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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!
Seriously the best keyboards are the new Sun Type6 USB keyboards. They are sturdy, have the right "click" and since they are USB work with everything. Plus the control and capslock are in the proper position.
...I used to call it the "mouse clit." Still do.
You know, the real world tests, like how does the keyboard perform after spilling a Red Bull all over it?
Any one handed keyboards, like the twiddler? They use these for the MIThril wearable project. Some modification required. Location-Based Wi-Fi
Zhrodague.net - I do projects and stuff too.
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Why would anyone want a one-handed keyboard?
Oh... hang on...
...you're not showering often enough.
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.
covering everything from strange one-handed KBs
:)
There used to be an old joke about this; Build a one-handed keyboard and the world will beat a path to your door.
The joke was interchangeable with `left handed mouse for right handed people`.
And as long as we're in innuendo land, it's appropriate to add that if you build it, they will come.
Only a woman would think that was strange...
Any sufficiently well-organized Government is indistinguishable from bullshit.
That image will be going though my mind all day.
Touching my mouse will never be the same.
I can't speak for anyone else, but I think that the best keyboard ever made was the IBM Model M PS/2 keyboard. It's got individual springs for each of the keys, the keys give satisfying clicks, the keycaps are removable, and it's even got a nifty drainage hole on the bottom. It'll even double as a baseball bat in a pinch (steel baseplate). I'm here at work typing on a Dell laptop keyboard which, frankly, is a steaming pile of crap.
All these newfangled keyboards with their plastic membranes and mushy keys. I'll take my Model M any day.
~The log of the limit is equal to the limit of the log.
I've been using a Cherry keyboard for 5 years. Sturdy keys, high-quality plastic, excellent springs. While I did pay more thant 70$ for that keyboard 5 years ago, the new ones are much much cheaper. I got a new one on order.
I hate short-life batteries and I hate losing stuff. I can hear it now... "Mommy, where's the mouse?"
Wireless keyboards and mice aren't going to find their way into my den any time soon.
Speak truth to power.
For carpal tunnel relief try one of the old IBM tumbling-spring keyboards. They're noisy but good!
love is just extroverted narcissism
While I have no complains about Wireless mices (bluetooth, 443Mhz, whatever frequency), I can't get my head around the number of people that purchase Wireless keyboards. Some have better encryption than others, but why in the hell would you want your passwords or credit card number fly though the air using a 40$ keyboard/receiver ? Do people seriously think that those credentials cannot be captured ?
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.
Better reviews of keyboards and mice can be found here:
Keyboard reviews
Mouse reviews
-JemHi, I'm the guy who wrote the Bluetooth HID (keyboard/mouse) driver for Linux so that I could use the M$FT Bluetooth desktop. More recently, I've picked up an Apple Bluetooth keyboard. I really like it a lot, and prefer it to the M$FT keyboard. And not just because you can rearrange the keys into a sane layout (Dvorak) without ending up with a mishmash of different key heights; more important, the Apple keyboard actually has an ON/OFF switch, so you won't have to pull out the batteries when you're done using it for the day.
"Skill shows through where genius wears thin." -Wittgenstein || Religion: uniting aviation and architecture.
I found out the bluetooth that comes with the less expensive Logitech set and the Microsoft set can hardly be called bluetooth.
The adapters only work with the keyboards and mice, so forget using them with your Palm T3 pda or your Ericsson T68i cellphone or your HP printer. They also don't work with your own existing bluetooth adapter.
Also, the Microsoft set has a host of problems that will have you throwing it against the wall within the first week of ownership. Google on the model name and you'll find the details.
I can't speak on the expensive Logitech set because I haven't tried it.
obviously no deficiencies vs. no obvious deficiencies
I've experienced in my previous company users and secretaries using older Logitech wireless keyboards, seeing other people's text being inserted in their word processing... The persons where even on different floors with about 10 meters distances.
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This site has more information from the other side of the fence:
http://wwwpub.utdallas.edu/~liebowit/keys1.html
"studies in the ergonomics literature find no significant advantage for Dvorak that can be deemed scientifically reliable"
In short, there is a considerably large amount of doubt and argument over whether Dvorak is or is not superior to qwerty.
GPL'd web-based tradewars themed space game
I have a Kinesis Advantange USB keyboard, replacing an older Advantage PS/2 keyboard hooked up to my mac via an unreliable PS/2->USB adapter.
It's wondrous. I think switching four years ago to Kinesis has saved my hands. I was developing chronic, persistent wrist pain from using my old IBM bucking-spring steel job -- still the best of the flat keyboards -- and was at my wit's end, when the ergo woman at my workplace brought a Kinesis by for me to try.
Heaven! Keeping the wrists straight, even with my monster hands, has taken enormous strain off of them, and as a result, no more pain.
In addition, I use a Kensington Expert Mouse Pro trackball (the USB one with four buttons and a scroll wheel), and switch it from left to right every couple of weeks. When I'm out with the powerbook, I use the Apple Pro mono-button mouse, which I dearly, dearly love as well.
'jfb
To spur "enterprise Linux," Big Bang, the distributed two-phase commit.
So far I have yet to see a keyboard truely optimized for programmers. I don't want all the multimedia and email crap keys. The best keyboard I've used to date is the Sun keyboard (that Front key is extremely useful).
What I want is a keyboard:
1. Get rid or move the fscking capslock key out of the way. It's a waste of prime real-estate.
2. Make another row of keys so I don't have to keep hitting shift for all the symbol keys. This is really useful for C, C++, Java, Perl, and script programming, and probably a bunch of other languages as well.
3. If you split the keys like the MS Natural Keyboard, I think a few additional keys could be moved to the center to reduce stress on the pinky. I.e. shift and possibly Return.
4. Implement keys on the side like the Sun keyboard. Sun has a reasonably good selection of keys to the left where the function keys used to be on old keyboards. Front, cut, copy, paste, and find are quite useful there.
5. Move control back where it belongs, where they now place the CAPS lock key. Caps lock is only good for AOL users and should be eliminated for the most part. Or else, move it somewhere out of the way.
I shouldn't have to keep hitting shift for common keys when programming like () & # - + | ? < > : " { }. As a C programmer I often use the shifted key far more often than the non-shifted (i.e. () {})
I'd pay good money for such a keyboard. Maybe since Logitech's headquarters is next door to where I work maybe I should walk over there and suggest it to them.
-Aaron
This post is encrypted twice with ROT-13. Documenting or attempting to crack this encryption is illegal.
A better question is: what's right about PS/2? Answer: nothing. It's not hot-swappable. The mouse/keyboard ports are physically identical, but logically distinct -- the most shit-stupid design mistake possible. What if you want more than one mouse? Keyboard?
In sum: good riddance to bad rubbish.
'jfb
To spur "enterprise Linux," Big Bang, the distributed two-phase commit.
One poorly written anti-Dvorak article has had more press in the last several years than the Dvorak keyboard itself. Written by Stan Liebowitz and Stephen Margolis, it has been published in journals, magazines, and web sites again and again and again -- even though The Dvorak Keyboard author Randy Cassingham debunked it years ago.:
http://www.dvorak-keyboard.com/dvorak2.html
"I agree with L&M on another thing: there is a need for good-quality, unbiased studies on Dvorak. The best raw data I have access to at present is from KEYTIME, a Seattle-based company which uses keyboard instructional technologies they developed in house. In the past nine years, they have trained several hundred typists on Dvorak, and several thousand on Qwerty, using the exact same equipment and teaching methodologies. They have "repeatedly found" that after 15 hours of training and practice time, existing Qwerty hunt-and-peck typists can touch type at an average 20 WPM. After 15 hours of training and practice on Dvorak, similarly able (Qwerty) typists consistently average 25-30 WPM touch-typing on Dvorak. Further, KEYTIME reports that the Dvorak typists continue to improve at a higher rate. They have noticed a recent "a change in tide" of students wanting to learn Dvorak over Qwerty. "
"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
As Dave Chappelle once said in his Apple Switch Ad...
Real Video: Broadband
Real Video: 56k
"I'm a chronic masturbator. I don't know what they make the keys out of, but, whatever it is, it's non stick"
"Things are more moderner than before- bigger, and yet smaller- it's computers-- San Dimas High School football RULES!"
I own iGesturePad which replaces the pointing device (not the whole keyboard). I used it for a couple of weeks.
.pros
.cons
My experience:
- my hand is relaxed on the pad (took a while though) - gestures are intuitive, easy to learn and give me a geeky satisfaction every time I use them (no more cut and paste using the keyboard!) - smooth, intuitive
- tense hand in the beginning
- reacts to the smallest hand movements (I can rest my hand on the mous, less so on the pad as I might do something wrong by moving my hand even slightly)
- not as precise as my optical Intellimouse Explorer esp. in Photoshop where I need pixel precision.
- the Intellimouse Explorer driver gets crippled when the pad is connected and I can't use my doubleclick etc. shortcuts. (I use the pad and mouse interchangingly)
- no tactile feedback - "did I "release" that button gesture? Not sure..."
- my fingers get sweaty and the pad gets less smooth so my fingers get "stuck" which results in jerky movements.
If you are mostly coding/writing, it may be more usable for you than it was for me using photoshop.
Right now, the mouse is back on my desk and the pad is back in the box and soon on ebay.
Regards
-- Andre
PC hardware tends to survive getting wet -- as long as two things are true:
1) There is no current running through it while it gets wet.
2) The mixture is not heavily filled with sugar or caramel (like Coke).
3) You let it dry out before you run current through it.
Even monitors usually survive a downpour if they have been unplugged for a day or so before you leave them in the rain.
Found this out while working for a charity thrift store. People would just throw their old junk up on the dock on the day we were closed, a good portion of that time it would rain.
So coffee (with sweet-n-low) doesn't surprise me. Coffee with sugar is more problematic. Pepsi & Coke tend to kill anything with moveable parts.
Freedom is merely privilege extended unless enjoyed by one and all.
On a whim, I decided to check the signal-to-noise ratio on this site's content by taking a screenshot of the full page (165x600 pixels, reduced) and measuring the actual content area (93x100 pixels, reduced by same factor).
A little area calculation later, the signal to noise for PCMag.com is: 93:897 (ie: noise factor of 9.645 times the signal). I will never visit that site out of choice again.
--
My friend has an older Razer Boomslang, which uses a ball, but is VERY high quality. Currently Razer offers two different types of their mouse, one for RTS which is much more responsive, and one for FPS, which is supposedly slower to help you play better....doesn't make sense, so if anybody knows which would be better for a FPS (cuz i have a hard time believing that slower would be better) from experience, please post.
Also, if anybody has opinions on what a good gaming mouse is, I'm in the market for the top of the line, best of the best.
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
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
Errr, Robyn's a He, not a She -- many apologies. That hasn't happened in years!
Been that long since a woman submitted a story, eh? Aren't we geeks sad?
SpamNet - a spam blocker that really works
Best mouse alternative I've found:
http://www.contourdesign.com/rollermouse/
Elimminates moving your hands off the keyboard to use the mouse.
It's ust a differernt way to type. I can type near as fast with one hand as i can with 2. I dont do it as much so i do make typos, but with practice, my generic kb would work fine as a 1-handed kb.
i use several keyboards quite like the kinesis maxim one mentioned. only mine are by siemens.
been using them for years.
best keyboard ever.
I found that for gaming, cordless is bad. Not only did my wife's Logitech cordless stuff interfere with mine. I also found that there were spontaneous lags even when no other set of keyboard/mouse was present. Furthermore, if my mobile happened to ring while I played, mouse and keyboard performance was near zero until the phone stopped ringing.
I now use a Boomslang Razor for playing. It is extremely precise, but I'm not all that crazy about its very low design - it doesn't support the hand very well. On the positive side, the button design is perfect for playing (as well as for surfing the web, with 'back' and 'forward' buttons on the left and right side, respectively. A bonus is also the very flexible cord, which assures that cord tension does not affect mouse movement. A very good mouse, but is it worth the dough? Depends on your pockets, I guess.
I have a Logitech Internet Navigator corded keyboard, whish is excellent except for the hot buttons. The F-keys are toggled between "Logitech mode" and normal mode by a hotbutton, with a difficult-to-discern status indicator, and you're screwed if you need F1 fast and you accidentally hit that toggle lately. Even more screwed you are if you happen to touch some of the web-related buttons, because then helpful IE jumps up to cover your entire game. Apart from these annoying extras the keyboard is fine.
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???
Especially considering that some keyboards, like HP's, can transmit up to 150 meters away... through a couple of walls! Not to fear though, HP has some great advice for users of its products: "don't type anything sensitive".
Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.