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That should be modded Funny, or Sad. But in truth Slashdot opinions are nearly as likely to be "astroturf" as legitimate compared to anywhere else.

Personally I do like mechanical keyboards, and for a non-backlit model the Cherry mechanical keyboard (not a 3rd-party keyboard using Cherry switches) I own and can recommend the G80-3000 (USB 104-keys US keymap), available Digikey and other (industrial) electronic suppliers globally. Likely just not your local / mail-order computer shop.

Otherwise for mechanical keyboards it is more a matter of selecting which key switch characteristics (resistance, push-length, noise, etc) than particular brands.

Of course any good keyboard discussion requires mentioning the IBM Model-M successors from UniComp with distinctive yet potentially annoyingly loud, buckling spring switches.

Or you could simply get a Cherry keyboard. This was once mentioned on the das keyboard site directly, that the keyboard is actually made by Cherry, but now it simply says "German-engineered". Probably, because they now have custom case instead of just selling one of the Cherry models without labels.

I personally have one of the simplest models and quite happy with it :)

Or you could simply get a Cherry keyboard. This was once mentioned on the das keyboard site directly, that the keyboard is actually made by Cherry, but now it simply says "German-engineered". Probably, because they now have custom case instead of just selling one of the Cherry models without labels.

I personally have one of the simplest models and quite happy with it :)

The "Das" is essentially a rebadged Cherry G80-3000.

I have one of these at work, and a Model M at home. The Cherry is lighter (both weight and keyforce), quieter, and has shorter travel than the Model M. I liked the Cherry so much I bought one for my dear old mother who is a legal secretary and her arthritic fingers cleared up (professional typists should sue IT departments who stick them with those godawful $10 POS membrane keyboards that everything ships with these days).

The Cherry I've had for about 8 years, the Model M 2. I'm not sure which I like more, they both have their charms. The sheer volume of the Model M is an *advantage* because it keeps my Mother-in-law from disturbing me because, damn, it sounds like I am _working_ from quite a distance away. And if she does get too close, I can indeed expect to be able to bludgeon her to death with it. The Cherry is quieter which makes it more considerate in my open-plan office at work. The feedback quality is just as good (if not the same "flavour").

The Cherry is available at a far more reasonable price (local to the UK, via the likes of PC World Business) than the Model M is (I got mine via ebay and it cost a pretty penny). If you can get an "M" from a junk bucket, power to you.

Without doing objective measurements I'd find it hard to pick one over the other, but if my Model M ever drops dead and I can't find a replacement I'll be happy enough replacing it with another Cherry.

I have an '86 Model M, and the only other keyboard that holds a candle to it is the Cherry G80-3000.

It's not as beat-your-PHB-to-death-and-keep-on-trucking robust as the IBM, but the key switches are just as positive and consistent, if a little lighter on the touch. I have the Cherry at work, the IBM at home.

I bought my dear old Mom, a legal secretary, one of these to replace the revolting membrane keyboard provided as standard by her office. The arthritis in her index finger improved markedly in a few weeks.

Just buy one of these cooool keyboards, it's called CyMotion Master Linux G86-21070 and appears to be available only with german layout, e.g. here, but you'll probably appreciate the additional key.

incorrect use of keyboards!

Get touch-typing lessons. Yes, lessons. Or that awful "mavis beacon" program. There is a right way and a wrong way to type. One key indicator (as pointed out in a recent emacs thread): if you use the same hand to press a key and hold down a modifier, YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG. There is a reason you have two shifts, two ctrls, two alts - it's so that you can press shift with your right hand when typing a "left hand letter", and shift with your left hand when typing a "right hand letter". And so on.

This means that your wrists are pretty much straight at all times. And if you've small hands, and need to "stretch" to reach a key - don't! Move your arm instead. And your wrists should never touch the table - holding your hands tilted upward and moving your fingers is just idiotic, keepy your fingers after the first nuckle somewhat below wrist level at all times when typing. Wrist "rests" are extremely damaging, unless you're actually just resting against them in between bursts of typing. I've seen people lean their wrists on the rests and type -that will knacker your wrists in a matter of months.

The trouble is, "playing" the keyboard correctly, like playing the piano correctly, is highly unlikely to be the "natural" way your body will seize upon to do it if you just sit down and start pressing stuff. It may feel very unnatural, but I was taught to type properly in school (the only boy in a secretarial class...), and I've been typing for 20 YEARS without any pain.

Helps to buy quality keyboards too - nowadays see e.g. http://pckeyboard.com/ or http://cherry.de/

Nope, it's a Cherry G80-3000

I'm glad this discussion surfaced, because it helped me find what I thought was an extinct model - I have one of these and I dread the day it dies because I'd hate to have to go back to horrible fluppitty rubber keyboards.

The Das is intrinsically a Cherry keyboard - it's pretty much what they used to sell as a Cherry "Click". I have one of these which I bought some time ago as a result of my personal policy not to skimp on user interface devices (mouse, keyboard, monitor, all of these are very important and should outlast any system you use).

My other keyboard is a '98 vintage Model M made in Scotland. I'm not quite sure which I prefer - both have proper mechanical mechanisms. The M lacks a windows key, which I actually found annoying until I bound some ctrl-alt hotcuts to VBScripts that replace the windows key combos I use. The M is somewhat heavier and noisier, the Cherry is quieter (but still not as quiet as a fluppitty rubber keyboard). The Cherry is at work because it's more considerate than the IBM in an open-plan cubeless office.

I hope the legendary longevity of this type of keyboard holds for me, because Cherry don't seem to make them anymore. They make the keyswitches. They list two keyboard models - one explicitly uses "rubber mat", the other is "affordable" and carefully refrains from mentioning which technology it uses.

Which is absurd - all the stockists I checked have zero stock. It's also the ONLY keyboard to have any feedback in one web shop - 5 stars and two rave reviews. May a million insects infest the underpants of the short sighted accountants who decreed that all modern systems come bundled with a keyboard technology that was rightly regarded with scorn and derision on systems like the Spectrum 128. Who knows how many instances of RSI and carpal tunnel syndrome they are responsible for.

The only ways I now know of to get a proper keyboard are the Das, get a vintage M, or go for a Unicomp Customizer.

*does a little more searching*

I tell a lie - Cherry still list these keyboards, but only on their German website. You want a Cherry G80-3000, and I could find several stockists for it.

Nice. So now do I have to rewire my BIOS to accept some key combination other than Control-Alt-Delete? It seems like they've squandered the use of so many of these keys! On a keyboard of only 53 keys, WHO needs two Sym keys next to each other? My 105-key keyboard doesn't even have ONE Sym key! This layout MIGHT work if they got over the Qwerty bigotry and simply offered us a super-compact solution, with a Del key...but I guess that's been done before.

Right. My first PC had a Cherry keyboard. Those are in the same range of "you can beat a guys' head off with it" keyboards. But it works, you can take it apart, pull off the keys, and assemble it back together. But it has it's own sort of noise, and it doesn't have a 'hot' design.

Note that these keyboard have "wear-resistant" keycap symbols. And that is true! My 15 year-old keyboard, with dayly use has all the symbols still on it. The new (19 months) Dell keyboard I use in the office has a few partially missing, already ...

Looking at "Das Keyboard", you can see that - despite it's name - it is not a German keyboard. This because the Enter key is differently shaped on a genuine German keyboard: it is two rows high and shaped like a vertically mirrored L. Look here:
http://www.cherry.de/deutsch/enjoy-line/enjoy_mast er-linux.htm

IIRC French keyboards have the same style of Enter keys.

I am not sure if these are available in the US, but I can definitely recommend Cherry's G81-3000 keyboard.

I have one of these and they *rock*. The problem with mine now is it's age, let's see, it came with a P5-90, so that's what, five-six years old? It's filthy, some of the QWERTY keys are starting to go and the space bar is already somewhat loose in its mounting. Naturally, I've been looking for a replacement and the best I've come up with so far is some of the more advanced Cherry keyboards and PI Engineering's rather cool looking PS/2 Stick Keys. Can anyone add to the list?