Slashdot Mirror
A Glance At 24 Keyboards & Mice
robyn217 writes "Hey, KBs and mice aren't the most glamorous hardware in your system but there's no reason for them to be dull. I spent the last month testing out a new keyboard and mouse every day; covering everything from strange one-handed KBs to cool gesture-sensing pads to tacky ball-based mice. Check it out if you're thinking about trading up." Strictly one-paragraph blurbs here (I wish she'd talked about each keyboard's tactile feedback, and long-term comfort on the oddball designs), but if you need to do a visual scan of current offerings (many wireless), you can work toward a new mouse by clicking your way through. Update: 01/21 21:58 GMT by T : Errr, Robyn's a He, not a She -- many apologies. That hasn't happened in years!
As everyone who will read this article will soon find out, it has almost no content. As such I suggest we talk about our own mice/keyboards and experience. I for one really want to know if anyone has tryied the "iGesture" pad/keyboard. It looks cool, but got only 3 circles in this article.
Currently I am working with all standard QWERTY keyboards. I had one that had volume buttons and some hot keys, but found that I never used them. My student informed me he switched to DVORAK under MacOSX just by switching the key binding. He says that it only took him 2 weeks to get used to it, and two months to get to loving it. I may make the switch after I finish writing my thesis.
As far as mice, I have a Microsoft Optical Mouse with the side browsing buttons. This is a very good mouse. At work I have a logitech mouse, and it functions perfectly and was very cheap. If I bought another mouse I would buy from Logitech.
Lastly I have an IBM mobile optical mouse. Do not buy this mouse. Its useless.
It may be out of subject..
But a couple of years a ago I bought a Reveal Ergonomic Keyboard II.. now the keyboard is old and I want a new one EXACTLY like the one I have.. I have tried Microsoft ergonomic keyboards and I don't like them.. I'd really like to have the same thing I have but brand new.. Anyone know where I can get one.. I have tried searching on ebay or google, I can't find anything..
Anyone is using this keyboard.. what do you think of it.. have you tried other ergonomic keyboard and what do you think of them ?
--Ben (mox@mox.ca - www.mox.ca)
Each of my USB port is connected to a 4 port USB hub. But most USB device manifacturer's derive all power from the USB and you would be lucky enough to support even 2 devices on a hub.
If you read the fine print on all USB devices, it says "Don't connect via a usb Hub, directly plug-in to the pc's usb port.". Call any tech support for a problem on USB device, and the first thing they tell you is NOT to connect via a hub.
How the fcuk I am supposed to connect 8 usb devices on a 3 port USB card without a USB hub ?
for the last time people, I am "frodo from middle eaRTH", not "middle eaST".
For carpal tunnel relief try one of the old IBM tumbling-spring keyboards. They're noisy but good!
love is just extroverted narcissism
The Logitech Marble Mouse simply has ownage over any other pointing device on the planet. Optical trackball, requiring less frequent cleanings, with the cleanings being easier than similar roller ball trackballs like the Kensington Orbit.
The ultimate test of this is the FPS test. I love using this when playing Unreal Tournament. You can make very quick, flicking movements with this that are great for aiming and firing.
The only thing that a conventional mouse has over the Marble Mouse is in drawing. I am a bit more comfortable with a conventional mouse doing that. Then again, that's not the proper tool for the job, a tablet is.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
... since they are USB work with everything.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Despite all the childish sniggering, there is a very good reason why there is demand for one-handed keyboards. In fact, it seems insane that the vast majority of keyboards can only be operated by people with MORE THAN THE AVERAGE NUMBER OF HANDS.
Worked it out yet?
Yes, that's right: the average number of hands is less than two, because not everyone has two hands.
Two friends of mine would be delighted to get hold of a one-handed keyboard: one lost the use of his hand in an industrial accident, the other in a car accident.
"So all of these blurbs in print add up to around 4000 words. That's a good amount of room."
In print, the 4000 words wouldnt be dwarfed by ads easily double the size of the text.
There is a reason magazines have layout specifications, and the fact that pcmag split your (admittedly well written) article THAT many places made it completely unacceptable to read.
When reading a magazine, people will only generally tolerate a 2 to 1 ratio of ads to text, and the ads generally have to be seperate from the text. (Otherwise the ratio drops to roughly 1 to 1).
Why do your editors think online viewing is so different?
GPL'd web-based tradewars themed space game
I think the best keyboard/mouse are the Logitech MX series (wired,not wireless). I use an MX300 mouse and it's got the best response time I've seen in games and such - especially when you remove the steel block they screw into the top of the mouse to weight it down. As far as the extra buttons go, I like the volume control built into the keyboard (one of these days I hope linux will support it) although the F-lock should be enabled by default when the system boots so the keyboard acts like a standard ATX keyboard rather than some of the windows shortcuts I use once every three months.
Get yourself a Model M - I found mine at a salvage yard for $5 (not including the PS/2 it was attached to). Loudest most satisfying keyboard I have ever owned. Guaranteed to keep the housemates awake and sharpening their bowie knives.
You'll find lots of Model M stalwarts out there, including myself. This is a keyboard that harkens back to a time when keyboards were considered honest to goodness peripherals, not just little flimsy bits included in the box when you buy your PC and best not thought about. The Model M is not the only high quality, tank-like mechanical keyboard to ever come out, but it's by far the cheapest if you want to go that route now (you can still buy Northgate keyboards marketed under the Avant name, for example, but they cost more than $100).
You know you're old-school when you have to make sure you avoid the full DIN connector model when purchasing.
As for the PS/2/USB debate (yeah, not sure how else to write that), I'm sticking with PS/2 until somebody invents something better. USB ain't it, at least not for keyboards and mice. 125hz vs. 200hz? No thanks. You also can't even use your keyboard until the USB driver has loaded - same goes for the mouse. This means if you get stuck in DOS for whatever reason (or, say, at the Recovery Console), you're basically screwed. Same is true for anyone using Linux - I tried a USB keyboard on a Linux box, and every time I screwed something up I'd just have to go and connect my Model M up anyway. I'll say the opposite of what someone else said: it's always better to have a dedicated connector intended to do one thing and one thing only. The PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports on your PC are only intended for the keyboard and mouse and because of that they work better with those devices than any other port your PC has.
"Devices like mice are very cost-sensitive"
Makes me wonder why I shelled out 40 for mine!
-- *~()____) This message will self-destruct in 5 seconds...
Actually, there are innuendo-free reasons to want to keep one hand free.
I'm right-handed, but sometimes switch the mouse to my left hand, as I can point and click my way around the web, and write (pen and paper) with my right hand simultaneously.
I'd quite like a keyboard that only needs one hand (but isn't too choosy about which one) so that when in keyboard mode I could still scribble diagrams and maths, or drink coffee.
Plus giving one hand a rest sometimes is probably an RSI bonus.
On a side note, am I unusual in preferring to operate a computer using soley a mouse (browsing), or soley a keyboard (coding), but never liking to use both simultaneously?
No, he (either from understanding or intuition) understands that the median value of two hands per person is the appropriate statistic, not the arithmetic mean that only an idiot would think is meaningful.
I'd also like a bluetooth mouse that can be used with either hand equally well. It looks like all the bluetooth mice in this review are right-hand mice, although it could just be the angle in the photographs.
www.clarke.ca
Those of us who have to program large programs in C often have the misfortune of having to use complex constant/#define names: FOO_BAR_ENABLE_ON_BOOT, etc. For that, the caps lock key is very, very useful. On the other hand, as and Emacs user, I sure do use Control more than I use caps lock. I'd be fine with moving Ctrl up to where caps lock now sits, but I don't think I'd buy a keyboard without a caps-lock somewhere.
The article seemed interesting, but I gave up only one category in. Come on -- one or two paragraphs and a picture per page? That could have easily all fit on one screen and been MUCH easier to read, and prevent having to wait for a ton of extraneous border material to reload and rerender for each component. You don't make people turn the page of your magazine for each new paragraph, do you???