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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?"
Apple keyboards on the laptops seem to really quiet... I don't know about their desktop ones but maybe someone else could comment?
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
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.
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!
Very quiet, very good feel and some nice buttons on the left.
It even works on a regular PC, not just on SUN
The roll up style membrane keyboards are very quiet. About the same level of noise as drumming your fingertips on your mousepad, at the very most.
As far as their usability goes, i prefer it to a conventional keyboard, but it is certainly an aquired taste.
Once you get used to aiming for the contact under the middle of the keys, rather then any part of the actual keys themselves, they actually become quite nice to use. The surface of the keys are soft, and friendly to fingers hitting them. It makes for some smooth continous typing, and as you've gotta get your accuracy up to type effectively, your typing skills improve faster.
As a side note, i found this type of keyboard extremely effective for stepmania, as the mass of the keys themselves is a lot lower then a conventional plastic keyboard. And they don't always need to return to the relaxed position before they can accept another keystroke. Very good for the 10 foot songs. ^_^
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!
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.
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.