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The Evolution of the Computer Keyboard

Posted by Soulskill on from the descent-by-natural-hunt-and-peck dept.

Lucas123 writes "As anyone who's typed on a virtual keyboard — or yelled at a voice-control app like Siri — can attest, no current text input holds a candle to a traditional computer keyboard. From the reed switch keyboards of the early '70s to the buckling spring key mechanism that drove IBM's popular PC keyboards for years to ThinTouch technology that will have about half the travel of a MacBook Air's keys, the technology that drove data entry for decades isn't likely to go anywhere anytime soon. This article takes a look back on five decades of keyboard development and where it's likely to go in the future."

5 of 201 comments (clear)

  1. Down with QWERTY! by mister_playboy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Free your hands from the illogical tyranny of Remington's terrible legacy!

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvorak_Simplified_Keyboard

    --
    Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law ::: Love is the law, love under will
  2. Re:qwerty by telchine · · Score: 3, Insightful

    And the funniest thing is that the current QWERTY key arrangement is here due to jamming issues with typewriters. It was designed to slow down the typing speed of old stenographers to resolve the jamming issue of old typewriters when they were typed on too fast.

    Actually, that's just an urban legend... http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/221/was-the-qwerty-keyboard-purposely-designed-to-slow-typists

  3. Re:qwerty by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Note: The legend part applies to the slowing down of typing speed.

    this is correct >> And the funniest thing is that the current QWERTY key arrangement is here due to jamming issues with typewriters.

    this is not >> It was designed to slow down the typing speed of old stenographers to resolve the jamming issue of old typewriters when they were typed on too fast.

    The previous-to-qwerty arrangement did jam when typing fast. The qwerty-arrangement alleviated this problem and enabled typing faster speed than was previously possible.

  4. Keyboard evolution stopped with the Model M! by sirwired · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The true evolution of the computer keyboard stopped with the mighty, never-equaled, IBM Model M. Every "innovation" since then has been a poor compromise in comparison.

  5. Old Farts and Model M's by xanthos · · Score: 3, Insightful

    When ever a keyboard article come along you get a bunch of old farts pining away about their venerable old Model M keyboards.

    I know. I am an old fart and I have one. I love it but unfortunately it ruined me. I am totally unable to use a laptop keyboard.

    They all suck. suck suck suck. The keys are in the wrong place, they don't feel right, and I keep hitting the effing touchpad with my thumbs and suddenly I am typing a porn url in the browser bar.

    Now get off my lawn!

    --
    Average Intelligence is a Scary Thing