(Computer, not piano.)

Why have I been suffering the last decade or more?

I learned to type in 7th grade on those old, heavy Olympia manual typewriters. My mother demanded that I take typing in school before I could touch her IBM Selectric. I then spent a lot of years using IBM terminals for mainframe work - the 3178c and the 3279 were built to be used all day every day and the keyboards were phenomenal. The 3178c and the first generations of PCs used the buckling spring switch so they had good tactile feedback and a feel like a Selectric II or III typewriter, which helped IBM sell PCs for word processing to replace typewriters... it had a familiar feel.

Then, something happened. Individual key switches are expensive to make and companies figured out how to make a keyboard with two membranes and a sheet of rubber cups under the keycaps. They didn't feel like typewriters anymore. Some were better than others. The keyboards that came with Dell business computers were still pretty good. The last Dell computer I bought for home came with a really flimsy keyboard with "island" style keys -- that is, gaps around each keycap -- and they moved maybe a millimeter or two up and down. I rustled up a keyboard from an old work computer, but it felt terrible, like a tray of marshmallows. I could never get up any speed on it. Like going from a decent grand piano to a cheap kiddy electronic keyboard.

A few months ago, I saw an article by a guy who had gone to a keyboard convention. Apparently there are keyboard geeks who pine for the days of those old tank-like IBM terminals, and have found sources for real mechanical switches, and keycaps that look like a typewriter, and the wherewithal to build something that talks to a PC.

I started looking into this. By now the market is flooded, mostly with keyboards aimed at gamers where the faster you can press the keys and the faster they can repeat, the better you can play (reminds me of the difference between a piano and a harpsichord... the keys on a harpsichord can repeat very very very fast!). There is now an entire corner of geekdom dedicated to building and customizing keyboards to make them faster, smoother, quieter, louder, smaller, bigger, and so on. And yes, they have meetups and conventions.

Unfortunately, the descriptions of the various kinds of switches and keycaps, and profiles, and stuff only go so far to helping you figure out what you really want. There are very few stores that carry more than two or three keyboards. Like everything else these days, the only real sources are online. So, it's like trying to buy shoes online. You really want to try them on, but the best you can do is order one and if you hate it, send it back and pay for return shipping and an eye-watering restocking fee.

I read reviews. I watched yootoob videos. Being ambidextrous, at least as far as my mouse is concerned, I really wanted a keyboard without the ten-key keypad. That moves the mouse a good three inches closer to the main part of the keyboard, and it's about the same distance away whether I have it to the left or to the right. I still wanted the navigation keys (home, end, pgup, pgdn, arrow keys) because I use them a LOT. So the form factor I wanted was called a TenKey-Less or TKL, or what most makers call at 75% board. The smaller ones start to lose the navigation keys.

I found a web site that seems to sell the biggest variety - mechanicalkeyboards dot com. Apparently, the chip shortages and shipping delays that cars and stuff are suffering has hit the high-end keyboard market, too. I found several boards that I thought would be ideal only to find that they were out of stock and might be available some time next year.

I finally found a model from Leopold with great reviews, Cherry MX Blue switches (very clicky, made in Germany) and a muted color scheme with no flashing lights and stuff. I ordered one. It was a tad over $100, but I figured that was okay to relieve my suffering with the Dell marshmallows.

Oh.

My.

Gosh.

This thing is an absolute joy to type on. I'm not back up to my all-time high of 105 WPM, but I can get up decent speed. It's a bit noisy -- I wouldn't want to share an office with someone else using the same keyboard. The action is light. The keycaps are slightly textured and at approximately the same angle as a Selectric II.

Since I am back doing some part-time work for the NFFMCo, I decided I needed a better keyboard for my work computer, too. I've been using a better, older Dell keyboard that has a smartcard reader so I can't use it for my home computer. I found another mechanical keyboard on craigslist. It's a Varmilo TKL with a separate ten-key pad (like can plug it in separately, or not at all). It was "new in the box" for about 75% the price of new (ahem, it's clear that it was used at least once because it was configured for a Mac). It has Cherry MX Brown keys that have some tactile feedback and are not nearly as clicky-sounding as the Cherry MX Blues. I actually like it better, and had I tried the Browns before I ordered the Leopold with Blues, I would have gotten the Browns. Again, it's like trying to buy a pair of shoes off the interwebs.

So...

Anyone else out there made the jump to a mechanical keyboard?

If you write A LOT, I cannot rave enthusiastically enough for making the leap. And if you don't want the flashing, ever-changing rainbow of lights under the keys (like your keyboard has become a disco dance floor), there are much more staid options out there.

One last advantage: they are much easier to clean than a membrane keyboard. If you get one without a rim around the keys, crumbs, cat hair, and dust just slide right out the bottom.


The Varmilo is in front, the Leopold is in back.

I use the same monitors for my home and work computers, so I just shuffle the keyboards and mice back and forth two switch from one to the other.

Wow!! I love all these crazy niche markets that exist now.

I'm kinda finicky about keyboards too, though I don't recall ever necessarily preferring a typewriter style...

Covid had us all working at home, I got used to the Dell keyboard I have, I think maybe it's a low-profile one? Not sure. But then when I shifted back to working from campus this semester, it was really hard to adjust back to the other style, it's still a dell but maybe has a deeper keybed? I'm not sure exactly what's different.

Anyway, I totally get the preference though. Using the wrong kind of keyboard for any amount of time makes me feel like I'm on the verge of getting an RSI.

As for piano keyboards... My first instrument was a digital. Making the switch to an acoustic was seamless. But when I switched back to a digital after we moved, I had that same feeling. Like the lack of expected response was making me pound on the keyboard when playing a digital. I did eventually adjust but I was very happy to go back to an acoustic piano and keyboard!

Oh, and also re pianos ... when I was grand shopping, I keep playing all these Kawai pianos and being surprised at how much I hated the action. It (i.e. my reaction) was so consistent that finally one day I asked a salesman at a dealer "are Kawai keyboard actions different from Yamaha or other pianos?" And of course, as you probably know, they are indeed different, because they're not all wood.

I know it's just personal preference rather than a question of quality, but my preference was loud and clear!

I bought an ergonomic split keyboard when I was working on my book; I was having major tendinitis from knitting, which also affected my typing. The keyboard is mechanical, and I like the clicky. I don’t use it a lot right now because it takes up more room on my desk, and I’m not usually typing.

I was always a fast typist and watched (and felt) the decline in keyboards over the years.

I saved the decent old keyboard from my earlier iMac to use on my new one, but have since gotten used to the low-profile one, though it’s unsatisfying. I was told the old one should still work on the newer computer but with some loss of function keys.

I should try that old keyboard and see what happens.

My kiddo is into this! He has made dozens of keyboards for himself and friends. I don’t get it, but he thinks it’s so cool!

What a fun read!

Thanks!

I can’t tell you how much I hate cell phone keyboards! When I have to write an email that requires careful thought and editing, I’ll do it on the iMac (chintzy keyboard and all). Toggling for punctuation on the phone is a disgrace!

quote:

Originally posted by RealPlayer:
I can’t tell you how much I hate cell phone keyboards! When I have to write an email that requires careful thought and editing, I’ll do it on the iMac (chintzy keyboard and all). Toggling for punctuation on the phone is a disgrace!

Moreover, editing, highlighting, copying, pasting, and so forth on a cell phone and iPads is a pain in the backside. It's gotten slightly better with the spacebar-mouse thingy on the iPhone... but only slightly.

quote:

It's gotten slightly better with the spacebar-mouse thingy on the iPhone... but only slightly.

What is this?

When you are typing on iPhone or iPad and you want to move the cursor to previous text, press and hold the space bar. It will grey out the keyboard and then you van move your finger around in that area to move the cursor.

If anyone regularly has to proofread or edit on iPad get an Apple Pencil. Its a game changer for editing.

I'm with you. The modern keyboards are simply an invitation to make mistakes. The best ever made were the IBM 3277 keyboard with the 3270 terminal. Heavy as all get out, but I could FLY on those keyboards, the keystroke was deeper, the keytop more deeply indented, and it made a very satisfying noise when you hit it - much like the satisfying sound a Merritt Parkway toll booth used to - it was like you hurt it by throwing the money into it. I will have to look into this.

Yup. When I got to college, we had those 3278 terminals plus some non-IBM ones -- Amdek, maybe? A year or two later, they got a roomful of 3178Cs.



They were the first mainframe terminals with a newer switch technology. That may have been the first "buckling spring" keyboard. They had a distinct PING! instead of the older CLACK.

When I started working for IBM, we mostly had 3279s -- the more modern, boxy terminal with a color screen. The screen was at an angle which I didn't like because it had a lot of glare from the overhead fluorescent lights, despite having an anti-glare coating on the glass. Then, they offered a tilt-and-swivel platform to heave the 70-pound monitor onto. And the 3279 had the beamspring keys like the 3278. These were serious machines with serious keyboards.



Shortly before I left IBM, my group got a handful of 3290 plasma screen terminals. You could have up to four 3270 terminal sessions, each taking a fourth of the screen, or you could blow up any of those to the full screen, or you could have one high-density terminal -- 62 lines of 160 characters -- or split the screen vertically and have two sessions of 62 lines of 80 characters. For writing complex programs, that was the bomb!



Again, they had to the buckling spring keyboard with the sharp, high-pitched PING! And a whopping 24 function keys.

*sigh*

The old days. None of us had ever touched a mouse. Most of us had started with punchcards. We thought this was the absolute pinnacle of technology.

Anyway, my Leopold keyboard with the Cherry MX Blue keys sounds sort of like the IBM Model M, but has a lighter touch. They do make heavier keys, but for my arthritic fingers, I think this is just fine.

Well, I have certainly taken a step or two down the rabbit hole.

The one keyboard I bought new was the Leopold and it has Cherry MX Blue switches -- they are "clicky", that is, they make a distinct audible CLICK with each keystroke. I understand that anyone working in an office these days is expected to type quietly. But I'm working in my basement now, so nobody cares how loud my keyboard is. But, honestly, the sound was starting to annoy me.

I bought my second keyboard off craigslist. It's the Varmilo in the picture above. It has Cherry MX Brown keys which still have a tactile BUMP with each keystroke, but are much quieter. I have really gotten to like it a lot more than the clicky one. I've had the Leopold on my home computer and the Varmilo on my work computer.

There have been a few ads on craigslist from a guy about 40 miles away that is selling a handful of good quality mechanical keyboards. One was a tenkeyless Durgod Taurus Corona (where do they get these names?) with Cherry MX Brown switches. I didn't feel like driving all the way to check it out. But he happened to be driving through my neighborhood last week and we met up. I bought the keyboard. It's a really nice unit. It has white backlighting that shines through the keycaps -- so much so, that it's kinda hard to read the letters on the keys with the lighting turned off. It does have a slightly different feel and sound compared to the Varmilo, but it is definitly not pingy clicky. I am typing on it right now. In fact, this post is really just an excuse to type on it.



I was really hoping for a keyboard that was like a harpsichord -- a very light touch and a nice tactile snap. The Cherry MX Browns are nothing like that, but they are a delight to type on.

I have a new problem, though. When it is connected to my Dell XPS desktop computer, the computer won't go to sleep.

I did briefly use a less-expensive Razer Blackwidow keyboard -- one aimed at gamers. If I recall correctly, it would allow the computer to go to sleep, but the computer wouldn't wake up by pressing a key on the keyboard.

I have a feeling it has something to do with the backlighting. I think the computer sees that as a USB device that is always active, so the computer never decides that there's no activity for 10 or 20 minutes or whatever it's set to.

I'm going to fiddle with the power settings in Windows, and try turning the backlighting off, although I suspect that's just a local soft mode within the keyboard.

I can also swap the Durgod and the Varmilo to see if the Varmilo allows the computer to sleep. The Varmilo also has white backlighting, but they keycaps are opaque, so it just yields a pool of light under the keys. I have the lighting turned off.

Anyway, I'd still say that anyone who does a LOT of typing should try a mechanical keyboard. I recommend a board with Cherry MX Brown switches. Unless you can actually try one for a day to decide that you like a different kind of switch better, the Browns seem to be the most popular option for typing.

quote:

Anyone else out there made the jump to a mechanical keyboard?

I have not, for this reason:

quote:

The action is light.

I've always found the action on the mechanical keyboards I have tried too heavy.