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Comment by ericdykstra | Hacker News Reader

I'll throw my support for Filco here. I've been using the same Filco Majestouch Tenkeyless with Cherry Browns as my only home keyboard for 10 years, and it's as good as it was on the day I bought it. Absolutely fantastic build quality.

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My Filco Majestouch lasted barely a year before the USB cable failed at the keyboard end.

It's currently lying in the corner whilst I try to stomach paying £25 for a third-party cable made with their custom internal connector.

I'd prefer if they just had a USB female socket on the keyboard and then I could use any cable.

Why do keyboards have hard-wired cables anyhow? They have plenty of space for a socket and it would eliminate another point of failure.

nothing stops you from opening the keyboard, remove that socket (whihc and either resolder the cable or put a usb socket of your liking in. USB is no magic.

Did you seek to get it repaired/replaced under the Consumer Rights Act?

  Why do keyboards have hard-wired cables anyhow?

Captive cables only need enough copper to supply enough current for the device they're built into.

Separate cables, OTOH, need enough copper for 500mA with a certain voltage drop to be USB standard compliant. Means 24AWG or bigger for a 2m cable [1].

That's why your keyboard, mouse and webcam have skinny cables while other USB cables are much thicker.

[1] http://cdn2.goughlui.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/USB-Cabl...

A large proportion of modern mechanical keyboards have a mini/micro USB port on the bottom, with a strain relief channel for the cable. It's my preferred configuration - it won't accidentally unplug, strain on the cable won't damage the port and you can easily replace the cable if it's damaged.

https://www.mechtype.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/cable-ro...

> Why do keyboards have hard-wired cables anyhow?

Low-speed USB devices are not permitted by the spec to have a detachable cable. The fancier keyboards are probably full- or high-speed, though, so that doesn't apply to them. As someone else said, mechanical strength may have something to do with it. Keyboards get shoved around a lot, and a connector would likely break off too easily.

I ordered a new one from https://pexonpcs.co.uk/products/filco-cables but you can also make your own USB cable yourself if you manage to get the right connector. FYI, the female socket on the Filco keyboard breaks apart when pulling the USB cable, it's made of very fragile plastic.

There are other, possibly better options if you want Topre switches - the Leopold FC660M, the HHKB Professional and the Cooler Master Novatouch. The latter has the advantage of using Cherry MX compatible stems, if you ever want to change the keycaps.

Personally, I'm of the opinion that even tenkeyless keyboards are too wide for most right-handed users - unless you're very broad-shouldered, you'll either have to skew the keyboard to the left or use your mouse too far to the right. 60% and 68% keyboards offer real ergonomic benefits, by simple merit of being narrower.

I'm in the same boat, I find these benefits of a 60% keyboard to be well worth it. Desk space, and a large mouse pad seem to pay dividends, particularly with multiple monitors.

If you do have broad shoulders however, narrower keyboards are rather painful to use. Right now, I'm using a Logitech G710+, which is a full-sized IBM-syle keyboard, with an extra row of garbage buttons on the left side. If my left hand is in line so it is comfortable and inline with my shoulder while on the asdf keys, my right hand wants to be half off the right side of the numpad. Makes typing left-handed and mousing right-handed very comfortable, but typing with both hands on the homerow somewhat cramped. It'd be interesting to try a keyboard that had the keys split apart so that asdf was in line with one shoulder and jkl; in line with the other.

A split keyboard would be a very good idea.

https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/comfortable-ergo-keyboard/

FC660M is Cherry switches. M suffix stands for Mechanical. You get Topre switches in the C version, which means Capacitive.

+1, I've got blue switches though, much to everyone's annoyance. Oh well, it's just me and my computer most of the time.

The only issue I have with it is its cleanliness, need to take it apart and give it a good scrub again sometime. There's also some rust on the base plate, probably because I scratched the paint at some point. But that's not something you can see or is a problem when using it.

It's mostly for leisure though, at work I've got an Apple wireless keyboard; the low profile works for me to prevent rsi issues.

Got the exact same keyboard, only 8 years old but 0 problems with it. Had to clean it out a few times but been very easy. It even came with a key removal tool!

that's exactly the keyboard I have. Solid product.

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