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 didnā€™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 donā€™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 donā€™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 keyboardā€¦

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Iā€™ve actually only been playing since getting the new keyboard. (and itā€™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 itā€™s awesome.
I learned how to type in the early 80ā€™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, etcā€¦ 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 timeā€¦ :slight_smile:

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I canā€™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: Letā€™s just pan over and get the rest of the office menagerieā€¦ 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 itā€™s folded up and being used as a monitor stand).

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

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Thereā€™s a thread for thatā€¦ 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 soā€¦ Squishy.

But what I really like, is that my keyboard isnā€™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 Iā€™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 Iā€™m actually doing something, you have a rhythm. This is something I didnā€™t know I missed from the Model M daysā€¦ When your on a roll, there is almost a beat. Click click click CLACK click click click CLACK. Itā€™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 isnā€™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. Wasnā€™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 theyā€™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. Donā€™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 youā€™re using the arrow keys youā€™re probably missing out on many of vimā€™s lovely features.

I USE VIMā€™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.