question about PC's (keyboards ...)

[Pete Fenelon pete.fenelon@minster.york.ac.uk]

>Steve Kotsopoulos writes:
>> 
>> Byron Rakitzis <byron@netapp.com> wrote:
>> > Additionally, does anyone have any pointers towards a supplier of a
>> > high-quality keyboard?
>> 
>> I've never had a better keyboard than the NCD "Unix style" keyboard.
>> It is similar to what the MIPS Magnum 3000's came with.
>
>I've tried many keyboards (though not the one mentioned above) but I
>am a strong convert to the new Microsoft keyboard.  My past favourite
>was the Sun Mark 4 Keyboard, which is difficult to get now because
>they always ship the shitty PC keyboards with the new Suns, sigh.
>Anyway, the Microsoft keyboard is made by Keytronic, has an excellent
>feel, and the split in the keys is great if you're a touchtypist (if
>not, forget about the keyboard, it'll drive you nuts).
>

I've used several makes of keyboard extensively over the last few years. The
worst of them, barely acceptable by any standards, is Chicony. Their
keyboards feel OK when new, but the feel rapidly deteriorates and keys start
sticking (this seems to be purely due to bad manufacturing and poor tolerances).

Depending on what ``feel'' you like, Alps or Cherry are fine -- the Alps is
a rather clicky keyboard (a little like a real IBM unit, but with slightly
shorter travel and less "clonk"). I find that I can achieve excellent typing
speeds in comfort on this, though it's quite mechanically noisy as my
office-mates will no doubt confirm. It's nice and heavy so it doesn't slide
around your desk and the feet at the back raise it to just the right angle
for me. 

Cherry supply a couple of different keyboards, the best of which has a light
touch and nice action, and is quiet, though it's not as robust as the Alps.
The downside is that it's a membrane-based keyboard and its durability might
not be of the highest, though I've had no problems using them heavily. Maybe
not suitable for public-access machines...

pete (actually, the nicest keyboards of recent years are on TI laptops, but
we're heading off-topic at a rate of knots -- or should that be gnots <grin>).

pete
--
Peter Fenelon - Research Associate - High Integrity Systems Engineering Group,
Dep't of Computer Science, University of York, York, YO1 5DD (+44 1904 433388)
pete.fenelon@minster.york.ac.uk http://dcpu1.cs.york.ac.uk:6666/pete/pete.html