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From: Xah Lee on 12 Jun 2010 22:11 ⢠The Idiocy of Hacker Keyboards http://xahlee.org/emacs/keyboards_hacker_idiocy.html some review and commentary on keyboards that's often talked about among programers. comment welcome. plain text version follows. ------------------------------------------- The Idiocy of Hacker Keyboards Xah Lee, 2010-06-12 This page is a review on several often talked about computer keyboards among programers. Spend few hours keyboard geeking again. -------------------------------------------------- Das Keyboard das keyboard The Das Keyboard. image source The Das Keyboard. Famous for being a keyboard with no labels. Good as a novelty, nothing else. How much to pay to impress friends? $129! How did this keyboard came about? According to the official site daskeyboard.com, the programer and company founder Daniel Guermeur, wanted to learn touch typing. The first thing is to get rid of the key labels, and the rest is history. -------------------------------------------------- Happy Hacking Keyboard The Happy Hacking Keyboard. The worst keyboard possible. No function keys, less modifier keys, no number keypad, no home/end/PageUp/ PageDown keys. A earlier model does not even have arrow keys. happy hacking keyboard lite2 The Happy Hacking keyboard, model lite 2. image source So, when you need to press F1, now you need to press 2 keys. Hacker Progress? So, perhaps it has small physical dimension merit? Well, there are many keyboards with full-sized-keys but similar in overall physical dimension yet with full function keys and dedicated PageUp PageDown keys. This keyboard is noticed by many reviews or programing sites. Occasionally, you see programers on the web claiming how they love this keyboard. Why would such a bad keyboard gets talked about? Probably due to the name âhappy hackingâ, and the ostensible removal of the Windows logo label. A effect of marketing. Like some art things, that are useless, nobody buys, but everybody knows. If you own one, you can brag about it. I got curious on this keyboard's history. Apparently, it's made by PFU Systems, and the website states: âa Fujitsu companyâ, of Japan. Quote: PFU Systems, Inc. is the U.S. subsidiary of PFU Ltd. of Japan. That somewhat makes it understandable. If you have visited Japan, you'll notice that everything comes in a miniatured size. Cars, roads, furnitures, office equipments, rice bowels, ... Cost? About $70. -------------------------------------------------- Optimus Maximus Keyboard Optimus Maximus keyboard. A keyboard with the feature of having a display on each key. optimus maximus 01w Optimus Maximus keyboard. image source The display are not just simplistic LEDs. They can even display video. Each key features a 48x48 pixels display, updated 10 times per second. Effectively, the key labels are dynamic and can change, great if you are a heavy key macros user (programer and gamer). Unfortunately, there are many practical problems. Not ergonomic. Optimus Maximus Keyboard The official site has a Flash app keyboard toy you can play with. At artlebedev.com How much? $1800. It is art. -------------------------------------------------- Model M keyboard Model M keyboard, made famous in early 1990s with IBM's PS/2 personal computer. model M keyboard Model M Keyboard. I happen to have used it for a few months in 1990. What people love about this keyboard is its superior tactile feedback. It is spring mechanics based, so that, when you put pressure on a key, after a certain point, =click!=, it sucks you down. That means, you can a clean, precise, feel whether the key is pressed. A draw back is that it is rather loud. The sound came from its spring based mechanics. It's crispy and precise. Many modern, rubber dome based keyboards are also loud, due to bad design. Unicomp currently makes modern version of keyboard with this mechanism. You can buy it at: http://pckeyboards.stores.yahoo.net/keyboards..html Price: ~$70. -------------------------------------------------- .... For more keyboard reviews, see: Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000, Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 2000, Computer Keyboards Gallery. Xah â http://xahlee.org/ â
From: Xah Lee on 13 Jun 2010 21:50 On Jun 13, 2:53 pm, Joe Fineman <jo...(a)verizon.net> wrote: > Xah Lee <xah...(a)gmail.com> writes: > > How did this keyboard came about? According to the official site > > daskeyboard.com, the programer and company founder Daniel Guermeur, > > wanted to learn touch typing. The first thing is to get rid of the > > key labels, and the rest is history. > > When I was taught touch typing in high school, I was given a set of > blank caps to cover the keys of my typewriter, for precisely that > purpose.  I was allowed to take them off at the end of the course, > however. > > * > > As for me, I use a Kinesis, tho it is absurdly expensive (presumably > because it is often prescribed, so that health insurance pays for it) > and I find some of the instructions anatomically impossible.  Its main > virtue is that it gives your thumbs a lot of useful things to do. what do you mean by «and I find some of the instructions anatomically impossible»? ------------------------------------- spent about 8 hours in the past 2 days keyboard geeking again. Reworked several of my articles on keyboards, recheck links, read a bunch more reviews and history, watched many videos, thinking about the design, etc. Ah, the joy of keyboard geeking. I'm probably among the top 100 keyboard freaks in the world. ⢠Keyboard Shortcut Design http://xahlee.org/comp/keyboard_shortcut_design.html in the above page you'll find some devices that ads 10 or 20 programable keys. I LOVE it. Think i'll get one soon. ⢠Apple Keyboards http://xahlee.org/emacs/keyboards_Apple.html ⢠Kinesis Contoured Keyboard http://xahlee.org/emacs/keyboard_Kinesis.html Also, the hacker keyboard page now has few embedded youtube videos, so for example you can see how the Daz Keyboard makes its click sound, and a video of the Optimus Maximus Keyboard with its keys displaying video. ⢠The Idiocy of Hacker Keyboards http://xahlee.org/emacs/keyboards_hacker_idiocy.html Xah â http://xahlee.org/ â
From: Marc Mientki on 14 Jun 2010 04:02 Am 13.06.2010 04:11, schrieb Xah Lee: > • The Idiocy of Hacker Keyboards > http://xahlee.org/emacs/keyboards_hacker_idiocy.html > -------------------------------------------------- > Model M keyboard > > Model M keyboard, made famous in early 1990s with IBM's PS/2 personal > computer. > model M keyboard > > Model M Keyboard. > > I happen to have used it for a few months in 1990. What people love > about this keyboard is its superior tactile feedback. It is spring > mechanics based, so that, when you put pressure on a key, after a > certain point, =click!=, it sucks you down. That means, you can a > clean, precise, feel whether the key is pressed. A draw back is that > it is rather loud. The sound came from its spring based mechanics. > It's crispy and precise. Many modern, rubber dome based keyboards are > also loud, due to bad design. > > Unicomp currently makes modern version of keyboard with this > mechanism. You can buy it at: http://pckeyboards.stores.yahoo.net/keyboards.html > > Price: ~$70. > > -------------------------------------------------- YEAH! +3 for old IBM Model M! :-) 3 because I have 3 (work, home) working units (and 2 broken - as spare part storage). Unfortunately the Modell M (with PS/2-USB adapter) is not working properly with my new MacBook Pro :-( This is very likely not problem of the adapter, because on dell laptop everything is working very fine and on Mac normal keys are working, too. Only modifiers are wrong. regards Marc
From: Elena on 14 Jun 2010 07:35 On 14 Giu, 08:02, Marc Mientki <mien...(a)nonet.com> wrote: > Unfortunately the Modell M (with PS/2-USB adapter) is not working > properly with my new MacBook Pro :-( This is very likely not problem > of the adapter, because on dell laptop everything is working very fine > and on Mac normal keys are working, too. Only modifiers are wrong. Not all adapters are created equal, that is: not all adapters work the same with different hosts. I recommend checking another adapter. Ask here if someone else has already found one which works with your setup: http://geekhack.org/forumdisplay.php?f=31
From: Elena on 14 Jun 2010 07:44
Dear fellow Dvorak user - ^_^ - have you ever tried customizing IBM Model M's standard layout? That's what I've done, since I'd like an ergonomic keyboard too, but using one would hamper my proficiency with laptop (standard) keyboard layouts, which I happen to use a lot. To get a better layout from a standard one, I recommend shifting right hand keys one key to the right, and shifting bottom left hand keys one key to the left. You should swap some modifiers too (I've swapped Caps and Esc (Vi user here), Ctrl and Alt). I agree that some "hackers' keyboards" are more about looks than effectiveness. |