Comments on: Keyboard Perfection

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 02:01:19 +0000

I did end up buying a bluetooth mac shiny-new-cool keyboard. I find two things to be ‘odd’:

1) I feel like I’m pounding the keyboard to death
2) I feel like the keyboard is too ‘short’

I do like it though by and large, I do not like that the macpro’s don’t come with BT by default… Thanks for the review though, cause the regular apple keyboard that comes with the macpro is the poop.

-Chris

By: Adam Vandenberg

Adam Vandenberg — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 23:49:42 +0000

Would you happen to know if the Wireless keyboard works with Windows XP (that is, on a Dell or whatever, not on a Mac w/ Bootcamp)?

By: Benoit

Benoit — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 07:04:04 +0000

I hate wireless keyboards. I move the keyboard rarely enough that wirelessness imposes cost (batteries and the bluetooth dance) with almost zero benefit. I understand wireless mice, on the other hand, though lately I’ve completely switched over to pads and trackballs because, after all, when is there ever room on my desk to *move* a mouse?

One thing you did not mention about the Apple desktop keyboard, because presumably this is a plus for you: it’s terrible for people with long fingers. This is what the split keyboards appear to be designed for, which would also explain why you weren’t a fan of them. The terribleness of the Apple desktop keyboard is only topped by that of the Microsoft wireless keyboard that lurks in the Apple store, which is exactly set up so that my wrists *must* float in space: they fit neither on the keyboard nor on the wrist pad nor on the table.

By: r.

r. — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 21:08:50 +0000

Those clear Mac keyboards go in the dishwasher pretty well. Too bad the new short keyboards don’t also come in a USB variant; that would be teh killer for taking on the road for use with racks of gear with KVMs in them.

By: Mike Collins

Mike Collins — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 13:14:53 +0000

Oh lord; when I was an undergrad I did general techie work for a nonprofit that used Macs exclusively (I know, I know). The general manager was a chainsmoker, so one of my duties was that I had to clean her keyboard about every two months or so because the accumulated cigarette ash made it totally unusable. I’d extract about 2 cups of ash every time, I swear.

By: Shelby

Shelby — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 12:54:04 +0000

Was it the NeXT ADB or pre-ADB keyboard that had the legendary feel?
And I second the ‘accumulated detritus’ gripe about the clear Mac keyboards.

By: Simon Robbie

Simon Robbie — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 22:00:44 +0000

The ZX-80 had an interesting keyboard. Notice the GOTO and GOSUB

By: psu

psu — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 18:13:26 +0000

I used to map the keys, but I finally got too lazy to do it all the time and just gave up.

By: jfb

jfb — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 15:29:46 +0000

Why not map the useless caps lock key to CTRL? Use the Keyboard & Mouse control panel if you’re using OS X.

The new Apple keyboards trigger bad muscle memories of the IBM PCjr that was inflicted on me as a young person. I usually use one of those hyper-expensive “Kinesis” as-seen-in-the-movies keyboards, which keyboard is mediocre in terms of layout and handfeel (for lack of a better word), but I have convinced myself that it helps keep my hands from hurting, so I’ve got the Emacs retardation at two stages.

By: Mike Collins

Mike Collins — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 14:58:52 +0000

Dudes, the Optimus Maximus is apparently close to actual release (at least judging by the Obsessively Trivia-Oriented Release Blog they produce). I don't care if the keyboard has little spikes on the keys and releases nerve gas; I want one. I will then configure it for emacs. Think about how I can cause the little keys to change when I press CTRL!