I've chucked a good number of keyboards over the years.
I've 3 sets of Logitech wireless KB/mouse 2 of which are great but one
not so much so i'm going to replace it with wired.

So if i'm buying another I want (if it's even possible these days) a
decent one.

We have a keyboard in the workshop, an old beige lump, it's followed me
through my adult life and just refuses to give up.*

I'm sure I spent 30 quid on a Microsoft one for the missus the other
year, it's not currently in use so plainly wasn't worth the money.

Is there a modern day equivalent of the beige lumps of old, the sort of
thing you could beat someone to death with?

*Although son 2 nearly retired it, "this keyboard isn't working, have we
another one?" he said, applied his usual 'keep jabbing monkey boy'
technique until I tipped it over and shook about 3lb of detritus out of it.

R D S wrote:
I've chucked a good number of keyboards over the years.
I've 3 sets of Logitech wireless KB/mouse 2 of which are great but one
not so much so i'm going to replace it with wired.

So if i'm buying another I want (if it's even possible these days) a
decent one.

Keyboards are a personal taste. Do you want squishy, firm, clicky-clacky?
Long key travel, short key travel?

Is there a modern day equivalent of the beige lumps of old, the sort of
thing you could beat someone to death with?

There's a whole sub genre of 'mechanical keyboards' with aficionados
favouring this or that. Search on that and enter the rabbit hole.

The IBM Model M is a popular old-school bulletproof clicky-clacky keyboard
that people are fond of, but it's not to everyone's taste.

Theo

On 01/12/2020 10:50, Theo wrote:
R D S wrote:
I've chucked a good number of keyboards over the years.
I've 3 sets of Logitech wireless KB/mouse 2 of which are great but one
not so much so i'm going to replace it with wired.

So if i'm buying another I want (if it's even possible these days) a
decent one.

Keyboards are a personal taste. Do you want squishy, firm, clicky-clacky?
Long key travel, short key travel?

Is there a modern day equivalent of the beige lumps of old, the sort of
thing you could beat someone to death with?

There's a whole sub genre of 'mechanical keyboards' with aficionados
favouring this or that. Search on that and enter the rabbit hole.

The IBM Model M is a popular old-school bulletproof clicky-clacky keyboard
that people are fond of, but it's not to everyone's taste.

Theo

On 01/12/2020 17:11, Pamela wrote:
On 10:50 1 Dec 2020, Theo said:

R D S wrote:
I've chucked a good number of keyboards over the years.
I've 3 sets of Logitech wireless KB/mouse 2 of which are great
but one not so much so i'm going to replace it with wired.

So if i'm buying another I want (if it's even possible these
days) a decent one.

Keyboards are a personal taste. Do you want squishy, firm,
clicky-clacky? Long key travel, short key travel?

Is there a modern day equivalent of the beige lumps of old, the
sort of thing you could beat someone to death with?

There's a whole sub genre of 'mechanical keyboards' with
aficionados favouring this or that. Search on that and enter the
rabbit hole.

The IBM Model M is a popular old-school bulletproof clicky-clacky
keyboard that people are fond of, but it's not to everyone's
taste.

Theo

It's a great keyboard but definitely big!


I have a Digital LK450 which has nice keys, but it has extra keys
for VAX layered products like DecForms and a slightly different
layout to the standard IBM layout.

On 12/01/2020 11:45 AM, R D S wrote:
I've chucked a good number of keyboards over the years.
I've 3 sets of Logitech wireless KB/mouse 2 of which are great but one not so much so i'm going to replace it with wired.

So if i'm buying another I want (if it's even possible these days) a decent one.

We have a keyboard in the workshop, an old beige lump, it's followed me through my adult life and just refuses to give up.*

I'm sure I spent 30 quid on a Microsoft one for the missus the other year, it's not currently in use so plainly wasn't worth the money.

Is there a modern day equivalent of the beige lumps of old, the sort of thing you could beat someone to death with?

*Although son 2 nearly retired it, "this keyboard isn't working, have we another one?" he said, applied his usual 'keep jabbing monkey boy' technique until I tipped it over and shook about 3lb of detritus out of it.
google 'Buckling Spring Keyboard'

On 01/12/2020 10:45, R D S wrote:
I've chucked a good number of keyboards over the years.
I've 3 sets of Logitech wireless KB/mouse 2 of which are great but one
not so much so i'm going to replace it with wired.

So if i'm buying another I want (if it's even possible these days) a
decent one.

We have a keyboard in the workshop, an old beige lump, it's followed me
through my adult life and just refuses to give up.*

I'm sure I spent 30 quid on a Microsoft one for the missus the other
year, it's not currently in use so plainly wasn't worth the money.

Is there a modern day equivalent of the beige lumps of old, the sort of
thing you could beat someone to death with?
.... snipped
A while ago I bought a "UB434HA, Original IBM Style Keyboard, Black,
USB" keyboard from The Keyboard Company - it's orders of magnitude
better than the cheapo keyboards so commonly used these days

In article ,
R D S wrote:
I've chucked a good number of keyboards over the years.
I've 3 sets of Logitech wireless KB/mouse 2 of which are great but one
not so much so i'm going to replace it with wired.

So if i'm buying another I want (if it's even possible these days) a
decent one.

We have a keyboard in the workshop, an old beige lump, it's followed me
through my adult life and just refuses to give up.*

I'm sure I spent 30 quid on a Microsoft one for the missus the other
year, it's not currently in use so plainly wasn't worth the money.

Is there a modern day equivalent of the beige lumps of old, the sort of
thing you could beat someone to death with?

*Although son 2 nearly retired it, "this keyboard isn't working, have we
another one?" he said, applied his usual 'keep jabbing monkey boy'
technique until I tipped it over and shook about 3lb of detritus out of it.

This one is a 90s clackety clack 'IBM' style - corded, obviously. Has
outlasted all the various cordless ones I've had.

--
*I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Tue, 01 Dec 2020 10:45:49 +0000, R D S wrote:

Is there a modern day equivalent of the beige lumps of old, the sort of
thing you could beat someone to death with?

Unicomp. They are the previous IBM production line.

I have an IBM Model M that I've been using - daily, a lot - since 1989. I
am using it right now.

https://www.pckeyboard.com/

--
My posts are my copyright and if @diy_forums or Home Owners' Hub
wish to copy them they can pay me £1 a message.
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK: http://www.mirrorservice.org
*lightning surge protection* - a w_tom conductor

Other thing is the old IBM comes apart for cleaning etc easily. The
keyboard on my not that old HP laptop failed, and had to be replaced. And
I'm sure it gets nothing like the same amount of use as some.

Oh - the lettering on my IBM is still like new. On most others, it soon
wears off on the most used keys.

--
*The longest recorded flightof a chicken is thirteen seconds *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Wed, 02 Dec 2020 16:24:15 +0000, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

Other thing is the old IBM comes apart for cleaning etc easily. The
keyboard on my not that old HP laptop failed, and had to be replaced.
And I'm sure it gets nothing like the same amount of use as some.

Oh - the lettering on my IBM is still like new. On most others, it soon
wears off on the most used keys.

Yup, every couple of years or so I do all of ours.

You need a long socket to get the case screws out, and then it's simple.
The keycaps pull off the keys, and you can (carefully) remove the keys.
Special treatment for big keys and space bar.

--
My posts are my copyright and if @diy_forums or Home Owners' Hub
wish to copy them they can pay me £1 a message.
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK: http://www.mirrorservice.org
*lightning surge protection* - a w_tom conductor

On 02/12/2020 22:38, Bob Eager wrote:
On Wed, 02 Dec 2020 16:24:15 +0000, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

Other thing is the old IBM comes apart for cleaning etc easily. The
keyboard on my not that old HP laptop failed, and had to be replaced.
And I'm sure it gets nothing like the same amount of use as some.

Oh - the lettering on my IBM is still like new. On most others, it soon
wears off on the most used keys.

Yup, every couple of years or so I do all of ours.

You need a long socket to get the case screws out, and then it's simple.
The keycaps pull off the keys, and you can (carefully) remove the keys.
Special treatment for big keys and space bar.

A modern IBM style keyboards will use expensive mechanical switches -
Cherry MX or clones thereof and what is termed double shot moulded
keycaps, where one color is moulded first for the lettering, and then
another colours moulded around that for the key bulk.

Often designed for backlighting where the lettering is clear or translucent.

And sold as 'gaming' keyboards. Its pretty hard to get a decent
doubleshot keycap mechanical keyboard that isn't garish and overpriced.


What I have is this

https://www.cherry.de/PDF/EN_G80-3000.pdf

Laser engraved keycaps sadly (second best after double shot) BUT so
many people make doubleshot keycaps for these switches that a
replacement set will not be an issue


--
The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to
rule.
€“ H. L. Mencken, American journalist, 1880-1956

In article , The Natural Philosopher
wrote:
On 02/12/2020 22:38, Bob Eager wrote:
On Wed, 02 Dec 2020 16:24:15 +0000, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

Other thing is the old IBM comes apart for cleaning etc easily. The
keyboard on my not that old HP laptop failed, and had to be replaced.
And I'm sure it gets nothing like the same amount of use as some.

Oh - the lettering on my IBM is still like new. On most others, it
soon wears off on the most used keys.

Yup, every couple of years or so I do all of ours.

You need a long socket to get the case screws out, and then it's
simple. The keycaps pull off the keys, and you can (carefully) remove
the keys. Special treatment for big keys and space bar.

A modern IBM style keyboards will use expensive mechanical switches -
Cherry MX or clones thereof and what is termed double shot moulded
keycaps, where one color is moulded first for the lettering, and then
another colours moulded around that for the key bulk.

Often designed for backlighting where the lettering is clear or
translucent.

And sold as 'gaming' keyboards. Its pretty hard to get a decent
doubleshot keycap mechanical keyboard that isn't garish and overpriced.


What I have is this

https://www.cherry.de/PDF/EN_G80-3000.pdf

Laser engraved keycaps sadly (second best after double shot) BUT so
many people make doubleshot keycaps for these switches that a
replacement set will not be an issue

I did have a spare ANY key, but it's gone missing.

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England
"I'd rather die of exhaustion than die of boredom" Thomas Carlyle

Cherry is the normal answer to this question. I have to say though that the
e normal failure mode of wired ones is the lead where it comes out of the
case.
I have a dell which is perfect except the cable is intermittent somewhere
in the strain relief, a misnomer, as it obviously was not good at relieving
strain!
Brian

--

This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"R D S" wrote in message
...
I've chucked a good number of keyboards over the years.
I've 3 sets of Logitech wireless KB/mouse 2 of which are great but one not
so much so i'm going to replace it with wired.

So if i'm buying another I want (if it's even possible these days) a
decent one.

We have a keyboard in the workshop, an old beige lump, it's followed me
through my adult life and just refuses to give up.*

I'm sure I spent 30 quid on a Microsoft one for the missus the other year,
it's not currently in use so plainly wasn't worth the money.

Is there a modern day equivalent of the beige lumps of old, the sort of
thing you could beat someone to death with?

*Although son 2 nearly retired it, "this keyboard isn't working, have we
another one?" he said, applied his usual 'keep jabbing monkey boy'
technique until I tipped it over and shook about 3lb of detritus out of
it.

Brian Gaff wrote:

Cherry is the normal answer to this question.

But what colour cherry switches? They have about a dozen types from
clicky, to tactile to spongy ...

On 01/12/2020 17:13, Andy Burns wrote:
Brian Gaff wrote:

Cherry is the normal answer to this question.

But what colour cherry switches?Â* They have about a dozen types from
clicky, to tactile to spongy ...

I wonder if you can have a home trial, like a mattress.

On 01/12/2020 10:45, R D S wrote:
s there a modern day equivalent of the beige lumps of old, the sort of
thing you could beat someone to death with?


https://www.pckeyboard.com/

In UK from
#
https://www.keyboardco.com/category....&ss=de&rtv=100




--
djc

(–€Ì¿Ä¹Ì¯–€Ì¿ Ì¿)
No low-hanging fruit, just a lot of small berries up a tall tree.