keyboards: it's the little things

[cellio]

When I started using computers, keyboards were practically immortal. I stopped using my first keyboard when a couple keys physically broke such that I couldn't get the caps to stay on. My last couple keyboards have not fared so well.

I have an inxpensive Logitech keyboard. "Inexpensive" wasn't actually one of the governing criteria when shopping; I'm willing to pay for a keyboard that delivers higher quality. But what's locally available in stores tends to not be high-end, and I'm not going to spend real money on a keyboard I can't touch first.

The failure mode is irritating, though. My keyboard works fine in most respects, but... well, let me show you a picture:



I can actually live with the worn-off letters because I mostly touch-type. (I'm mystified by what's special about 'L' and 'O'. No, not gaming hotkeys.) But, as a touch-typist, I rely on those little ridges on the 'F' and 'J' keys to tell me that I'm oriented correctly. In the days of typewriters that didn't matter much as you almost never took your hands off the keys, but with a mouse on one side and sometimes a drink on the other, plus things like arrow keys and paging keys, it's pretty essential to the way I use a computer.

My 'J' ridge is gone. And 'F' isn't doing so well either. WTF? That's supposed to be molded plastic!

(I'm open to suggestions, though keyboards are a matter of personal taste so I don't expect them. I require keys that actually have some depth to them; I hate the Mac flat keyboards, which is why I'm using a generic keyboard with my Mac. I also require "not clicky"; typing on anything makes some noise, but I want a quiet one as much as is feasible and definitely not one of the old-style extra-loud ones. I don't care about special keys or even, most of the time, function keys; you'll notice the pristine state of those keys in the photo, cat hair aside. I would prefer that Escape be full-sized. I need the little legs that raise the back of the keyboard.)

Comments

[metahacker]

can you buy replacement keycaps that fit? Keycaps are a big industry these days.

[gingicat]

I have similar issues with keyboards. And it seems to be very difficult these days to pry keys up to get to debris underneath.

[asher553]

This problem annoys me too. You're right, key bumps are essential for computer keyboards.

My pet peeve on PC laptops is the double mouse button, which usually lacks any way to distinguish the left button from the right by touch, and now they're often joined together in a single piece.

I have not been a fan of the newer, thinner Mac keyboards, and I find it takes more effort to keep my fingers poised over the keys than to rest them on the keys.

[hlinspjalda]

Maybe a bead of epoxy? I have the same problem as you: don't mind losing the labels for keys, but can't live without the homing bumps. But if you clean the keycap well and then put a little dot of epoxy on it to serve as a temporary homing bump, it should be better than nothing while you research more permanent solutions.

Or maybe, like coathanger wire, it'll hold your vehicle together for the next three years. :-)

[damont]

I'm not a touch-typist (watching me type would probably give you fits), but aside from that you and I sound very compatible for what we're looking for in keyboards. Alas, my favorite keyboard ever hasn't been made for 30 years, perhaps more... and it would take a bit of work to make an ADDS Viewpoint keyboard compatible with modern personal computing hardware.

The crazy part of this is, I actually own an ADDS Viewpoint terminal. Bought it at auction when my alma mater decommissioned them. It still has the W&M inventory tag on it -- a tag I wrote the program to generate, printed myself, and applied to the terminal myself. The year we did that inventoey only two labs still had the Viewpoints, and I got assigned to tag everything in both those labs.

If I had the need for a new keyboard and the blunt to spend on a good one to last, I'd definitely look into mechanical keyboards.

[jducoeur]

Yeah, I can only imagine how impossible I would find typing without the little ridges. It says something about how long I've been touch-typing that I rarely notice the problem with *my* keyboard -- which is that the A, S and L keys have long since worn to pure black, and the D, E, O and M are at least half worn-off. Drives Kate *insane* when she has to use my keyboard. (She also touch-types, but doesn't normally use a split keyboard like mine.)

I suspect that I would find typing on a no-labels keyboard intimidating, but that once I stopped *thinking* about it, I would do just fine. (Well, for the letters -- I'm less reliable with the less-common punctuation symbols, especially -_=+.)