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Silent Keyboards for Silent PCs?
Kethinov asks: "Following up on the question asked in this story, I have a similar problem as he did except my late night coding (typing) sessions, not my clicking, seem to generating excess noise for the people I'm living with. I, as he did, checked out this possible solution, but to be honest, I can't type on anything but a standard-layout keyboard. Now, I too can search Google, but just looking at a possible solution doesn't help much. Does anyone on Slashdot have experience in this matter, from which I could better narrow my choices?"
IBM Model M!
Apple keyboards on the laptops seem to really quiet... I don't know about their desktop ones but maybe someone else could comment?
IMHO there is no good "silent" keyboard. At the extreme end of silent you have membrane keyboards, but if you hit more than a few keys an hour you'll become frustrated at the poor usability. Most mushy keyboards make some noise, but are on the very low end of usability. Getting back to the first poster's recommendation of the Model M, that breed of keyboard is the one you want. Put your efforts and mone into soundproofing the computer room.
What about those roll-up keyboards? ThinkGeek sells some, and I even saw one at CompUSA recently. I've never used one, but I assume they're made mostly of rubber. I'm willing to bet those are silent.
Scratched Emulsion
There's the membrane-style Atari 400 keyboard, pretty silent unless you count the intentional clicking from the motherboard speaker.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
The PDA market is the place to look for alternative input methods - there is certainly some development in virtual keyboards.
Have a look at this.
I use the touchstream LT (in fact, typing on it now...)... it has no buttons so it makes no sound.. it takes a while to get used to, but as long as you can touch type now, you'll be able to get the hang of it (it took my girlfriend a couple days to stop hunt n pecking, but it takes a couple months to get up to full speed again...)
I really like all of the different special things you can do with it, like closing windows, zooming, using it as a mouse, etc...
anyways, I highly recommend it
There are several membrane only keyboards on the market but most are too mushy. the "Virtually Indestructible Keyboard" from Grandtec has semi-solid key tops so you know when you have pessed the key far enough unlike others on the mrket that have keycaps as mushy as the sides of the keys. Radio Shack and Best Buy have carried then in their stores so take a look. BTW this message was typed on their black USB verion.
I Don't Work Here
...close the door.
Blarf.
Get some dictation software and whisper to it.
/bin/fortune | slashdotsig.sh
Loath to cite Ananova, but there's a "virtual keyboard" you might be able to look into. Projects light onto a surface, and you type by interrupting the beams.
From the designer's site: Here
I do have a dell lattitude whose keyboard is very silent.
It also looks like most of the laptops have nice, silent keyboards.
As of silent keyboards for desktops, the ones that came with dells 2-3 years ago were great, and the one that came with my compaq deskpro 4000 was good too. I guess you can find these quite easily on eBay.
I really don't care much for noisy keyboards either. I picked up one exactly like the one at work: a Dell Quietkey. Sure, it's not *silent* but it has the right 'feel' to it and manages not to wake up my roommate even when i'm coding, and I tend to type like the Hulk:pound, pound, pound...compile error...TOM ANGRY!!!...pound, pound, pound...etc.
They make all sorts of various acoustical soundproof enclosures... Just find one big enough for you and your computer. That way you can type, click, pound, laugh, scream, moan, sigh, cough, burp, and fart as loud as you want without worrying about waking anyone.
After having read all of the comments up to this point I'd have to say that the "Virtually Indestructible Keyboard" looks like the best option so far. Keyboards have to have feedback; either in a physical push, or a click sound. Since the whole point of this discussion is on ways to eliminate the click sound, the physical push is paramount. You said that this specific virtually silent keyboard solves the problems with others of its type being too mushy. Can you be more specific on how it has physical feedback where others fail?
You're right, I wouldn't steal a car. But if it were possible, I sure as hell would download one!
Just go to your local Best Buy/CompUSA and experiment with the keyboards they have out. You won't find a silent one, but some are much better than other. If you don't pound the keys, some standard keyboards are barely audible (my MS MultiMedia Keyboard is pretty quiet, although I don't recommend it because the F-keys are castrated).
It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.
to me, there's a clear solution to your problem:
if you live with a roommate (or gf, etc) who minds the noise you make with your keyboard during late night coding, then the obvious thing to do is to change your roommate or gf, much more so than go with drastic actions like changing your keyboard.
hope this helps
In all honesty, the only good solution is to type more softly and then to tell your roommates or whoever to deal with it. I have the same problem where I really pound on keyboards. I've done the same thing, and no one ever complains any more. Rubber keyboards and the such are really just crap and impossible to type on. They're just wastes of money. Just use your regular keyboard, as long as it doesn't make those clicking sounds, and force yourself to type more softly. You don't have to pound on the keys for it to work.
Very quiet, very good feel and some nice buttons on the left.
It even works on a regular PC, not just on SUN
O cmon guys, just take a peek at think geek site. It even has a rollable(?) keyboard.
;-)
And please, post my article on the Freebox. Everyone wants to know about it
I will make the same suggestion as I did in the previous story : put your computer in another room ... Or buy ear buds (cotton, wax, etc.)
Intelligence shared is intelligence squared.
I've got what is probably the least silent keyboard in the world: The good old "Model M" from IBM which has been mentioned several times already. The version I possess was built in 1985, thus being only one year younger than I am. The first 13 years of its history, it served as my father's keyboard at work. Since he's a researcher with a desk job, you can assume heavy usage 9 hours per work day. Five years ago, he brought it home, exposing it to three computer-happy boys by plugging it into the computer in the house. Now, 17 years after it was build, I'm using it, and it's still a mechanical wonder, with unsurpassed feel. On the downside, it is rather loud. But it's nevertheless impressive, considering that no modern keyboard lasts more than a few years, while this one will probably last for as long as computers support PS2 keyboards.
Divide et impera!
Get fat
Take up snoring.
Pretty soon they'll be praying for the soft patter of little keys at all hours of the night.
Or there's visual basic, no typing necessary....
http://www.coolmacstuff.com/catalog/?action=Detail s&sku=8
:)
:)
This is totaly silent. Water resistant, foldable, etc. It's a very good seller where I work, although it has a Mac layout, it will work on a pc (windows and alt key inverted). Contrary to what most review say, I didnt find it hard to use it, you get used to the feeling pretty quickly. The only drawback is that it has no numerical keypad, but no one uses the numerical keypad for coding anyway. The best news is that it's USB, so you can have it connected aside your old clunky ps2 keyboard if you are a PC user.
Since it's in soft plastic, it's totaly silent. I doesn't emit any sound.
My problem with all the "quiet" keyboards I've seen is that the key's do not spring back to the fingers nearly as fast as a good old $15 piece of junk. I type over 90wpm when I'm not hurrying and this presents a problem for me. It's hard enough even finding a POS keyboard that responds quickly enough that I don't make typo's due to the keys not actuallying being there when my finger is.
Does anyone else have this problem? Has anyone found a silent AND responsive keyboard?
The noise can also be reduced by changing your style to hit the keys more gently. It takes a little work but often works.
As for keyboard models, I seem to remember the old Mac keyboards which came with the LC series and other models of the time were pretty quiet. They had "soft" low profile keys much like a laptop, and took some getting used to after the Model M, but once you did they wree pretty good. I haven't found a PC equivalent though. Some Logitechs are pretty quiet too, but I can't remember the model numbers, just try them in the shop.
I like the smaller keyboards that came with the older iMacs -- the ones with the half size arrow and function keys. They're nice and quiet, and have a far better key action than any of Apple's newer "Pro" keyboards.
Then again, I'm among the only people I know who like the way they feel. And I'm definitely the only one I know with huge, ogrish hands who likes typing on them. Anyway, give it a shot.
(And before anyone asks, they're just regular USB keyboard. They'll work fine on any computer. I have a couple of them stashed away with my NetBSD machines and no troubles.)
--saint
WD-40?
--
This sig best viewed with an open mind.
$7.95/mo, 200 GB disk, 2TBxfer, MySQL, PHP, RoR.
"...my late night coding (typing) sessions, not my clicking, seem to generating excess noise ..."
Sounds like you need non-crunchy chips and non-fizzy soda. Not that hard to come by, at least in my house.
Give me my freedom, and I'll take care of my own security, thank you.
I have seen a keyboard that was made from laptop key. very soft and quiet, nice styling, I think it had a Viewsonic logo on it and was pretty cheap (no pun)
There was an unknown error in the submission.
The IBM M keyboards *can* be completely silent. Just remove the springs. I kid you not -- remove the key caps, pull out the springs, and put the key caps back on. Though the keys don't spring back anymore, the keyboard is still functional -- just the tiniest bit of pressure on a key will cause it to register... silently!
Coolmaster EAK-US1 Aluminum Keyboard.
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t Desc.asp?desc ription=23-129-001&DEPA=1&sumit=manufactory&catalo g=63&manufactory=1333
Laptop style mechanisim, good feel. I love it my boss hates it, but it nearly silent.
Reviews:
http://www.enscape.net/?id=106
http:
Pruchase:
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduc
*A)bort, R)etry, I)nfluence with large hammer.*
I can't help you on the silent keyboards, but I would LUUUUUUUV a non-Windows keyboard - IOW, one WITHOUT all the annoying Windows keys that I accidentally hit and which pull up menus I don't want at that moment. I can't find them *anywhere*, and I've looked. What's even worse, the damn Windows keys are *compatible* with Linux! I'd hoped they'd go away when on a Linux box (I have two computers sharing devices through a KVM switch) and tragically, it happens in Linux too..
I got my model M in 1987, 2yrs old. We've been ever so happy together. We've gone through lots of different computers, but we've stayed constant.
But yesterday, the b,n, and space keys stopped working. I'd just upgraded my motherboard, so I initially thought I'd blown something. But when I tipped the keyboard, some red wine dripped out of it!
Imagine! I have this keyboard for 16 yrs, and I go and break it with a careless glass of wine! I'm distraught!
Ferg
"cease to exist, giving my goodbye, drive my car into the ocean, you think I'm dead, but i sail away, on a wave of mu
Hand-write your code, just like the good old days but better! The element of randomness added by the handwriting interpreter's more creative nuances will make debugging more fun and exciting than it's ever been before!