result about the same. I don't think the reason is the key travel alone, it's also the height of the keycaps and the overall keyboard. I find it easier to move the hands around on the lower profile ones.
For less key travel you could try the offerings from Logitech (Romer G Switches have less travel than) or the newer Cherry Mx Silent Switches (which can however only be found on some rare Corsair offerings). I have a Logitech one and the feeling is significantly different to classical Cherry. However the keycap and keyboard height for all of those is pretty much equal to classical mechanical keyboards.
http://www.razerzone.com/ca-en/gaming-keyboards-keypads/raze...
Now how can I buy the switches individually??
I'm hoping that the new MacBook Pro just announced with the new generation of butterfly keys will be as good as the Retina MBP or the Magic Keyboard; it remains to be seen.
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.
My current keyboard of choice is the Logitech K750. It's cheap but fits my hands and typing style perfectly. My big complaint is that the volume up key is beside the power down key so occasionally when a great song plays and I want to crank the volume, I instead power my machine down and that's a huge buzzkill. My second complaint is that the battery wears out and Logitech hasn't made it easy to replace. I wish I could buy a wired version.
I want to build a custom keyboard for a laptop, even a way to build a custom keyboard using scissor switches would be cool.
Can anybody explain why what made this such a good read? Or point me in a direction where I can improve my own writing?
I felt I already knew what he was going to say (based on the title alone), but it took dozens of paragraphs to get to the meat of it. The history with previous Apple devices didn't seem all that necessary to get to the real point at the end.
Maybe I'm just more impatient as a reader?
Title considerations aside, I'd say the lead-up was more important than the conclusion. The article could be summed up in a single idea: Apple's keyboards are less enjoyable to type on than mechanical keyboards. However, the article isn't really about the superiority of mechanical keyboards; it's about how a loyalist can gradually become disillusioned with the decisions a company makes. Although Apple is ostensibly headed in the same direction as it was a decade ago, not everyone appreciates the trend of its technology. The issue is subtle, as each customer will have a different preferred feature mix. The meandering is important because it makes up the essence of the author's story.
If the article is about "why I switched to a mechanical keyboard" or "How I came to use a mechanical keyboard" then call it that. It will be an accurate description of what the title is about and the reader will know what to expect.
I also noticed every pragraph has a key idea which is expressed in the first sentence. (Or right after a short "filling" sentence).
There's also repetition of same short sentence. That's a tool Trump uses a lot in his speeches. Author uses it only once.
I'm looking for more tools like these that I can't see.
The author explains why we get drawn into good writing about topics we don't care about. Has some great examples in it too.
At the bottom of the article it says he "writes about sports, particularly baseball". Baseball, more than other sports, seems to generate great writing. I don't know if there's something writerly about the sport itself or if it's just a coincidence, but there seems to be a correlation.
It's crazy that I'd pick an ancient R50E (Celeron 1.4Ghz feel the speed!) over my vastly more powerful 17" Vostro but the keyboard really matters.
A keyboard that you might want to try is the Logitech K810. I accidentally bought the Apple keyed 811 variant and have decided to go for the PC variant as I have done so well with the 811 version. You can also get a case for it and nowadays that is what I travel with, leaving the laptop behind. I can use the Logitech keyboard on all devices that matter, swapping between desktop, phone and laptop with a simple keypress.
http://www.logitech.com/en-gb/product/bluetooth-illuminated-...
I also balance this keyboard over the keyboard on my laptop, it somehow doesn't affect the keys below and offers a better typing experience. The keystroke illumination is better than on the Chromebook Pixel, as is the keystroke mechanism feel, and I did have the Chromebook Pixel keyboard down as best in any laptop. For these reasons I am doubling down on the portable Logitech keyboard.
Another idea: maybe go for retro cool keyboards. For instance an SGI keyboard from back in the day. This is a totally standard keyboard without any Windows keys:
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 last MacBook Pro was great for me for 5 years, and I plan on hanging on to this one for a while.
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.
However, a colleague got a Cherry model with Browns, so I could try them out, and they seemed reasonably pleasant. (Haven't used them longer than a minute, though.)
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.
In the '00s it felt like Apple was designing hardware just for people, like me, for whom Unix was important.
Now it feels, to me, that Apple has moved to prioritising a new niche.
That new niche is people for whom social media is a top priority, hence the focus on emojis as a headline feature of macOS and now the MacBook Pro.
Maybe I'm just angry because I'm in an aging demographic and Apple is just not chasing after me anymore.
Or how do we know emojis are not the new language of some sort?
There is still a lot of good stuff going on. Logic Pro X now includes Alchemy (acquired by Apple recently) and to many music producers this is huge. The fingerprint scanner on laptops is also huge I think. "Huge" is on a relative scale of course. And most importantly, the macOS is still UNIX we know and love, with added security and a seriously good GUI.
What is the problem then?
15 years from now Apple will be the most important hardware OEM for Andromeda devices.
No. It's about companies who had leaders like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates who themself cared about their products and did a lot of testing themself and did micro management were it did make sense. Nowadays, the new bosses of said companies give shit and know little. The newer products don't feel like they were created by a single company-mind but cobbled together by many teams that compete against each other. Look at Windows 10, look at XBoxOne, look at the new MacBookPro - so many things that end consumer hate, yet the bosses those companies don't care. The previous generation where a lot better. That's the point. Well, the end consumer moves on. Even if it means looking elsewhere, which means a lot of hurt in short term, but what else can an end consumer do, if they don't listen anymore.
IMO the only legitimately annoying thing I see about it is the telemetry situation as well as Microsoft injecting ads into lock-screen and start menu (but I haven't seen either of these for months.)
Edit: leave room for a little doubt.
But I don't get the 5000-word Apple-rant of an introduction. It's not that he's found a notebook with an excellent mechanical keyboard – it's just an external one. Now if you need a keyboard that probably costs 200$, and is actually thicker than most notebooks of any kind, and you have to attach it to /some/ computer anyway, then Apple just doesn't seem part of the equation.
Keyboard enthusiasts should be singing Apple's praises right now. Not because their new keyboards are great (haven't tried) but they've put it on the agenda in the first place. Just like the retina Macbook made everyone scramble for high-dpi displays (now followed by wide-gamut displays).
> Keyboard enthusiasts should be singing Apple's praises right now.
Are you serious? These keyboards are TERRIBLE. What exactly have they put on the agenda? How to replace pretty good laptop keyboards with crappy ones?
Huge misfire by Apple. Jony Ive will run that company into the ground in a nice, thin, aluminium coffin.
[1] http://www.pcworld.com/article/242037/mechanical_keyboard_fa... [2] http://www.wasdkeyboards.com/index.php/products/keyboard-acc...
[0] https://mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/index.php?l=product_det...
More important---no Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
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.
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.
I do appreciate a thin laptop, but when I sit down at my desktop I love having a "real" keyboard tactile feel, as well as a high DPI mouse.
Razer makes great keyboards and mice. Here's what I use.
* Razer BlackWidow Chroma - Buy Gaming Grade Keyboards - Official Razer Online Store (United States) || http://www.razerzone.com/store/razer-blackwidow-chroma
* Razer Taipan - Buy Gaming Grade Mice - Official Razer Online Store (United States) || http://www.razerzone.com/store/razer-taipan
All the little macro buttons come in handy for various applications too. For example, I use one to type my email address, one to type my phone number -- same as I use shortcuts on my phone (on my phone I type @@ and have my full email show up instead).
I like the silent Razer keyboard, I had a clicky one before, since I often have to type while on the phone or Google Hangouts and having a non-clicky keyboard is just the conscientious thing to do...
Only thing I would like to change: Razer used to have their "professional" series (we're talking like 10 years ago), and instead of being all black and green, they were white and blue... Whatever, at the end of the day if someone wants to talk with me about Fallout or League of Legends I guess it's not a terrible thing... but I do like not advertising "gamer" in a work setting.
https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/59r6wg...
However, MS update the line:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/accessories/surface-...
Is sad is not mech.
http://candytech.in/review-tvs-e-bharat-gold-cheapest-mechan...
really recommend you pick one up if you can.
It also means that he won't be buying a new Macbook Pro.
Here's some hope for the future: http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-systems/razer-blade-pro
It's big, but because of the screen rather than the keyboard.
Looks like a great replacement for people turned of by the toyification of the MacBook Pro line.
$3,699. Ouch.
http://blog.alexellis.io/mechanical-keyboards/
I can't imagine having to type on mushy membrane keyboards again.
To this day I never learned touch typing, and doubt I could. I can't learn foreign languages either. I have a reputation for being the fastest 2-finger hunt and peck typist anyone has ever seen, but I must say a clicky keyboard like the model M makes your apparent speed sound twice as fast as it actually is due to the click on release. A mechanical typewriter doesn't have that.
Then I decided to start coding on my Cooler Master mechanical keyboard to see wether that would give some relieve. Within 2 weeks the pain was completely gone! I now only use my mac keyboard for short messages like this.
I think it's really sad when aesthetics rule over ergonomics, and with the new mac books it only seems to get worse.. Especially the escape key on the oled bar, what idiot made that decision?
However, in that time I have become used to the keyboard shortcuts that come with OSX - CMD + Q for closing _any_ program, copy/paste/cut/etc all using CMD vs CTRL. These have turned out to be _much_ better than what's offered on Windows.
The few times I've grown curious again to try Windows 10, the keyboard shortcuts are absolutely the main reason I jump back to OSX. The terminal can be emulated, there's usually programs on Windows that match what I use on OSX, but the shortcuts, I have been unable to figure that out.
Any tips?
I have this experience frequently with remapping Caps Lock to CTRL.
Are there other ergonomic keyboards with mx switches?
I'm using a tenkeyless mx black at the moment where I had to insert multiple layers of padding to dampen the echo sound of the pcb on each key press.
Anyhow, mechanical keyboard doesn't mean you have to break the budget, I am quite happy with this one I paid $37:
If it was just the mechanical switch, you can always desolder out the old one and solder in a new one.
1. Keyboard 2. Chair 3. Desk 4. Monitor 5. Computer
Sorting where you type, then where you sit, then how you sit and finally how relaxed or strained eyes are is making old age less painful.
Model M -> HHKB -> Kinesis Advantage -> Ergodox EZ
Right now after using Kinesis then Ergodox I can't comfortably type without thumb clusters. They are so important to relax rest of the hand.
I hope the author realizes that others might not appreciate the sound. I find it very hard to do work when someone else in an office is typing on a buckling spring keyboard.
But I have 'flossed' it and added some dampening material in the cover, just to avoid unnecessary complaints.
Seems to me the writer simply got bored of Apple and wants something less ubiquitous to evangelize.
He's sad that Apple are choosing this new keyboard technology for the MBP range, and from what I gather, he won't be purchasing a new Macbook Pro.
I've actually given up on my Cherry MX Brown DAS and switch to a Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Desktop and it's absolutely fantastic. The design is odd at first, but after using it for a few hours I realized that the way I thought about mouse and keyboard ergonomics has been wrong my entire life until now. The pain and finger fatigue that I'd started to feel from the mechnical keyboard and gaming mouse I'd been using as my daily drivers simply vanished after just under a day of standard use. It really is a thing of beauty.
After I tried the sculpt keyboard it has become my new daily driver both at home and work.
My 2012 Asus Zenbook UX31A does that, too.
I am currently making a cad model of keys so I can make molds.
Slightly off-topic, but that moment is when you know you have a problem.
I for example stopped buying ipads when they switched from wide connector to small one. Just didn't feel like having another set of connectors and stands. Those ipads still work, and I still use old cables. I yell at kids not to break them, because aftermarket cables will not charge ipads (devious apple).
I just want alternatives, I am not against Apple, it sucks lately, but we should have MSs and Apples, but strive to go towards Linux and open source.
Oh yes, Go Cubs buddy!
That's not true. http://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=112&cp_id=11213&cs_id=...