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Cherry MX Mechanical Keyboard Switches Compared
crookedvulture writes "Keyboards with mechanical key switches are enjoying a renaissance of sorts. They're prized by gamers, coders, and writers alike, and Cherry's MX switches are the most popular on newer models. There are MX blue, brown, black, and red switches, each with a different tactile feel and audible note. This comparison of four otherwise identical Rosewill keyboards details how each switch type feels and sounds, complete with audio recordings of the various colors in action. Recommended reading for anyone considering a mechanical keyboard or one of the Rosewills, which cost about $100. Looks like the removable USB cord on these particular models is prone to breakage."
Sounds like an ad, but seriously I found the best advice there.
from the company that holds the original design patent from IBM for the Model M, and inhereted the process from Lexmark. The keyboard is still built and serviced in Lexington, Kentucky. They ship internationally. have a nice rennaissance.
http://www.pckeyboard.com/
Good people go to bed earlier.
Hands down the best set of information have ever seen about mechanical keyboards was this forum post on the topic it has everything you want to know about the subject.
PS/2 has unlimited simultaneous keypresses (n key rollover/NKRO). USB, depending on where you look, either cannot, or needs a workaround to do more than 6 keys and a certain number of modifiers, generally 4 (shift/alt/ctrl/super).
Keep on knockin'
https://robbiecrash.me
Accurate, and, on top of that, USB is polling based, while PS/2 is interrupt based. USB will check the port every "n" milliseconds to see if there's data waiting, while with a PS/2 keyboard, when you press a key, an interrupt is generated. The delay is very short (depending on how often a given keyboard's driver polls, it might only be 10 milliseconds or so), but it's worth noting.
PS/2 is still significantly better than USB for keyboard technology. But USB is usually good enough if you're not a gamer.
It is worth noting too, that just because you have PS/2 doesn't mean you have NKRO automatically, as depending on the technology 'underneath the hood' of a keyboard, it might not allow certain combinations of simultaneous keypresses. But that's an issue that's resolved by getting a mechanical keyboard, since they have the individual switches.
Shameless plug: Steelseries 7G. It's a big investment for a keyboard, but it provides NKRO, is a native PS/2 keyboard, is well constructed, and has audio jacks and USB ports on the keyboard, as well as a removable plastic wrist rest.
Not so. You're thinking of the little green USB -> PS2 adapters like the ones that used to come with the MS Intellimouse, which were purely electrical because the PS/2 circuitry was in the mouse.
Why would any keyboard with a PS/2 plug on it (and without it's own USB plug) be able to output USB signals?
These little dongles contain a USB HID device for both mouse and keyboard and bridge the input from the PS/2 devices, as you describe. There are some concerns with a genuine old Model M because they draw a lot of current, and some of these adapters can't cope with it, but I've been lucky so far (my Model M is a '96, so it's a relatively late model, I suspect the keyboard controller is not as hungry).
I've got both a Cherry G80-3000 and a Model M hooked up to these adapters and both seem to be fine. The only downside is that you lose the N-key roll-over, and who uses that?
The Cherry is showing signs of age - some of the switches are getting a little unreliable. The Model M is still going strong, and looks like new after you strip it down and wash the casing and keycaps. I'd still buy another Cherry in a heartbeat - the Model M is just too loud to take into an open-plan office.
The mechanical keyswitches are better to type on.
Anecdotal : my dear grey-haired mother used to be a legal secretary, so she would type most of the day for all of her professional career. When I saw that she was getting arthritis in her finger joints, as any good son would, I replaced the shitty generic standard-issue membrane keyboard that came with her office computer with a decent Cherry. Her arthritis improved significantly within weeks. (Both keyboards were non-ergonomic standard layout). When she retired, she took the keyboard with her and continues to use it even today.
The main problem with a membrane keyboard is a lack of positive feedback. You have to wait until a character appears on screen and your brain has processed this event to know whether you have successfully hit the key. For a fast typist, this is way to slow, so instead, they start to mash the keys harder than necessary in order to be sure of positive contact. Hence the finger joint arthritis.
With a mechanical keyswitch, there are two forms of positive feedback that you have successfully hit the key. First, there is the characteristic "click" sound. Secondly, there is the moment in the keystroke when the key switch "gives". This means that your finger can sense precisely how much effort is required to achieve positive contact, which means you only expend as much effort as necessary. In my humble opinion, ergonomic keyboards are a really stupid response to most typing RSI issues, and it's probably a better idea to get a keyboard with proper keyswitches - all the ergonomic boards I've touched still have the same shitty membrane switches.
The thing that got to me the most was her IT departments disgruntled response about having to install a new keyboard - "Why do you need a special keyboard?" (she shut them up by informing them her son was both a doctor and a computer professional). A professional typist (whether you're typing code, or legal papers) should use a professional keyboard. IBM understood this when they developed the Model M. It's a shame that we've lost that in the quest for cost savings..
In my humble opinion, ergonomic keyboards are a really stupid response to most typing RSI issues, and it's probably a better idea to get a keyboard with proper keyswitches - all the ergonomic boards I've touched still have the same shitty membrane switches.
90% of the 'ergonomic' keyboards are only ergonomic because their marketing department decided to call it that. There's no actual testing, no actual thought on what would help the typist, they just copied what everyone else calls ergonomic.
If you are going to get an ergonomic keyboard, look for the ones where they actually thought about it - they'll cost more, but they'll actually be good as well. Personally, I use a Kinesis, and it's very good. They also all have mechanical switches - some models even offer a choice of which switch you want.
On the other hand, you'll never find them in a store...
'Sensible' is a curse word.