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Review of Das Keyboard
First of all let me say that it sounds great. There's something really satisfying about the thunderous racket created by a nice tactile keyboard. The buttons move smoothly and lightly. As I type these words I find myself typing very fast. Ironically, I have to turn up my speakers just to listen clearly to the NPR program quietly playing... and this leads me to my first point. There are no volume control keys. So I have to navigate through various menus to put the volume control widget back on my toolbar. I haven't needed it for years, but this keyboard has none of the bloated keys that over populate a modern keyboard. Save for the 2 keys added for windows 95, this is practically the same layout as the first keyboard I called my own in the 80s. The keyboard is also available without any markings on the key- although my keyboard had them.
Then I hear the ping that tells me that I have mail so I apple-tab to go to my Mail program and then... crap. Did I mention that this is a windows keyboard? The alt key and the windows key are obnoxiously transposed, requiring me to rewire my brain to get to the program I need. It's not the end of the world- and of course it only matters if you are using a Mac. But since I switch daily from the laptop keyboard to a desktop keyboard, I suspect that I would slowly go mad as I was never able to reliably remember which key was alt and which key was apple. To say nothing of this meaningless preferences button which does nothing. Of course the OSX preferences panels contain an option to remap these keys, but I'd have to reset it every time I went home. And I just don't like the idea of monkeying around with this sort of thing twice a day.
So I decide that just for now I will use my mouse to navigate from app to app. This makes my heart cry a little bit- I don't much care for my mouse. He sits there lonely, the tool of last resort as I instead opt to use ridiculous keybindings requiring 7 fingers of syncronized chording. It only inflames my carpal tunnel, but I don't have to move my arm. But times of desperation call for us to rise up to the challenges that come before us.
Now Das Keyboard has the USB ports on the right hand side. I've plugged in 2 devices: the first is a little spinner wheel that I use for editing video, and the other is a little RF broadcaster for a wireless Logitech mouse. And like most of you, I'm right handed. So as I fling my mouse around, I find myself constantly bumping into the 2 giant USB plugs that now overlap my mousepad. My old keyboard had the mouse ports at the top and I never had this problem.
The toggle lights are completely invisible unless on, hidden cleanly within the black plastic surface. The num lock key doesn't seem to do anything, although I assume that's a mac thing. And scroll lock... well now seriously, who among us relies on that in any serious way? Maybe I should just remap those keys, along with the windows 'preferences' key to be the volume up, down, and mute key I'm missing.
But it's black. It's sexy. It's loud. It feels good to type on it. Which takes me to the big question: is this really worth shelling out $130 plus shipping for? For me the answer is a no. It feels great to type, but the lack of volume controls, the mac keys, and most of all, the irritating position of the USB ports make it an inferior keyboard in all practical ways except for the simple act of typing. But if you are a left handed windows user, you might feel differently. As for me, I'm going to have to keep searching for my perfect keyboard. This one is close, but it's just not it.
Why don't they sell keyboards without these stupid windows-keys? I keep my old IBMish clone keyboard in top shape just so I don't have to endure getting used to such a gap in-between of Ctrl and Alt, and a much shorter space. I have no use for these additional keys, and I bet I'm not the only guy around who despises them. Why aren't old-style keyboards on the market? That's what I want to know.
(And yes, I realize this is probably a years-old question)
"We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams [...]."
I have one of them and they are just a trusty old KT-2001 "ergoforce" keyboard sprayed black, it's sticker on the bottom and usb-id both confirm that.
While KT-2001 is quite excellent keyboard, the das keyboard is just plain overprized, also it comes in only the us layout.
Pity that I only have a tech demo kt-2001 as an alternative, as it's candy colour-coded spring stiffnesses are quite ugly, but atleast it has scandinavian layout.
Still -- several years after they stopped making them.
Seriously, if someone could point me to a better keyboard that's under 4000 USD, I'd pay a significant finder's fee. Until you've used a really good keyboard you don't appreciate just how much they're worth ...
(It puzzles me how people who work with computers all day seldom think to try anything beyond a $20 keyboard.)
Dishwasher.
Seriously pop the caps off, run the sucker through a dishwasher, alone. Let it dry for a couple days, and presto, practically-new keyboard for you.
As a side note, never, ever try this with a membrane keyboard.
09
Best Keyboard for unix geek... is a Sun Type 7
Reasons:
* Damn good tactile feedback
* Heavy
* Has 15 (yes fifteen) extra function keys
* Dedicated meta, compose and alt-graph keys.
* 3 USB Ports (on top, not sides), including a hidden one for mouse.
* Comes in a variety of native layouts
- Traditional PC
- UNIX (American)
- UNIX (British)
Country kit is $70 and comes with a keyboard and (a damn good ambidextrous) mouse. Choose carefully. Part numbers are google away.
- mritunjai
Perhaps off topic, but from that link:
Another relevant factor is that the older technology used on the IBM keyboard's controller PCB requires more power to operate than newer keyboards. The IBM draws around 112mA from the interface, whilst a modern keyboard draws 1.2mA. These figures are with the 3 status LEDs (NumLock, CapsLock, ScrollLock) off. Each of these draw around 12mA when lit on both keyboards.
That's pretty amazing. I wonder where are all the press releases from Greenpeace and others about how WASTEFUL the Model M is?
More Twoson than Cupertino
The Unicomp keyboard is kind of flimsy compared to an original Model M; however, PS2 to USB adapters are very hit-or-miss so it's a pain to use a Model M with a modern computer.
I think it's safe to say that I'm more obsessed with the Model M than pretty much anyone else I know - I have a dozen of them (both classic Model M #1391401s and several of the Space Saver editions sans numpad on the right), but I was getting really tired of needing the special cable (on the ones that have a detachable cable) and a PS2/USB adapter for each one to use it. I have more computers without PS2 ports these days than with, so USB is kind of necessary.
So... with a friend's help, I learned how to design electrical circuits so I could manufacture a new brain for the M.
http://c133.org/ibm-keyboard-pcb.png is the PCB layout, and http://github.com/clee/rump/tree/master is the source code for the firmware that runs on the microcontroller.
I'm actually typing this comment on a Model M I bought on eBay, but it's running my firmware on my board, talking USB natively.