Programmer Goes on Mission to Build a Better Keyboard

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whyso

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The ironic thing is that the QWERTY keyboard was designed at the time of typewritiers to minimize typing speed so that the little metal rods would not get stuck with each other.
 

InvalidError

Titan
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And that was still not "good enough" to prevent fast typists from jamming heads.
 
I love minimalistic keyboards. I'm a gamer, and I just don't think all the frills are necessary. (With the exception of some extra keys for the MMO gamer.) Also, I love a weighty keyboard. It often indicates fantastic build quality. I think this is definitely something worth looking in to.
 


They were designed to MAXIMIZE type speed by separating commonly used letters so the rods would not collide. That's just as valid today, you don't want one finger doing all the work. No other system has ever been proven superior, so I can't imagine what you are on about. Even if you believed the Dvorak myth, this supports it (though I doubt you could learn it).

Regardless there is nothing special about this. Its a backlit mechanical keyboard, of which there are many. And if you need backlighting you're using your keyboard wrong or need to learn to type. the only thing "special" is he picked some rarely used (not actually rare) switches. And he slapped his name on it for a price premium. Even then there are other backlit boards using these switches, and which switches you prefer is personal.
 

tadej petric

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Im happy with my pentium 3 era keyboard.
Maybe that guy just switches them too fats so you cant get used to it.
Also why spend all that money on keyboards (Ive seen them cost upto 350€). You could spend that on better components, while 30€ keyboards will do just fine. Also the visuals seem pretty uninportant for me (except if its really really ugly); I mean, you look at the screen, not at the keyboard (or case for that matter).

Ill never understand some things...
 

iamadev

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if it were perfect it would have the backslash key where it belongs in the bottom left of the board rather than hovering above the return key resulting in an unnecessarily small return key.

Iamadev and this keyboard disappoints based on that point alone.
 

BigMack70

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Meh... I've never spent more than $30 on a keyboard, and never had any real complaints.

I won't buy a wired keyboard, and almost all the "nice" mechanical keyboards are wired.
 

joe nate

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Yet he fails to address the biggest concern I have for a keyboard: Key rollover. Far too many keyboards stop at 6kro over USB because that's the maximum you can do without being fancy, but higher key roll over is mandatory for me.

Ducky's 9008 G2 has NKRO over USB, that's what I use. If you really want backlighting, Ducky now makes ones with backlighting and makes it with MX cherry blue, red, black and brown. Only difference is the MX cherry clears.

I'm unimpressed.
 

Evan20x

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My 9 year old Dell keyboard has no wearing visisble of the keys of any sort.

Anyways this is a pretty nice looking keyboard. The FN and multimedia buttons look well placed.
 


I would love for you to explain the Dvorak myth of which you seem to be so aware. In what way is Qwerty superior to anything, other than being more common? Dvorak was set up after research was done into minimizing finger movement and other factors to increase typing efficiency, when typing using the English language. The US NAVY did a study in the early 40's, and concluded Dvorak was far superior. Qwerty was neither designed to speed typists up or to slow them down. Qwerty was designed to minimize the event of typists jamming the machines they were using by placing common two-letter groupings on opposite sides of the keyboard.

"It has been estimated that a QWERTY typist's fingers travel 16-20 miles a day, while a Dvorak typist's fingers will only travel about 1 mile. This is a major benefit to the health of your fingers." - http://www.theworldofstuff.com/dvorak/

"As of 2005, writer Barbara Blackburn was the fastest English language typist in the world, according to The Guinness Book of World Records. Using the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard, she has maintained 150 words per minute (wpm) for 50 minutes, and 170 wpm for shorter periods. She has been clocked at a peak speed of 212 wpm." - http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question103372.html
 

gamecube

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Change the Home, Insert, End, F keys and other's to primarily media and functions control and it's game on. I can't imagine having to press Fn every time I want to change brightness or volume.
 

agnickolov

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As the article clearly says, this is a keyboard for software developers. Yet it fails to address the biggest issue virtually all keyboards have today - the small Enter key. A real productivity keyboard needs both a large Enter key and a large Backspace key so a sloppy aim with my little finger hits it every time. You can't imagine how many accidental backslashes I've had to erase over the years...

I have a Keytronic LT Classic keyboard I bought around 1999-2000 and I'd take it over this one any day. It cost me under $30 and after 13 3/4 year it still doesn't show any visible wear. I'll probably use it until they stop providing a PS/2 slot on motherboards. I only wish I'd get such a keyboard at work where it actually matters...
 
good luck selling your keyboard man...
I honestly don't think it's worth anywhere near that price.
I would pay 10% of your asking price. $14.99 for that keyboard.
Keyboards are a waist of money if you buy anything expensive.
 

razor512

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due to the textures around the letters, it seems that they use the same process that logitech does for their gaming keyboards. they use all clear keys and paint everything but the letters black, thus allowng doe back lit lettering.

This process also means that the paint will eventually come off through use.

a better solution though more costly is a 2 step mold flow production process for the keys.

Black plastic is used for the keys and the letters have no plastic at all.

then in the second step, another machine either fills the letter areas with a frosted clear plastic to diffuse the lights from the LED, or a paper like diffusion material is electrostatically charged and then placed on the back of the clear plastic of the lettering during the second injection process.

I don't think I have ever seen a keyboard use this production process, but it is common on cars, boars, and medical equipment where people would really prefer their buttons to not fade after a 2-3 years.

Non painted plastic for buttons also means that strong hospital grade disinfectants can be used without stripping the color off of the object.
 

Pherule

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He insists on back-lighting on his keyboard. I would insist on NO backlighting. I hate all lights on computers, the only lights a computer should have is that which comes from the screen, and maybe.. *maybe* a very dim LED to indicate num/caps lock on the keyboard.

Props to him for making it quiet though. So many mice/keyboards are annoyingly loud. If you can't type next to someone who is sleeping (and a light sleeper at that) without waking them, then your equipment is too loud.
 

teh_chem

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Quite the contrary. QWERTY was designed to efficiently separate keys that are likely to be typed in close sequence so the rods wouldn't jam. If you separate keys, you increase the amount of distance your finger needs to move to strike the next key. Not all commonly typed sequential characters alternate hands (the theory being your second hand can move to the next key before your first hand is striking the first key).

Now, don't get me wrong, I've never tried to type using a DVORAK keyboard the way I do with a qwerty keyboard. but think about a qwerty keyboard: Your right hand home line is covering "H, J, K, L, ;" Those are not very frequently used keys relative to lots of other letters, so why should they be on the home line (where your fingers would have to move the least distance to strike them)? Contrast that with the fact that all the vowels except for "A" are not on the home line. Our 5 vowels are in almost every single word in the English language, yet why is the keyboard designed for us to reach away from the resting position on a keyboard to strike them?--those are very frequently used characters, so why not have them on the home line?

DVORAK isn't really a myth. The fact that you think you can type sufficiently fast with QWERTY doesn't mean it's the most efficient method.
 

nebun

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everyone keeps complaining that the paint on the keys will come off with usage....it will not come off.....i have a 3 year old back-lit keyboard and still looks like new...it gets abused every day by my daughter and wife....oil and liquids are no problem....works like a champ
 
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