Non-boring keyboards

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sleemanj

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#14986 30-Jul-2007 02:30

Hi all, I had to rip the numeric keypad enter key off my beloved blue-green translucent "SkyLink" keyboard the other day (same as http://images.trademe.co.nz/photoserver/11/45542111_full.jpg - I don't really want a used one though, and I'm not in Auckland either), due to it being worn out and being continually in the "down" state.

Anyway, I have to replace this before I do the next load of cheque-number-entering or I'll go mad. I've looked around, and all the keyboards out there on the market these days are tragically dull, it's basically either black, white, or black and silver. Talk about dull. And they are covered in all these useless extra "multimedia" buttons, well, useless to a programmer at least.

Has anybody seen any where which might have some (one!) more interesting keyboards, if I have to spend 16 hours a day in front of the thing, I at least want it to be nice looking.

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James Sleeman
I sell lots of stuff for electronic enthusiasts...

gished

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#80571 31-Jul-2007 13:18

I have the same keyboard but hate it! The keys have too much 'travel' and the ps2 cord is incredibly short. It reminds me of those jelly bean coloured imac's from a few years back.

As for anything but beige kb's:

http://www.ascent.co.nz/productspecification.aspx?ItemID=346714

http://www.ascent.co.nz/productspecification.aspx?ItemID=118023

http://www.ascent.co.nz/productspecification.aspx?ItemID=352538

or just buy a usb numeric keypad (though these are generally more expenisive than most full keyboards)

sleemanj

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#80580 31-Jul-2007 14:07

Heh, horses for courses I guess :)

Thanks for the links, I've ordered the second one - teensy tiny picture so I can't see really what it's like, but for $14 I can't go far wrong, and it does look blue.

jelly bean coloured imac's from a few years back.

Heh, I have a blue-green "jelly bean coloured imac" sitting on the other side of my desk ;-) Colour's good m'kay.

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James Sleeman
I sell lots of stuff for electronic enthusiasts...

xcubed

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#80590 31-Jul-2007 15:36

I find the Logitech G15 keyboard great. It may be designed for gamers, but it makes programming tasks easier too.

The inbuilt LCD can display the current time, CPU & memory usage, playing multimedia, etc (or you can develop your own applets).
The macro keys on the left allow you to define both global and application-specific macros.
The keys are backlit if you like working late at night (like I do) and they have good movement.

HTH,
Carey

gished

276 posts

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#80609 31-Jul-2007 17:23

sleemanj: but for $14 I can't go far wrong, and it does look blue.

I think I said the same thing when I bought my 'Key Plus' kb from dse 5 years ago!

To its credit it still works after taking a fair few beatings from a few angry BF1942 moments.

paradoxsm

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#80621 31-Jul-2007 19:38

I have a ibm "clicky" from 1987, apart from the occasional clean, it's still working perfectly. (I have two, one in DVorak, for when ever i'm feeling brave)

My secondary keyboard is one of those rubber foldable ones on USB

sleemanj

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#80918 2-Aug-2007 19:59

gished:
sleemanj: but for $14 I can't go far wrong, and it does look blue.

I think I said the same thing when I bought my 'Key Plus' kb from dse 5 years ago!

The $14 keyboard arrived today, and it seems to do the job, larger image below. I'ts not quite the blue colour I'd like but will do. Surprisingly even the volume knob etc worked fine in Gnome without any configuration necessary, I guess these must be standardised keycodes these days for such things.

One curious problem though, is that the M key wasn't as springy as it should be, it kept sticking down, even stranger I couldn't see any problem with the key itself (no errant bits of plastic) so I switched the M and N keycaps and both work fine, but if I put the M back in the M slot it sticks again, can't see any difference between them, the M key just works better in the N space. No matter, after 25 years of typing I should be able to do it blindfolded anyway.

Hint: zxcvbnm

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James Sleeman
I sell lots of stuff for electronic enthusiasts...

Lenovo

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bradstewart

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#80946 2-Aug-2007 21:43

G15 is really an awesome keyboard. After months of drooling over them in store I have placed an order for one.

lurker

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#80950 2-Aug-2007 22:11

The G15 is indeed really great and people have written cool things for the LCD. I think I've seen a picture of a newer (amber-lit) model coming out soon, maybe a price drop will be in the works? For anyone buying a keyboard you just can't go past backlit keys.