Going back to a mechanical keyboard turned me into a butterfingered idiot

I still wish atarifan2600 had sent me the one he had back in 2013:

Huh, That was your post also Rob:

Ohh those look nice. I may have to start a specific savings fund and get one.

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Just about the cheapest name-brand keyboard you can get. I swear by 'em.

My all time favorite, though, is this:

The only thing I didn’t like about them is the clear plastic case. Once the keyboard gets crap in it, it looks nasty. Just try to keep crap out of a keyboard in a newspaper office.

I don’t quite get the mechanical keyboard cult. I grew up with them, but as soon as I got one of the cheaper membrane keyboards, I was hooked.

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Back in $school we were taught to use the lightest, fastest, twitch like touch possible. These days I doubt I could surpass 50 wpm reliably, but I make no noise and don’t break a sweat. I could not use that technique on a mechanical keyboard.

I picked up a generic microsoft wireless keyboard and mouse for setting up an office in a hotel when needed, and the only thing I miss is backlighting. The price was right and it looks good enough, and the mouse is high enough quality that I can easily game with it.

I guess my final appraisal in all this is: general quality is high enough that it matters less than it once did.

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How has your slither.io game responded to the keyboard change @beschizza?

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Just look at it.


Closer view of top keyboard…

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I’ve actually only been playing since getting the new keyboard. (and it’s fine)

Is there a keyboard in that picture? I think my envy for the monitors knocked me senseless.

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Man, I love mechanicals.
I have a DASKeyboard (used with my MacMini) and it’s awesome.
I learned how to type in the early 80’s in HS and was the last class to learn on a genuine, hipster-friendly fully mechanical typewriter. As in did not plug in.
I will absolutely destroy any of the free kind that ship with a Dell, etc… when I work in a corporate job and take what they give me. Those last me about 6 months before I beat them to death and have to ask for another.
People complain about my loud typing all the time… :slight_smile:

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I can’t stand the trendy chiclet keyboards, most especially so if they have flat-topped keys and/or ridiculously small key travel. As for membrane vs. clicky, either style works for me.

My own keyboard menagerie sports: a 1987 Model M on my desk at work, a cheap Kensington membrane keyboard on my desk at home, and several pre-2011 ThinkPads. I want my keyboard to be a useful tool, not a fashion statement.

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This rig (behind me as I stand typing this) actually has better monitor layout than the standing/sitting one. Also different keyboard.

Edit: Let’s just pan over and get the rest of the office menagerie… counting the first image in the earlier post, there are six different pointing devices and six different keyboards in view (one of them is almost invisible 'cause it’s folded up and being used as a monitor stand).

I’m lucky if I only have to use three or four types of keyboard in a day!

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There’s a thread for that… go add it to the list, please!

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I love my mech with Cherry blues, but it ruined other keyboards for me. The average keyboard now feels so… Squishy.

But what I really like, is that my keyboard isn’t disposable rubbish hardware. I used to go through a keyboard a year or so. But my mech can handle both me typing like a gorilla (I grew up with a Model M) and spilt coffee and beer. In the first month I killed it with a cup of coffee. I took out the board, left it on the patio for a couple hours, and it was as good as new. In a year I wore all the texture off the ABS keys that came with it (not the characters at least, I had a ā€œninjaā€ style set), but for $30 and 20 minutes of work, I had a new keyboard.

Also, everyone in the house knows when I’m typing. As they should. The sound of it is both a good thing and a bad thing. When I type I feel as if I’m actually doing something, you have a rhythm. This is something I didn’t know I missed from the Model M days… When your on a roll, there is almost a beat. Click click click CLACK click click click CLACK. It’s trance enducing. The downside is when you get on that roll at night, when someone is sleeping.

My mech is probably the best upgrade I made to my computer, that isn’t an SSD. Typing used to be thoughtless, thoughts to fingers to computer, into something enjoyable and tactile.

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YOU"RE DOING IT WRONG!

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Yeah. I have a co-worker who was taught by her grandfather how to type on an old Remington. One that he tuned to be extremely resistant.

I should get a photo of her keyboard. Every single letter has been worn off the keys.

I should also get a recording of her bashing those poor keys. When she types, she means it.

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I can do that. Not quite silent but certainly stealthy. Does me slow down a lot though.

One of my mechanical keyboards is a 67 key Filco. Wasn’t too hard to find it. It has some pretty neat features too. Like DIP switches to change key configuration, extra caps to deal with your preferred key layout, and a removable USB cable.

Looks like they’re not selling my model anymore? Hard to tell from a phone.

Pretty sure my loud clacking does that. :laughing: wear the caps out on the home row anyway. Don’t see a need to pay more for letterless caps.

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Using the arrow keys is considered a bad habit, because if you’re using the arrow keys you’re probably missing out on many of vim’s lovely features.

I USE VIM’S LOVELY FEATURES, WHICH INCLUDE ARROW KEYS!!

:smiley:

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M-x emacs-is-a-much-better-text-editor

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It takes practice, but the quickest twitch (which takes minimal muscle effort) is objectively faster.